When it was released for the original Xbox, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell was one of the most technologically advanced console titles ever. Although many people bought the game to check out the amazing dynamic lighting and impressive stealth action, they kept coming back for more because there was just something about the world-weary Mr. Fisher's lack of enthusiasm about the spy game.
In his latest outing, as you might be able to glean from the title, Double Agent finds Sam going a bit Jack Bauer, attempting to infiltrate a terrorist organization. The line between good and evil starts to blur quite a bit as you'll spend much of your time in the terrorist group's headquarters, where you'll live, eat, and sleep near them as you go deeper undercover. While some games might be content to simply let the hero make his way, Double Agent forces Sam to make a number of tough ethical choices. The game will actually change depending on what you do, and some parts of the game will only be available if you play in a certain manner. There are multiple paths from start to finish, and there will be a number of endings; if it'll be a bit more than the choices in Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight then we may have something cool here.
In each level there will be several objectives for both the NSA and the terrorist organization, and they'll often conflict with one another, somewhat like Alias. Sam will face quite a few ethical quandaries, such as whether to personally kill an innocent civilian to save hundreds of lives. Of course, killing the innocent will get you in good with the terrorists who are testing you, but the NSA won't be happy. If you don't, there will be implications further down the line, and things might turn out worse than if you had just pulled the trigger. Much of these sequences played out during what the developers are calling "directed moments," which are essentially interactive cutscenes. Although the directed moments are very cinematic, they never really pull the player out of the action, instead infusing the proceedings with emotion and action.
From the screenshots released, it looks like we'll be seeing the same sort of stealth action that made the series so great in the first place. In one level, Sam must make his way through a war-torn urban area in Zaire. Like many next-gen titles, the developers are eliminating traditional HUDs in favor of more immersive indicators. Sam will have a small light on his shoulder that will change color depending on his visibility. Another level, takes place in the frozen wastelands of Western Russia. The level begins with a HALO jump, in which you can control the camera and Sam's trajectory and speed. After landing, you makes your way through swirling, dynamic snow to an opening in the ice. Double Agent finds Sam with the ability to swim, and he'll be able to break through the ice to drown his foes.
Given that the Splinter Cell series was always one of the best looking franchises on the Xbox, it's no surprise that Double Agent looks great running on the Xbox 360 and PC. There are some impressive lighting effects, such as when Sam's swimming underneath the ice. You'll see light diffuse dynamically as you look up, and you can even see the silhouette of the enemies above you.
If you're a fan of the Splinter Cell franchise, there's no doubt that you'll be happy with the changes made to the series in Double Agent. The good/evil mechanic sounds nuanced and intricate, and the idea of taking wildly divergent paths as you play through the game sounds superb. This game will take the series in darker and more interesting directions, and will help cement Sam's place in the gaming world.
Micheal Ironside returns as Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell: Double Agent, deployed on October 19th.
Sources: GameSpy, IGN and 3DGamers
29 comments:
Hey, dogsbollox, I like your style. I agree that 2hydrogen atoms having less mass than one helium atom would screww up this universe, but i can't see the link with the Fine Structure Constant. Maybe I'm thick! Anyway, I believe that an intervention along the terminator lines is intervention at far greater than a mere quantum level, and risks destroying immediately a multitude of timelines, which will propagate so many deviations that this CURRENT universe will be screwed anyway. Heads you loose, tails you loose. A quantum intervention must be subtle, something perhaps to increase the mass of hydrogen atoms just a smidgeon. Anybody got any ideas? Speaking of the future, did anyone know that Saddam has another son that the coalition forces ain't got yet? Yup, he has a second marraige to a high-born Syrian, and his son lives in Syria to this day. The Lineage continues, and you can bet revenge figures in it's future plans. I'm too tired to continue this line, dogsbollox, I'll pick up again sometime soon.
