[Dawn] The Taliban militia leading a 10-year insurgency in Afghanistan on Wednesday denied that they would soon hold talks with Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... 's government in Soddy Arabia.
"There is no truth in these published reports saying that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate would meet with representatives of the Karzai government in Soddy Arabia in the near future," the Taliban said on their website.
Afghan officials, requesting anonymity, had suggested that the two sides would hold talks in Soddy Arabia separate from planned negotiations in Qatar between the Taliban and the United States.
But it was never clear whether the Taliban, who have so far resisted talks with the Afghan government, or the Saudis, who have conditioned involvement on the Taliban renouncing al Qaeda, would come on board.
Taliban negotiators have begun preliminary discussions with the United States in Qatar on plans for peace talks aimed at ending the decade-long war.
They have also announced plans to set up an office in Doha.
On Wednesday, the Taliban said they had not yet "reached the negotiation phase with the US and its allies".
"Before there are negotiations there should be a trust-building phase, which has not begun yet," the statement on its website said.
A day earlier, a government front man in Kabul cautioned that no steps had been taken to start talks in Soddy Arabia.
"The Afghan government is very clear on talks -- we have always preferred Saudi to Qatar," Akim Hasher, head of the Government Media and Information Centre, told AFP.
"There is a possibility that the talks will take place in Saudi as well -- Qatar is definitely not the only option." On Monday, an Afghan diplomat based in Riyadh said talks would be held in Soddy Arabia, but stopped short of announcing any date.
A member of the Taliban's leadership council told AFP on Sunday that "the idea" that the Taliban should have a point of contact in Soddy Arabia was being pushed by the Pakistain and Afghan governments.
Analysts have warned that any move to open a second front in peace talks was being driven by fear in Kabul of being sidelined and could sow confusion in the tentative process of "talking about talks" to end the devastating conflict.
"When you have all these different players trying to open up talks with the Taliban it might look to the Taliban like a deliberate ploy, an attempt to divide and rule or to get some advantage," said analyst Kate Clark.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
NATO's new Report itself claimc that the Taliban, as a class, believe their victory is inevitable.
IOW, in their minds they lose nothing either by peace talks, where shares of Govt. power + authority is wilfully conceded to them; or continued violent insurgency as the US-NATO are sticking to their planned pullout date of 2014 [SecDef PANETTA = US may end formal Afghancombat operations in 2013].
More ...
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > KABUL SURPISED BY US PLAN TO END AFGAHN ROLE [COMBAT OPERATIONS] EARLY.
They don't like it, they don't like it all, as ITO it disrupts + throws out the entire transition plan, espec as per US-NATO led training of Afghan Military-Security forces.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > PAKISTAN [is] RIGHT TO HEDGE BETS AS REPORTS SAY TALIBAN TO RETAKE AFGHANISTAN.
Islamabad covertly fears Year 2014 scheduled US-NATO pullout + being stuck wid an AFPAK every bit as chaotic, or worse, than ever.
* PAKISTAN DEFENCE FORUM > US MOVES TOWARD AFGHAN [SPECOPS-led counter/anti-]GUERILLA WAR, as US-NATO regular or heavy forces prepare for 2014 pullout.
[Dawn] Preliminary talks held recently by the US and the Hizb-e-Islami resistance group of Afghanistan meant ice was breaking between them and that would create opportunity for more meaningful talks in the future, said Ghairat Baheer, political adviser to the group's leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, ... who used to be known in intelligence circles as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil... here on Tuesday.
"We have not received any positive response so far, but we favour meaningful dialogue with the Americans," he told a conference titled "The Afghan Issue: Regional Implications and Suggestions for Sustainable Peace".
The conference was organised by the Centre for Discussions and Solution, a think-tank headed by former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist socAAial mores... Qazi Hussain Ahmad. ... third president (1987--2009) of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. Qazi was also head of the Muttahidah Majlis-e-Amal until his ego became bigger than the organization. Qazi is what is known as a fiery preacher, which means he has lots of volume, a good delivery, and not a lot of reverence for coherence. He was the patron of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Rasool Sayyaf and Osama bin Laden during the war against the Soviets. He used to recommend drining camel's urine to maintain good health before his kidneys started to go... Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... chief ,Maulana Fazlur Rehman Deobandi holy man, known as Mullah Diesel during the war against the Soviets, his sympathies for the Taliban have never been tempered by honesty ... Awami National Party provincial chief Senator Afrasiab Khattak, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, former spymasters, bureaucrats, intellectuals and journalists from Pakistain and Afghanistan attended the conference, arranged at a time when the US and Taliban started talks in Qatar. Mr Baheer said that he met CIA chief Gen (retired) David Petraeus, Afghan President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... Commander John R. Allen on recent visit to Kabul and discussed with them the situation in war-torn Afghanistan.
