Kidnappers threaten to kill Italian hostages unless Italians protest against their government. I wonder what effect this will have on May Day anti-war rallies in Italy; when a rally becomes, literally, a pro-terrorist demonstration, I imagine it would lose a lot of its moral clout, and a lot of people would keep away or get behind their government.

(Which leads to a somewhat far-out, and paranoid, theory about Bush's possible October Surprise: what if, say, a Republican/PNAC dirty-tricks unit had some "terrorist" stooges kidnap some Americans and send a videotape to al-Jazeera threatening to kill them unless Americans rally against Bush. I imagine such a scenario would take the wind out of the Democrats' sails and get Bush reelected with a sweeping landslide without even needing to use trick voting machines. Of course, the Republicans respect democracy and wouldn't do anything like that any more than allowing 9/11 to take place.)

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com/ | Wed Apr 28 10:20:10 2004

Two words: Jimmy Carter.

Posted by: Ed | http://asseptic.org/blog/ | Wed Apr 28 13:32:26 2004

last sunday a portuguese newspaper ran an exaustive interview with an algerian journalist who in the past claimed to have infiltrated al-qaeda who now says osama bin laden is locked in a 'golden cage' (i.e. a small village completely surrounded and monitored by US special forces), and his execution (he can't ever be arrested or there'd be attacks demanding his release) shall happen september 11. 'hollywood-style', the jorunalist says.

Posted by: dj | http://deej.bah.id.au | Thu Apr 29 03:18:43 2004

I think there are plenty of Italians who would be going on May Day marches because they don't appreciate Silvio's industrial relations, quasi-fascism and suport of shonky corporate mates.

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