Shiver-me-timbers, a discussion. Look, the best way to correct that idiot neo's cluster-fuck is to reinstate the hydrogen atom, within the matrix, to its original form. I agree that that will leave agent Smith with sod all to do, but what I don't get is why agent smith is involved in the containment of neos' screw-up, i thought neo deleted him. maybe it's neos alter-ego and not agent smith, and maybe the alter-ego of the one has the power to affect quantum changes to time lines! Gee, this is screwing my mind! Time to consult the Oracle, she talks in riddles too. By the way, dogsbollox, intervention via the merovingian is no use, - the merovingian is screwed, gone. The bloodline is preserved throughout Europe and south America, but most of 'em don't know it. The line is preserved through the female side, at least initially. The knowledge it contains I've managed to trace to about 18000bc, but it's faint and mostly forgotten. The evidence is incredible. SEE YA
Yipeeee, dogs bollox, I'm glad somebody finally brought that up! The reason Aslan didn't come out of the wardrobe and chew the balls off the sith is because he's a frightened wimp!! Yep, - I mean, wouldn't you be. Look at the size of that fiery pussy conjured up by that evil wizard. Small wonder it was anathema to the silver haired, bearded, queer, wand waving wizard. "Thow shalt not pass" - indeed, and while we are on the subject, don't you think it's strange, his affection, nay love, of the little people. UGH! the world is sick, - and on a global blockbuster too, can't people see what's happening??? Now for your comment, dogsfoot, ooooh!, is it really a foot, my, my, you can cut my cake anytime soon. 18000bc, eh? well I got my own theories on that, and I think it goes back at least to 60/70000 bc, but to come to the near past, agriculture more advanced than hunter/gatherers suddenly flourish on the high plains of South America, and I mean deep south, at the same time as spirit cave in northern Thialand, about 8900 years ago. Advance agri-methods, remains of grains, de-toxified potatoes, etc have been found. Now the morons who seek to edumuncate us about these things, tell us that ancient man interbred the seeds of grass to produce the crops we have today. Well the facts are that with all our resource, gene manipulations, and monsanto fuck-ups, we still can't get from the humble grass seed to the seeds found at Spirit cave from 8900 years ago!!!!!!!!! Go figure. Anyway, you know how fiesty agent smith can get when he's bored, if you take away the chores of containment what's he gonna do? My guess is he should sort out the inclinations of the child hugging wizard, I mean, just look where his alter-ego can put his right hand. As for time lines and quantum interventions, these things mystify me. I'll just stay confused and follow this thread. Now ya'all be good now, ya hear?
Well, I'm really happy, I've finally solved the problem. The person who stole chewbacca's bacci was the MULE. you know, the inbred who was assembling his fleet of star ships to attack the foundation. He found the baccipouch and, given that he's clairvoyant, he realized it was chewies, and that Toni Bliar would intervene to protect chewies habit and his human rights, fought for so valiantly by his moron wife, Cherry. realising the problems this would cause for intergalactic trade, he vapourised the pouch and decided to lie through his teeth, as he does about most things. So dogs bollox, that's another mystery solved. Now for you felinepussy, I wish you could spell Thailand <(:-). I agree with you about the agriculture, strange isn't it.- And there's something in the idea of a future intelligence reaching back in time to interfere at a quantum level to ensure continuity of a particular TREND in timelines. No need to be confussed, felinepussy, it's just that certain particles travel back in time, or has that just made it worse. I think that agent smith should really be concerned with the second foundation at the other end of the galaxy, that's where the real power lies. (I doubt the proclavities of the bent wizard will occupy him for too long). You will note that they seek to intervene in a very subtle manner, to gently, oh so gently, push circumstances in their direction. They work in eons, time-wise, too. I must say that the fiery pussy impressed me too, but why portay it as something evil, could it be something to do with Gordon Brown and his jealousy of the celtic tiger economy, after all, the UK economy, and tax system, is evil, administered by kleptomaniacs who should be neutered, painfully.
Finally, someone has answered the problem of chewies bacci, and I thank you, seekerof wisdom. And gracious thanks to all the other excellent replies too, - lots of knowledge there. But one thing still puzzles me. Why did the sith beat the crap out of middle earth, I mean, what had it got to do with middle earth? - Or was that down to toni bliar again? Did he use the intelligence services to spin the blame from the MULE onto middle earth so as to hide his ultimate intention to subvert the second foundation? Fat chance, I would say. Everything he's tried to do lately has either been a monstrous fuck-up, or it's been voted down by his own backbenchers, and , given the claivoyance of the population of the second foundation, they'd be able to subvert any such stupid intentions quite easily. Concerning the merovingian, I've been doing some research, and I agree with you, but during the thousands of years of lying, how many lives have been wasted/lost, how many have been fried, and how many years of progress have been lost??? Mankind is such a gullible fool, his brain must be made of bollix. Still, once his mind is free, who knows. (Free your mind, Neo). I'm going now, got a big piss-up planned. Later, certainly.
thought you'd like this!!
