Bahrain has determined that Iran was sponsoring anti-regime activities in the Gulf Arab kingdom. Arab diplomatic sources said Bahrain's intelligence services have obtained evidence that Iranian operatives were directing some of the Shi'ite unrest in the Gulf Cooperation Council state. The sources said Bahrain has warned Iran to immediately end this activity or face a crisis in relations. Bahraini authorities have been alarmed by the Ashura march of Shi'ites in Manama in which participants displayed huge posters of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah. The sources said a Bahraini investigation determined that the Shi'ites were ordered by Iranian regime elements to march with the posters in support of Teheran. "For Bahrain, this was the breaking point," an Arab diplomat said. "This was a gross interference in Bahrain's affairs of the kind not seen in a decade."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Why are the Bahrainis getting all hot and bothered about this development? It's not a democracy, but a kingdom for God's sake! Issue a decree, find the perps and the participants on Bahraini soil and toss 'em into the hoosegow!!
A Sinn Fein leader publicly criticized the family of a Catholic man killed by IRA members, warning Monday that their relentless campaign for an arrest in his death could diminish donations for his terrorist buddies support for their cause.
Better shut up, or the boyos might beat them to death...
The comments from Sinn Fein's deputy leader, Martin McGuinness, came as the party admitted that another of its candidates was in the pub where Irish Republican Army members launched the fatal assault on Robert McCartney. A campaign by McCartney's five sisters to have his killers brought to justice has focused attention on the outlawed IRA's continued grip on hard-line Catholic parts of Belfast, where telling police about IRA activities can mean a death sentence. Catherine McCartney, one of the sisters, on Monday accused Sinn Fein of continually trying to conceal and downplay its members' role in the attack. "I find it hard to believe that we've been campaigning for six weeks and still not a single person has been charged with Robert's murder," she said in an interview in her sister Paula's home in Short Strand, an IRA power base that is home to several of the IRA figures who allegedly attacked their brother.
Though the party has offered to shoot the guys...
But McGuinness, an alleged IRA commander, said in what were Sinn Fein's first publicly critical comments of the family: "The McCartneys need to be very careful. To step over that line, which is a very important line, into the world of party-political politics can do a huge disservice to their campaign."
"Dey could end up dead!"
He said if they continued to make direct challenges to Sinn Fein, which is the largest Catholic-backed party in Northern Ireland, they would sleep wit da fishes "dismay and disillusion an awful lot of people, tens of thousands of people who support them in their just demands."
Posted by: Desert Blondie ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
But McGuinness, an alleged IRA commander, said in what were Sinn Feinâs first publicly critical comments of the family: "The McCartneys need to be very careful. To step over that line, which is a very important line, into the world of party-political politics can do a huge disservice to their campaign."
On its face this seems like a blunder, it should futher expose the IRA for what they are, pug-ugly-thugs.
#2
I for one hope the McCartneyâs sisters decide to play hard ball with these scum . Mr McGuinness (tosser that he is) is the one who stepped over the line , from thug to 'politics' . Fuck em .. and all they stand for ladies , and maybe if ya bump into gerry adams in the US , perhaps u fancy yer chances at slugging the slimey weasel in the face .. just to let him know u are there and well and truely on the scene !.. :))
#3
These people are murderous thugs, plain and simple. They have no relation to the Easter Rebellion or romantic notions of "up the republic!" and singing " The Wild Colonial Boy" on St. Patrick's Day in a local bar in New York. History has passed them by and the time has come to put an end to their perversion of Republicanism.
#4
A Sinn Fein leader publicly criticized the family of a Catholic man killed by IRA members, warning Monday that their relentless campaign for an arrest in his death could diminish support for their cause.
Chechen President Alu Alkhanov believes that the real number of militants in the republic's territory is not 1,000 and more, as some media claim, but "less and far less." Alkhanov made the statement at a meeting with foreign reporters in Grozny on Tuesday. "I've not counted gunmen, and nobody counted them, but I'm certain that their number is not so big as it seems to somebody," the Chechen president said.
Alkhanov however admitted that extremists have a certain moral support base. "Let's suppose that there are even 12,000 of those who back extremists in any way, as some assume, but the republic's population is numbering 1.2 million," Alkhanov said. According to the Chechen president, 7,000 people quit bandit groups in previous years and at present all of them "are serving their people, some in police and some in other law enforcement agencies." Alkhanov said he would "exert every effort to help those who quit gangs and return to peaceful life to find jobs and provide guarantees of no criminal prosecution."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/15/2005 12:34:44 PM ||
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"Please don't kill me! I don't wanna die! I'm too young!"
The new Chechen rebel leader pledged on Monday his guerrillas would never surrender and said they would use any methods of warfare "acceptable to God" in their fight for independence from Russia.
"That whole 'acceptable to Allan' requirement is a fairly fluid concept here in Chechen-land..."
The little-known Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev became the rebels' leader after Aslan Maskhadov was killed on Tuesday. He said he would maintain the policies of the relatively moderate Maskhadov, who led the rebels for a decade, but analysts suggest he will actually be closer to warlord Shamil Basayev, who ordered the Chechens' bloodiest attacks on civilians. "We will not conduct any forms of fighting against innocent people. But we have the right to employ against the enemy any methods that are acceptable to God," Sadulayev said in his first announcement since taking the leadership. It was not clear if he considered Basayev's tactics, such as the Beslan hostage-taking that killed 330 people -- half of them children -- to be "acceptable".
