Historically, when North Korea has poked South Korea, it has done so to either stoke national pride or get Beijing’s attention. That looks likely to have been the case this time. Chinese and DPRK officials have likely been holding talks, primarily in the border region of Liaoning Province, as they did while I was in the region in the mid-2000s. Much of the discussion probably involved China urging restraint between North and South Korea. In the event of a war between the Koreas, millions of North Koreans will likely flee to China, so it is in China’s best interest to help secure peace on the peninsula.
But the real meat of the discussion likely concerned what North Korea wants — not necessarily from its southern adversary, but from China. North Korea relies on China for food, arms and energy. And China is much more inclined to use carrots rather than sticks to gain cooperation from North Korea.
The most recent provocation likely had its roots in cash and food shortages or, less likely, a snub from Beijing. While the incident occurred in the DMZ, it likely had far more to do with DPRK-China relations than relations between the two Koreas.
#4
They resumed less than 12 hours after the theater commander called a halt. That was mainly a "check your orders and be prepared for the real thing" hold in the exercise. As usual the press doesnt know the difference between a pause and a cancellation when it comes to military.
[DAWN] IT appears that the Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... government has been busy cleaning up the seminaries -- but away from public view.
Rana Sanaullah, the provincial law minister, says the madressahs in Punjab have somehow been purged of Lion of Islam elements. He did, as a prelude to his claim, 'admit' to the presence earlier of 20 such seminaries whose students or faculty had been involved in terrorism, even if 'only' as controllers.
What magic wand the administration waved to get such surprising results has yet to be disclosed.
For the moment, those informed of the figures, intended to be reassuring no doubt, must deal with the mini-surprise of learning that, long identified as a hotbed of extremism, Punjab only had 20 seminaries that, presumably, required a little bit of fixing here and there.
The minister did come up with figures: 532 seminaries raided; 1,100 suspects taken into custody from them; 13,787 madressahs geo-tagged. But then, according to his remarks, the record of each and every student on the roll of these 13,000-odd tagged seminaries was being looked into.
So how is he so sure that the Lion of Islam element has been uprooted?
There may be some credible evidence that shows the Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... government's commitment to targeting the nurseries of militancy, a commitment dictated by the National Action Plan. But unfortunately, the absence of substance in Mr Sanaullah's claim does not make it part of the clinching evidence that would put Punjab ahead of the other provinces. On the same day the claim was made, in Sindh surfaced a list of 49 madressahs against which action had been ordered for their links to militancy. Just as it was unclear as to what the action in Sindh would be, it was difficult to assess whether Sindh had been sufficiently inspired by the big brother in the federation, or if both these bigger provinces were equally guilty of many airy-fairy boasts with little achieved on the ground. Sindh has repeatedly been criticised for lethargy and lack of purpose in recent years. In this case, it could justifiably look for some appreciation for having been able to identify 49 suspect madressahs whereas the much larger and, by many estimates, far more suspicious Punjab stopped at 20. Much more significantly, both these provinces -- in fact, the whole country -- need to come up with a transparent system where they are actually seen to be cleansing their respective territories of the dangers that are nurtured inside seminaries.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Jihadi-bot factories, cranking out broken people with no future but destruction and death. ROPMA
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/27/2015 0:58 Comments ||
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[DAWN] THE language at least speaks of determination. According to the ISPR, army chief Gen Raheel Sharif has pledged that the Karachi operation will continue against terrorists, criminals and mafias across the board.
That is a good thing. In the nearly two years since the Karachi operation was launched, there have been noticeable results, especially the reduction in serious crime and political violence. It does appear that the federal and military intelligence apparatus have been able to progressively identify and dismantle groups that have long tormented the denizens of Karachi.
To ensure that the anti-Karachi elements do not rebound and try and re-establish their reign of terror, the operation in the provincial capital must continue. There remain, however, complicated and continuing questions of just where criminality ends and politics begins.
It is not yet known if the detention yesterday of a close aide of former president Asif Ali Zardari and a senior figure in the last PPP government Asim Hussain is linked to Gen Sharif’s visit to Karachi a day earlier.
Yet, with the army chief pledging to also break the “evil nexus” between “terrorism, criminal mafias, violence and corruption” it would appear that the military will not avoid upsetting the political leadership in the province.
To be sure, there are some legitimate complaints of the political parties that dominate Sindh. The MQM in particular has faced the brunt of the operation and insofar as various members of the party have been detained without following proper legal procedure and others have died in custody in murky circumstances, the party is justified in demanding that its grievances be addressed.
