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SCAF says it is going to end Egypt's state of emergency after 31 years
Today's Headlines
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Africa North
'Israel's creation worst catastrophe to hit world'
The head of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has called on Arab forces to confront Israel and for the international community to pressure the "Zionist government to withdraw from the land of Palestine."
"Let's you and him fight."
The comments by Brotherhood General Guide Mohammed Badie came in a written statement issued May 17 to commemorate Nakba Day, when Palestinians and other Arabs mourn Israel's creation in 1948.

The statement -- the existence of which was revealed Wednesday by the Investigative Project on Terrorism blog -- reminds Brotherhood followers of the movement's decades-long "sacrifices" in efforts to destroy the Jewish state.

"On this day, like every year, the Arab and Islamic nations remember the worst catastrophe ever to befall the peoples of the world," Badie wrote in the text, translated by The Jerusalem Post. "We demand the international community rectify the historic injustice [of 1948] and pressure the government of the Zionist entity to withdraw from the land of Palestine."

The statement portrays the Arab revolts of the last 18 months as part of an inexorable process to "liberate" land now in the State of Israel.
"Nurse! The green pills, and hurry! He's doing that thing again!!"
"We have toppled the most repressive regimes with purpose and determination," Badie wrote. "We have begun the era of liberation of all peoples, first of all the Palestinian people, [suffering from] the worst occupation known to man -- the Zionist occupation."
Which is why Eritreans and Chinese are passing through Egypt to sneak into Israel in record numbers.
Posted by: tipper || 06/01/2012 02:07 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  LoL
Posted by: Victor Emmanuel Hapsburg2617 || 06/01/2012 7:27 Comments || Top||

#2  "liberation of all peoples" liar liar pants on fire or dress. You just never know these days.
Posted by: Dale || 06/01/2012 8:07 Comments || Top||

#3  You better hope Israel doesn't 'liberate' a chunk of Egypt from the Arab 'settlers' and return it to the original Christian owners.
Posted by: phil_b || 06/01/2012 8:29 Comments || Top||


Arabia
FM accuses Iran of intervening in Yemen's affairs
Minister of Foreign Affairs Abu Bakar Al-Qirbi has accused Iran of interfering in Yemen's affairs, stressing that any Iranian cooperation with Yemeni political sides is unacceptable. An Emirati Newspaper, Al-Khaleej, said on Wednesday that some factions in Iran and other countries blatantly intervene in Yemen's affairs.

"We along with all regional states are keen to have relations with Iran, but we refuse any intervention in internal affairs" he said.

The US Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein had frequently cautioned against Iranian intervention in Yemen, indicating that Iran seeks to spark troubles in Yemen through supporting the Saada-based Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is "God is Great, Death to America™", Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews" ...
group.

According to the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
, Iran operates increase its political outreach and arms shipments to rebels and other political figures in Yemen as part of what American military and intelligence officials say is a widening Iranian effort to extend its influence across the greater Middle East.The Yemeni authorities have seized a weapon-loaded Iranian ship while it was en route to the Houthi fighters nearby the Hodeidah port early of 2012.

Meanwhile,
...back at the mall, Clarissa spent the day shopping for new underwear. Tonight was going to be a special occasion...
Al-Qirbi denied any direct military intervention in fight launched by the Yemeni army against Ansar Al-Sharia, an al-Qaeda-linked group in the South.

He emphasized that the Yemeni army fights al-Qaeda alone and that the United States provides logistic supports to Yemeni anti-terror forces, denying any US pressures on the Yemeni government to create a US base in Socotra island.

"Creation of military bases in Socotra Island contradicts the Yemen constitution that bans any foreign existence on Yemen's lands" he added, pointing out that allegations of US pressures on the Yemeni government is baseless.

Posted by: Fred || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Premier calls for pressures against impeders of change
[Yemen Post] Prime Minister Mohammad Salem Basindwa has called the global world and Secretary-General of the Untied Nations to put extra pressures on impeders of change in Yemen.

In a speech delivered on Thursday at the Partners Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations held in Turkey, Basindwa said the global world should stand by the Yemeni people, calling for freeing the Third World Countries from oppression of their rulers.

Basindwa appreciated Turkey's reception of Yemenis who were maimed in anti-Saleh protests in Turkey's hospitals, stressing the importance of enhancing cooperation between Yemen and Turkey.

The forum, which is being convened by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seeks to promote better cross-cultural relations worldwide.

The power transfer in Yemen remains deadlocked as relatives of the 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...
still refuse decrees of President Abdurabu Mansour Hadi
...the second and possibly the last president of Yemen, successor to former President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh...
and the interim government.

Saleh's nephew, Tariq Mohmmad Abdullah Saleh, in collaboration with loyal officers refuse to hand over the 3rd Republican Guard Brigade to the newly-appointed Abdul-Rahman Al-Halili.

The UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar visited Yemen several times and put pressures on Saleh's family to hand over the brigade, but his efforts failed.

Armed men affiliated to the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh prevented on Monday the new-appointed director of Radio and TV Institution, Eskandar Al-Asbahi, from entering the headquarters of the institution. Benomar told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that elements within Yemen are hindering the transition process.

