-Caveat Lector-
By Jamie Dettmer, Timothy W. Maier and Sheila R. Cherry
[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] and
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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The Fox Is in the Hen House
The diplomatic dance is on and, for veterans of the arms-control
battles of the 1980s, it comes with a sense of déjà vu and grim
memories.
Two decades ago, Moscow blended threats and entreaties to try to
split NATO on the issue of the deployment of cruise and Pershing
missiles; now the Russian effort is focused on encouraging the
Europeans to oppose President Bush’s proposal for a national
missile defense (NMD) system.
Since Bush’s election, the Kremlin has stepped up its criticism
of the new president’s plan for a ballistic-missile shield that
would protect the U.S. and its allies from nuclear attack,
arguing that it will trigger a new arms race and tear apart the
fabric of international arms control.
While offering “active dialogue” with Washington about NMD and
proposing an “alternative” that would preserve the Anti-Ballistic
Missile (ABM) Treaty of 1972, the Kremlin has been searching for
support from European governments in an apparent bid to foment
division within NATO, say Western diplomats. Moscow now seems to
be concentrating on Germany as the most susceptible to anti-NMD
arguments.
While the U.S. media reported Russian Foreign Minister Igor
Ivanov’s call on Feb. 1 for talks with the Bush administration,
there was scant coverage of a German call the day before for the
preservation of long-standing nuclear-arms agreements.
That call came on a trip to Moscow by German Defense Minister
Rudolf Scharping. Following talks with his Russian counterpart,
Igor Sergeyev, Scharping echoed the thrust of Russian criticism
of NMD and he warned Washington against letting NMD endanger the
ABM treaty. He added that negotiations in this area are not the
sole province of Washington, saying that Germany and Europe had
helped to build the existing international security system.
Scharping’s remarks highlight how problematic NMD could prove to
be for the Western alliance — and how the Bush administration
will have its work cut out for it to keep the European members of
NATO on its side.
Microsoft Judge May Recuse Himself After Appeal
The federal judge who ordered that Microsoft Corp. be split in
two appears none too keen to handle the antitrust case again if
his ruling is reversed by the U.S. Court of Appeals and sent back
to him.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson’s controversial
Microsoft ruling has been stayed pending a judgment on appeal
later this spring. Meanwhile, Jackson has come under fire for
speaking publicly about the case prior to the appeals court’s
final judgment.
If the appeals court’s decision on Microsoft is excessively
critical of his ruling or upbraids him for speaking publicly
about the case, he “will voluntarily recuse” himself, he told a
Rotarians meeting.
The judge insisted that splitting Microsoft “was never my remedy
of choice,” and he said that he never intended to put himself in
a position to be a federal regulator of private industry. His
stated objective simply was to determine whether the market in a
particular segment of commerce was operating as it should. Still,
he acknowledged, “essentially, everything I’ ve done may be
vulnerable on appeal.”
Although Jackson strove to keep his opinions private until the
case was out of his courtroom, he pointed out that he still has
made no public statements on the actual merits of the case.
A good deal of the Microsoft evidence was wanting in persuasive
force, he said. With that, he invited his fellow jurists in the
audience to review the deposition of the star defendant,
Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Bill Gates, for themselves.
And it’s entirely possible, Jackson admitted, that the new
administration will have less interest in pursuing the case than
its predecessor or that a settlement could be reached at any
time.
Red Chinese Spies Fill Hong Kong
The People’s Republic of China has dispatched more than 1,000
intelligence agents to Hong Kong to keep tabs on political
dissidents, according to the Information Center for Human Rights
and Democracy.
Since the 1997 handover of the former British colony, Chinese
security activities in Hong Kong steadily have increased, the
center claims.
While China has denied such activities, the center’s director,
Frank Lu, said at least 1,000 surveillance officers are settling
in the territory. The Chinese Legal Daily reported that, in the
year 2000, 148 public-security officers came to Hong Kong to
carry out investigations into 57 different groups.
The Hong Kong government is aware of Beijing’s secret spying but
has maintained an attitude of “one eye open and one shut,” Lu
claims. The recent deployment of these spies comes on the heels
of the deportation from Hong Kong of members of the Falun Gong
spiritual group.
Beijing claimed Falun Gong members were deported for offensive
political comments, which deviated from the original purpose of
the group to promote their culture and religion. The spiritual
movement remains legal in Hong Kong but has been banned in China
since July 1999.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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