"We will defend our people from the Russians' genocide no matter what price we have to pay," he added in a statement, liberally sprinkled with Koranic quotations, published on the rebel Web site www.chechenpress.co.uk. Sadulayev's elevation has baffled analysts and Russian officials, and one pro-Moscow Chechen has even claimed the new leader does not exist. But a rebel publicity blitz has said he will ably fill Maskhadov's shoes, and the Web site www.kavkazcenter.com said his appointment had cut short Russian joy over Maskhadov's death. "(Sadulayev's appointment) was completely unexpected for the Kremlin ... which is in the state of a boxer who gets knocked down after he made what he thought was a knock-out punch," said an article on the Web site. A separate article, tellingly headlined "Chechen President Abdul-Khalim: who is he?", said he was born in 1967, that his wife was killed in 2003 and that he had left Chechnya only once -- when he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Maskhadov frequently appealed to the Kremlin to hold peace talks to end the war, which has devastated Chechnya, cost 20,000 soldiers' lives and killed tens of thousands of civilians. But Sadulayev suggested he saw no point in negotiations with a Russia whose troops had killed a rebel leader trying to make peace. "The enemy, as we saw on March 8, answered our president's love of peace with perfidy and baseness," he said. "The Chechen people is capable of breaking the arrogance of our enemy, and of forcing it to make peace."
In a sign that the rebels have not slackened their resistance to Russian rule since Maskhadov's death, 13 soldiers were injured on Monday when rockets were fired into their base in Grozny, only yards from the government building. The Chechen war has spread into Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria -- other Muslim regions of southern Russia. Troops battled two gunmen in a house in Dagestan late into the night on Monday, and the region's rebel leaders promised to keep up their fight under Sadulayev's leadership. "The Islamic group 'Shariat' and all other armed groups (in Dagestan) ... pledge their oath to the (Islamic leader) of the Caucasus and all Russian Muslims, Abdul-Khalim," said a statement from an Islamist group on www.kavkazcenter.com.
"We'll defend him with our blood."
Posted by: seafarious ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Churches are opening in North Korea, a country long known for its hostility to any religion, and especially Protestantism. But it is not the handful of officially sanctioned churches that are interesting so much as reports of a revival of the North's "catacomb church".
Given the privation and suffering in North Korea, it's not surprising that the masses would find solace in the opiate of the people. North Korean defectors to South Korea recently were asked about the fate of those escapees who were apprehended in China and sent back for interrogation in North Korea. Their treatment is harsh but they are not necessarily doomed. If an arrested escapee does not make some dangerous confessions while subjected to relatively mild beatings, he or she is likely to be set free very soon (not very nice, but still it's a vast improvement over the situation that existed two decades ago). This correspondent asked, "What do interrogators see as dangerous activity?" The answers were virtually identical across the board: "Contacting missionaries and bringing religious literature to North Korea."
For three decades North Korea and Albania were distinct in being countries without any organized religious worship and without a single temple of any religion. But this is changing fast - and the Pyongyang authorities obviously worry that they do not have complete control over the fast-developing new situation concerning religion. The central authorities also are losing control, as cracks appear in the country's "Stalinist" ideology.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/15/2005 12:25:58 PM ||
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My cousin married a Korean lady who is a daughter of a Baptist minister from Seoul. I am not surprised at this. There are many mainstream Protestants and Roman Catholics in Korea.
#2
BigEd: My cousin married a Korean lady who is a daughter of a Baptist minister from Seoul. I am not surprised at this. There are many mainstream Protestants and Roman Catholics in Korea.
#3
South Korean Christians have built rows of prayer closets, like phone booths, into their churches; and churches have people inside praying nearly 24-7.
Anybody from NK who shops in the neutral zone at the border is required to turn in any religious literature within 24 hours. This at least gives people a chance to look at the information. Christian businessmen have also been very creative about getting scripture verses printed on merchandise and selling them for cost. I won't say what they're printed on; let it suffice to say that the Word of God keeps going out and it never returns empty.
#4
So from now till kingdom come,
taste the words on the tip of my tongue.
'Cause we can't run truth out of town,
only force it underground.
The roots grow deeper
in ways we can't conceive.
--"All I Need is Everything"
Linford Detwiler & Karin Bergquist
Recorded by Over The Rhine
Posted by: Mike ||
03/15/2005 20:32 Comments ||
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International media watchdogs on Tuesday accused leading satellite operator Eutelsat of bowing to pressure from Beijing by refusing to renew a contract that allows a U.S.-based Chinese television company to broadcast into China. "The inexplicable decision to suddenly end the contract of an independent broadcaster in this way appears to be a shocking act of censorship," said Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists.
Another group, Reporters Without Borders, said Eutelsat was violating European and International conventions by terminating the contract of New Tang Dynasty Television, which it called "the only non-governmental channel freely reaching Chinese viewers via satellite in the Chinese language." Lawyers for the New Tang Dynasty Television and Reporters Without Borders have said they plan to bring a lawsuit in a Paris court Wednesday against Eutelsat. "We opened a historic open satellite window in the great wall of information control that is forcibly maintained by Beijing," NTDTV board director Joe Zhao told a news conference. "Eutelsat is preparing to slam shut the open satellite window this week." Zhao said NTDTV would use the Internet and other unspecified alternative methods to get its broadcasts into China if Eutelsat removes the satellite signal. He estimated the channel's global audience at 200 million. From its Paris headquarters, Eutelsat said it had honored it contract with a London-based company through which it dealt with NTDTV and said its decisions were based on commercial grounds. "Eutelsat is not reacting to pressure from the Chinese authorities or any other authority," the company said in a statement.
"No, certainly not!"
New York-based NTDTV has been denounced by Chinese authorities as a mouthpiece for the Falun Gong spiritual movement which Beijing has tried to shut down as a dangerous cult. The TV station insists it is independent, although many of its staffers are Falun Gong practitioners. The IFJ said New Tang Dynasty had gained an international reputation for "objective and timely reporting of political, economic and cultural stories" since its founding in 2001. It said Eutelsat had been under pressure from the Chinese Communist Party over the arrangements with NTDTV. The media watchdog said Beijing had warned that business opportunities linked to broadcasting 2008 Olympics would might be at risk. Based in Brussels, the IFJ is an umbrella group that brings together journalists' unions in over 100 nations. It claims to represent more than 500,000 media professionals. Reporters Without Borders is a Paris-based media rights watchdog.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2005 12:07:34 PM ||
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Falun Gong? Lol! The ChiCom BS Bogeyman. Wotta load. They trot out this very scary group of Buddhist-inspired folks looking for a little slack Gong. Amazing how much they apparently frighten the ChiComs. Well, every bad Govt needs a Bogeyman to blame shit everything on.