Israel’s Intelligence Chiefs Warn Lebanon War Is Relocating to Gaza
Israel’s intelligence chiefs have formed a new lobby to put their warnings in the public domain when they see the Olmert government failing to properly address grave security threats to the country.
The first to speak out was the Shin Bet director, Yuval Diskin.
He represented the heads of AMAN-military intelligence and the Mosad when he revealed to the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee Tuesday, Aug. 29, that Palestinian terrorists, notably Hamas, were employing Hizballah’s Lebanon tactics and building a Katyusha deployment, bunker network and anti-tank missile arsenal in the Gaza Strip. The northern West Bank, he said, had been taken over by Hizballah agents and radical Jihad Islami terrorists since its evacuation by Israel at the same time as the Gaza Strip last summer.
This was the Shin Bet director’s first appearance as spokesman of the new intelligence grouping.
It is made up of the heads of the three intelligence services, Diskin, AMAN’s Maj.-Gen Amos Yadlin and Meir Dagan, head of the Mossad, as well as the counter-terror departments of these services and of the IDF Southern Command.
In the wake of the Lebanon war, these security chiefs have resolved to stand guard over Israel’s national security interests against any strategic misjudgments of prime minister Ehud Olmert, defense minister Amir Peretz and chief of staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the heads of the lobby are convinced that the Palestinian menace to Israel is as a great as Hizballah’s in Lebanon and becoming more acute.
They are campaigning for the Israeli army to reoccupy the Gaza-Egyptian border strip known as the Philadelphi route and propose a security zone one kilometer wide to run from Kerem Shalom to the Mediterranean and cut the Gaza Strip off from Sinai.
Since Israeli troops departed the Philadelphi border enclave last summer – with the rest of the Gaza Strip - weapons smuggling and terrorist traffic between Egypt and Gaza has been flourishing.
Diskin’s portrayal of Sinai as a paradise for international weapons traffickers and a strategic threat to Israel was timed to caution Olmert against further concessions on Lebanon to the visiting UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, in consideration of the strong Hizballah-Palestinian interchanges and reciprocity.
DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources reveal: Israel’s security chiefs have learned of a decision by Hizballah to keep its head down in S. Lebanon for the time being, while secretly opening two new anti-Israel fronts in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. This transposition of Hizballah’s war against Israel to the Palestinian arena has begun to materialize.
Three times as many Hizballah officers are traveling to the Gaza Strip by sea as before the war and deliveries of weapons systems have doubled, with Iranian support. Very large quantities of Katyusha rockets and anti-tank missiles are pouring into the Gaza Strip together with hundreds of RPG-29 rocket-propelled grenades and Grad rockets.
Intelligence leaders are warning the prime minister that if this influx is not scotched forthwith, southern Israel will find itself face to face with a second Hizballah front ready to go active in the second half of October.
The Hizballah master plan consists of three parts:
1. Its fighting units with the help of the Lebanese army (40% of which are Shiites) are pretending to remove themselves with their weapons from South Lebanon. Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora happily announced Tuesday that Hizballah had enabled the national army to intercept an arms consignment from Syria in the Lebanese Beqaa Valley. In Tyre, Hizballah fighters surrendered their weapons to Lebanese troops.
Nasrallah will allow a deceptive calm to reign as UN forces move into position, to satisfy them that Security Council resolution 1701 is being upheld, including the institution of an arms-free and militia-free zone in the south. It will last until Hizballah and its Tehran masters are ready for the next round.
2. This calm will contrast meanwhile with the opening of a Hizballah-Hamas front on Israel’s southwest border to replicate the Hizballah rocket offensive against northern Israel which was halted by the UN-brokered ceasefire two weeks ago. Israel’s Negev communities will be targeted instead of Galilee. But Israel’s hands for retaliating against Hizballah will be tied by the presence of the international force in Lebanon.
