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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
U.S. Drone Attack In Pakistan Reportedly Kills 15 Suspected Militants
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
Afghanistan massacre: How rising tensions could cost Obama politically
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/13/2012 08:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Effigies of Obama were burned at site in Panjwai
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/13/2012 07:59 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


The Merkel visit to Afghan and a hint 2014 might not be the end of it
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/13/2012 07:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  “It’s very important for the Afghan people to know that we won’t leave them completely on their own when we withdraw,” Merkel said, according to Euro News. “We will continue the reconstruction of Afghanistan, we will continue training, and I think this is a very important message.”

Great to hear that the Germans will be picking up the slack. Now we can bring the Americans home sooner.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/13/2012 8:07 Comments || Top||

#2  OOOOOOOOO, you just know there's an ex-WW1, US Cowboy Movie-loving, Aryan German Bi-plane Fighter Pilot armed wid "Wild Wild West" Six-Gun Shooters around somewhere, ala "THE THREE AMIGOS"???

D *** NG IT, HE'S SHOCKED, SHOCKED, SHOCKED HE TELLS YA, THAT MARTIN SHORT'S CHARACTER IS NOT AS FAST WID A SIX-GUN AS IN THE MOVIES!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/13/2012 21:58 Comments || Top||


Death penalty possible in Afghan massacre: Panetta
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Monday that the death penalty could be sought over the massacre of 16 villagers in Afghanistan, which U.S. officials said they believe was the work of a rogue American soldier.

The shooting spree in the southern province of Kandahar, which killed mostly women and children, has triggered angry calls from Afghans for an immediate American exit from the country, as Washington tries to negotiate a long-term presence to keep it from sliding into chaos again.

Panetta, however, attempted to portray the shooting as an isolated event that would not alter plans for a gradual, orderly withdrawal of American combat forces by the end of 2014.

"War is hell. These kinds of events and incidents are going to take place, they've taken place in any war. They're terrible events. And this is not the first of those events, and it probably won't be the last," the defense secretary told reporters on a flight to Kyrgyzstan.

"But we cannot allow these events to undermine our strategy or the mission that we're involved in."

Panetta, answering questions for the first time about the shooting rampage, said U.S. officials were still uncertain about the motives behind it.
Posted by: tipper || 03/13/2012 00:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I've already seen reports that the suspect sustained traumatic brain injury from the effects of an IED encountered earlier ion his service.

If that is the case, and if he goes to trial, any normal legal process would take into consideration that pathology, and would be likely to eliminate the death penalty as an option.

But - give the pattern over the last ten years of consistently pandering to the barbaric whims of the muslim orcs - I presume that the shooter is toast, if he is convicted.

I will say - this certainly does not sound like the kind of guy that you want to put back out onto the mean streets of hometown USA.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 03/13/2012 1:28 Comments || Top||

#2  I take it there is still no comment from Secretary Panetta or the White House concerning the fate of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspected perpetrator of the 5 Nov 2009, Fort Hood shooting which resulted in 13 deaths and 29 injured service memebers, and the shattered lives of hundreds of friends, colleagues, parents and family members ?????

Posted by: Besoeker || 03/13/2012 1:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Death Penalty. Right. Where have these clowns been for the last couple decades as the Military Court of Appeals has shut that down. Oh, now they're interested.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/13/2012 2:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Without seeking the approval of int. community, first?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/13/2012 3:46 Comments || Top||

#5  grom, I figure getting that int'l approval would be pretty easy.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/13/2012 7:35 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm sorry, didn't we lose a Colonel and a Major inside Afgan Police HQ, in one of the "Most secure places in the country"? Maybe we'll consider this, CONSIDER, if we get the people responsible for that.

And we still haven't head exactly what his soldier's motivation was or the connection to the Villages he had. Oh they know damn well what it is. Bet your ass they know EXACTLY why this soldier went off the deep end. That they haven't said it and are spouting "brain Injury" is nothing but deflection. There's a STORY behind this.
Posted by: Charles || 03/13/2012 8:03 Comments || Top||

#7  You bet there is Charles, but we'll be lucky if Obama and Holder don't hand the soldier over to Afghan courts.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/13/2012 8:23 Comments || Top||

#8  Here is a story with a lot more details about the shooter.

What really got my attention is that he was from Fort Lewis, that is in the midst of a huge scandal for downgrading 300 severe PTSD cases in 2007, giving them meds, and shipping them back to the front, which is a recipe for disaster.

Several other bad scandals as well. Obviously a breakdown in the chain of command.

All indications are that things have not improved there. The hospital is very understaffed, and the post is still under great pressure to rotate injured personnel back into combat.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/13/2012 8:59 Comments || Top||

#9  More on the deeply troubled Fort Lewis.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/13/2012 10:22 Comments || Top||

#10  We will see what mitigating circumstances this troop has surrounding his act.

I do know the area they are in was one of the nastiest AL-Q areas in that country.

It's a little early yet.
Posted by: newc || 03/13/2012 11:57 Comments || Top||


#12  He went out a mile, shot the group, walked back more than a mile, shot one person, and then surrendered on base.

I Am afraid I may know too much already.
Posted by: newc || 03/13/2012 20:16 Comments || Top||


White House: No Change to U.S. Afghan Strategy
[An Nahar] The White House said Monday that U.S. strategy would not change in Afghanistan despite the fallout from a U.S. soldier's shooting rampage which killed 16 civilians in a new jolt to America's war policy.

"Our strategic objectives have not changed and they will not change," White House front man Jay Carney said, adding Washington remained committed to disrupting, disarming and defeating al-Qaeda and training Afghans to ensure their own security.