The sucking sound you hear is Eutelsat fellating the ChiComs. I'm sure this will be forgottenpapered-overswept under the rugexplained awaydismissed out of hand by the EU Justice System resolved to the EU's satisfaction.
Headquartered in Paris and with a workforce of 450 professionals from 25 countries, Eutelsat operates marketing and sales offices in Germany Italy, Poland, the UK and the USA, as well as a broadband affiliate in Italy called Skylogic. Eutelsat also owns and operates teleports in France and Italy that supply in-orbit satellite control, value-added and hosting services.
The corporate governance of Eutelsat is the responsibility of a Board of Directors with 10 members. Giuliano Berretta is Chairman of the Board and CEO.
Eutelsat S.A. Limited Liability Company with Management and Supervisory Board.
Headquarters: 70 rue Balard, F 75502 Paris Cedex 15, France
New Zealand has refused to grant entrance to Major General Gaby Ashkenazy because of strained relations between the two countries. New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goth confirmed the incident, saying that refusal was part of the decision not to conduct high-level contacts with Israel, Army Radio reported. Relations between Israel and New Zealand have been tense since last year, when two Israelis, suspected of working for the Mossad, attempted to gain New Zealand passports.
Plutonium being transported across France could be attacked by terrorists and turned into dirty bombs in a matter of minutes, a US nuclear security expert is warning. Cargoes of plutonium oxide are taken by road at least once a month from nuclear plants at La Hague in the north to Marcoule in the south to make fuel for French reactors. But according to Ronald Timm, a consultant from Lemont, Illinois, US, and for 5 years a senior nuclear security advisor to the US Clinton administration, the shipments are very poorly guarded. Each shipment has less than a dozen guards and they could all be killed in a surprise attack by as few as three armed terrorists, he argues. Then it would only take "seconds" to break open the transport casks with power tools or explosives, he claims, and to start releasing plutonium into the environment.
Another possibility is that the plutonium could be stolen with the intention of making it into nuclear bombs. The risk to the health and safety of the public in France is "of grave concern", Timm says. "The protection afforded these everyday shipments is virtually non-existent," he claims. In a study commissioned by the anti-nuclear group, Greenpeace, he concludes that they are at "extreme risk" of terrorist attack. The plutonium casks transported from the US were a "prime sabotage target" but were only designed to withstand accidents and not "malevolent attacks", Timm alleges.
However, this is rejected by the French nuclear company, Cogema, as "absolutely wrong". The casks are approved as safe by scientists from the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, says Cogema's head of transport, Henry-Jacques Neau. "They are able to withstand deliberate attack, and are extremely safe," he told New Scientist. It is always possible to imagine "sensationalist" scenarios but in reality the security arrangements were "perfectly adequate", Neau says. "Every time Greenpeace gets experts - or pseudo-experts - to produce reports they have proved to be of no value."
The Froggie is right that Greenpees reports usually replace reality with fantasy. However, they may, occassionaly, by accicent, nail something. He better be right.
Radioactive waste is currently shipped in specially designed containers, called casks that function as barriers against the release of radiation during transport. Casks are heavily shielded to reduce the radiation to the allowable limits established by NRC and must be certified by NRC to withstand extreme conditions.
Several different kinds of casks are currently in use for different kinds of shipments â and several others are being developed for possible future use in shipments like those that would go to Yucca Mountain. One cask that DOE has used frequently to transport spent nuclear fuel is made of steel and lined with aluminum, has walls approximately eight inches thick, and weighs 26 tons.
Federal regulations do not dictate a particular kind of container to be used, but do specify particular requirements that any container must meet before it can be certified for use. Casks for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, called Type B transportation casks, must be shown to retain their integrity and not leak radioactive material following four tests â with the first three done one immediately after the other:
1) A 30-foot drop in which the containerâs weakest point strikes a flat, unyielding surface
2) A 40-inch drop in which the containerâs weakest point strikes a six-inch-diameter steel rod eight inches long
3) Engulfment of the entire container in a fire of 1,475°F for 30 minutes
4) Immersion of the entire container under three feet of water for eight hours
Presently, there are no requirements for physical testing of transportation casks. Cask designs must only demonstrate that they meet physical testing requirements through computer simulations. Scale model tests are optional. However, it is worth noting that in the 1980s Sandia National Laboratories conducted full-scale crashes of transportation casks in various scenarios, such as a train hitting a truck loaded with a cask, and a train carrying a cask and running into cement walls.
#3
Plutonium is sometimes described in media reports as the most toxic substance known to man, although there is general agreement among experts in the field that this is incorrect. As of 2003, there has yet to be a single human death officially attributed to plutonium exposure. Naturally-occurring radium is about 200 times more radiotoxic than plutonium, and some organic toxins like Botulism toxin are billions of times more toxic than plutonium.
The alpha radiation it emits does not penetrate the skin, but can irradiate internal organs when plutonium is inhaled or ingested. Extremely small particles of plutonium on the order of micrograms can cause lung cancer if inhaled into the lungs. Considerably larger amounts may cause acute radiation poisoning and death if ingested or inhaled; however, so far, no human is known to have died because of inhaling or ingesting plutonium and many people have measurable amounts of plutonium in their bodies.
Because plutonium has no gamma radiation, health effects are not likely to occur while working with plutonium, unless it is breathed in or swallowed somehow. Link
The municipality of Brussels Sint-Jans-Molenbeek is a breeding-ground for a complete generation of Muslim extremists. Some of the Brussel's Imams also recruit active jihad fighters who are prepared to give their life for the holy war. Attacks in Belgium have not been planned sofar because Belgium is considered an ideal operating base.
Investigation journalist Hind Fraihi, a faithful Moslem woman, lived two months disguised as a sociology student in the heart of Molenbeek. "I am astonished about what I discovered. I wrongly thought that many rumours about extreme Moslems were based on tall stories. Yet I found that many Brussels Moslems do not show the slightest intention to integrate. They look upon the Belgians as infidels and do not have any affection with our country. They consider Molenbeek not as a part of Belgium anymore but as an Islamic enclave where they make the rules as in an Islamic state and where Belgians are not welcome. Instead of integration there is an ongoing radicalisation."