Security Council had warned "all elements within Yemen" that severe sanctions would fall upon those who continue to prevent the country from moving toward democracy.

Posted by: Fred || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Houthi group declares participation in dialogue
[Yemen Post] The Saada-based Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is "God is Great, Death to America™", Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews" ...
group declared on Thursday that it will participate in the inclusive dialogue conference on the basis of "healthy foundations that could end the state's stalemates." The participation declaration came after the Dialogue Liaison Committee met on Thursday with the Houthi leader Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi in Saada. According to the Yemeni News Agency (Saba), the committee affirmed that an appropriate ground will be prepared for the success of the national dialogue.

The Dialogue Liaison Committee held on Thursday morning a meeting presided over by Abdul-Karim Al-Iriani, chairman of the committee, with the attendance of a representative of a UN reprehensive, Abdul-Raheem Sabir.

The eight-member liaison committee to started a planned national reconciliation dialogue as part of a UN-backed power transfer deal.

Yemen's inclusive national dialogue is designed to settle down disputes between Yemeni political factions under the supervision of Hadi in accordance with the GCC power transfer deal deal that eased 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...
out of power.

UN Envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar had appreciated effort exerted by Yemen's president to advance the country's transition to democracy, pointing out that security forces are having some success against al-Qaeda.

Hadi inherited a state that is mired in crises as it is engaged in conflicts in the South and rebellions in the north. The Yemeni army has been conducting an offensive against al-Qaeda in some towns of Abyan
...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues...
Though the army achieved progress in fighting Al-Qaeda, as reports affirm, Al-Qaeda seeks to shift its war across other Yemeni cities.

On May 21, about 100 soldiers were killed and hundreds others were maimed in a suicide kaboom in which al-Qaeda grabbed credit for.

Posted by: Fred || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Charts you can use: The covert air war in Yemen
Posted by: Frozen Al || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Venezuela bans private gun ownership
Obama must be jealous - another step towards tyranny. Hoogo's imminent death sets the table for civil war
Until now, anyone with a gun permit could buy arms from a private company.

Under the new law, only the army, police and certain groups like security companies will be able to buy arms from the state-owned weapons manufacturer and importer.

The ban is the latest attempt by the government to improve security and cut crime ahead of elections in October
uh huh....
Venezuela saw more than 18,000 murders last year and the capital, Caracas, is thought to be one of the most dangerous cities in Latin America
Posted by: Frank G || 06/01/2012 11:28 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tyrants always do this right before the full power grab.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/01/2012 11:41 Comments || Top||

#2  how do you say "molon Labe" in Spanish?
Posted by: Bigfoot Hatrack8027 || 06/01/2012 12:40 Comments || Top||

#3  They're coming for the guns.

It's over.
Posted by: gorb || 06/01/2012 13:06 Comments || Top||

#4  UNEXPECTEDLY!
Posted by: mojo || 06/01/2012 13:12 Comments || Top||

#5  He cannot die fast enough.
Posted by: newc || 06/01/2012 13:39 Comments || Top||

#6  ULULULULULULULULULULULULULULULU
Posted by: gromky || 06/01/2012 20:01 Comments || Top||


Small Wars Journal: Mexican Cartel Tactical Note 12
Two California based security academics analyze seizures in the aftermath of a March, 2012 gunfight between a los Zetas crimnal cell in Piedras Negras, Coahuila and Mexican security forces.

An excerpt:


[Police] Commander Heal's concerns are being echoed by many law enforcement officers along the U.S. Border. Increasingly, we are witnessing the emergence of zones of "dual-sovereignty" being established by the cartels on U.S. soil. The potential for the loss of de facto political control in rural areas of Southern Texas across from Piedras Negras and other borderland towns controlled by the Mexican cartels is becoming a U.S. national security concern.
Posted by: badanov || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Some tidbits from the article:
Elements of GATE (special weapons and tactics group) and the narco group engaged in battle on Highway 75 and various parts of Piedras Negras. Using combat weapons and granadazos (grenades) the attacks lasted for hours.

One thing that occurred to me in retrospect is the long understood principle that the weaker adversary always seeks refuge. The nearest and safest refuge is a short distance to the north.


According to Commander Heal “Clearly, the confrontations between the authorities and criminals have escalated to war in all but name only.”
Posted by: SteveS || 06/01/2012 1:27 Comments || Top||

#2  An hours-long firefight with military-grade weapons (RPGs, grenade launchers, etc) is not your basic cops & robbers affair.

Given the closeness to the US border, having an on-call blocking force available on the US side could be handy.

At some point, cross-border military cooperation is going to be necessary.

It is a good thing none of this is on NPR (National People's Radio) because otherwise, I would be concerned.