3. Olmert is sternly warned by Israel’s security chiefs on no account to buy the security arrangements he and his predecessors accepted for Israel’s southern border last year. Neither the Egyptian police contingents nor the European border inspectors have honored agreements signed at the time and caught a single terrorist or stopped a single weapons delivery smuggled in from Sinai to Gaza.
Diskin and Co. see the same pattern taking shape in south Lebanon.
He stressed to the lawmakers in Jerusalem that he felt bound to lay all this intelligence data before them in detail so that the intelligence community would not be blamed after the fact with failing to warn the country of the hazards in store, as it was after the Lebanon war.
Welcome Seekerofwisdom. Are you Intel/Military or Civilian? What else do you read besides DEBKAfile?
This is indeed a Good tactic. It was pretty obvious that the Israeli Intel community weren't to blame for the mishandling of the war. Perhaps now that the govenment cannot create scapegoats out of them, they won't make such irrational decisions.
A salute to the Colonel, the head honcho!
I've always found Debka to be reliable, they generally beat the mainstream press crap by a good few days, and they can't stand the bullshit from Kofi, who I find to be just as corrupt as his son. (oil for sale under the counter ex Iraq
http://www.mideastmonitor.org/
http://www.rferl.org/features/
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarchive/country/israel.html
these will do for a start, - well worth exploring
Now Colonel, you're a military genius, as all your readers know, any comments on this technology are welcome, - have a good look round
http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/haarp/photos.html
I'm getting increasingly dissillusioned with the UN myself. Unfortunatly I'd 'get in a spot of bovver' if I was to air my concerns publically.
I've reviewed that information. It seems somewhat to scientific/lab- coat/nerdy for a Jarhead to understand. What makes this more advanced than the SatNav, SatCom and Sattelite Surveillence systems I have at my disposal?
well, I'm not a techie, but I'll attempt an answere, although I'll bow to seekerofwidom if he/she differs. My take is that ICBMs, to achieve their distance, go into space where there is no friction from the air. They are targeted using these parameters in order to achieve the distance, fuel consumption, velocity, etc, etc. The haarp system seek to heat the ionosphere using massive emmissions of microwaves, resulting in a rapidly rising current of air which in turn will screw up all the aforesaid calculations. I therefor view Haarp, amongst other things, as a defence tool, re Russian ICBMs, - it would bring them down short of their target, - hopefully in the pond. Quite how rapidly the air would rise, and what the lead-time/warnig period would need to be, I don't know. Anyway thats the best I can do.
No one yet has explained why the Jedi never intervened when the MULE stole chewbacca's bacci. I don't believe that toni bliars spin would fool anyone any longer, but if they did, then why didn't the Jedi stop the crap being kicked out of middle earth, - I thought they were supposed to be impartial? I'll jez have to give it more thought. Seekerofwisdom, where are you? whats your take on Haarp?
Colonel, where are you, have you seen Debka lately? The wires are burning. Hopefully there'll be an article later this evening to pull it all together. Back in Feb 2003, the revolving (6 months) chair of the UN commission on Human Rights was held by LIBYA, so I guess that bears out your comments on the UN. Quite why the west continues to pay the UN fees I wouldn't Know. Similarly I can't figure why the EU, and US, continue to fund the palestinians. A severe shortage of funds may just encourage them to develope industry and services that are not totally related to terror, drug smuggling, arms smuggling, currency printing, etc. Our political leaders are just fucking idiots. Naturally Iran would like to step in and fill the gap, but their economy is a baket-case from the arms, drugs, nuclear ambitions etc. But what the heck, why not give them more expenditure in order to spread their crap, - why make it easy for them?
hey Colonel, what about this?
http://www.haarp.net/
I began to worry, reading the review.
Hey, Seeker, where are you?