"We have realised that Americans have no solution for the Afghan issue.
Not until either Pakistan retires behind the Durand Line, or the drones kill enough jihadis that it doesn't matter.
Despite that, Hizb-e-Islami is ready to continue talks," he said, adding that the core issue was withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
He said that Karzai government would fall after withdrawal of NATO forces.
"Let us discuss a comprehensive package for Afghanistan," he proposed and warned that the region would suffer if the US did not leave Afghanistan. He said that Afghan nation should get a fair opportunity to elect its government freely. He urged America, Russia and its allies to support grinding of the peace processor in Afghanistan.
Maulana Fazl supported negotiations between America and Taliban, saying that other powers should support grinding of the peace processor.
He said that flawed policies had isolated Pakistain and Taliban had been handed over to America.
"Pakistain was the looser when Soviet Union was withdrawing its force from Afghanistan in 1989. Pakistain is once again at the receiving end because of widening gulf between Pakistain and its allies," he said and added that Islamabad had been trapped.
He said that immediate priority should be to pull Afghans from war and then discuss other issues.
The JUI chief said that his party supported peace talks between Taliban and Washington provided it brought sustainable peace to Afghanistan and urged all Afghan factions to start dialogue.
Maulana Fazl also stressed the warring factions to negotiate with President Karzai. He said that Taliban had committed blunders when they captured Kabul. "I told Taliban leaders at that time that they did not form government but occupied Kabul," he remarked.
Afghan intellectuals and journalists criticised the role of Pak establishment and demanded that Islamabad should stop interference and help grinding of the peace processor to end the decades old bloody game in the region.
"Pak policymakers should choose for us what they like for themselves," said Mir Waiz, an Afghan journalist. He added that Pak policymakers disliked Talibanisation in their country while support the same phenomenon in Afghanistan which was unfair.
Former chief of Inter Services Intelligence Gen (retired) Hameed Gul said that America bypassed Pakistain and started talks with Taliban in Qatar. He was sceptical about peace talks in Qatar. He said that Islamabad should change its US-centric policy and act upon joint resolutions of the parliament.
Gen (retired) Asad Durrani, former Afghan interim prime minister Eng Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai, former chief secretary Gulzar Khan, Brig (retired) Mahmood Shah and others also spoke on the issue.
A joint declaration issued on the occasion said that a durable settlement of the Afghan conflict required an 'Afghan solution'.
"A solution imposed by the foreigners cannot yield long-term peace. In this pursuit of an all-Afghan solution for stability, the international community should truly commit to the principle of non-intervention in internal affairs of Afghanistan," said the declaration.
It said that Afghanistan could not be allowed to remain a playground for perpetuating foreign occupation or promoting global and regional hegemonic motives.
"The time has come that the international community rise to fulfil its obligations towards Afghanistan," it added. The foreign forces should withdraw and an intra-Afghan political settlement is reached through participation of all Afghans. The destiny of Afghanistan belongs to Afghans.
It called for instituting a fully inclusive reconciliation process to facilitate the intra-Afghan settlement in accordance with the religious, cultural and tribal values of the Afghan society. "It is vital that the process should be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan driven," the declaration said.
[An Nahar] A Canadian woman held in connection with an audacious bid by a son of ex-Libyan strongman Muammar Qadaffy ... one of those little rainstorms from the Arab Spring... to smuggle himself into Mexico has been formally charged, along with three alleged accomplices, an official said Wednesday.
Mexico's Assistant Attorney General Jose Cuitlahuac Salinas said authorities charged Cynthia Vanier, a Dane and two Mexicans on January 28 for attempted trafficking of undocumented people, organized crime and falsifying official documents.
A fifth, runaway suspect has not been identified.
Mexican officials said in December they had uncovered an elaborate plan, at the height of pro-democracy protests in Libya, to bring Saadi Qadaffy and other relatives into Mexico on false papers.
The plan failed "because the pilots didn't accept to land in secret" in Libya, Salinas told a news conference Wednesday.
Salinas also said Vanier had complained of mistreatment during her detention in Mexico and that an official had been identified and punished in relation to the complaint.