Posted by: SteveS || 06/01/2012 1:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Solution to the zones of dual sovereignty: Bounties for the corpses of drug-runners.
Posted by: gorb || 06/01/2012 1:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Yuuupp - there will be no OWG NAU unless these border troubles on the Mexican side are ended.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/01/2012 1:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Drug-runner corpses is just a cost of doing business. Dual sovereignty means there is a de-facto local government, kitted out like an infantry platoon, with a demonstrated will to engage in wholesale violence. It is going to take more than a few drug-runner corpses to uproot them in Mexico and/or keep them from spreading across the border.
Posted by: SteveS || 06/01/2012 2:06 Comments || Top||

#6  Does the fact that I just posted three times in the same thread mean I am turning into JoeM of the North? DANG IT! This is serious stuff. And would someone pass me a coconut fritter?
Posted by: SteveS || 06/01/2012 2:07 Comments || Top||

#7  The more times you enter, the more chances you have to win!
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/01/2012 2:16 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
N. Korea Puts Nuclear Arms in Constitution
North Korea identifies itself as a nuclear power in its revised constitution, according to a copy displayed on the country's official web portal.
They can identify as anything they want...
The constitution was revised at last month's meeting of the rubber-stamp Supreme People's Assembly, and the preface details the accomplishments of former leader Kim Jong-il, claiming he changed the North into a "nuclear power and invincible military superpower."

The Supreme People's Assembly named Kim Jong-il "eternal chairman" of the National Defense Commission while appointing his son Fat Boy Kim Jong-un to the newly-created post of first secretary.

North Korea has claimed it is a nuclear power since its second nuclear test in May of 2009 and used the expression to identify itself in various announcements. The expression was used in a statement announcing Kim Jong-il's death on Dec. 19 last year and has appeared in the North's media on a daily basis since then.

More than 100 articles, editorials or statements referring to the country as a nuclear power have appeared in North Korea’s official Rodong Shinmun daily since Kim's death.

"The revision was the first change to the constitution since the second nuclear test in 2009 and Kim Jong-il's death late last year, and it must have been natural for the regime to use the expression 'nuclear power,'" said an intelligence official here. The inclusion of the phrase shows that Kim Jong-un wants to publicize the fact that North Korea has nuclear weapons and use them as a bargaining tool just as his father did, according to a source.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In a way, today... so did we.
Posted by: newc || 06/01/2012 1:07 Comments || Top||

#2  The Supreme People's Assembly named Kim Jong-il "eternal chairman" of the National Defense Commission

Did they just put a ghost in charge of national defense? Quick, we need to ask Israel if we can borrow their Ghost Voice Ray ....
Posted by: gorb || 06/01/2012 1:37 Comments || Top||

#3  The US has responded by stating that it will never EVAR! recognize NOKOR as a Nuclear State.

HHHHMMMMMM ....
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/01/2012 1:46 Comments || Top||

#4  How about a compromise: We nuke Pyongyang.
Posted by: gorb || 06/01/2012 2:57 Comments || Top||

#5  We can't do that. They're an "invincible military superpower."
Can't ya read?
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/01/2012 20:06 Comments || Top||

#6  SOKOR is now denying the North's new Nuke Mil State status, arguing that NOKOR is not an official signatory to the NPT.

Meanwhile, JAPAN = JMSDF on its part has deployed more AEGIS BMD-capable Destroyers to the West Sea to deal wid the strategic or LT threat from NOKOR's alleged nuclear, Missle arsenal, + IMO to also SSSSSSSHHHHHHHH counter China's own naval buildup in same.

versus

* TOPIX > WEST SEA BECOMES NEW ARENA FOR BIG POWER RIVALRY [US-China-Japan].

ARTIC = denotes that CHINA plans to expand PLAN naval operations to GUAM, SAIPAN [CNMI], + INDONESIA ARC ["Second Island Chain"] by 2020

* SAME > PANETTA: PENTAGON TO SHIFT WARSHIPS TO PACIFIC. Up to 60% of entire USN Fleet could be assigned to the Pacific by 2020.

* SAME > CANADA EYES/SEEKS SINGAPORE HUB TO SUPPORT US MILITARY'S ASIA "PIVOT" TOWARD CHINA, i.e. counter Rising China.

* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > PANETTA: US TO RENEW NAVAL POWER IN ASIA-PACIFIC [ + stay vigilant agz Rising China].

* SAME > TIMES OF INDIA: [new]US SEVENTH FLEET BASE IN BANGLADESH? | EXCLSUIVE: AMERICA EYES BANGLADESH [Chittagong].

* DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > PANETTA: US WILL LEAN ON TECHNOLOGY [+ State-vs-State Regional Partnerships] FOR ASIA-PACIFIC PIVOT COUNTER.
> US to raise troop levels in Asia-Pacific above current 330,0000.
> Pacific needs to be a RULES-BASED REGION AS RELIANT ON THE RULES OF INTERNATIONAL ORDER.

* SAME > BANGLADESH: AMERICA'S NEW STRATEGIC CYNOSURE IN SOUTH ASIA.

* SAME > HILLARY IN DHAKA: WHY? + WHY NOW?

versus

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > GWADAR PORT STALEMATE:IS CHINA'S "STRING OF PEARLS" STRATEGY A FAILURE?