President Barack Obama
I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money...
is committed to gradually withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan under an agreement with NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
partners which foresees a full drawdown by the end of 2014.

"This is a challenging time, no question," Carney said, but added that the administration would continue to work on what it sees as vital U.S. national security interests in Afghanistan.

"I don't believe this incident will change the timetable of a strategy that was designed and implemented to allow for the withdrawal of U.S. forces, to allow for the transfer of lead security over to the Afghans," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  "Washington remained committed to disrupting, disarming and defeating al-Qaeda and training Afghans" -Actually the current catch strategic slogan in the Stan is "Disrupt the Taliban, Train ANA and Transfer to the ANA". Now I see the wording is back to "defeating al Qaeda" within the WH. Does it make a difference -likely not. Its "still exit stage left Snagglepus"
Posted by: Northern Cousin || 03/13/2012 1:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, as tens of thousands of PPT slides will attest to, reality Terms of reference in theater are quite different than in CONUS. How very convenient strange.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/13/2012 2:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Generally.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 03/13/2012 7:19 Comments || Top||

#4  I've often wondered if one good way to shut down government would be to require government officials to have a per-use license on Powerpoint slides. At ten cents a slide, the U.S. government would go broke faster than Greece...
Posted by: Steve White || 03/13/2012 7:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Dr. Steve, your .ppt concept could also be applied with positive effect to most corporations.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/13/2012 7:39 Comments || Top||

#6  Why bother they are still printing their maps with misspelled place names from a faulty computer program they have running the whole show doing projections and such.
Posted by: Jiggs Grinetle3790 || 03/13/2012 16:36 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Two Israeli Arabs, Ukrainian Get Life Sentences For Arms Smuggling
State media report that an Egyptian court has sentenced two Israeli Arabs and a Ukrainian to life imprisonment after convicting them of smuggling a machine gun and ammunition across the Israeli border into Egypt.

The three were also fined around $10,000 each.

The Ukrainian and one of the Israelis were arrested in November; the third suspect was tried in absentia.

Prosecutors said the Ukrainian, the manager of a tourism company in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, had ordered the weapon from one of the Israeli defendants.

The Ukrainian reportedly claimed he had ordered the weapon for personal protection.
Posted by: tipper || 03/13/2012 18:21 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


200 Dead In South Sudan Clash
"The people killed are around 223. 150 are injured," said Jonglei state governor Kuol Manyang. "There are about 300 women and children who are thought to have been abducted."

Manyang said around 100,000 cows were stolen on Friday and Saturday when cattle raiders from the Murle community in Jonglei state attacked the ethnic Lou Nuer living in neighbouring Upper Nile state.

Manyang said the attacks in and around Romyieri, in Nasir territory, started at dawn on Friday.

The latest attacks appear to be reprisals for a wave of ethnic violence and cattle raids in the same area in January when an 8,000-strong militia of Lou Nuer youths joined by some Dinka marched on Pibor county, razing whole Murle villages and massacring people in their wake.

The UN has yet to release a death toll for that wave of attacks and a speedily produced figure from the commissioner of Pibor county of 3,000 dead remains unverified.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/13/2012 10:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Were there signs of black helicopters and South Park characters at the cattle site? Was there a green rep there counting methane particles in the air?
Posted by: Jiggs Grinetle3790 || 03/13/2012 16:33 Comments || Top||


Egyptian parliament: Israel is #1 enemy
This has never been in doubt, even when Hosni ran the show, but now it's out in front.
The lower house of the Egyptian parliament has unanimously approved a text declaring that Israel is the number one enemy of Egypt and calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and a halt to gas exports to Israel.

On Monday, Egyptian MPs voted by a show of hands on the text of a report, which was compiled by the Arab Affairs Committee of the People's Assembly (lower house of parliament).

"Revolutionary Egypt will never be a friend, partner or ally of the Zionist entity, which we consider to be the number one enemy of Egypt and the Arab nation," the report declared, adding, "It will deal with that entity as an enemy, and the Egyptian government is hereby called upon to review all its relations and accords with that enemy."

In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, but was compelled to agree to supply gas to Israel as one of the main economic conditions of the US-sponsored peace deal.

According to the results of an opinion poll conducted by Synovate for Press TV and published on October 3, 2011, an overwhelming majority of Egyptians oppose the terms of the country's gas deal with Israel. In the poll, seventy-three percent of the respondents said they were opposed to gas exports to Israel. Only 9 percent said they approved of Egypt supplying gas to Israel, and 12 percent had no opinion.

The issue of supplying gas to Israel has always been a contentious topic for Egyptians, who view Israel as an enemy and oppose engaging in any form of business with it.

According to a $2.5 billion export deal with Tel Aviv, signed in 2005, Israel receives around 40 percent of its gas supply from Egypt at an extremely low price.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This has never been in doubt, even when Hosni ran the show, but now it's out in front

The difference is that, nowadays, most Israelis understand this.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/13/2012 1:16 Comments || Top||

#2  I hope that Israelis see now that returning Sinai was inane. They should get it back at the nearest opportunity. And build a moat around Gazoo, filled with great white and crocks.
Posted by: Twobyfour || 03/13/2012 2:07 Comments || Top||

#3  That's cruelty to animals, 2x4.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/13/2012 3:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Come again, g(r)om?

I really don't see it that cruel to Gazooks.
Posted by: Twobyfour || 03/13/2012 6:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Sharks & gators, 2x4.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/13/2012 8:36 Comments || Top||

#6  I dont give a damn about the Egyptian gas deal.
I think long term it will be a benefit for Israel because we will be pushed to invest in developing our local gas fields which will not be dependent on the decisions of the moslem brotherhood.
Besides, the gas line was Kaboomed 13 times up to now, so there was no regular supply anyhow.