Vanier and Mexican Gabriela Davila were sent to Chetumal jail, in southeast Mexico while Dane Christian Flenborg and Mexican Jose Luis Kennedy Prieto were sent to a jail in eastern Veracruz, Salinas said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Do we get to charge Mexican officials with their actions to support smuggling of their own nationals into the US? /sarc off
#2
Vanier's father was all over the Canuckistanian media complaining that his daughter had been mistreated badly by the Mexican police. He claims that the police kicked her in the kidneys hard enough to cause bleeding when she urinated.
I think that's WRONG! They should have removed their running shoes and donned Doc Martins before they started that treatment.
But then again, the career counsellor told me that I shouldn't think about going into social work.
[Yemen Post] The Separation Movement, which calls for the separation of south yemen, has called on Gulf Cooperation Council states especially Soddy Arabia to foil the Iranian plans to control the region.
The Movement founder, Nasser al-Noba said Iran is trying to use the Movement as a card in its regional conflict with Soddy Arabia and that has more harm than good for the southern issue.
Al-Noba has confirmed that coordination between Iran and the Southern Separation Movement (SSM) dates back to even before the SSP has announced its establishment.
He revealed in interview with Sharq al-Wsat Newspaper that Iran recruits some men from the movement in Iran, Warning of the severe move taken by Tahran
Al-Noba pointed to an incident in the southern port city of Aden in a meeting of the movement, in which the Iranian flag was hoisted, saying this reflect how dangerous the situation is.
"We warned the international community and GCC states that Iran's interference in the Yemeni internal affairs, especially the southern demand of separation from the north, is like a ticking bomb that might explode at any time," said al-Noba in an interview with the
Activists in the SSP have been trying hard to push their issue to the Security Council, hoping they might get a resolution that guarantees them an independent state.
Massive popular protests calling for the ouster of 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... combined with al-Qaeda insurgency in the south, and Shiite rebellion in the far north, has shaken Yemen, leaving thousands killed, pushing the economy to the brink of collapse and triggering a catastrophic humanitarian disaster.
Saleh has signed a deal under which he relinquished power to his long time deputy and Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, the only candidate for the upcoming presidential elections due to be held on February21, in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Saleh has left the country for USA to receive further medical treatment for wounds and burns inflicted in an liquidation attempt in June last year, and he is most likely not going to come back to Yemen.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Security director of Taiz brig. Abdullah Qairan has got a new passport in which he changed his personal data with the aim of leaving Yemen, sources of Aden's Immigration and Passport authority told Aden Online.
The sources said that the procedures were performed without the attendance of Qairan, pointing out that officials loyal to the outgoing 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... helped him get the forged passport.
Yemeni activists have called for preventing Qairan from travelling, stressing the importance of bringing him to justice. A woman march took to streets Sunday in Taiz, calling to put Qairan on trial.
An Aden court had issued an arrest warrant against Qairan on charges of causing the death of a prisoner, Ahmed Darwish.
Qairan is charged by Yemeni protesters with committing crimes against peaceful protests in Taiz and Aden.
In late May, Taiz security forces attacked the central protest camp in Taiz city, shooting demonstrators and setting their tents on fire. More than 50 people were killed.
Qairan had admitted, in an interview with New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , that his forces committed mistakes and killed civilians and peaceful protesters.
Marib Press quoted security sources as saying that the Interior Ministry officially dismissed on Tuesday Qairan and appointed Abdul-Karim Al-Odaini as a new security director to Taiz.
Taiz local council met early January and decided to dismiss Qairan and appoint a new director. However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... Qairan remained at his position.
Saleh moved Qairan to Taiz in March from the province of Aden where local activists alleged the he ordered to use indiscriminate force against demonstrators.
Taiz has been a source of anti-regime activity throughout the 11-month popular uprising seeking to end Saleh's 33-year rule, and security forces have often responded with deadly force.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday again issued a note of warning in parliament, saying her government would take "legal action" against those who were trying to impede the trial of crimes against humanity which took place during the 1971 Liberation War.
The premier also urged the people of the country to "mount pressure" on the BNP so that it refrained from assisting the war criminals.
"As the holding of the trial of war criminals is one of the political commitments of the government, we are firmly committed to completing it," Hasina said, asserting that her government would not backtrack from the task despite the obstacles in the way.
She said a certain quarter had been trying its best, directly and indirectly, to hinder the trial soon after its commencement. They were carrying out propaganda at home and abroad and making all out efforts to create anarchy in the country.
"People were surprised to see the opposition leader coming out in favour of the war criminals. It is very disgraceful for the nation," Hasina said as she responded to queries from politicians.
"Doesn't she understand that her [Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... ] efforts to save the war criminals are hurting the souls of thirty lakh deaders and two lakh mothers and sisters who lost their honour in 1971?"