Hundreds of young adults study for years the "pure" Koran. They form a breeding-ground for hundreds of jihad fighters who are prepared to carry out attacks and to fight the holy ware against the infidels. "There is no imminent danger for attacks in Belgium. They look upon our country as an ideal operating base. For them Belgium is a safe harbor where they can plan with very few risk all sorts of attacks and activities abroad. They will not put that situation in jeopardy. There is not a big, well-organised Moslem terror structure in our country, but a whole series of extremist cells. Therefore those cells are very difficult to map for the police."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/15/2005 12:23:03 PM ||
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#1
Some 3 years ago, I thought that Izzies would try to take over Belgium to form the first Caliphate enclave in Europe, by some sort of blackmail--"if you don't, we'll boom one of your 100K towns".
I was wrong. Why go after Belgium if they can grab the balls of EU itself (provided there are any). Brussels is the seat of EU. What's 5-8 years... demographics will be even more supportive and in the meanwhile, you can racket parliament members by any available means to get them where they want.
The Hague Court refused to censor MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Tuesday, dismissing a court challenge to her criticism of the Islam faith and a planned sequel to her controversial film "Submission". The ruling comes after several Muslims took legal action against the Liberal VVD MP in a bid to prevent her from making what they believe to be insulting, offensive or blasphemous remarks against the Islamic faith.
Truth hurts, don't it?
They also demanded the court block a sequel to the film Submission, which accused the Islam faith of endorsing domestic violence. Hirsi Ali made the film in co-operation with Theo van Gogh. The 10-minute documentary is believed to have played a key role in the filmmaker's murder at the hands of a suspected Islamic militant last November. But the court in The Hague ruled on Tuesday there are insufficient grounds to ban a follow-up film, asserting that Hirsi Ali has not acted illegally with her statements. The court did accuse the MP though of testing the bounds of what is acceptable. The theme of the follow-up film is the oppression of the individual under Islam. The lawyer representing the claimants, Robert Moszkowicz, claimed that the film will certainly contain blasphemous elements.
He also said Hirsi Ali is repeatedly asserting that the Islam faith is dangerous "without making a distinction between fundamentalist Islam and Islam in general". Moszkowicz demanded an end to such sweeping statements. Following the death of Van Gogh last year, Hirsi Ali was forced into hiding after suspected terrorists threatened her with death. She remains under heavy guard, but has vowed to continue her campaign against Islam. She has in the past called the prophet Mohammed a perverted tyrant by modern standards. The Somali-born MP — herself a victim of female circumcision — is also campaigning against the practice of female genital mutilation, a practice associated with some Islamic cultures. Hirsi Ali has in the past labelled Islam a backward culture, condemning also its oppression of women under Islam. "For me, it is all about a battle of opinions through peaceful means: words against words. I am not out to hurt or offend people with different beliefs," she was quoted saying earlier this year.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2005 11:59:04 AM ||
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It also has information on Theo VanGogh, and Pym Fortuyn.
Scroll down for English -
It says in part :
"Why this web log concerning Ayaan Hirsi Ali? I have set up this blog as a result of the cowardly assassination on Theo van Gogh and the death threats to Ayaan Hirsi Ali. In a country like the Netherlands it is unthinkable and intolerable that she cannot do her work because she is threatened with death and was forced to go into hiding.
On these pages I will post as much objective news as possible and publish information concerning Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her work.
I will also report on the events concerning the response to Theo van Gogh's assassination.
Your opinion regarding all subjects on this web site is welcome."
#2
Look at Hirsi link I posted above, then page down to the link "Theo VanGogh Encyclopedia"
If you look at the comments of Theo Van Gogh, it seems as though he was to say the least, a bid odd.
VanGogh's murder does tie into this discussion about Ms. Ali, and the Islamofacists of Holland.
VanGogh seems not only to be Anti-Moslem, but also Anti-Jewish, talking about troo much being made of the anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation. On one hand he supports the Iraq invasion, but says "Bush stole the votes."
He seems to have pissed off the violent people because of his film, and it seems he had a propensity to make many enemies...
"Bush stole votes" (Bush Supporters shrug shoulders - "Sounds like Howard Dean")
"Jews are too preoccupied with Auschwitz" (Jews shake thier heads - "He doesn't understand that we must never forget what happened")
But in the words of the Wilkipedia, "He caused resentment in the Moroccan community by consistently referring to them as "geitenneukers" (goatf**kers), which he justified by reference to alleged remarks on the permissibility of bestiality in a book on Islamic law by the Ayatollah Khomeini "
The violent nature of Islamic culture and he appear to have had a common destiny...
And tying back to Ms. Ali, that violent nature has to be exposed, rooted out, and reformed...
#3
Indeed, Big Ed. van Gogh was one of those immature people who enjoyed pissing others off. It didn't much matter to him who or how. No doubt he thought of himself as speaking truth to power.
#4
Theo took great pleasure in pissing off everybody. Only the islamists targeted him for destruction. I watched the 60 Minutes story and I give Mike Wallace some credit; he called "BS" on the Moose limb apologist who said (with cold, dead eys) that Theo got what he deserved. I still find it incredible that the world didn't rise up as one in the defense of the grand-nephew of one of the greatest artists of all time.
#6
Lots of stuff pisses me off. I have yet to kill anyone over it. The allenist are no special case. They can't get over stuff like Van Gogh. Too bad. I guess there may come a point when we will have to preform preemptive self protection on them. Time for them to wake up is running out.