What is really important is the realization of Israel's leaders that : A LYING ARAB REMAINS A LYING ARAB
a skunk will always smell like a skunk no matter how much perfume you spray on it.
NO MORE DEALS WITH LYING ARABS. - is a lesson we have to burn into the minds of our politicians.
No matter how much land you give them all you get in the end is a temporary "Hudna".
The Egyptian peace agreement was not worth the paper it was written on ( all it bought us was some time- which was not so bad while it lasted).

Another Even more important lesson is : Dont trust anyone with your National security !
Even so called "friends" ( Bambi et al.) will lie to you if it fits their interests.
I hope Netanyahu can read what is written in big letters on the wall.
Dear P.M. Please attack Iran and don't give a damn about promises (or threats) from friends and enemies.

Posted by: Elder of Zion || 03/13/2012 13:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Depending upon the reactions to the upcoming Iran action, Sinai might just end up under Israel control again.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/13/2012 15:31 Comments || Top||

#8  So if the Peace Treaty is over then the USA doesn't need to pay both sides?

Posted by: Water Modem || 03/13/2012 16:33 Comments || Top||

#9  Better than being number2.
Posted by: Jiggs Grinetle3790 || 03/13/2012 16:34 Comments || Top||

#10  Makes me feel so good about all the foreign aid we give 'em. And with Obama in office you can bet that aid will continue whether we can afford it or not.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/13/2012 18:07 Comments || Top||

#11  The Arabs seem determined to accomplish the impossible - have the Greeks, Cypriots and Israelis agree to divide up the energy rights to the eastern Med. Gas, like money, is fungible. I won't be surprised if even the Jordanians or Saudis agree to supply Israel, simply by brokering the shipments from Egypt.

Now, if they were really creative, they'd agree to route the Hormuz detour pipeline from Kuwait and Qatar to Haifi. As silly as the Persian navy is, that would render it superfluous.
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 03/13/2012 19:04 Comments || Top||

#12  Every collapsing state needs a #1 Enemy. It deflects blame from the rulers and gives the people something to think about besides shortages of food, power and consumer goods.

For the Arab world, if the Juice did not exist, it would be necessary to invent them.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/13/2012 19:05 Comments || Top||

#13  Uh, uh, so does this mean the Begin-Sadat Peace Accords is officially toast + Israel can militarily re-occupy the Sinai???

This has got "SUEZ CRISIS II: CANAL BUGALOO" for Cable written all over it.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/13/2012 21:49 Comments || Top||


Egypt sentences Israelis for life over arms smuggling
CAIRO - Two Israelis and a Ukrainian were sentenced to life in prison by an Egyptian court on Monday on charges of smuggling a machinegun and ammunition across the Israeli border into Egypt, a court source said.

The Ukrainian and one of the Israelis are in Egyptian custody, while the other defendant was tried in absentia.

Security along Egypt's border with Israel, long a conduit for the smuggling of guns and people, was relaxed after the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak following a popular uprising in February 2011, as police presence thinned out across Egypt.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Saleh enters Presidential Palace from back gate
[Yemen Post] Former president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
entered the Presidential Palace from a back gate on Monday and held a meeting with sheiks, members of the General People Congress and commanders who are still loyal to him, well informed sources affirmed.

The sources said that Saleh entered the palace as the new President Abdu-Rabu Mansour Hadi was receiving some foreign delegations in the main hall of the palace.

The GPC has stated in its online newspaper that Saleh held a meeting with members of his party, but it did not mentioned the place of the meeting

The alliance of the Joint Meeting Parties that presides the interim government had warned Saleh from attempts of provoking turbulence and chaos inside the state.

Saleh held a meeting last Saturday with his supporters in which he strongly criticized the Yemeni revolutionaries who took to streets against him , describing the protesters as thugs and backward people.

In a speech delivered before his supporters inside a mosque nearby the Presidential Palace, Saleh threatened to disclose files and documents about the Yemeni revolution in particular and the Arab Spring in general. He further portrayed his opponents as traitors and corrupt people.

A big shot of the JMP, Mohammad Qahtan, threatened that the immunity given to Saleh under the GCC-drawn power transfer deal will be dropped in case Saleh went on violating the deal. He underestimated the threats of Saleh.

Yemeni analysts said Saleh still intervened in the duties of his successor, pointing out that he behaves such as he has not realized that he was ousted and a new president was elected.
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Gotta say this Salehi + Yemen situation reminds me of the scenes of all the German Commanders behind the D-Day Normandy front in "THE LONGEST DAY", save in reverse.

AQAP, etc. fighting for control of the YEMENI = "OMAHA" BEACHHEAD for the "liberation" of SAUDI ARABIA = 1944 FRANCE???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/13/2012 19:46 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Minister: Azerbaijan will not allow Iran attack
DUBAI - Azerbaijan will not allow other countries to use its territory to launch an attack on neighboring Iran, Iranian media reported Azerbaijan's Defense Minister Safar Abiyev as saying on Monday.

The former Soviet republic, which borders Iran, has friendly ties with the United States and Israel and has experienced increasing tension with Tehran in recent months.

Last month, the Islamic Republic accused Azerbaijan of assisting Israeli intelligence in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist, Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, who was killed when a bomb was attached to his car.

"We will not allow Azerbaijan's soil to be used against Iran under any conditions," Abiyev was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying after meeting his Iranian counter Ahmad Vahidi in Tehran.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Manning's treatment was cruel and inhuman, UN torture chief whines
Bradley, not Peyton.
The UN special rapper rapporteur on torture has formally accused the US government of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment towards Bradley Manning, the US soldier who was held in solitary confinement for almost a year on suspicion of being the WikiLeaks source.