The premier said her government had moved ahead to try those who had been creating hindrances to the holding of the trial under the country's existing laws.
In this regard, she noted that sudden violence had erupted on December 18 last year in different parts of the capital and elsewhere in the country.
At daybreak on that day a series of crude homemade bombs went off in Dhaka as hundreds of activists of the BNP and its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... clashed with police, smashed more than a dozen vehicles and set some of those on fire. At least one person was killed and several others were maimed during the violence.
Hasina said those opposing the trial directly and indirectly were involved in the anarchy. Cases were filed against those involved and investigation was going on, she said.
In response to a query, she said an investigation into the alleged laundering of $25 million by Jamaat leader and owner of private television channel Diganta, Mir Kashem Ali, to appoint a US-based lobbyist firm to campaign against the trial of war criminals, was underway.
"The government has already come by some evidence of it. Proper action will be taken on completion of the investigation," she added.
Hasina said her government had already amended the money laundering act and anti-terrorism law to take measures against such offences.
During the question-answer session, the premier also recounted the initiatives her government had taken to eradicate poverty, improve the railways sector, empower women, ensure quality education, boost agriculture and strengthen diplomatic relations with foreign countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2012 00:00 ||
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LONDON: Julian Assange took his extradition battle to Britain's Supreme Court on Wednesday, arguing that sending him to Sweden would violate a fundamental principle of natural law.
But it couldn't happen to a more deserving person right now. Well, okay, there are a few imans and hard boyz in Britain who deserve it more, but Assange does indeed deserve it...
The two-day hearing is Assange's last chance to persuade British judges to quash efforts to send him to Scandinavia, where he is wanted on sex crimes allegations.
The case hinges on a single technical point: whether Sweden's public prosecutor can properly issue a warrant for Assange's arrest.
In Britain as in the United States, generally only judges can issue arrest warrants, and British courts only honor warrants issued by what they describe as judicial authorities. Lawyers for Sweden argue that, in Sweden as in other European countries, prosecutors play a judicial or semi-judicial role.
Assange lawyer Dinah Rose rejected that argument Wednesday, telling the seven justices gathered in Britain's highest court that a prosecutor "does not, and indeed cannot as a matter of principle, exercise judicial authority."
She said that wasn't just a parochial British view, but rather a "fundamental principle" that stretches back 1,500 years to the Codex Justinius, the Byzantine legal code.
"No one may be a judge in their own case," Rose said.
Rose spent the first 2 1/2 hours of the hearing combing through British case law and parsing European draft treaties to buttress her case -- in some cases slipping into French to make finer points and wording. She claimed that those who set the rules for European extraditions expected that judicial authorities issuing warrants would be independent and impartial, noting that drafters dropped the reference to public prosecutors from the final version of their text.
Evidence showed, she said, that drafters believed "that the European arrest warrant was a very serious measure that has to be issued by a court."
She spoke confidently and with few interruptions, but legal experts say Rose faces an uphill battle to convince the Supreme Court to block the extradition.
Karen Todner, a prominent extradition specialist, said before the case started that Assange's lawyers were unlikely to overcome the benefit of the doubt usually afforded to other European countries' judicial systems. British judges "absolutely defer" to their European counterparts' justice systems, she said, adding that she would be "very surprised" if Assange's team won the day.
Just over a dozen nuttersfoolsrubesidiotssimpsgoofs sympathizers came to support Assange, a 40-year-old Australian, outside the Supreme Court building Wednesday.
The UK justices, who have dispensed with formal court attire in favor of business suits, will hear lawyers for the prosecution on Thursday. Their decision isn't expected for several weeks.
If they rule against Assange, the 40-year-old Australian is expected to be on a flight to Sweden within two weeks. Assange could conceivably appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, but because Sweden is a fellow European country that would not stop his extradition.
Once in Sweden he would be arrested and a detention hearing would be held within four days. Prosecutors could decide to release him after questioning, but the court could also extend his period of detention. Such hearings must be held every two weeks until a suspect is charged or released. There is no bail in Sweden.
It's still not clear whether charges will be brought against him in Sweden. If Assange is convicted, the penalties for the types of crime he's accused of range from fines to as much as six years in prison.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Natural Law?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/02/2012 1:56 Comments ||
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#2
Given that the UK can't even extradite known terror leaders because to do so might jeopardize their 'human rights' in their home countries, it's pretty damned likely Assange will live a comfortable life in Britain.
#4
He sounds tense. While in London, he should visit the John F. Kennedy Memorial built at Runnymede, on one acre of land that is legally US territory.
