Loose Cannons

Firmly inhuman

"The approach I have taken in relation to these matters requires a degree of firmness, which sometimes people think demonstrates a lack of humanity. But I think your humanity has a greater potential to be evil than if you remain firm" — Minister for Racism Philip Ruddock, quoted in the January 31 Melbourne Age.

Well trained

"Our soldiers are well trained. They're judicious and prudent in their use of force" — Major AC Roper, US Army spokesperson in Kandahar quoted by Associated press on January 27, after US soldiers massacred at leat 15 sleeping Afghans allied to the US puppet regime in Kabul.

Invaders gather

"There are billions of dollars and armies of expatriates waiting like some tribal militia to get into Kabul when the weather turns warm" — Barnett Rubin, a US expert on Afghanistan quoted in the January 31 Far Eastern Economic Review, discussing the race by UN agencies and NGOs to cash in the "reconstruction" of Afghanistan.

Although?

"Although the Czech Republic belongs to NATO and is well on the way to membership in the European Union, recent opinion polls suggest that one in [every] two Czechs thinks he or she had a better life under the communists" — Associated Press dispatch from Prague.

From Green Left Weekly, February 6, 2002.

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From GLW issue 479