A journalist with the Arab television station Al Jazeera charged with belonging to al Qaeda will be freed from jail on medical grounds but will remain under house arrest pending trial, a court official said on Monday. Spain's High Court ordered Tayseer Alouni's release from a prison near Madrid, but he will not be allowed to leave his house except to visit the doctor, the official said. Alouni interviewed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. cities and was first arrested in September 2003 in Granada. He was released on bail about one month later because of a serious heart condition, but Spanish police rearrested him last November for fear he might flee the country. He has been charged with providing al Qaeda with money and information and recruiting fighters. Alouni, a Syrian-born father of five and holder of Spanish citizenship, says he is innocent.
"Jus' like all the other shahids!"
He is on a list of 35 people charged with belonging to al Qaeda in 2003 including bin Laden himself, who was accused of mass murder for the Sept. 11 attacks. The reporter's initial arrest sparked outrage among Arab human rights groups, journalists and colleagues at Qatar-based Al Jazeera, who called it an attack on press freedom. Soon after his re-arrest in November, the prisons service confirmed that Alouni was being held in isolation.
Posted by: seafarious ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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The leaders of Canada, Mexico and the United States will discuss a plan to beef up continental security and speed up movement across their borders when they meet next week. Canada: unless the 'movement' involves ICBMs
A report calls for the creation of a common economic and security community by the end of the decade. The document's proposals would try to create a secure perimeter around the continent, while making it easier for people and goods to move across the shared borders. Not a good idea for the U.S.
The proposals contained in the report are expected to be a part of the discussions when Prime Minister Paul Martin and Mexican President Vicente Fox meet with U.S. President George W. Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. The report was jointly sponsored by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations.
Among its chief recommendations:
1)Unified visa and refugee regulations. hmm, good idea this one
2)Joint inspection of container traffic at ports.
3)An integrated terror watch list.
4)Biometric border passes to allow freer movement at borders and customs sites. should've been done a long time ago.
5)Joint energy and natural resources strategies.
6)A strategy to stimulate Mexican economic development.
If the three leaders manage to agree in principle to some of the report's recommendations, further discussions would be required to hammer out the details. Greater continental integration could be opposed in all three countries. A North American economic community could make some Canadians nervous about the country's sovereignty. But not about the country's safety and security???
Mexicans could worry about a U.S. grab of natural resources. Like what, for example???
Some Americans, on the other hand, could be concerned about their partners' commitment to continental security. The task force that prepared the report was chaired by former deputy prime minister John Manley, former Mexican finance minister Pedro Aspe and former Massachusetts governor William Weld. Yeah, this is gonna work.[sarcasm off]
Posted by: Rafael ||
03/15/2005 11:16:51 AM ||
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#1
1/3 of this would work for me
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 11:28 Comments ||
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#2
If we aren't going to militarize the border, I hate to say it, but, this is probably a good idea, especially (taking over) container inspection at Mexican ports.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/15/2005 12:01 Comments ||
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#3
"Mexicans could worry about a U.S. grab of natural resources." Like what, for example???
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/15/2005 13:28 Comments ||
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#8
Joint security perimeter for North America by 2010?
>>I have an idea..lets all get a 10 ton boulder and roll it up a mountain. Then as soon as we get to the the top and catch our breath we'll pitch it over and let it scream down to the bottom and then promptly start all over again. (24/7/365)
It was "the wrath of Allah" — senablaw in the local dialect — that killed the 17 accused Abu Sayyaf terrorists who took fellow inmates hostage last Monday at the Metro Manila Rehabilitation Center (MMRC) in Bicutan in Taguig City, Islamic leaders in Central Mindanao said yesterday. "If you go astray and follow the path to wickedness, you will be punished," said a grand mufti (preacher) in a nearby North Cotabato town, who asked not to be named.
You can quote me, but, umm...don't use my name. I don't want to get anyone angry."
At least nine of 14 Islamic missionaries interviewed by The STAR said the government was right in using force to quell the mutiny after it had exhausted all peaceful means to convince the Abu Sayyaf terrorists to surrender. "We even ought to congratulate the policemen involved in the successful neutralization of the mutineers," said a 59-year-old imam in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao. Islamic religious leaders said the slain Abu Sayyaf detainees were struck with senablaw for perverting Islam in justifying atrocities such as kidnapping.
"It is a big sin in Islam to deliberately misinterpret the teachings in the Holy Quran to justify killing of innocent civilians, Muslims and Christians alike, to bomb public places and kidnap people to achieve political or religious objectives," said a Maranaw preacher who asked to be identified only as Samir, and who belongs to the Tabglegh, a congregation of preachers performing missionary work in far-flung communities. An ustadz in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao's executive department said the government must not be alarmed by possible reactions from Muslims in Basilan and Sulu where most of the 17 slain hostage-takers are from. "No Muslim, in his proper frame of mind, will openly sympathize with people who belong to a virtually satanic organization," said the ustadz, an ethnic Tausug. In a statement, the Maguindanao provincial peace and order council said the "neutralization" of the Abu Sayyaf terrorists to end the prison siege was a "clear depiction of the battle between good and evil."
DAVAO CITY -- A judge in Davao City said he already issued a certification from court last week for the extradition of an American national who nearly died when a bomb exploded in his hotel room on May 16, 2002.
A blast from the past, as it were.
Regional Trial Court Branch 13 Judge Isaac Robillo said he issued the certification upon the request of the City Prosecutor's Office (CPO), saying the case against Michael Terrence Meiring was shelved in 2003 yet. Robillo said the court certification for the extradition should have been issued before because two years had already been passed.
Meiring, who is facing a complaint for illegal possession of ammunition and reckless imprudence resulting in damage to property, is facing charges before Robillo's sala.
Had a "work accident", did he?
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte earlier said the American should also be charged with arson for burning a portion of the hotel.
Meiring was spirited out of his hospital room on May 19, 2002, three days after the explosion, by what Duterte referred to as "arrogant" agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Hummmmmmm
US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone earlier said they received a letter from Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez informing them about the charges filed against Meiring. But until January this year, Ricciardone said the charges against Meiring were never communicated with them on an official basis.
"Charges? What charges?"
