BIG CRACKDOWN IS COMING TO SADR CITY

The Iraqi government is telling residents of Sadr city to get out. This is a clear sign that a smackdown is coming.

Iraqi security forces, after more than of 40 days of intense fighting, on Thursday told residents to evacuate their homes in the northeast Shiite slum of Sadr City and to move to temporary shelters on two soccer fields.

The military's call, indicating the possibility of stepped-up military operations, came as Iraqi security forces raided the radio station run by backers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr and militants launched rockets at a coalition force operating base in the southern port city of Basra, killing two contractors and injuring four civilians and four coalition soldiers.

Two soccer fields in east and northeast Baghdad are expected to receive some 16,000 evacuees from the southeast portion of the city where the fighting has been most intense.

Frankly, I would evacuate the entire city in this fashion with the understanding that anyone left will be considered an enemy combatant. Then I would establish checkpoints for return to ensure that arms were not re-entering the city. Not full proof by any means, but certainly a better alternative to sporadic engagements that accomplish nothing.

EUROPEANS SEE CHINA AS GREATEST THREAT TO GLOBAL STABILITY

It looks like the Europeans have finally awoken to the red menace.

"China has overtaken the US as the biggest threat to global stability in the eyes of Europeans, according to a Harris opinion poll for the Financial Times.

The recent wave of protests and riots in Tibet and the ensuing Chinese crackdown, together with competition from cheap Chinese exports, appear to have dramatically hardened opinion, with the proportion of Europeans who saw China as the biggest threat almost doubling since last year.

Italians were the most concerned about China with 47 per cent naming the country as the biggest threat, compared with 26 per cent when the question was last asked in June 2007. The Italian reaction was primarily an expression of resentment at unfair competition from Chinese manufacturers, said Marta Dassù, director of the Aspen Institute Italia, a Rome-based think-tank. “China is a symbol of what Italians dislike about globalisation,” she said.

Only inhabitants of Spain still considered the US to be a bigger threat than China, by 41 per cent to 28 per cent.

“The profile has changed,” said Mark Leonard, executive director of the European Council on Foreign Relations and author of What Does China Think?

“The story of the last five years has been about economic opportunities. The story of the last six months has been about China as a threat in Darfur and in Tibet.” The little that Europeans knew about China came from news coverage, recently unfavourable, whereas they were constantly consuming US popular culture, Mr Leonard explained."

Report

Yeah...well Spain...Are they even part of Europe anymore?

*