While there, he can be greeted by several grinning U.S. Marshals.
Ruling they were tried in a illegal proceeding, the Mexican Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nacion, or Supreme Court ordered the immediate release from prison of seven defendants in the 1997 Acteal massacre, according to Mexican news reports.
A total of 45 individuals were murdered in 1997 in Acteal, Chiapas on December 22nd, including women and children allegedly by a paramilitary group. Eventually 34 individuals that Mexican legal authorities said were involved were sentenced in 2009 to 26 years in prison, following nearly 10 years of legal proceedings. In 2009, the court ordered the release of 20 defendants on essentially the same grounds: that the evidence against them was flawed.
According to a post on its website, Proceso reported that the court also took the unusual step of declaring the seven innocent of all charges. The defendants were all indigenous Tzotzil Indians.
The Proceso article repeats the claim made by EZLN supporters and their sympathizers, that the attacks were planned at the three levels of Mexican government and were part of a government plan to "crack down on those defending their rights."
The massacre at Acteal came at the end of the Marxist Ejercito Zapatista Liberacion Nacional campaign to flip several municipalities to autonomous status using violence and intimidation of Mexican citizens who opposed the EZLN. The autonomy status would have made those municipalities ultimately answerable to EZLN and whatever legal and social state they imposed. Autonomy also had to be approved by the Chiapas legislature, making the campaign EZLN conducted illegal.
The actual attack at Acteal, which last six hours, was an apparent payback for the deaths of several Mexican citizens at the hands of EZLN supporters two days before.
The victims of the attacks, who called themselves Los Abesas (The Bees), was a pacifist religious sect said to be dedicated to non-violence. Mexican government reports at the time said the sect was non-violent and opposed EZLN's use of force, but supported EZLN, which is against Mexican law. Los Abesas support of EZLN apparently made them an easy target.
The Acteal massacre is the subject of a civil lawsuit in US District Court in Hartford Connecticut, where the defendant to that claim, former Mexican president Ernesto Zedilllo Ponce de Leon lives and works at Yale University.
That legal action claims that Zedillo, as a Mexican chief executive bears ultimate responsibility for the killings. The suit has requested unspecified damages.
Currently, the lawsuit rests on Zedillo's counterclaim that as a Mexican chief executive he enjoys immunity for crimes that were committed while he was Mexican president. That claim has nearly 150 years of legal precedent behind it, so it is difficult to see the lawsuit going forward once that issue is resolved.
The high court decision places the onus on the Mexican Procuradoria General de la Republica (PGR), or attorney general to reopen the investigation into the attacks.
[Dawn] Pak Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Wednesday that a leaked US military report claiming Pakistain supported the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan can be "disregarded".
"We can disregard this as a potentially strategic leak...This is old wine in an even older bottle," she told news hounds during an official visit to the Afghan capital Kabul.
The US military said in a secret report the Taliban are set to retake control of Afghanistan after NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... -led forces withdraw from the country, raising the prospect of a major failure of Western policy after a costly war.
Khar, whose visit was the first high-level meeting in months between officials from both countries, added that the neighbours should stop blaming each other for strained cross-border ties.
"We must start engaging in the end of blame games," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Ignore the truth, and what a shock you'll have.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/02/2012 1:16 Comments ||
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#2
See no evil hear no evil
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/02/2012 9:37 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Six people are to go on trial suspected of planning attacks on a Kuwaiti port project in the Gulf that is disputed by Iraq, a judiciary official said on Wednesday.
"The police have locked away six people accused of preparing an attack on Mubarak port," said a front man for the court of appeal in Nasiriyah, 305 kilometers south of Storied Baghdad. ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... Storied Baghdad claims the Mubarak al-Kabir project, once completed, would strangle its shipping lanes in the narrow Khor Abdullah waterway that serves as its entrance to the Gulf, through which the vast majority of its oil exports flow.
Kuwait insists the port will not affect Iraq.
The court front man said the six detainees "all deny the charges, but a witness has confirmed that they were implicated in preparing to attack the port."
The six, from Nasiriyah and the port of Basra farther south, have been referred to a criminal court for trial, he added.
It was not known if the suspects were members of a particular group, and there was no trial date given.
Kuwait began construction on the container port in 2007 but Storied Baghdad only raised objections to it last May, a month after Kuwait's emir laid the foundation stone.
An Iraqi Shiite bad turban group, Ketaeb Hizbullah, in July threatened to target firms working on the port project.
"The Iraqi people will not forget what the government of Kuwait is doing by building a port to strangle Iraq economically," said a statement posted on the group's website.