The ambassador said as far as they knew, at the time Meiring was taken out of the Davao Doctors Hospital and transferred to a Manila hospital, there were no criminal charges filed against him. Ricardionne said if charges had been filed against Meiring, they would have ensured that he faced these. Robillo issued a warrant of arrest against Meiring on June 13, 2002 and fixed the bail bond at P80,000. A hold-departure order was also issued, but by then, Meiring was already out of the country.
You may ask, "Who is Michael Terrence Meiring? In another story: While the Arroyo government and the military are associating these bombings with the Moro rebellion in Sulu, we see that the series of explosions in Mindanao since 2002 point to a larger design--- setting the stage for the entry of US troops and justifying American military intervention in Southern Philippines. The spate of recent bombings have further corroborated the findings of the citizen-led Independent Fact Finding Mission on the 4 March 2003 and 2 April 2003 blasts.The fact-finding mission called attention to the self-inflicted explosion suffered by Central Intelligence Agency agent Michael Terrence Meiring in a Davao City hotel on 16 May 2002. Meiring was quoted by a media source to have said that a "big explosion" would happen in Mindanao with the onset of Balikatan exercises in the country. He was spirited out of the country reportedly by a US government plane with US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents as escorts. Despite repeated calls for his extradition to face criminal charges in Philippine courts, Meiring continues to be coddled by the US government. See, it's a deep laid plot to destablize the Philippines so we can take over, again.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2005 12:54:48 PM ||
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Everybody who's not running drugs is a CIA man to the Philipinos...
Japan said it was doing its utmost to secure the release of two Japanese and one Filipino who were kidnapped by armed pirates from a Japanese-registered tugboat in the Malacca Strait. The foreign ministry set up a task force to handle the crisis and asked Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore for help, a ministry spokesman said.
"We are making the utmost effort to secure their safe and swift release," the spokesman said, while adding that Tokyo had no new information about the three crewmen. The remaining 11 crewmen from the tugboat were safe late Monday. The three are 56-year-old captain Nobuo Inoue, 50-year-old chief engineer Shunji Kuroda and the Filipino crewman. The identity of the Filipino man was not given. Kyodo News said the pirates also stole 700,000-800,000 yen (6,700 dollars and 7,700 dollars) in cash and some documents.
The narrow 960-kilometre (600-mile) Malacca Strait, bordered by Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, is used by about 50,000 ships a year carrying a third of world trade and half its oil supplies.
The three nations last year began coordinated patrols in the Strait after Japan and Western countries expressed concern that terrorists could hijack a tanker to use as a floating bomb or to block the vital channel and disrupt world trade.
Posted by: phil_b ||
03/15/2005 1:17:18 AM ||
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As the United Nations' Irish-led special investigation team here prepares to report that the Lebanese authorities have covered up evidence of the murder on 14 February of the former prime minister Rafik Hariri, his two sons have fled Lebanon after hearing that they too are in danger of assassination.
Mr Hariri's elder son, Bahar, has flown to Geneva while Saad has left hurriedly for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after warnings that they could be the next targets of their father's assassins.
President George Bush is expected to announce on Wednesday that Syrian - and perhaps Lebanese - military intelligence officers were involved in Mr Hariri's death; the bombing killed 18 other civilians.
The UN's Irish, Egyptian and Moroccan investigation team has now been joined by three Swiss bomb experts following the discovery that many of the smashed vehicles in Hariri's convoy were moved from the scene of the massacre only hours afterwards - and before there was time for an independent investigation. Yesterday, frogmen were sent into the sea off the Beirut Corniche to recover the wreckage of the one car in the Hariri convoy that was not taken away by the authorities because it was blasted over a hotel wall into the Mediterranean by the force of the explosion. If they successfully recover parts of the vehicle, they may be able to discover the nature of the explosives. First reports that Hariri was killed by a car bomb are now being challenged by evidence that the explosives - estimated at 600kg - could have been buried beneath the seafront avenue.
A unique photograph handed to The Independent in Beirut - which is now also in the hands of the UN investigators - was taken on the afternoon of 12 February, about 36 hours before the bombing. It shows a drain cover in the road at the exact spot where the explosion was to tear a 30-foot crater in the highway, instantly killing Hariri and many of his bodyguards.
The section of roadway is marked off by "no parking" signs which have been left there innocently by staff of the nearby HSBC bank. But a mysterious object can be seen on the left edge of the drain cover. Both the metal cover and an extensive area of roadway around it were atomised by the bomb.
The picture also shows two buildings which the UN police officers are investigating as possible locations of the bomber who detonated the explosives: one is on top of the circular building in the centre of the photo - which houses a Beirut hotel as well as a Lebanese army retirement fund office - and the other is on top of the war-damaged Holiday Inn (far right) which has been empty for more than a decade. The balloon in the centre of the photograph regularly takes tourists on sightseeing tours of Beirut.
Some members of the Hariri family have been told that the report of the UN inquiry team will be so devastating that it will force a full international investigation of the murder of "Mr Lebanon" and his entourage, perhaps reaching to the higher echelons of the Syrian and Lebanese governments.
Encouraging if true. But. Since when have UN investigators ever found anything? And. This article is by Robert Fisk. Salt. Grain.
#1
If the UN is about to announce something damaging to the pro-syrian govt of Lebanon, why would Dubya make his announcement - better to sit back let the UN make the case, and not get attitudes to Bush get dragged into it. I think Fisk is just reporting a street (bar?) rumour on that - I could believe he would have sources in the UN team, but would still take that with more salt than a McDonald large fries.
#4
President George Bush is expected to announce on Wednesday that Syrian - and perhaps Lebanese - military intelligence officers were involved in Mr Haririâs death; the bombing killed 18 other civilians.
Is there a reason that GWB feels a need to do this? Just make plans and carry them out when the time is right; no need to go around being vocal about things.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/15/2005 13:44 ||
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"Thank's Free World," (sic) said one poster, held high by a woman in a bright red jacket, Rawya Okal, who told me: "We thank Mr. Bush for his position." Overhearing this in the throng, a middle-aged man in a green baseball cap, Louis Nahanna, leaned over to say, "We love the American people" - adding, "Please don't let Bush forget us. Your support is very important."
