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The thing is different cultures view animals in different ways. When some people called the French weasels because they refused to be taken in by the unintelligence claims about Iraq, it was a waste of time – the French don’t view weasels the same way Americans do.

Among a number of different tribes of Native Americans, bringing a dog into the house is a filthy habit. In general, dogs are considered filthy in Islamic countries, and in parts of Southern Asia they are considered dinner.

When you start using animals as totems for countries, you really need to know how that culture reacts to that animal. When you are drawing a political cartoon it is important to determine if the country you are depicting reacts to that animal the same way you audience reacts.

Steve Gilliard and Digby cover the incident of a Washington Times cartoon that has created a furor in Pakistan.

Considering the reaction when the British press and MPs call Blair “Bush’s Poodle”, why would the artist think it was a good idea to portray Pakistan as America’s hound?

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The world has finally decided to notice there’s a problem in Uzbekistan.

Canadian Broadcast had it on their front page: U.S. joins calls for Uzbek investigation, as did the Australians: Diplomats inspect Uzbek city of Andijan after protest violence

You have to look to find it on the BBC: US joins push for Uzbek inquiry, or CNN: Pressure for Uzbek violence probe.

The problem is not unique in history. A tyrant has put too much pressure on his people and some of them revolted, which resulted in the violent suppression of the dissidents. The government reports 169 deaths, but others say in excess of 700. The government conducts a tour near, but not at, the site of the suppression to show there was no massive loss of life, while insisting that foreigners cannot talk to local people. The foreign ministry chants “war on terror” in the background.

The breakup of the Soviet Union provided jobs to some former Soviet bureaucrats, and a number of them are not very nice people:
Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus – garden variety thug and murderer with delusions of grandeur.
Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan – totally delusional, names months after himself and want a palace of ice built in a desert.
Emomali Rakhmonov of Tadjikistan and Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan are not quite as friendly as Mayor Daley of Chicago in the 1960s.

Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan is a nice fit for the group, but he’s smoother and less obvious about the fact that he will do anything and kill anyone to maintain his control.

The Bush administration has allied itself with Karimov to get necessary military bases in its “Global War on Terror”. They had to ignore the reports of the murder and torture, because everyone murdered and tortured was an “enemy combatant” or “Muslim extremist”, and these things don’t usually take place in public or on Sundays. They know this because Mr. Karimov told them, and there’s no reason for him to lie.

The Uzbek national hero is buried in a vault carved from what is rumored to be the world’s largest chunk of worked jade in Samarkand. Timur kicked up quite a fuss at the end of the 14^th and beginning of the 15^th century. Known by many variations such as Tamerlane, he was a rather successful conqueror, and not notably a nice guy.

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Rubber Hose noticed a comparison by The Angry Bear between World War II and the Global War on Terror.

May 19^th, 2005 is the 1346^th day after the September 11^th, 2001 attack on the US. There were 1346 days between the attack on Pearl Harbor and the unconditional surrender of Japan, ending World War II.

The American people under FDR managed to train and equip several major armies to fight a war on a truly global scale against massive enemy armies and develop the atomic bomb.

Under GWB we don’t seem to be able to find one guy in a cave, nor to supply our troops with the equipment they need, and our possible enemies are the ones developing the atomic bomb.

Recently, George W. Bush criticized the actions of Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II. President Roosevelt won his war in 1346 days, even with the handicap of dying before the end, and “he went to war with the army he had”, but he made it better along the way.

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. [Matthew 7:15-16]

Where are Bush’s “fruits”, the results of his leadership?

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