Juan Mendez has completed a 14-month investigation into the treatment of Manning since the soldier's arrest at a US military base in May 2010. He concludes that the US military was at least culpable of cruel and inhumane treatment in keeping Manning locked up alone for 23 hours a day over an 11-month period in conditions that he also found might have constituted torture.
He was locked up in solitary to keep him from passing messages to others, which he had said he was going to do.
"The special rapporteur concludes that imposing seriously punitive conditions of detention on someone who has not been found guilty of any crime is a violation of his right to physical and psychological integrity as well as of his presumption of innocence," Mendez writes.
Isn't there someone in solitary in Chechnya or Tehran you could focus on? No?
The findings of cruel and inhuman treatment are published as an addendum to the special rapporteur's report to the UN general assembly on the promotion and protection of human rights. They are likely to reignite criticism of the US government's harsh treatment of Manning ahead of his court martial later this year.

Manning, 24, was arrested on May 29 2010 at the Forward Operating Base Hammer outside Baghdad, where he was working as an intelligence analyst. Manning has been charged with 22 counts, including aiding the enemy, relating to the leaking a massive trove of state secrets to the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.

Mendez, who runs the UN office that investigates incidents of alleged torture around the world, told the Guardian: "I conclude that the 11 months under conditions of solitary confinement (regardless of the name given to his regime by the prison authorities) constitutes at a minimum cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of article 16 of the convention against torture. If the effects in regards to pain and suffering inflicted on Manning were more severe, they could constitute torture."

Manning was initially held for almost three months at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, and then transferred in July 2010 to the Marine corps base at Quantico in Virginia. He was held there for another eight months in conditions that aroused widespread condemnation, including being held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day and being made to strip naked at night.
Because he had threatened to hang himself with his jammies.
In his opening letter to the US government on December 30 2010, Mendez said that the prolonged period of isolated confinment was believed to have been imposed "in an effort to coerce him into 'cooperation' with the authorities, allegedly for the purpose of persuading him to implicate others."
Also keep him from offing himself, but the special rapper somehow never mentions that, even though it was made clear and public at the time.
The US mission to the UN in Geneva responded to Mendez on January 27 2011. It said that the US government "is committed to protecting human rights in our country and abroad, and we value the work of the special rapporteur".
Even when we laugh behind his back...
In a later letter, dated May 19 2011, the Pentagon's legal counsel told Mendez that it was satisfied that Manning's treatment at Quantico had been fine. "Though Private Manning was classified as a maximum custody detainee at Quantico, he occupied the very same type of single-occupancy cell that all other pretrial detainees occupied."

But the Pentagon's arguments did not impress the special rapporteur.
No, of course not...
He stressed in his final conclusions that "solitary confinement is a harsh measure which may cause serious psychological and physiological adverse effects on individuals regardless of their specific conditions."
The key word here is 'may'...
Moreover, "[d]epending on the specific reason for its application, conditions, length, effects and other circumstances, solitary confinement can amount to a breach of article seven of the international covenant on civil and political rights, and to an act defined in article one or article 16 of the convention against torture."
Depending on the 'specific reason'? Suppose we had let Mr. Manning keep his jambes and he indeed contrived to hang himself? Who would believe the jailers, the warden and the government that it was a suicide?
He also said that the US government had tried to justify Manning's solitary confinement by calling it "prevention of harm watch". Yet the military had offered no details as to what actual harm was being prevented.
Suicide. What more detail do you need?
Mendez told the Guardian that he could not reach a definitive conclusion on whether Manning had been tortured because he has consistently been denied permission by the US military to interview the prisoner under acceptable circumstances.
Ah, 'acceptable circumstances': a café in Paris?
The Pentagon has refused to allow Mendez to see Manning in private, insisting that all conversations must be monitored. "You should have no expectation of privacy in your communications with Private Manning," the Pentagon wrote.
Because we don't want Manning passing messages.
The lack of privacy is a violation of human rights procedures, the UN says, and considered unacceptable by the UN special rapporteur.
So I guess you won't be talking to him.
Manning's travails in solitary confinement came to an end on April 20 2011 when he was transferred from Quantico to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, where he was held in more open conditions. He is currently being held in a facility in Virginia so that he can make frequent pre-trial appearances at Fort Meade in Maryland ahead of his eventual court martial.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/13/2012 09:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...and the horse you rode in on, bub.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/13/2012 10:00 Comments || Top||

#2  I thought what the Irsay's did moving the Colts out of Baltimore was much worse.
Posted by: Beavis || 03/13/2012 10:10 Comments || Top||

#3  "And the horse you rode in on, bub"

Could not have said it more eloquently myself.

Sums up my sentiments.

This little twerp should have been tried by a court martial a year ago and shot...why does it take so long to get a guy in front of a Colonel these days?
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 03/13/2012 10:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Bradley, not Peyton.

Damnit, I was gonna make that joke...
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/13/2012 10:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Only one message for UN pukes who try and get involved in internal military matters: piss off.
Posted by: mojo || 03/13/2012 10:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Does this mean we finally qualify to join the U.N. Commission on [Abusing] Human Rights?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/13/2012 11:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Why do we still fund these sycophants?
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/13/2012 12:12 Comments || Top||

#8  I have a feeling that Private Manning's "big adventure" is just beginning. Once in the caring arms of the administrative NCOs at Ft. Leavenworth, wearing his newly ironed, brightly colored jumpsuit, it will be like he is back in basic training again. Sort of.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/13/2012 15:57 Comments || Top||

#9  I know there were some pissed off Boston fans, but I guess some people really hate the Giants.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/13/2012 16:45 Comments || Top||

#10  Suppose the fellow who shot the 16 Afghanis went through the exact same treatment that Bradley Manning did - several months in solitary confinement, etc.