Boohoo, --Boohoo --Colonel, where are you, have you fallen for the charms of felinepussy, Boohoo --Boohoo, you know I get so jealous, why do you hide your talents away, i really could do with some company tonight. Do you think that maybe, just maybe - - - - -
Ayup, colonel, - hope you're around here somewhere. it seems that other messages may have answered queries regarding Haarp, - sorry I took so long. What are these rumours I hear about you and Angelina J? personally I don't believe them, - a distinguished military man like you, indeed!! Anyway, returning to your military/battle skills, I thought this may be of interest to you
08/17/2006 - By Dr. Andrew McGregor - As the world waits to see if the UN-brokered ceasefire in Lebanon holds, the Israeli army will begin assessing its disappointing performance against Hezbollah guerrillas. Among the many aspects to be investigated is the vulnerability of Israel's powerful armored corps to small, hand-held, wire-guided anti-tank weapons. Indeed, Hezbollah's innovative use of anti-tank missiles was the cause of most Israeli casualties and has given the small but powerful weapons a new importance in battlefield tactics. In a recent statement, Hezbollah's armed wing, al-Moqawama al-Islamia (Islamic Resistance), described Israel's main battle-tank as "a toy for the rockets of the resistance" (al-Manar TV, August 11). Hezbollah's anti-tank weapons consist of a variety of wire-guided missiles (usually of Russian design and manufactured and/or supplied by Iran and Syria) and rocket-propelled grenade launchers (RPGs).
The missiles include the European-made Milan, the Russian-designed Metis-M, Sagger AT-3, Spigot AT-4 and the Russian-made Kornet AT-14. The latter is a Syrian supplied missile capable of targeting low-flying helicopters. Iraqi Fedayeen irregulars used the Kornet against U.S. forces in 2003. The most portable versions of these weapons are carried in a fiberglass case with a launching rail attached to the lid.
On July 30, the Israeli army published photos of various anti-tank missiles they claim to have found in a Hezbollah bunker (see: http://www.hnn.co.il/index.php?modul...sk=view;id=967). The weapons include Saggers and TOW missiles. The TOW (Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided) missile is a formidable weapon first produced by the United States in the 1970s. These missiles were of interest as their packing crates were marked 2001, suggesting that these were relatively new additions to Hezbollah's arsenal and not part of the shipment of TOW missiles from Israel to Iran that was part of the Iran-Contra scandal of 1986 (the shelf-life of the TOW is roughly 20 years). On August 6, Israeli Major-General Benny Gantz showed film of BGM-71 TOW and Sagger AT-3 missiles he reported were captured at one of Hezbollah's field headquarters (Haaretz, August 6).
The primary target of Hezbollah's battlefield missiles is the Israeli-made Merkava tank. The Merkava was designed for the maximum protection of its crews, with heavy armor and a rear escape hatch. The emphasis on crew survival is not simply a humanitarian gesture; the small country of Israel cannot provide an endless number of trained, combat-ready tank crews if casualties begin to mount. The tank is also designed to be easily and quickly repaired, a specialty of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The modular armor plating can be easily replaced if damaged, or replaced entirely with upgraded materials when available. The first generation of Merkavas was built in the 1970s and was soon deployed in Lebanon in 1982. The much-improved Merkava Mk 4 has been Israel's main battle-tank since its introduction in 2004.
Current battlefield reports suggest that Hezbollah fighters are well-trained in aiming at the Merkava's most vulnerable points, resulting in as many as one-quarter of their missiles successfully piercing the armor (Yediot Aharonot, August 10). Hezbollah attacks on Merkava tanks during the November 2005 raid on the border town of Ghajar were videotaped and closely examined to find points where the armor was susceptible to missile attack. While some of their missiles have impressive ranges (up to three kilometers), the guerrillas prefer to fire from close range to maximize their chances of hitting weak points on the Merkava. Operating in two- or three-man teams, the insurgents typically try to gain the high ground in the hilly terrain before selecting targets, using well-concealed missile stockpiles that allow them to operate behind Israeli lines (Jerusalem Post, August 3).
Without artillery, Hezbollah has adapted its use of anti-tank missiles for mobile fire support against Israeli troops taking cover in buildings. There are numerous reports of such use, the most devastating being on August 9, when an anti-tank missile collapsed an entire building, claiming the lives of nine Israeli reservists (Y-net, August 10). Four soldiers from Israel's Egoz (an elite reconnaissance unit) were killed in a Bint Jbail house when it was struck by a Sagger missile (Haaretz, August 6). TOW missiles were used effectively in 2000 against IDF outposts in south Lebanon before the Israeli withdrawal. There are also recent instances of anti-tank weapons being used against Israeli infantry in the field, a costly means of warfare but one that meets two important Hezbollah criteria: the creation of Israeli casualties and the preservation of highly-outnumbered Hezbollah guerrillas who can fire the weapons from a relatively safe distance.