* TOPIX, CHINA DAILY FORUM > BIDEN VOWS TO CONFRONT RISING POWER OF CHINA | BIDEN: WAHSINGTON NOW HAS NEW STRATEGY TO COUNTER [defeat] CHINA'S RISE.

* RIAN.RU > RUSSIA TO REOPEN ARCTIC AIRBASES.

* SAME > RUSSIA TO BUILD UP SUBMARINE TASK FORCE ALONG NORTHERN SEA ROUTE.

* SAME > PUTIN ORDERS NAVAL DEVELOPMENT [+ more MilWeaps] IN ARCTIC, FAR EAST.

And once again again, Virgina, we relearn why Russia's formal annexation of the Japanese Kuriles is actually aimed more at China + [strategic Pacific access] than dissing Nippon.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/02/2012 0:20 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkish gold imports jump 150 pct, Iran buying seen
Posted by: tipper || 06/01/2012 15:45 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't see how Turkey can stay in NATO when it helps Iran evade sanctions.
Posted by: American Delight || 06/01/2012 18:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe those imports are mostly tungsten with a light plating of gold.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 06/01/2012 19:49 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Militants vow death for 'CIA doctor'
The militants accused in a Pakistan court of conspiring with a doctor recruited by the CIA to find Osama Ben Laden said Thursday they had nothing to do with him and threatened to kill him.

Shakeel Afridi was on May 24 sentenced to 33 years in jail after he was found guilty of treason under Pakistan's archaic system of tribal justice.

He was arrested after US troops killed Ben Laden in May 2011 in the town of Abbottabad where he set up a fake vaccination programme in the hope of obtaining DNA samples to confirm the Al Qaeda leader's presence. But he was convicted for treason over alleged ties to Lashkar-e-Islam and not for working for the CIA, for which the court said it did not have jurisdiction.
So the Paks now admit that L-e-I might be a terrorist organization? There's news...
Lashkar-e-Islam, led by warlord Mangal Bagh,
Who needs to be drone-zapped...
is a militant organisation feared for kidnappings and extortion in the tribal district of Khyber, where Afridi worked for years as a doctor.

The court said Afridi had "close links" to the group, saying the doctor's "love" for Bagh and "association with him was an open secret".

But a spokesman and a commander in the organisation both told AFP that they had nothing to do with Afridi.

"We have no link to such a shameless man. If we see him we'll chew him alive," the commander said on condition of anonymity.
So they're also zombies...
The spokesman, who gave his name as Ghazi Hussain, branded Afridi a "traitor, an enemy of Pakistan and of the Muslim nation".

"Whenever and wherever we get an opportunity to kill him, we will. If we can, we will even kill him inside the jail," Hussain told AFP.

The court said Afridi paid two million rupees ($21,000) to the faction and helped to provide medical assistance to militant commanders in Khyber. But the group said the $21,000 was a fine imposed for over-charging patients.

"Afridi and his fellow doctor were fleecing tribesmen, giving them fake medicines and doing fake surgeries. We had a lot of complaints against them and imposed a fine of two million rupees on them," the commander said.

Local residents also told AFP that Afridi was fined for performing "unnecessary surgeries and over-charging" patients at his private clinic in the town of Bara.

Hussain rejected any alleged links with Afridi as "false and concocted", saying he had been fined and expelled from Khyber "three or four years ago".
This article starring:
Ghazi Hussain
Mangal Bagh
Posted by: tipper || 06/01/2012 11:17 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Militants on Pakistans side in WOT shocka
Posted by: Fester Clunter7205 || 06/01/2012 12:59 Comments || Top||

#2  I can't decide if Mangal Bagh sounds like a proper Uruk Hai name (mangle bag) or a long-in-the-tooth trannie (man-gal bag).

Posted by: Gabby Cussworth || 06/01/2012 15:06 Comments || Top||


US says officers return to Pakistan
The United States said Thursday that Pakistan has let back in two officers to work with its military after a six-month gap, in what it called a small sign of cooperation after soaring tensions. The Pentagon said that two liaison officers returned in the past week to the northwestern city of Peshawar after being kicked out by Pakistan in its outrage over a border airstrike that killed 24 of its soldiers.
Wonder what we had to pay...
But the Pentagon said that Pakistan has not let back trainers or reopened its border to NATO supplies, two of the main forms of support for the US-led war effort that have been shut down since the November 26 border incident.

The returning officers are in charge of liaising with the headquarters of Pakistan’s 11th Corps, which covers the lawless border region where the US-backed ISAF force believes Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters enjoy a safe haven.

“The tactical and operational coordination between the ISAF and Pakistani military is getting better — in fits and starts, to be sure, but it is getting better,” said Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby.

“This is another example of how that coordination is going to continue to improve,” Kirby told reporters.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Pak militants vow death for 'CIA doctor'
[Bangla Daily Star] The gunnies accused in a Pakistain court of conspiring with a doctor recruited by the CIA to find the late Osama bin Laden
... who went titzup one dark and stormy night...
said yesterday they had nothing to do with him and threatened to kill him.

Shakeel Afridi was on May 24 sentenced to 33 years in jail after he was found guilty of treason under Pakistain's archaic system of tribal justice.