Asking more people what they thought of Americans turned up the same refrain. From a young driver, Fadi Mrad, came the message: "We want to change. We need freedom. Please don't let Bush forget us." From a group of young men came not only the message "Our hope is America," and "We believe in democracy in the Middle East," but also praise for Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. There was also an invitation from one of them, young Edgard Baradhy, for his heroine, Ms. Rice, to come to Beirut "and I am ready to take her for coffee."
Posted by: Matt ||
03/15/2005 15:16 Comments ||
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#2
Someone who understands the interplay of factions within Lebanon - please correct me where I'm wrong about motives, etc. or where they see major flaws.
I don't think I'm wrong to suggest that Hezbollah will not disarm and will try to grab as much power as their arms afford them. Civil war would suit them almost as much as total control, as that would suit the MM's - at least as a distraction from their looming UNSC confrontation and whatever other motives the assclowns in Iran see as in their interests.
They are paid thugs in the employ of the Iranian regime. They have no place else to go except Syria - which surely (from Assad's POV) has reservations about allowing an armed militia, no matter how "friendly" or currently motivated, to move in and augment those already in Syria.
I have no doubt there will be a bloody showdown with Nasrallah - very very soon - as he has no future and no sponsor to maintain his power unless he can bite off a chunk of Lebanon for his Masters and, if possible, sidetrack or derail this democracy thingy.
Ironically (is that an understatement, or what?), Israel may turn out to be the average Lebanese citizen's best friend - being both on the ground nearby in serious numbers and able to open a can of no-shit WhoopAss on Hezbollah anytime they perceive it to be in their interests. Now wouldn't it be interesting if there was a sudden convergence of interests and Israel was instrumental in helping free the Lebs from Hezbollah -- then go home peacefully -- allowing them to attain the free democratic Leb they demonstrated for in such impressive numbers?
#3
I hope for the best for them but I'm not optimistic about Hezabolla giving up their staging ground for attacks on Israel without a fight. If the Lebanese do get their freedom from Syria Hezbolla is pretty close to being finished. The Iranian Mad Mullahs have yet to play their hand.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/15/2005 15:32 Comments ||
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#4
.com and DB, that's way above my head in terms of what little I know about the Lebanese situation, but I guess my general point of view would be that the Lebanese now have a chance whereas before they had none. Also, the Lebanese have shown a lot of tits courage over the last few days, and that's got to count for something. Who dares, wins.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/15/2005 15:39 Comments ||
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#5
And the lady holding the signs responds!! Via The Corner
EMAIL FROM BEIRUT [Cliff May]
Thanks Claudia for your article on March 15, 2005: âMillion Lebanese Stage Massive retort to Terrorists,â NY Sun.
I am the woman who held high the poster âThankâs Free Worldâ (sic). Sorry for the spelling.
From all my heart please let me repeat this again and again:
#6
.com, the pot is really starting to boil right now and with all the cooks in the kitchen things could get rough. I really think the Syrians are through unless the French piss on everybody and do a deal with Assad. I'm not really knowledgeable enough about Syrian resources to know what and how much the Syrians have to offer the French. My guess is it's not a really big deal or they would have done a deal long ago. My guess is the French really don't see anything to gain for dealing with Assad except to counter and embarress the US and this time it may not be worth the effort for so little gain. At this point even the French may see it's in their best interests to be on our side this time, although I trust them about as far as I can throw my thumb.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/15/2005 16:36 Comments ||
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#7
Two more factors : Lebanon has been in the Francophile column for years and the French would like to keep it that way; the ex-PM that got killed was a personal friend of both Chirac and the House of Saud. Big time ME politics arguing for the French to go along with us, since it is in their naked interests to do so.
Having accomplished what a few months ago seemed impossible (getting the U.S. and France to see eye to eye on an issue), and now understanding the dire consequences of such a development, Syria is reportedly seeking to bolster ties with their former colonial ruler in attempt to alleviate international pressure against them. So how can they accomplish that objective? It is actually fairly simple: follow the model offered by despotic regimes around the world (Iraq, Venezuela, Myanmar, etc.) and offer lucrative energy contracts to French owned oil giant Total. The Wall Street Journal reports:
Syria, under mounting international pressure to hasten its withdrawal from Lebanon, is considering offering business deals as diplomatic tools to improve ties with France, people familiar with the situation said. Syria has approached French oil giant Total SA with a proposal to develop a cluster of promising gas fields located in the Palmyrid desert region. Syria also could revive plans to buy Airbus aircraft and renew talks with French construction firm Vinci SA on airport and subway projects, these people said.
Syria has yet to launch a new formal tender for the gas fields, and any firm plane order could be months away, but the attempt to boost bilateral trade with France is part of a wider effort to break through a rising diplomatic isolation, these people said. "Syria desperately needs to find allies in the West," a European diplomat said. "And France is their best shot to open up a gate."
Syria and France once had close relations. Eager for breathing room, Syria hasn't lost hope that it can soften France's stance with the promise of lucrative contracts valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, businesspeople and diplomats familiar with the situation said.
I may be wrong, but I think this is too little too late.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2005 1:21:06 PM ||
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#1
I hope so, but official French duplicity and greed is pretty strong.
#2
Never ever think the French will not change policy or diplomatic course for economic gain. They will do it in a heartbeat if it will have a negative impact on US policy or interests.
Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who supporters say has the political acumen to resolve Iran's problems with the West, reiterated yesterday that he was ready to stand in June's presidential election but stressed that he had not made a formal decision, Iranian state news agency IRNA reported. "I am totally ready to be a candidate but I think it is still too early to decide," the still influential former president said.
"I would still prefer for someone with more energy to enter the stage ... Maybe in the course of the next few days the (campaign) platform of one of the existing candidates or a new candidate will appeal (to Iranians), failing which it will be up to me," he said at the launch of a new student news agency, IscaNews. Rafsanjani had already hinted on Sunday that he intended to attempt a comeback in the June 17 election. "As we are getting closer to the election, I feel my responsibility is getting heavier and I cannot stand aside," Rafsanjani told a gathering of managing directors and chief editors from the national press. "If I determine that the management of the country rests on me alone, do not doubt that I will execute my national and Islamic duty," he was quoted as saying by the student news agency ISNA.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 ||
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"...who supporters say has the political acumen to resolve Iranâs problems with the West..."