It was suggested that the IDF helicopter brought down by Hezbollah fire on August 12 was hit by an anti-tank missile. Hezbollah claimed to have used a new missile called the Wa'ad (Promise), although the organization occasionally renames existing missiles (Jerusalem Post, August 12). At least one of Israel's ubiquitous armored bulldozers has also fallen prey to Hezbollah's missiles.
The Syrian-made RPG-29 was previously used with some success against Israeli tanks in Gaza. Hezbollah also uses this weapon, with a dual-warhead that allows it to penetrate armor. On August 6, the Israeli press reported that IDF intelligence sources claimed that an improved Russian-made version of the RPG-29 was being sold to Syria before transfer to the Islamic Resistance (Haaretz, August 6). In response, Russia's Foreign Ministry denied any involvement in supplying anti-tank weapons to Hezbollah (RIA Novosti, August 10). The IDF reports that anti-tank missiles and rockets continue to cross the border into Lebanon from Syria, despite the destruction of roads and bridges in the area (Haaretz, August 13).
The Merkava tank has assumed an important role as a symbol of Israeli military might. Their destruction in combat has an important symbolic value for Hezbollah. Hezbollah's tactical innovations and reliance on anti-tank missiles over more traditional infantry weapons will undoubtedly prompt serious introspection on the part of the IDF in anticipation of renewed conflict along the border.
Dr. McGregor is the director of Aberfoyle International Security Analysis in Toronto, Canada.
@ Caninefriend: That was a much better site than the one originally linked. The technology excites me now.
@ Scarlett: Leave me alone you clingy psycho-bitch.
@ seekerofwisdom: Your posts are very informative, but it would probably be better if you just posted the link to the quoted article either as text or as an imbedded link.
This allows any associated links and graphical references to be maintained.
Thought you'd like this, Colonel
http://www.honestreporting.com/
Shows how western Europe is being manipulated. You got to wonder why, why the agenda, is it really left-wing morons, - or does it go deeper??? Who stands to gain, there's the key. Who stands to gain from a reversion to middle-ages society, waving our asses in the air five times a day, argueing who has got the best imaginery best friend? Why do we hate our own culture so deeply? Or is it as superficial as a reporter selling a story? Pretty soon all thinking people will be voting with their feet! Keep on blogging.
Greetings seeker, I trust you examined this link. For fucks sake, all we see on mainline TV is bullsh-t.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/
?entry=21956_Reuters_Doctoring_Photos_from_Beirut&only
Talk about indoctrination. You ain't seen nothing 'till you've viewed this crap.
Down left column of previous link by dogsfoot, find block headed "slidshows", and click on link "palestinian child abuse". Arafat was always a sicko, bleading his supporters dry and brainwashing from birth, while his wife and daughter lived in luxury in a paris hotel, and he acquired numerous offshore properties, ON EU AND US FUNDS. It bears repeating, our political leaders are fucking idiots, outsmarted at every turn by career terrorists
Hoorah for you Colonel, my sweetheart. And as for you, Scarlett, you clingy psycho-bitch, you take your hands of MY colonel, ya hear?
OOOOH! Colonel, you were luvly last night, so military, so upstanding. I,ll be back for more tonight, my sweetness. Now be upstanding.
'Till later
Well, I have to wonder. Why pay 'em to suffer in a crisis of their own making? Now please remind me, - they did vote in Hamas, didn't they? Thats, correct they did. But why? Because they finally realised the curruption of the Arafat cronies still running the shebang. Sheesh, some folk just can't be helped. But then they are a mendicant society!
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525985015&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Gee I don't know how but the software on this blog site seems to chop up some of the long links. lets see if this one works
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1154525985015&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Hey, the dead-beats at the UN have just established a human rights investigation. Get this---
UN appoints inquiry commission into alleged Israeli human rights abuses
The commission was created by the UN Human Rights Council last month at a special session in which Israel was condemned for "massive bombardment of Lebanese civilian populations" and other "systematic" human rights violations.
The investigators - a Brazilian, Tanzanian, and a Greek - are to "investigate the systematic targeting and killings of civilians by Israel; examine the types of weapons used by Israel and their conformity with international law; and assess the extent and deadly impact of Israeli attacks on human life, property, critical infrastructure and environment."