Putting in place an independent but powerful mechanism that can act as a bridge between the MQM and the security apparatus would be the right step. The MQM is a legitimate political party, but it also has been unusually tolerant of violent elements in its midst over the years.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2015 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
We need to pay more attention to the neglect of children. They are not being neglected nearly enough, and the consequence is that they grow up neurotic, and asthmatic. Also, foolish. And I'd mention narcissistic, but everyone does.
#3
I remember discussing this potential outcome here, about 5 years ago.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/27/2015 10:29 Comments ||
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#4
This could be a case study of fascism. Control business through bureaucracy and regulations rather than ownership making sure that the plutocracy get their rewards for playing the game.
#5
So, functioning as planned. Big money to the financiers, and stratify heathcare so as to be able to use it for reward / punishment for the masses. (A carrot's no good without a stick.)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/27/2015 12:32 Comments ||
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#6
AlanoC: imo you are spot on correct in pointing toward the "Fascist Corporate State".
#7
No you know why the insurance companies wanted this: you are forced by the government to buy it, and they get to use that same government to force you to pay more, all while providing less and less care, which is also OK with the government.
Can't que up and follow the rules regarding immigration. Can't que up and follow the rules of a press conference. Please sit down and shut up or take it outside.
#2
Ramos retains dual citizenship and votes in both Mexico and the US. My son, American citizen born in Mexico, according to Mexican law had to choose at age 18 which citizenship he wanted. He could have Mexican or US, but not both.
CAVEAT - The Basis of Reporting (BoR) unverified. [Frontpage] Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.
Senator Markey has announced his support for the Iran deal that will let the terrorist regime inspect its own Parchin nuclear weapons research site, conduct uranium enrichment, build advanced centrifuges, buy ballistic missiles, fund terrorism and have a near zero breakout time to a nuclear bomb.
There was no surprise there.
Gillibrand had also picked up money from the Iran Lobby's Hassan Nemazee. Namazee was Hillary's national campaign finance director who had raised a fortune for both her and Kerry before pleading guilty to a fraud scheme encompassing hundreds of millions of dollars. Nemazee had been an IAPAC trustee and had helped set up the organization.
Bill Clinton had nominated Hassan Nemazee as the US ambassador to Argentina when he had only been a citizen for two years. A spoilsport Senate didn't allow Clinton to make a member of the Iran Lobby into a US ambassador, but Nemazee remained a steady presence on the Dem fundraising circuit.
Nemazee had donated to Gillibrand and had also kicked in money to help the Franken Recount Fund scour all the cemeteries for freshly dead votes, as well as to Barbara Boxer, who also came out for the Iran nuke deal. Boxer had also received money more directly from IAPAC.
In the House, the Democratic recipients of IAPAC money came out for the deal. Mike Honda, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Iran Lobby backed the nuke sellout. As did Andre Carson, Gerry Connolly, Donna Edwards and Jackie Speier. The Iran Lobby was certainly getting its money's worth.
But the Iran Lobby's biggest wins weren't Markey or Shaheen. The real victory had come long before when two of their biggest politicians, Joe Biden and John Kerry, had moved into prime positions in the administration. Not only IAPAC, but key Iran Lobby figures had been major donors to both men.
That list includes Housang Amirahmadi, the founder of the American Iranian Council, who had spoken of a campaign to "conquer Obama's heart and mind" and had described himself as "the Iranian lobby in the United States." It includes the Iranian Muslim Association of North America (IMAN) board members who had fundraised for Biden. And it includes the aforementioned Hassan Nemazee.
Markey had topped the list of candidates supported by the Iran Lobby. And the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC) had maxed out its contributions to his campaign.
After more fake suspense, Al Franken, another IAPAC backed politician who also benefited from Iran Lobby money, came out for the nuke sellout.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the Iran Lobby's third Dem senator, didn't bother playing coy like her colleagues. She came out for the deal a while back even though she only got half the IAPAC cash that Franken and Markey received.
As did Senator Gillibrand, who had benefited from IAPAC money back when she first ran for senator and whose position on the deal should have come as no surprise.
The Iran Lobby had even tried, and failed, to turn Arizona Republican Jeff Flake. Iran Lobby cash had made the White House count on him as the Republican who would flip, but Flake came out against the deal. The Iran Lobby invested a good deal of time and money into Schumer, but that effort also failed.
Still these donations were only the tip of the Iran Lobby iceberg.
Posted by: Besoeker ||
08/27/2015 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#5
Re #1 Can Iran out bid the DNC? I await MSM coverage of this purchase after all the AIPAC stuff. I mean why would the religion of peace loving Mullahs want a nuc? Keeping up with the Paki's?
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.
