Here are some interesting (or not) articles from daily newspapers around the world (or at least here and Great Britain).

Bush Calls Human Rights Report “Absurd”

And so it is. Anyone who would compare Guantanamo with the Soviet gulag is a ninny.

WASHINGTON - President Bush on Tuesday dismissed a human rights report as “absurd” for its harsh criticism of U.S. treatment of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying the allegations were made by prisoners “who hate America.”

“It’s an absurd allegation. The United States is a country that promotes freedom around the world,” Bush said of the Amnesty International report that compared Guantanamo to a Soviet-era gulag.

Kudos to the Prez for his use of non-diplomatic language to call a spade a spade.

C.I.A. Expanding Terror Battle Under Guise of Charter Flights

“Guise” which is short for “disguise” kinda means, you know, SECRET!

While posing as a private charter outfit – “aircraft rental with pilot” is the listing in Dun and Bradstreet – Aero Contractors is in fact a major domestic hub of the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret air service. The company was founded in 1979 by a legendary C.I.A. officer and chief pilot for Air America, the agency’s Vietnam-era air company, and it appears to be controlled by the agency, according to former employees.

Behind a surprisingly thin cover of rural hideaways, front companies and shell corporations that share officers who appear to exist only on paper, the C.I.A. has rapidly expanded its air operations since 2001 as it has pursued and questioned terrorism suspects around the world

Maybe we could get the Valerie Palme special prosecutor to look into this.

Ex-FBI official says he’s ‘Deep Throat’

Mark Felt? Mark Felt?

W. Mark Felt, who retired from the FBI after rising to its second most senior position, has identified himself as the “Deep Throat” source quoted by The Washington Post to break the Watergate scandal that led to President Nixon’s resignation, Vanity Fair magazine said Tuesday.

“I’m the guy they used to call Deep Throat,” he told John D. O’Connor, the author of Vanity Fair’s exclusive that appears in its July issue.

Felt, now 91 and living in Santa Rosa, Calif. reportedly gave O’Connor permission to disclose his identity.

In recent years, speculation had shifted from the White House to the FBI. This is because of Wood/Stiein’s promise to reveal the name of “Deep Throat” only after that worthy’s demise. And as aide after aide has died over the years, it’s become pretty clear that by simple process of elimination, it had to be someone pretty high up in the FBI or a Justice Department official familiar with the Bureau’s investigation.

No word yet from Wood/Stein on whether this is the rantings of a 91 year old man or if it’s true. If it’s true, I predict the blogswarm of blogswarms.

UPDATE: Washington Post issues “no comment.” Bernstien doesn’t deny it – says “We’re not going to say anything at this time. When the person is deceased we will identify him.”

Let’s see what happens when this story picks up steam. Bernstien and/or the Post may change their tune about commenting if the heat gets too great.

German Jobless Rate Down to 11.6 Percent

Re-elect Schroeder!

BERLIN —Germany’s jobless rate edged down to 11.6 percent in May, government figures showed Tuesday, but the drop reflected a seasonal upturn instead of economic improvement in Europe’s biggest economy.

The unadjusted jobless rate in May was down from 12 percent the previous month. The number of people without a job in Germany dropped to 4.807 million from 4.968 million.

Wow! Looks like the socialist policies of the German Chancellor have finally caused the economy to turn the corner with prosperity just around the bend and German workers able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Then again, it just might be a seasonal blip. There are no cliches for seasonal blips.

Face it: this treaty is dead, says Kinnock

We’re going to listen to a guy who lost 3 elections?

European leaders should accept that the EU constitution is dead after it was rejected in the French referendum on Sunday, said the former EU commissioner Lord Kinnock today.
The former Labour leader warned that any attempt to ratify the treaty against the wishes of the European people would merely serve to increase the alienation millions feel towards the EU.

Lord Kinnock called on the British government, which assumes the six-month EU presidency in July, to reconnect the EU with its citizens by introducing reforms to increase employment and prosperity.

Someday – not anytime soon – Europe will be united under one constitution with one currency and one foreign policy. Not even jolly old England can resist the political and intellectual elites who’ve been dreaming of this “Europe thing” at least since the founding of the European Union in 1919. The question I have is what will Europe look like when it occurs? Will it look like the culturally and racially homogeneous Europe of my ancestors or will it look more like a nightmare version of America where diverse peoples fail to assimilate?

Two Terms of Chaos, Comebacks and Crises

Ronald Reagan? George Bush? Nope.

In a new book, the Washington Post reporter John F. Harris, who covered the Clinton White House from 1995 through 2001, focuses on the Comeback Kid’s “survivalist ethic” – his ability to continually bounce back from adversity, his ability to make it to the end of two terms in the White House despite the ravages of impeachment proceedings, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the Whitewater investigations and a noxious atmosphere of vociferous partisanship in Washington.

There is nothing terribly new about Mr. Harris’s assessment of Mr. Clinton in this book. Nor are there insights into his presidency that haven’t been served up many times before – in books by reporters like Bob Woodward, Joe Klein, Elizabeth Drew and John Brummett, in memoirs by former aides and administration members like George Stephanopoulos and Robert Reich, and in the reams of newspaper and magazine articles written about this most psychologically dissected of presidents.

Un. Be. Lievable. Note that the cheerleaders at the Post fail to put “Comeback Kid” in quotation marks. And the easy, dismissive tone about a book that promises to be an eye opener about our putative President in ‘08 as well as her jocular husband.

Some love affairs, you never get over. Just ask the Post.