The $1.1 billion facility on Kuwait's Bubiyan Island is scheduled for completion in 2016.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2012 00:00 ||
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Israel has set up a specialist commando unit designed to carry out missions deep inside enemy territory amid growing consensus in government circles that military strikes must be contemplated if economic sanctions do not halt Iran's nuclear programme.
May I guess that the date of establishment of this specialist commando unit is, oh, 1949 or so?
The "Depth Corps" has been organised with the aim of co-ordinating deep penetration operations in other countries at a time when the defence ministry acknowledges that the number of covert Israeli operations abroad has increased significantly in the last year.
The unit, headed by Major General Shai Avital, a former head of an elite reconnaissance squad, was ordered by the head of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to focus on undercover work. Defence ministry officials in Tel Aviv insisted that it was not "Iran specific" and is needed to co-ordinate a range of duties.
The Tehran regime has repeatedly claimed that Israeli, US and British agents are responsible for the assassination of six scientists involved in the country's nuclear programme -- a charge refuted by London and Washington. Officials in Tel Aviv in general refuse to comment on covert action.
"Of course I see about the killings in the media. I see it happens", said Dan Meridor, the Minister for Intelligence and Nuclear Affairs. "Are they natural, are they unnatural? There are many stories coming from there."
"About these deaths of scientists, I don't know what to tell you. I do not know the effects of that. The fact that they continue to work on this programme despite sanctions means they want to get nuclear and are prepared to pay a heavy price," he said.
Mr Meridor stated that Israel will monitor the effects of the sanctions, including an oil embargo, imposed on Iran by the European Union as well as punitive measures taken by the US.
#1
they are already undercover, positioned in the IRGC and basij leadership, but *shhhhh* don't tell anybody. It'll be our secret
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2012 16:18 Comments ||
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#2
And they each have a herd of pet spy squirrels. Not to mention flies-- lots and lots of spy flies, trained up from maggot-hood to their specialized tasks.
Palestinians tried to block UN chief Ban Ki Moon from entering the blockaded Gaza Strip and flung slippers at his armoured convoy today on the second day of his visit to Israel and the occupied territories.
About 40 relatives of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails gathered at the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel, hoisting posters with pictures of their loved ones and signs in English and Arabic reading: "Ban Ki Moon, enough bias to Israel."
Two of them threw slippers at his car, an insulting gesture associated with the Iraqi protester who won plaudits around the world after he hurled shoes at former US president George Bush at a news conference in Baghdad in 2008.
The Gaza prisoners' relatives, angry that Mr Ban had refused to meet them, formed a human chain at the crossing in an effort to block his vehicle but Hamas security forces moved them away so that Mr Ban could enter.
"We came here in a symbolic message to Mr Ban Ki Moon that Palestinians from Gaza want to have the right to visit their children and loved ones in Israeli jails," said Jamal Farwana, a spokesman for Gaza prisoners' families.
"He should make more of an effort to release the prisoners and we wonder why every time he avoids meeting families of Palestinian prisoners."
Israel holds about 7,000 Palestinian prisoners, many without charge, including 47 Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
Relatives of prisoners from Gaza haven't been able to visit them in jail since 2006 when Israel imposed the ongoing blockade.
According to the report, written by the paper's senior opinion writer David Ignatius, Panetta is concerned that Israel will launch an attack before Iran enters the so-called "immunity zone" when its nuclear facilities will be heavily fortified and a military strike will no longer succeed. Concerned why?
#3
Given the history of Israel's strikes agz foreign NucProgs, IMO its more correct to say that the US + Israeli want to pressure Iran to get it all nervousy + finger-twaddling, etc. in order to covertly induce Iran into making a foolish milaction which in turn will validate a US, UNSC-led counter-response.
As per LUCIANNE + HUMAN EVENTS Blog, the US + IRAN are seemingly caught up in a "GREAT GAME OF NUCLEAR CHICKEN" in the Gulf, in which the Artic denotes IT WILL LIKELY BE THE US = BAMMER ADMIN, NOT IRAN, TO SWERVE = BLINK FIRST???
As ostensib due to on-going US, NATO-EU Econ, Budget woes + ditto success of the various "Arab/Islamic Srings" [Political-Legal-Electoral Jihad = pro-Islamist Govt-sharing].
Iran is NOT Syria or Iraq - it has times made it clear that any Israeli attack will the same as a US attack, + that it will retaliate by any and all means available.
