By Syed M.Aslam
Jan-28 - Feb-03, 2002
*** "TO HAVE A MILITARY PRESENCE in
one's neighbouring is, of course, a cause of concern. Wouldn't the
United States be worried if China stationed troops in Canada and
Cuba?"
(Political expert at Peking University, Pan Wei,
expressing China's concerns about the increased US presence in Central
Asia, particularly in Afghanistan)
*** "MY MOTHER-IN-LAW bought stock last
summer, and it's not worth anything now."
(US President George W. Bush revealing that his
mother-in-law Jenna Welch was among the investors of bankrupt energy
giant Enron who had lost large sums of money. He also defended his
position by saying that US administration had done nothing wrong by
holding a series of meetings with business and government leaders
before Enron filed for bankruptcy in December)
*** "THE WEST bears some of the
responsibility for what has happened in Russia ... For some time
there's been a very strong appearance of political pressure in the
judicial process against Russia's independent media, including in this
case."
(Head of Russia's opposition TV-6 television
channel, Boris Berezovsky, accusing the West for the abrupt shutting
down of his channel on January 21)
*** "... one thing I was surprised about
yesterday — which I'm so glad about — wearing the Afghan
traditional 'chapan' has become a fashion. I believe Gucci said
something about it — that's one of the achievements."
(Afghanistan's interim leader Hamid Karzai
expressing his pleasure with his fame as a 'fashion icon' for wearing
green and purple striped Uzbek robe. The European media had recently
quoted the creative director of fashion designer Gucci calling Karzai
'the most chic man in the world')
*** "YES, WE ARE GETTING THEM and US has
given its consent."
(Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes
confirming the sale of Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control System and
Arrow missile system by Israel to his country)
*** "IF IT LANDED in a metropolitan
area, bye bye to that area ... (it) could take care of a continent,
but it wouldn't change the ecosystem the way the one that killed the
dinosaurs did."
(A key investigator at Nasa's Near Earth Asteroid
Tracking project, Steve Pravdo, commenting on the impact that
approximately 1,200 big dangerous believed-to-exist asteroids would
have if any one of them hits the earth. Scientists have detected 564
such asteroids including 471 discovered since 1990)
*** "IT'S A SYSTEMATIC TACTIC. The
Israelis want to kill all the leaders of the Palestinian people, one
after the other ... And look how they treat the Palestinian
population."
(President of Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat
commenting on the Israeli atrocities to the Palestinian leadership and
people)
*** "WE, IN THE SCRAP TRADE, do not
attach any importance to the source of our consignments ... It is all
just scrap, ready to be recycled. I have handled such scrap from
Poland, Japan, Britain and of course the US.
(A Chennai-based Indian dealer who purchased 10,000
tonne of the scrap purchased from the site of September 11 WTC
wreckage to be recycled into steel furniture and kitchenware to grace
households across the country)
*** "NOTHING SHORT of war will prevent
our campaign to build the Ram temple. We are determined."
(Spokesman of ultra militant Indian outfit Vishnu
Hindu Parishad, Veereshwar Dwivedi, saying that only a war between
India and Pakistan can prevent the construction of a temple this year
at the site of a 16th century mosque razed by the Hindu fanatics in
1992)
*** "I FEEL BAD ABOUT THAT ... I am not
only under house arrest. I am also under wife arrest."
(Detained former president of Philippines Joseph
Estrada jokingly criticizing the denial of 'wife visitation' privilege
to him unlike that granted to the governor of Muslim Miandanao, Nur
Misuari. Estrada is believed to have four 'official wives' while
Misuari is known to have three 'legal wives')
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