I wonder if the UN special rapper would issue a special report on his treatment being inhumane and torture.

I didn't think so.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 03/13/2012 19:22 Comments || Top||


'Millennium Bomber' Sentence Overturned: Too Lenient
A federal appeals court overturned the 22-year sentence for convicted "millennium bomber" Ahmed Ressam, calling it unreasonably lenient.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal ruled 7-4 in favor of the government's appeal in a decision released Monday.
The Ninth Circus said it was too lenient? I feel faint, I'd best go lie down...
Ressam was placed in durance vile in Washington state in 1999 on his way to bomb Los Angeles International Airport. He was convicted of nine criminal counts.

The government argued that sentencing guidelines called for 65 years to life. The 22-year sentence was twice imposed by a federal judge.

Investigators have said Ressam attended three training camps for Islamic beturbanned goons in Afghanistan between March 1998 and February 1999.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Guatemalan gets 6,060-year sentence in massacre
Now THAT's a sentence.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/13/2012 4:22 Comments || Top||

#2  The 22-year sentence was twice imposed by a federal judge.

So, give him 44 years and be done with him.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/13/2012 4:23 Comments || Top||

#3  hell you get more than 22 years for smuggling dope.
Posted by: chris || 03/13/2012 10:01 Comments || Top||

#4  7-4 is en banc (all of em). It's mainly 3-judge panels with 2+ leftard nutters that give the 9th Circuit a bad name.
Posted by: RandomJD || 03/13/2012 19:35 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Jirga to aid Kohistan killers' arrest
[Dawn] The administration of Kohistan
...a backwoods district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa distinguished by being even more rustic than is the norm among the local Pashtuns....
district has constituted a 70-member jirga of local Learned Elders of Islam and elders, which would extend help to the law-enforcement agencies in arresting perpetrators of the Feb 28 Harban bus attack.

"This jirga would also discuss ways to arrest those involved in Harban carnage with the jirga of elders and Learned Elders of Islam of Diamer. It will also convey the message of Kohistanis to people of Gilgit-Baltistan that their area should not be used for settling scores of the sectarian conflict in Gilgit," said Maulana Dildar Ahmad, a former provincial minister and key member of the jirga, while talking to news hounds at Dassu on Sunday.

The 70 members of the jirga were selected in Dassu at a big gathering, which was also attended by district coordination officer Aqil Badshah and district police officer Mohammad Ilyas.

The participants condemned killing of 16 people in Harban attack and vowed to extend cooperation to the administration in arrest of the perpetrators of the heinous crime.

Maulana Dildar said that the district administration of Diamer had also constituted a jirga of elders and Learned Elders of Islam, which would hold dialogues with Kohistan jirga in Chilas. He said that besides other factors concerning the attack an international conspiracy to pitch the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan against each other couldn't be ruled out.
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
As Rockets Fly, New Conditions Shape Fight in Gaza
Cross-border fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza continued for a fourth day on Monday, with the Palestinian death toll rising from Israeli airstrikes and the militants’ rockets reaching farther into Israel.

Yet there was no sign that either Israel or Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, wanted an all-out confrontation. Early Tuesday, news reports citing unnamed Egyptian officials said that Egypt had mediated a cease-fire. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian officials confirmed the reports, issued by The Associated Press and Reuters.

The prospects of an imminent showdown, like the one that led to Israel’s three-week offensive in the winter of 2008-9, seemed unlikely. Some of the old rules of the conflict have changed since then, and new domestic and regional factors have emerged.

For Israel, the success of its recently deployed Iron Dome antirocket missile system has had an impact. Since the hostilities began on Friday, the missile batteries have managed to intercept 54 of the nearly 70 Palestinian rockets that were aimed at the major cities of the south, the Israeli military said.

The prevention of mass casualties and damage has reduced pressure on the country’s leaders to embark on a major military operation in Gaza and given them more time to weigh their options, according to Israeli officials and experts.

“There is a serious strategic change here,” Dan Meridor, the minister of intelligence and atomic energy, told Israel Radio on Monday. “Years ago, it was not simple to incorporate into Israeli military doctrine the great importance of defense.”

The regional changes of the past year are also playing a role in the calculations of both Israel and the Islamic groups.
Posted by: tipper || 03/13/2012 13:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israelis and Palestinians agree to hudna mediated by Egypt
A ceasefire has been agreed between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza after four days of deadly clashes, an Egyptian official says. A Hamas official later confirmed that the truce had been agreed. At least 25 Palestinians have died in Israeli air strikes since Friday, reports say.

Israel says 35 people were injured in Palestinian rocket attacks.

The official was quoted as saying that the Egyptian-mediated truce took effect at 1:00AM local time.
According to the IDF blog, only six Gazan rockets hit Israel as of 2:15 pm today, local time.
The Egyptian official -- who spoke on condition of anonymity -- was quoted by Reuters as saying late on Monday that both Israel and Gaza militants had "agreed to end the current operations".

Shortly afterwards, the Hamas official confirmed the truce.

The official told the BBC that Israel had made an unusual promise to stop targeting militant leaders in Gaza, if rocket attacks on Israel ceased.