* FYI IIRC FOX FIVE AM > JESSE JACKSON = argued that GOP-Right criticisms of POTUS Obama may be putting the Bammer's life at physical risk of harm???
Syrian security forces fanned out in Hama on Thursday as protesters splashed red paint symbolizing blood in the streets to mark the 30th anniversary of a notorious massacre carried out by President Bashar al-Assad's father and predecessor.
The Hama massacre of 1982, which leveled entire neighborhoods and killed thousands of people, has become a rallying cry for the Syrian uprising that began nearly 11 months ago in the hopes of ending four decades of the Assad family rule.
Hundreds of troops and security forces were in Hama on Thursday, closing off public squares and setting up checkpoints. "There is a checkpoint every 100 meters," said Ahmed Jimejmi, a Hama resident.
Activists painted two streets in Hama red to symbolize blood, and threw red dye in the waters of Hama's famous and ancient water wheels. Graffiti on the walls read: "Hafez died, and Hama didn't. Bashar will die, and Hama won't."
Mr. Assad's father ordered the scorched-earth assault on Hama 30 years ago to put down an uprising against his rule. Amnesty International has claimed that 10,000-25,000 were killed, though conflicting figures exist and the Syrian government has never made an official estimate.
For the next two decades, until his death, Hafez Assad ruled uncontested and the massacre was seared into the minds of Syrians.
Now, as the country faces a far larger revolt against Bashar Assad, the U.N. estimates more than 5,400 people have been killed in the government crackdown.
[An Nahar] The chief U.N. nuclear inspector said Wednesday that there was "still a lot of work to do" with Iran over its contested atomic program, after returning from a three-day trip to Tehran.
"We had three days of intensive discussions about all our priorities. We are committed to resolving all the outstanding issues and the Iranians said they are committed too," Herman Nackaerts told news hounds at Vienna airport.
"But of course there is still a lot of work to be done, and so we have planned another trip in the very near future," he said.
"We had a good trip ... I will now go back to headquarters and inform the DG (ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano) about the mission."
Iranian state media agencies Fars and ISNA had reported on Tuesday that the talks "were held in a positive and constructive atmosphere" but that the team did not inspect any nuclear sites.
Both sides "agreed on continuing the talks" but no date was set, and the six-person team "did not visit any of the nuclear centers and facilities in our country during their trip," INSA said.
The delegation also included IAEA number two Rafael Grossi, an Argentine, and the IAEA's senior legal official Peri Lynne Johnson, a U.S. citizen, according to diplomats.
The visit, the IAEA had said, was aimed at clearing "outstanding substantive issues" on Tehran's nuclear program following a damning report from the agency in November.
That report, which has led to a substantial increase in pressure on Iran from the United States, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and others, detailed a string of areas in which it said Iranian activities were highly suspicious.
Iran has called that report baseless and maintains its nuclear program is peaceful.
Its response to recent, severe Western economic sanctions against its finance and all-important oil sectors has been to defiantly ramp up its nuclear activities.
It has started uranium enrichment at a new fortified bunker in Fordo, near its holy city of Qom, and announced that a 20-percent enriched uranium fuel plate would be inserted into its Tehran research reactor within weeks.
At the same time, though, it has vowed to keep up cooperation with the IAEA.
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02/02/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
At last check, the IAEA team has not yet even visited any Iran Nufacs, so hopefully that will change.
Becuz iff the IAEA fails + **** hits the fan ...
* WORLD MIL FORUM > US OFFCIAL SAYS NUCLEAR WEAPONS MAY BE THE ONLY WAY TO DESTROY IRAN'S [hardened] UNDERGOUND NUCLEAR FACILITIES.
[An Nahar] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... on Wednesday stressed Syria's "keenness on Leb's stability" during a meeting in 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... with Arab Tawhid Party leader Wiam Wahhab, the party's media department said in a statement.
The two men discussed the situations in Leb and the Arab region during their "three-hour meeting," the party added.
Assad stressed to Wahhab "Syria's keenness" on "stability in Leb," highlighting "the positive impact of this stability on the Syrian arena," according to the statement.
"President Assad stressed the need to preserver the presence of the Druze sect in the Arab Orient, hailing its national and pan-Arab roles," the statement said.
Wahhab quoted Assad as saying that "Syria loves all its children, without any discrimination."
"Some media outlets have reported that President Assad has received the chief of the Tawhid party in Damascus for the first time ever. The party's media department stresses that this meeting was not the first of its kind, but rather the first public one recently."
The Lebanese government, which is led by Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hizbullah and its allies, has sidestepped taking a firm stand on the Syria crisis in what observers say is a bid to avoid potential sanctions or a spillover of the violence.