He was incarcerated
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
after US troops killed bin Laden in May 2011 in the town of Abbottabad
... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden....
where he set up a fake vaccination programme in the hope of obtaining DNA samples to confirm the al-Qaeda leader's presence.

But he was convicted for treason over alleged ties to Lashkar-e-Islam and not for working for the CIA, for which the court said it did not have jurisdiction.

Lashkar-e-Islam, led by warlord Mangal Bagh
...a former bus driver, now head of the Deobandi bandido group Lashkar-e-Islam and the Terror of Khyber Agency...
, is a beturbanned goon organization feared for kidnappings and extortion in the tribal district of Khyber, where Afridi worked for years as a doctor.

The court said Afridi had "close links" to the group, saying the doctor's "love" for Bagh and "association with him was an open secret".

But a front man and a commander in the organization both told AFP that they had nothing to do with Afridi.

"We have no link to such a shameless man. If we see him we'll chew him alive," the commander said on condition of anonymity.

Afridi's sentencing has exacerbated tensions in Pakistain's problematic relationship with the United States, where the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to cut aid to Pakistain by a symbolic $33 million.
Posted by: Fred || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami

#1  So IOW, Lashkar is saying that Islamabad is lying???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/01/2012 2:00 Comments || Top||


Iraq
US asks Iraq to extradite Hezbollah suspect
The United States has formally asked Iraq to extradite a suspected Hezbollah operative accused of killing American troops, a U.S. official told Reuters, amid heightened concerns in Washington that he may go free.

It was not immediately clear when the request was filed and Iraqi officials approached by Reuters denied knowledge of it, casting doubt on whether an extradition was seriously being considered at this point in Baghdad.

The fate of Ali Mussa Daqduq has been vexing American officials since last December, when the United States was forced to hand him over to Baghdad after failing to secure a custody deal ahead of the U.S. military's withdrawal from the country.

Posted by: tipper || 06/01/2012 15:10 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel could set borders unilaterally
It was bound to happen. The Israelis, growing weary of looking for a Palestinian leader actually committed to negotiating a two-state solution, are starting to consider laying down their own parameters for an interim situation and then waiting for Palestinians to come to the negotiating table.

No less a figure than Ehud Barak, the current defense minister and a former prime minister, this week floated the idea of Israel adopting “a provisional arrangement or even unilateral action” setting borders.

He’s not the only one. In forming a national unity government a few weeks back, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu elevated to deputy prime minister Shaul Mofaz, a former paratrooper who saw action in three of Israel’s wars and who favors establishing a temporary Palestinian state on about 60 percent of the West Bank. And in April three prominent Israelis, including Ami Ayalon, a former official of the Mossad intelligence agency, advocated “unilateral actions” in an op-ed in the New York Times. They argued the Jewish state can transform the stalemate, writing, “Israel can and must take constructive steps to advance the reality of two states based on the 1967 borders with land swaps — regardless of whether Palestinian leaders have agreed to accept it.”
Posted by: tipper || 06/01/2012 10:46 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Long past time Israel said, "These are our borders. Tough shit."
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/01/2012 11:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Finally. They get it.

Yo, Israel: you've won four major wars, put down several large insurrections, and numerous small groups of terrorist thugs. In world history, this is called, "VICTORY".

To the victor goes the spoils.

Now then: you've been too nice. You've been too moral. That's your problem right there. It is understandable given what has happened to the Jewish people these last few hundred years combined with the teachings of your holy book.

But you've got to get over this enough to start thinking of your long-term survival. Golda Meir pointed out that you would have peace with the Palestinians when they began to love their children more than they loved war, jihad and death.

That day doesn't seem to be around the corner, does it?

Ariel Sharon figured this out, and he had a solution. Draw a line in the sand. That's the border. Build a big wall: cconcrete, barbed wire, moats, alligators, sharks with lasers on their heads. What's inside is yours and you don't care what's outside, as long as what's outside doesn't threaten you.

And don't slavishly follow the 1967 border. You WON, remember? YOU get to decide where the border will be. You need some extra land to ensure your defense (or just to enjoy the view), take it. If you wish to be magnanimous, fine, but there's no requirement under international law for you to be a chump.

Put the onus on the Palestinians to make decisions. The world has been infantilizing them this past half-century. From the UNHCR to the Arabs to the Quartet to each and every American president since Harry Truman, we've treated the Palestinians as wards, incapable of being responsible for their behavior. That has to stop. Force the Palestinians to get their acts together.

But to do that, you have to treat them as a people. No problem. Build a wall. What's inside is Israel, what's outside is Palestine. Let the Palestinians figure out how to run it. Gobsmack them if they mess with you, and make sure that the Palestinians ALWAYS know that the mailed fist is ready. If they do manage to behave, then work with them to the extent that you can and desire.

It won't be peace. But it will be a lot more quiet.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/01/2012 11:19 Comments || Top||

#3  If Obama objects, tell him "We Won".