Israel has not publicly commented on the reported ceasefire.
Which sounds an awful lot like they didn't actually agree to anything. But they have been saying that when the Gazans stop, they will also.
Posted by: tipper || 03/13/2012 00:01 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Islamic Jihad: If airstrikes continue, we'll increase rocket range
Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
front man Abu Ahmed says that if Israel does not stop its Arclight airstrikes on Gazoo, his group will increase the range of rocket fire to include other cities in Israel.    
"Bring up some more power, Mahmoud. I'm really going to stuff this rocket full!"
"You sure that's a good idea, boss?"
"Sure, what could go wrong?"
"The ball is in Israel's court. It must stop its aggression and commit to put an end to assassinations in order to bring a ceasefire," he said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Something certainly needs improving. According to the IDF blog this morning,

06:40 - So far two rockets have struck Israel today. Since Friday, 165 rockets landed in Israeli soil, and a total of 303 rockets were fired from Gaza.

303 - 165 = 138

Where did the rest land?
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2012 11:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Area bombardment, anyone?
Posted by: mojo || 03/13/2012 12:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Empty words.....
They know if they use long range stuff we have enough Napalm to burn the entire Gazoo to ashes.
And the hell with the baby Ducks !
Posted by: Elder of Zion || 03/13/2012 13:07 Comments || Top||


Clinton: Palestinians must stop rocket fire immediately
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Philander C. Knox ...
called on Paleostinian terror groups to halt their rocket fire into Israel and urged both sides to reach a lull agreement.   Clinton's remarks were made at the opening of a Security Council meeting on Libya and the Middle East.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  She's our ass-set, I think.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/13/2012 4:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Stopped clock, twice a day...
Posted by: Ptah || 03/13/2012 9:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Sorry Ptah not even close to being right twice a day. She's more like the blind sand-crab finding the acorn.
Posted by: AlanC || 03/13/2012 12:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Hillary: Mahmud, you must stop the firing of rockets on civilans... It's un-islamic behaviour!

Mahmud: But...But... Hillary, that's the only thing we know how to do.... Besides, what are you going to do about it if we dont stop ?

Hillary : I'll definitely....er... Tell Bambi....

Mahmud: And what will Hussein O'Bambi do ?

Hillary: he will most definitely... er.... make a speach about it... (with a Teleprompter....).. you definitely want to avoid this.....?

Mahmud: O.K. gotcha, Imad, load the next rocket.....
Posted by: Elder of Zion || 03/13/2012 13:17 Comments || Top||


Prisoner petitions court for fortified space
A Dekel Prison inmate has filed an urgent petition with the Beersheba Administrative Affairs Court, demanding to be provided with a shelter from rocket attacks.
 
The convict claimed that when air raid sirens sound, the prison staff enter fortified spaces, while the inmates remain in their cells.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
South Africa looks for alternatives to Iran oil
The South African government plans to have alternatives to Iranian oil in place by the end of May as western powers tighten sanctions against the Islamic republic, the country’s energy minister said on Tuesday.

South Africa, Africa’s largest economy, relies on Iran for about 29 per cent of its oil imports, according to the US Energy Information Administration. It was the only big customer of Iranian crude not to have revealed that it was seeking alternative supplies.

“I would be lying if I said that the United States is putting pressure on us to cut Iran imports . . . but we are considering different avenues now,” Elizabeth Dipuo Peters, South Africa’s energy minister, told Reuters. “We have given ourselves till the end of May to come up with alternatives, and we are engaging in talks with everyone, including Iran.”

Ms Dipuo Peters said she had recently visited Tehran to discuss the issue. South Africa’s oil consumption is estimated to be slightly over 550,000 barrels per day, of which approximately 370,000 b/d is imported, the EIA says.

The US and Europe have imposed sanctions on Tehran’s crude exports amid concerns that Iran is attempting to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful civilian use.
Posted by: tipper || 03/13/2012 18:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Better look fast....
Posted by: Barbara || 03/13/2012 22:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Have they tried algae?
Posted by: Raj || 03/13/2012 23:05 Comments || Top||


Video: Syria's rebels underground
In Al-Qusayr, a town in the Syrian region of Homs near the Lebanese border, the only way to escape the bombardment by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad is to go underground. It is in the cellars and basements where you can find different members of the rebel Syrian Liberation Army (SLA). Made up mainly of deserters from the national army, the SLA is trying to organise their counter-attack in the rebel stronghold of Homs.

But in recent days, the Syrian regime has increased its pressure on the city. "We're running out of weapons and ammunition" an SLA soldier admits. "If Bashar al-Assad launched an offensive, we could not contain it," he said.

The soldier anxiously awaits the next attack by Assad’s forces amid a growing feeling of having been abandoned by the international community.
Posted by: tipper || 03/13/2012 14:38 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Hariri: Latest Homs Massacre Condemns International Community for its Lack of Humanity
[An Nahar] Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
noted on Monday that the latest "massacre committed by the Syrian regime" in Homs coincided with the Israeli assault on Gazoo over the weekend.

He said in a statement: "The latest massacre committed by the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Light of the Alawites...
against innocent people not only condemns the regime, but the international community for its lack of humanity."

"The Homs massacre is one of the signs of the imminent end of the Assad regime that will only meet the same end as other criminal rulers who abuse their power to oppress their people," he added.

The former premier therefore renewed his solidarity with the Syrian people, calling on the international and Arab communities to support them "in statement and in action."

The bodies of 47 women and kiddies have been found in the Syrian city of Homs, where security forces have been fighting raging battles against armed rebels, the opposition and activists said on Monday.

Hadi Abdallah, a Syrian activist in Homs, told Agence La Belle France Presse the bodies of 26 children and 21 women, some with their throats slit and others bearing stab wounds, were found after a "massacre" in the Karm el-Zaytoun and al-Adawiyeh neighborhoods of the besieged central city.
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Lebanon Refrains from Participating in Tehran Conference in Support of Syria
[An Nahar] Leb decided not to join a meeting set to discuss support for the Syrian regime, which is expected to be held in the upcoming few days in Tehran, the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported on Monday.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry invited Leb, Iraq, and Syria to join the conference on March 18. However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
Leb's Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, who received the invitation from his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi, decided not to participate after discussions with President Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
and Prime Minister Najib Miqati.