The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... estimates more than 5,400 people have been killed in Syria since March as al-Assad's regime cracks down on a popular revolt.
Thousands of Syrian refugees have decamped to Leb but many say they do not feel safe in the neighboring country.
Syria controlled Leb from 1976-2005 and the two countries have yet to agree on an official demarcation of the 330-kilometer common border.
Despite the departure of Syrian troops from Leb under popular and international pressure in 2005, Damascus maintains a strong influence in Leb.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Arab ministers will meet February 11 to review their suspended observer mission to Syria, postponing talks as a U.N. vote on the country's bloodshed is delayed, an 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... official said on Wednesday.
The official said a meeting of foreign ministers, planned for February 5 in Doha, has been rescheduled for February 11 in Cairo where the League has its headquarters.
Arab League head Nabil al-Arabi announce last week the mission's suspension "after the Syrian government chose the option of escalation, which increased the number of victims."
Syria condemned the move and said it was "aimed at increasing the pressure for foreign intervention in Syrian affairs."
The 165 League observers were deployed in December after Syria agreed to a League plan for a halt to the violence, for prisoners to be freed, tanks withdrawn from towns and on the free movement of observers and foreign media.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said earlier on Wednesday that the U.N. Security Council could vote on a resolution next week demanding an end to bloodshed in Syria.
Western powers and the vaporous Arab League on Tuesday demanded immediate U.N. action to stop the killings but holdout Syria's ally Russia has vowed to veto any proposal it deemed unacceptable.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Russia will use its veto to block any U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria that it deems to be unacceptable, Moscow's envoy to the United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... said on Wednesday, as Gay Paree said Russia has now a "less negative" attitude towards a draft resolution proposed by the West and the 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... "If the text is unacceptable then we will vote against," Vitaly Churkin was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency.
"We will not allow a text to be adopted that we consider to be incorrect and will lead to a deepening of the conflict. We are openly telling our partners this."
Russia has exasperated the West by refusing to back a resolution proposed by Morocco, on behalf of the vaporous Arab League, and backed by Western powers seeking an end to the bloodshed in Syria and calling for Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... to step down.
Moscow has also introduced its own draft resolution but this found little support from the West as it repeated the Russian position of blaming the Assad regime and the opposition equally for the violence.
Churkin said that Russia was pushing for a text "in which it would be clear that no foreign military intervention will be used in the context of the Syria crisis."
Russia, the main foreign weapons supplier to Syria, was also strongly against the inclusion of even the "hint of a (weapons) embargo" against Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... in the U.N. resolution.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said earlier Wednesday that Russia was showing a "less negative" attitude towards the U.N. Security Council resolution. Churkin said he was encouraged that the West was now at least listening to its position.
"It encourages me when our partners know about our red lines and say that we will reach a consensus. I think that they are ready to take account of our red lines," said Churkin.
But Churkin also complained that there was an "unpleasant, ethically ugly, unprofessional game" surrounding the debates at the U.N. Security Council.
"For the first time, the attitude of Russia and the BRICS (China, India and South Africa on the Security Council) is less negative," the French foreign minister told MPs, also announcing a corpse count of 6,000 since the uprising began in mid-March.
The previous toll, from the U.N., was 5,400 killed, but activists say hundreds more have died in recent festivities between President Bashir al-Assad's security forces and rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army.
"We have unfortunately until today been blocked at the Security Council by Russia's veto threat and the hostility of what are known as the BRICS," Juppe said, briefing ministers on his return from the U.N. in New York.
"So we will work relentlessly in the coming days to try to agree a resolution that will allow the Arab League to put all its efforts into finding a solution. A window of hope has opened," Juppe said.
Juppe said the overall corpse count was 6,000, including 384 children, according to UNICEF, as well as 15,000 prisoners in regime jails and 15,000 refugees who have decamped the country.
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02/02/2012 00:00 ||
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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.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Dawn] The Taliban militia leading a 10-year insurgency in Afghanistan on Wednesday denied that they would soon hold talks with 
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar,
Maulana Fazlur Rehman
[Bangla Daily Star] Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday again issued a note of warning in parliament, saying her government would take "legal action" against those who were trying to impede the trial of crimes against humanity which took place during the 1971 Liberation War.
Khaleda Zia
LONDON: Julian Assange took his extradition battle to Britain's Supreme Court on Wednesday, arguing that sending him to Sweden would violate a fundamental principle of natural law.
Pak Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Wednesday that a leaked US military report claiming Pakistain supported the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan can be "disregarded".
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