The members of the commission were identified as Brazilian Clemente Baena Soares, a former secretary general of the Organization of American States; Mohamed Chande Othman, who sits on Tanzania's supreme court; and Stelios Perrakis, a professor of international studies and a member of the Council of Europe, the continent's human rights watchdog.
The UN rights body voted on August 11 by 27-11 to create the inquiry. European countries, Japan and Canada voted against the resolution, primarily because it lacked balance in failing to name the Hezbollah militia. The United States, which is an observer, has no vote on the 47-member council.
Now get this-- I pulled it from an extemely long UN report,
The result of the vote was as follows:
In favour (27):Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Uruguay, and Zambia.
Against (11):Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, United Kingdom, and Ukraine.
Abstentions (8):Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, Nigeria, Philippines, Republic of Korea, and Switzerland.
You gotta wonder! No mention of Israel casualties, or the fact that Hizb. uses civilians, their properties, hopitals, schools, etc as shields. go to this link. the country is Iraq. the techniques are the same
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-fallujah-slideshow.php?imgIndex=3&autoShow=8
This backs up a previous post.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2672029.stm
I could not possibly comment on all that. But thank you all for the information and input.
I will however echo at a statement from Dogsfoot referring to this about doctored photos and bullshit in the primarilly leftist media. People should only obtain their infomation from the unbiased Fox News where there is no false representation or misleading information.
I myself am adept in the art of doctored photos, usually however to enhance quality of the original, never to alter someone’s impression of the event. To do that would be despicable and dishonest. If I was to ever create a false image that would misrepresent myself or another then the words "artists’ impression" would be attached to the photo or the posting it belonged to.
AW shucks, Colonel, I can see you're getting upset with my attentions. And here am I thinking all sorts of things. Well feck-me, oyll be on my way. Pity though, See ya, soon - probably.
Hey ,Angelina, where you going girl, I got the hots for you. Send me the URL when you get there.
Now hold on people. It's me he wants to go. Maybe I'm hogging the wires with too much detail. No doubt I'll be court marshalled. Not guilty, Sir. No need to worry, I'll find a new venue. I did have a great theory, given my many years of detailed study, in conjuntion with ex-MOD researchers, concerning the many and frequent UFO, and Alien happenings, and timelines, a theory backed up by good maths, but what the hell? Anjelina, dogs really has the hots, - let him know where you are. And Colonel, whats with all these malformed letters we have to enter????
Seekerofwisdom: I don't want anyone to leave but as I believe, you have plenty of that which you seek, I think you've grown beyond this insignificant forum. Out of all the people that have visited me over the past year, I think only you have the potential (free time and crackpot theories,- multiple personalities notwithstanding)to create your own blog. You can create your own forum in your own idiom and bring your unique brand of intrests to the world there as opposed to having them attached to a post about a video game.
It's rather easy to set up. I formally support this venture, and would link, advertise and make appearences there myself.
Oh the malformed letters are a security device to prevent 'bots' posing as people leaving comments containing advertising links like E-mail spam.
Time to act against Iran 03 September 2006
PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the repressive Iranian regime he represents have called the world’s bluff, again: the UN Security Council deadline requiring Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment programme or face sanctions came and went last week. The UN’s nuclear inspectors – the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – confirmed on Thursday that Tehran had recently begun a new round of uranium enrichment. But an increasingly cocky Mr Ahmadinejad thumbed his nose at the Security Council, confident that Iran’s increasingly close economic ties between with Russia and China will protect him from sanctions.
Six world powers will now meet to decide how to react to Iran’s latest snub; it is imperative that they show the backbone that has been sadly missing so far. Iran’s fanatical government has yet to pay any price for its failure to disclose its nuclear activities which were fully confirmed back in 2002. No one can be in any doubt that it is trying to acquire atomic weapons in violation of its commitments under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Were Iran a peaceful democracy, there might be a case for giving it the benefit of the doubt but a totalitarian regime, with its rigged elections, its repeated and horrific violations of human rights, its lavish funding of terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah, its fermenting of civil war in Iraq, and its pledges to wipe Israel off the map (which goes hand-in-hand with its malevolent denial of the Holocaust), mean that no benefit of the doubt can be tolerated.