Leb's position came in light of its decision to disassociate itself from the crisis in Syria and the developments in the region.

Despite the report that Leb won't participate in the conference, ministerial sources told the daily Beirut's participation will be at the level of deputy foreign minister.

According to the sources, the conference will be like the latest conference held in Tunis for "Friends of Syria," but the difference is that Tehran's conference is to support the Syrian regime against the opposition.

The sources said that Leb aims at maintaining the country's stability thus it avoids any stance on the crisis in Syria so that it wouldn't have any repercussions on the local situation.
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Jumblat Warns Syria's Druze of Getting Embroiled in Sectarian Strife
[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat
... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
urged on Monday Syria's Druze population to abandon the ruling regime, warning them against "getting their hands covered with the blood of the Syrian people."

He told La Belle France 24 television: "I caution the Druze against getting embroiled in any sectarian strife with the Sunnis because that will spell their end."

The Arab world is dominated by the Sunni sect and "therefore beware of getting involved in strife," the Druze chief added.

This also applies to Christians and all other sects, he said.
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  When Wally urges you not to take sides, you better listen. He knows what he's talking about.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/13/2012 0:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Actually,I'm pretty damn sure that the nine million or so Syrians who aren't Sunni Muslims are D-E-A-D dead if the ruling regime falls. (Sad but true: Assad is probably the lesser of two evils in the long run.) That, and/or Israel gets to pickup a several hundred thousand non-Jewish but highly motivated and useful new citizens.

You know: however many make it out of what history will call the Syrian Genocide alive.
Posted by: Secret Master || 03/13/2012 2:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Interesting point: the Druze in their mountain villages would be a useful buffer, particularly the ones around the Golan. Offer parts of the Golan to the Syrian 'refugees' (Druze and Christian) provided they settle there, and you have a constituency that doesn't ever want to be Syrian again.

Wonder what the Alawites would want to do if they saw a true Sunni state coming together?
Posted by: Steve White || 03/13/2012 7:40 Comments || Top||


West Steps Up Pleas to Russia and China over Syria
[An Nahar] Western nations on Monday stepped up pleas to Russia and China to end their blockage on U.N. Security Council action over the Syrian government's deadly assault on protest cities.

But Russia showed little sign of that it would change it stance, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slamming "risky recipes" which he said risked increasing conflict in the Middle East.

Syria dominated a U.N. Security Council ministerial meeting on the Arab uprisings, which came a day after U.N.-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
special envoy Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself...
left Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
, where he met Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...

"I add my voice to that of Mr. Annan in urging President Assad to act swiftly, within the next few days, in response to the proposals put forward" by the envoy, U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
told the meeting.

"I appeal to the Security Council to unite strongly behind ending the violence and supporting Mr. Annan's mission to help Syria pull back from the brink of a deeper catastrophe," he added.

Russia and China have twice used their powers as permanent Security Council members to veto resolutions on Syria, saying they were unbalanced and only sought regime change.

The other permanent members -- the United States, Britannia and La Belle France -- stepped up their condemnation of Assad, but also urged Russia and China to agree a resolution.

La Belle France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe appealed directly to Russia and China, while also calling on the council to call for an International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
investigation into the Syria crackdown, where the U.N. says more than 7,500 people have died in the past year.

"After months of blocking, I appeal to China and Russia to hear the voices of the Arabs and the world conscience and join us," Juppe said.

"We believe that now is the time for all nations, even those who have previously blocked our efforts, to stand behind the humanitarian and political approach spelled out by the vaporous Arab League," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Chateaubriand ...
told the council.

"The international community should say with one voice -- without hesitation or caveat -- that the killing of innocent Syrians must stop and a political transition must begin," Clinton said.

"The situation in Syria casts a long shadow over this debate," declared Britannia's Foreign Secretary William Hague, whose country organized the debate as president of the Security Council for March.

"In the eyes of the overwhelming majority of the world, this council has so far failed in its responsibilities towards the Syrian people."

But Lavrov maintained his argument against "unilateral" U.N. action, and repeated Russia's condemnation of NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
's Arclight airstrikes in Libya to justify its opposition to the West's campaign on Syria.

Change in the Arab world "must not be achieved by misleading the international community or manipulating the Security Council," Lavrov said.

"There is no doubt whatsoever that the Syrian authorities bear a huge share of responsibility for the situation," Lavrov said, but he added that the government was now fighting gangs, not just unarmed protesters.

Lavrov condemned "making hasty demands for regime change, imposing unilateral sanctions designed to trigger economic difficulties and social tensions in countries and inducing the opposition to continue its confrontation with authorities instead of promoting dialogue."

All were, he added, "risky recipes of geopolitical engineering which can only result in a spread of the conflict."
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Again, I don't see Moscow + Beijing supporting, or "not opposing" any anti-Assad Mandate before the UNO unless ole' Bashir + Regime does something really stupid to po 'em off.

AND BASHIR TAINT STUPID.

* SYRIA = a TEST not just of the ARAB LEAGUE = future "ISLAMIC UNION", BUT ALSO OF THE "OBAMA DOCTRINE" AS PER NEED FOR UNILATERAL MIL ACTION OUTSIDE OF THE UNSC.

Bammer's got the ball.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/13/2012 1:35 Comments || Top||


Annan feels Syria mission "on right track": spokesman
[Dawn] UN-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy Kofi Annan feels his Syria mediation mission is on track even though violence still raged as he held talks with Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators...
, his front man said on Monday.