Posted by: Ptah || 06/01/2012 13:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Yup. It's time to draw the line and end it. Keep Judah and Sumaria and lock the rest down. It's a done deal.You can never placate these children no matter what you do.
Posted by: newc || 06/01/2012 14:12 Comments || Top||

#5  "It's over! Enough! ENOUGH!" (1:48)
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth || 06/01/2012 15:29 Comments || Top||

#6  FYI The Geopolitics of Israel: Biblical and Modern
Posted by: newc || 06/01/2012 18:46 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian rebels abduct 5 top Hizballah officers, including Nasrallah’s nephew
Posted by: tipper || 06/01/2012 15:50 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh, oh, oh, comedy gold.

And an intel treasure trove.

And wonderous payback.

All in the same 5 soon to be doorknob dead Hezbies.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/01/2012 16:41 Comments || Top||

#2  delicious. Perhaps Hizb'allah can trade for their corpses?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/01/2012 17:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Jalapeno popcorn
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/01/2012 17:47 Comments || Top||

#4  ION TOPIX > RUSSIA: ANNAN IS ASSAD'S LAST CHANCE.

Looks like even pro-Assad Mama Russia has a limit???

* SAME > HEZBULLAH WANTS TO REMOVE FAR-REACHING SCUDS [SCUD-D's + AAMS/ADMS] FROM SYRIA, to Lebanon.

* SAME > US SAYS MILITARY INTERVENTION IN SYRIA "WILL LEAD TO GREATER CARNAGE" [ +
"greater chaos"].

* SAME > US REMAINS COMMITTED TO NON-INTERVENTION IN SYRIA.

versus

* SAME > HILLARY: RUSSIA'S STANCE [anti-Foreign, UN intervention] ON SYRIA COULD LEAD TO CIVIL WAR.

* SAME > IRAN: WESTERN INTERVENTION IN SYRIA "UNACCEPTABLE".

Iran sezzes it will resist any outside intervention in Syria agz its BFF Assad by any + all means necessary.

* WAFF > WSJ: NOTE TO SYRIA INTERVENTIONISTS - BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR [youse just might get it]. Baby Assad's + Regime's "doomsday option(s)".

Aka "Mutually Assured Destruction/Annihilation", sub-aka "iff I do down, I'm taking Everybody + Everything in ME wid me", e.g. Turkey, Cyprus, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, + Hezbollah = Lebanon, etc. as Syria possesses a very large arsenal of SSMS + also the ME's largest stock of ChemWar, + possibly also BioWar, Weapons.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/01/2012 23:39 Comments || Top||


Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran
Posted by: tipper || 06/01/2012 11:50 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And tell me again please, why does this information need to find it's way to the public domain ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/01/2012 11:58 Comments || Top||

#2 

There, finished it for you B.
Posted by: AlanC || 06/01/2012 12:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Because he needs an excuse for the Dem-Jewish voters as to why there is no permission for Israel to attack Iran with real weapons (as compared to wimpy cyber ones).
Posted by: Water Modem || 06/01/2012 13:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Obama gives away our treasure for a hopeless cause that is the housing market.

Now he's giving away information that should be kept secret (if for no other reason than to keep the Iranians guessing) in order to try to bolster his chances to win the presidential election.

This is not the actions of someone who has the best interests of his country in mind.

It may have a secondary consequence of taking some of the heat off of Israel, but Israel already essentially admitted they developed and fielded the Flame worm, so they don't really care all that much.
Posted by: gorb || 06/01/2012 13:05 Comments || Top||

#5  He always wants credit but will he take the blame when Iran retaliates? That's what I thought--stupid question!
Posted by: OmuluqueHapsburg5085 || 06/01/2012 13:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Its part of the building Captain Action! meme, as well as his part in the Iran Minuette.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 06/01/2012 16:46 Comments || Top||

#7  See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CONFIRMED: US + ISRAEL CREATED STUXNET, BUT LOST CONTROL OF IT, most likely due to alleged unilateral Israeli upgrades or modifications to the Stux Virus/Worm widout US knowledge. INTER-ALLIED HILARITY ENSUES.

ARTIC > OBAMA VEEP BIDEN = exclaimed D **** It, t'was the Israelis dat did us in.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/01/2012 23:47 Comments || Top||


US envoy slams Russia arms sales to Syria
US envoy Susan Rice on Thursday condemned “reprehensible” Russian arms deliveries to Syria as she stepped up US calls for increased international pressure on President Bashar al-Assad. The US ambassador to the United Nations also accused the Damascus government of stating a “blatant lie” by denying it was involved in a massacre in which 108 people were killed.

“With respect to the reported docking of a ship carrying Russian arms, this is obviously of the utmost concern given that the Syrian government continues to use deadly force against civilians,” Rice told reporters at UN headquarters.

“It is not technically, obviously, a violation of international law since there is not an arms embargo, but it is reprehensible that arms would continue to flow to a regime that is using such horrific and disproportionate force against its own people,” Rice said.

A Russian ship carrying arms reportedly arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus last weekend. Russia is Syria’s last main international ally and has defended Assad in UN Security Council debates on the uprising against him.

Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin has rejected criticism of the arms sales insisting that they are legal and have no influence on the Syria conflict.
The former is technically true, the latter is, well, as Russian a statement as you could ask...
Rice also condemned the Syrian government’s denials of involvement in a massacre in the town of Houla last week in which at least 108 people died. The ambassador dismissed the Syrian government’s statement that the massacre was carried out by “armed groups”.

“I think quite simply it’s another blatant lie,” she said. “There is no factual evidence, including that provided by the UN observers that would substantiate that rendition of events.”
Posted by: Steve White || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Putin Says Russia Will Not Shift on Syria
[An Nahar] President Vladimir Putin
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...
warned Thursday that Russia's position on Syria would not shift under pressure despite the crisis likely topping the agenda during his upcoming visits to Berlin and Gay Paree.

"Russia's position is well-known. It is balanced and consistent and completely logical," Interfax quoted Putin's front man Dmitry Peskov as saying.

"So it is hardly appropriate to talk about this position changing under someone's pressure."

Peskov said Russia's refusal to back further action against the regime after last week's Houla massacre and other attacks on civilians was based on an approach "completely free of emotions, which are hardly appropriate here."
Posted by: Fred || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Of course their position will not shift. Russia takes the side of evil at every opportunity. I have no understanding of why that is. They seem to feel that it is their duty to hold any position that is exactly the opposite of ours.

Putin is just weird.
Posted by: crosspatch || 06/01/2012 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah, but Putin rides tigers and shit. Anyways, he gets that port and a bag of shit with it. But if you mess with Israel...
Posted by: newc || 06/01/2012 1:19 Comments || Top||

#3  "Russia's position is well-known. It is balanced and consistent and completely logical,"

Does that "logic" find it's origins in a regime which has potentially warehoused large quantities of WMD ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/01/2012 4:01 Comments || Top||

#4  What a joke. Merkel will be at him fang and claw.
"face a grilling from both German Chancellor Angela Merkel". What, have they given China a pass on this?. Would Obama stand by an ally as determined as this. I think not. The EU is such a mess they could shoot themselves in the foot and blame someone else for doing it. Russia is a major trading partner with Europe and trade looks to expand between the two. Anarchy is a major problem for Russia. Syria could add fuel to this fire.
Posted by: Dale || 06/01/2012 8:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Well ole Vlad needs to have himself a get out of town strategy prepared.

If Iran ever uses their nuclear products for a terrorist act, Russia will have to answer to a lot of really p.o.ed nations. And if Syria goes south inspite of weapons and advisors, Russia will have a real stinker on their hands dealing with the new regime.
Vlad should learn from the US experiences of the 1950's, how many times did arms sales and military advisors blow up in our face all over the world?

Right now Russia seems to not have a coherent foreign policy other than to oppose the US at every turn. with our amatuers running our foreign policy it makes Russia look silly. They need to be more original and independent of our silly misguided naive fumbling around and stake out a foreign policy that focuses on a world view and what is best for Russia and not just trying to spike our guns.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 06/01/2012 13:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Should he?
Last year, in Venezuela (population -29 million) around twenty thousand people got killed - a murder rate higher than in Syria (population - 23 million). That's first.
And second - as far as I know (Mrs. Carla del Ponte doesn't mention about it) Bashir al-Assad is not involved in human organs trade...
Posted by: vendaval || 06/01/2012 22:52 Comments || Top||


No Negotiation before Nasrallah Apologizes
[An Nahar] A previously unknown gang calling itself "Syrian Revolutionaries - Aleppo
...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
Countryside" on Thursday claimed that 11 Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria on May 22 are in the group's custody and that they are in good health.

A statement carrying the group's signature and sent to Qatar-based satellite news channel Al-Jazeera
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS...
said negotiations to release the abductees "would only be possible after (Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah apologizes for his latest speech."

The TV network also aired images of the abductees' passports, saying they were sent by the group.

"We have decided to keep the Lebanese abductees after we learned that some of them are involved in the crimes and massacres committed by the regime and they are currently under interrogation," a man who identified himself as Abu Abdullah al-Halabi, the group's front man, told Al-Jazeera.

"Our message to Nasrallah is that it is prohibited to enter Syria and shed the blood of Syrians," al-Halabi added.

"Our problem is not with any particular community but with those who assist in the suppression of the uprising," the statement said, in allusion to the 15-month revolt against the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators...
.
Posted by: Fred || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Syria: Armed groups carried out Houla massacre
[Iran Press TV] A Syrian government investigation into the massacre that recently killed more than 100 people in the western Syria village of Houla has blamed anti-Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
gangs for the killings.

The head of the inquiry, Brigadier General Qassem Jamal Suleiman said during a news conference in the Syrian capital on Thursday that between 600 and 800 armed faceless myrmidons used heavy machinery to carry out the attacks on the village on May 25.

The fatalities included dozens of women and kiddies.

"It appears that all the victims came from peaceful families who refused to rise up against the government or take up arms, but had rows with gangs," Jamaleddine stated, adding that facts and evidence showed the victims had been killed at close range.

There were no traces of burns or other evidence that could indicate that artillery bombing by Syrian forces had led to the massive loss of life, he further noted.