Last week’s IAEA report states that Iran has not suspended its enrichment activities, but has started working on a new batch on 24 August. After a three-year inquiry, the IAEA confirmed that it remains unable to confirm “the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme” because of lack of cooperation from Tehran (though it remains equally unable to prove that it is not peaceful). Iran’s pilot centrifuge plant was still processing small quantities of uranium gas for enrichment last week. Even though it is relatively limited in scope and, like all such reports, necessarily incomplete, the IAEA findings still represent yet another damning indictment.
The agency has found minute particles of highly-enriched uranium at an Iranian technical university implicated in military work, though the report did not specify whether the level was weapons-grade. The report also highlights Iran’s decision to cut off IAEA access to suspicious diagrams apparently showing how to mould fissile material into the shape of a warhead (the Iranians destroyed notes taken on the document by agency inspectors). UN inspectors were temporarily banned from an underground facility being built to house tens of thousands of centrifuges, the backbone of Iran’s future enrichment programme; there have been huge delays in granting proper visas to inspectors. The list goes on and on.
Iran is a rogue nation – witness the expansionist and dictatorial tendencies of its rulers – trying to develop a nuclear weapon. Israel’s failure to defeat Hezbollah in last month’s Lebanese conflict plus the international outcry against Israel (rather than the Iranian-financed and armed terrorists) have emboldened the regime, which sees itself as the new hegemon of the Middle East – the new leader of Political Islam – and the leading player in global Islamist extremism, superseding even al-Qaeda. Even the civil war in Iraq, and the growing likelihood that the Republican Party will be defeated in November’s mid-term Congressional elections in America, have also raised Iran’s self-confidence. Tehran is more convinced than ever that the decadent West is too degenerate to have the guts, stamina and focus to do anything to thwart it.
So what should be done? Ideally, the United States and Great Britain should be able to convince France – whose own global credibility has been shot to shreds after its repeated U-turns and confusion over sending troops to Lebanon – that drastic action against Iran is needed. The three countries could then work together to convince Russia and China, the two other permanent members of the security council, that a nuclear Iran wouThe last thing Russia needs is Chechen-terrorists armed with Iranian weapons of mass destruction. China also has a very sizeable Muslim minority which it will not want to see come under the influence of an Iranian nuclear superpower. The problem is that those countries doubt that Iran will have the technology for a nuclear bomb any time soon – not for at least another five years – and are therefore relatively relaxed about not acting immediately. It is therefore likely that they will veto any proposed sanctions.
If it turns out to be impossible to act through the UN, the US, Britain and others should form a coalition of the willing to put pressure on the Iranian regime. They need to agree increasingly tough sanctions targeted as much as possible against the governing elite rather than the Iranian people. Strict travel bans should be imposed on all Iranian leaders apart from members of the pro-democracy opposition; the export of any technology or products to Iran that could help its nuclear programme should be prohibited; there should be no more credits or loans extended to Iran; and, most damagingly of all for the regime, all overseas assets of Iranian officials, known members of the regime, government agencies and state-owned companies should be frozen, as well as the holdings of companies that help the import of materials for the nuclear programme.
America can do a lot on its own to put pressure on Iran. The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, which slaps sanctions on firms that invest more than $20m per year in Iran’s oil industry, should be re-authorised and toughened. The Bush administration should also tighten the screws on non-American firms that do business with Tehran. Most important of all, large-scale help for Iranian opposition groups that support democracy is essential, as is a huge increase in intelligence resources to try and gain a better understanding of the political climate in Iran and to determine with a better degree of accuracy the real state of its nuclear programme.ld be a disaster for everybody and that naked short-term commercialism by any country in its relations with Iran would only guarantee a long-term catastrophe.
f limited sanctions fail to work the next step – short of the big gamble that would be a massive campaign of air strikes to take out underground nuclear facilities – would be a total trade blockade on Iran. But that would be catastrophic both for Iran, which would be bankrupted in short order, and the global economy, as it would send the price of oil soaring uncontrollably and could even trigger a global recession. So better to act now to let Iran know that its efforts to build a nuclear arsenal will not go unchallenged.
Now where is hollywood, - let's make a film of the colonel and his undercover activities in .......
Deep apologies "whopper" thought you'd like this parting gift. OOPS Where's the photgraph? <(:-)
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