Annan twice met Assad in Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
, as well as opposition figures, at the weekend and saw Qatari leaders in Doha on Monday before heading to Turkey.

Before he went to Syria, he held separate talks with the vaporous Arab League chief and the foreign ministers of Russia and Soddy Arabia in Cairo, his front man Ahmad Fawzi said.

"This is the beginning of a process and the joint special envoy feels the process is on the right track," Fawzi told Rooters by telephone from Qatar.
"He has left a set of concrete proposals with Bashar on a cessation of hostilities, humanitarian access and political dialogue, and expects to hear from him shortly," Fawzi said.

"He is concerned that the fighting and the killing seem to be continuing while he is trying to put an end to it and while he is trying to talk to Bashar," he said.

Scores of people were reported killed in Syria during Annan's visit, when the military assaulted the rebel-held city of Idlib in the northwest. State media and opposition activists also said dozens of civilians were slain in Homs but gave conflicting accounts of who was responsible.

After his "comprehensive and candid" talks with Assad, Annan said it would be hard to reach a deal but he remained optimistic.

"The situation is so bad and so dangerous that all of us cannot afford to fail," he told news hounds in Damascus.
Posted by: Fred || 03/13/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  And on that cold April night, so long ago, Captain John Smith, the most senior Captain of the White Star Lines, thought he was on the right track also........
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/13/2012 19:47 Comments || Top||

#2  A man's gotta learn his limitations, Kofi.
And you have many...
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/13/2012 21:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Check Cleared!
Posted by: Crazyfool || 03/13/2012 23:28 Comments || Top||


-Election 2012
How US presidential politics gives leverage to the Taliban, Iran
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/13/2012 08:28 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [YnetNews] PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA WILL NEVER ATTACK IRAN, or support any Israeli strike agz same.

REGARDLESS OF THE MERITS???

* SAME > [US, EU-led UN Oil] EMBARGO COULD MAKE IRAN RICHER.

Iff the Author's Graph-n-Math is correct, its worth it for Iran to exploit the US-World's oil price fear.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/13/2012 21:14 Comments || Top||

#2  The so-called "JAPAN/EGYPT" MODELS for Iran is potent because it all but absolutely denies any rationale or premise for external milstrike or ground invasion of Iran - NO IRAN NUKES PER SE, NO NEED FOR US, ISRAELI UNILATERAL OR JOINT ATTACK, MAJOR WAR, OR EVEN REFERRAL TO THE UNO.

IMO safe to say that Iran has the ball as per the above scope.

And Iran has already NUKE-ARMED PAKISTAN ...

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PAKISTAN NUCLEAR ARSENAL TO DOUBLE TO 250-350 IN 5-10 YEARS [post-2015 -2022], vee NucBombs, Warheads of varying explosive yields???

* SAME > PAKISTAN TELLS ISRAEL TO STOP "LAND-GRABBING" IN PALESTINIAN TERRITORY | PALESTINE NOW A "CORE ISSUE" FOR PAKISTAN.

Iran also has the NUKE-HAPPY, PRO-ISLAMIST, POST-ARAB/MUSLIM SPRINGS" NEW GOVTS, + DPRK + the EX-SOVIET "-STANS" IN CENTRAL ASIA.

Then there is Islamic Law + the UNO itself ...

* SAME > IRAN'S LEGAL RIGHT TO [preemptively] ATTACK ISRAEL, + perhaps even the USA, under UN Charter Articles [e.g. Article 51], + broader or "customary" International Laws???

Finally, once again Radical Islam + aligned can makea good argument that the POST-COLD WAR, OWG-NWO, "GLOBALIST" PREMISE OF A "DIVERSIFIED",
"MULTIPOLAR" WORLD = SOVEREIGN ARAB-MUSLIM STATES CAN HAVE NUCLEAR ARSENALS ALL THEIR OWN.

Wid feeling, OOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPSSSSIES.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/13/2012 21:36 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
50[untagged]
12Govt of Syria
3Govt of Pakistan
2Arab Spring
2Islamic Jihad
2al-Qaeda in Arabia
1Govt of Iran
1Houthis
1Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1Taliban
1TTP
1al-Qaeda
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1Boko Haram
1Commies

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2012-03-13
  U.S. Drone Attack In Pakistan Reportedly Kills 15 Suspected Militants
Mon 2012-03-12
  Army airstrikes kill 20 al-Qaeda militants in south Yemen
Sun 2012-03-11
  Syrian Ground Forces Storm Rebel Stronghold of Idlib, 62 Killed in Violence
Sat 2012-03-10
  Air strikes in Yemen kill suspected al Qaeda militants
Fri 2012-03-09
  13 Dronezapped in South Wazoo
Thu 2012-03-08
  British and Italian hostages murdered by captors in special forces rescue bid in Nigeria
Wed 2012-03-07
  Suicide bomber kills four in southern Russia
Tue 2012-03-06
  Nigerian Army Says Killed 3 Islamists Trying to Burn School
Mon 2012-03-05
  Gunmen massacre 21 policemen in Iraq attacks
Sun 2012-03-04
  Sherpao escapes suicide attack in Charsadda
Sat 2012-03-03
  African Union troops say seize major al Shabaab base
Fri 2012-03-02
  39 Dead as Syrian Army Seizes Baba Amr and Rebels Withdraw 'Tactically'
Thu 2012-03-01
  Syrian rebels pull out of Homs after siege
Wed 2012-02-29
  Singapore: Iran assassination plot against Israeli Defence Minister Barak foiled
Tue 2012-02-28
  Yemen's Saleh formally steps down after 33 years

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