The general went on to say that the grizzly massacre had been carried out in an attempt to "eliminate the presence of the government [in the area] totally and turn it into a region out of government control."

"Killing children does not meet any goal of the government but those of the gangs," he pointed out, insisting that Syrian troops did not enter the area before or after the incident.

The head of the UN observer mission in Syria, Major General Robert Mood said in a briefing via video from Damascus to an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on May 27 that the UN observers in Houla had estimated the fatalities at 108, including 49 children and 34 women.

However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly...
the Security Council condemned the violence at the meeting, saying it "involved a series of government artillery and tank shelling on a residential neighborhood."

Damascus has strongly denied
No, no! Certainly not!
any involvement in the bloodshed and blamed armed terrorist groups for violence across the country as part of a plan to ignite a civil war.

Syrian authorities continue their investigation into the massacre.
Posted by: Fred || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


UK's BBC seeking to destabilize Iran
[Iran Press TV] BBC-Persian along with a few other western media outlets , have launched a new media campaign to ignite terrorism in southwestern Iran.

As recently as a few days ago, BBC-Persian and Voice of America as well as the Saudi funded Al-Arabiyeh network embarked on broadcasting especial programmes, in which the UK-based anti-Iranian terrorist group known as al-Ahwazi was the main theme of propagation.

The anti-Iranian terrorist group al-Ahwazi has launched fresh operations with the help of some western governments including Britannia to destabilize southwestern Iranian province of Khuzestan.

The al-Ahwazi group, whose remnants had to escape Iran after their main supporter Saddam Hussain was toppled in neighboring Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion of the country in March 2003, is comprised of communist, nationalist, socialist and Salafi groups, whom despite ideological and nominal differences are united around one goal and one strategy; which is to topple the government and separate Khuzestan from the rest of the country through armed conflict.

Khuzestan is the petroleum rich and ethnically diverse province of southwestern Iran and for three decades it has experienced bloody attacks carried out by armed krazed killer groups known collectively as the al-Ahwazis.

Al-Ahwazi members were born in 1980, soon after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. They were inspired by the ruling Ba'ath regime in neighboring Iraq at the time, and they had already carried out a series of attacks in the province even before Saddam unleashed his military on Iran and imposed an 8-year war on the country.

Soon after the war broke out on September 1980, the Iraqi army occupied parts of Khuzestan and advanced to an area 15 kilometers from the capital city of Ahwaz.

The al-Ahwazis, known in Iran as the "Khalqe Arab" launched bomb and short-range mortar attacks inside the city of Ahwaz to facilitate a takeover by the invading Iraqi army. 16000 residents of Khuzestan died during the war, 12000 of them ethnic Arabs.

After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Saddam founded "Arab Front for the Liberation of Ahwaz in Iraq", whose main concern was to separate the Iranian province of Khuzestan.

After their god-father Saddam was tossed, the al-Ahwazis faced a serious predicament. Desperate for support, they now had to look beyond the borders of Iraq, and in the distance they saw two allies, the deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
in Egypt and the executed dictator Muammar al-Qadaffy in Libya. And the Khalq-e Arab gunnies turned to Egypt for support.

The al-Ahwazi groups have committed numerous crimes against the Iranian targets in the past 30 years, among them kabooms in public places, abductions that led to murder, liquidations, kidnapping for ransom, shooting at tourist and blowing up oil pipelines. Thousands of people have been killed or injured, as a result of their actions.

News channels like the BBC, VOA and some Arab funded channels including Al Arabiyeh are among several other networks tasked with portraying terrorist groups like the al Ahwazi as freedom fighters, and this is while that the same networks are largely turning a blind eye on several freedom-seeking movements like in Bahrain, Yemen, Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
and Egypt, where people are increasingly mobilized against the countries' despotic regimes.
Posted by: Fred || 06/01/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2012-06-01
  SCAF says it is going to end Egypt's state of emergency after 31 years
Thu 2012-05-31
  Somalia forces capture key al-Shabab town of Afmadow
Wed 2012-05-30
  19 Killed in Syria Violence
Tue 2012-05-29
  Western Nations Expel Syrian Diplomats
Mon 2012-05-28
  MNLA, Ansar al-Din declare Islamic state
Sun 2012-05-27
  Al-Shabaab vows Dire Revenge™ after fall of Afgoye
Sat 2012-05-26
  25 children among 90 dead in Syrian government 'massacre'
Fri 2012-05-25
  Thirteen die in suicide attack in Yemen
Thu 2012-05-24
  10 More Drone-zapped in North Wazoo
Wed 2012-05-23
  Paki Doctor jailed for helping CIA find Binny
Tue 2012-05-22
  Death Toll Rises to over 120 after Yemen Parade Bombing
Mon 2012-05-21
  AQAP leader urges militants to fight to last breath
Sun 2012-05-20
  Raging Battles on Edge of Militant Stronghold in Yemen, Dozens Killed
Sat 2012-05-19
  20 Dead as Syrian Forces Fire on Huge Protests
Fri 2012-05-18
  Syrian opposition leader says he's ready to step down


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