"If a day comes when the world of Islam is duly equipped with the arms Israel has in possession, the strategy of colonialism would face a stalemate because application of an atomic bomb would not leave any thing in Israel but the same thing would just produce damages in the Muslim world", Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani told the crowd at the traditional Friday prayers in Tehran.
and
"Jews shall expect to be once again scattered and wandering around the globe the day when this appendix is extracted from the region and the Muslim world", Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani warned, blaming on the United States and Britain the "creation of the fabricated entity" in the heart of Arab and Muslim world.
A senior Iranian nuclear negotiator said yesterday that the European Union must accept Iran's uranium enrichment program, Iranian student news agency ISNA reported. "The Europeans have continuously demanded a halt to enrichment but this demand was not included in the agreement. The Europeans must accept Iran's uranium enrichment," said Sirus Naseri, referring to an initial deal reached with the EU last year. Britain, France and Germany have been trying to secure "objective guarantees" that Iran will not use its atomic energy ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons, and in exchange they are offering a package of trade, security, diplomatic and technology benefits to Tehran.
"The negotiations have progressed well in the political and economic committees, but in the nuclear committee there has been less progress," said Naseri, who led the Iranian team in talks last week in Geneva with EU negotiators Britain, France and Germany. He stressed that the negotiating period was not "indefinite" and if no "reasonable agreement" were reached, Iran would be prepared to break off the talks and "accept the consequences".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Well he's right. The EU is incapable of doing anything to prevent it except offer bribes. Whether the bribes are accepted or not is of little consequence.
If America and Israel were out of the equation, the EU would get their empty promises and the MM would get their nukes.
We're witnessing another example of EU bad judgement & impotence, as if another was needed.
#2
He stressed that the negotiating period was not âindefiniteâ and if no âreasonable agreementâ were reached, Iran would be prepared to break off the talks and âaccept the consequencesâ. I'm cool with this. Can we have it in writing?
#5
You cannot "demand" something unless you have a stick on standby to back up your "demand." And the Eeeeeewww-3 cannot negotiate with the MMs by crawling on their knees to the negotiating table with with a sack full of trinkets.
Posted by: Al-Aska Paul ||
03/15/2005 11:08 Comments ||
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#6
EU can also accept my dog pooping in the front lawn too, but it still has to be cleaned up.
#5
I'm watching the extended director's cut DVD, with commentary by Curtis LeMay.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/15/2005 8:34 Comments ||
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#6
Can anyone determine the origin of a cruise missle? Unless it malfunctions and is found.... But who else has cruise missles? Ahhh, they'd figger it out.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2005 9:25 Comments ||
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The family of St Pancake Rachel Corrie, a pro-Palestinian activist killed by an Israel Defense Forces bulldozer in Rafah two years ago, sued the State of Israel and the IDF for damages in the Haifa District Court on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old Corrie was killed on March 16, 2003 when she tried to block an IDF bulldozer from destroying a Palestinian house near the Philadelphi Route, the strip of land in the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt.
An IDF investigation ruled the incident was an accident and that the driver did not see Corrie, and the military prosecutor's office decided not to press charges in connection with Corrie's death.
Corrie's parents, brother, and sister, who are represented by Umm al-Fahm attorney Hussein Abu-Hussein, argue Corrie was killed despite the fact that she was wearing bright clothing and had identified herself as an activist with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement.
Corrie's family argues that the bulldozer driver intentionally used unreasonable force. Let me guess.... she was standing in front of the D9 - where the driver could not see her sorry ass.
According to the family, there was no fighting in the area at the time and there was no threat to soldiers' lives.
The family has asked for roughly $324 thousand in direct damages, as well as punitive damages. They also said they have yet to receive all of the material from the IDF investigation into the matter. I think Israel should sue the family for the bloodstain on their nice D9..... LGF has coverage as well.
EFL...
Bernard Ebbers, who built WorldCom from a humble Mississippi long-distance firm into one of the nation's biggest telecommunications conglomerates, was convicted Tuesday of engineering the colossal accounting fraud that sank the company. A federal jury in Manhattan deliberated eight days before returning guilty verdicts on all counts — one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud and seven counts of false regulatory filings. The crimes carry up to 85 years in prison. When the verdict was read, Ebbers' face reddened. His wife, Kristie, and other family members broke into tears. Afterward, Ebbers and his wife hailed a taxi outside the courthouse and left without speaking to reporters. "We're all devastated," said defense attorney Reid Weingarten. "It's very sad it came out the way it did." Sentencing was set for June 13. Weingarten said an appeal was planned, adding: "We are obviously extremely disappointed with this verdict, but the fight will continue."
The conviction comes more than two years after an internal auditor began asking questions about curious accounting at WorldCom, touching off a scandal that eventually unearthed $11 billion in cooked books. Prosecution testimony at the six-week trial portrayed Ebbers, 63, as obsessed with keeping WorldCom's stock price high, and panicked about $400 million in personal loans that were backed by his shares in the company. Ebbers himself took the witness stand late in the trial, insisting that he was unfamiliar with the details of accounting and knew nothing about the fraud taking place on his watch. Riiiiight!
The star witness against him was Scott Sullivan, the former finance chief, who claimed Ebbers repeatedly ordered him to "hit our numbers" — a command, Sullivan said, to falsify the books to meet Wall Street expectations. With the entire telecom industry suffering a dot-com hangover, the fraud was driven by soaring "line costs" — the fees WorldCom paid to smaller local telephone carriers to use their networks. Prosecutors said the fraud stretched from late 2000 until early 2002, sometimes amounting to nearly $1 billion per quarter in hidden expenses and improperly recognized revenue. Pressure from the loans, the money he stood to lose and the power of the CEO's job combined to form a "perfect storm of corruption" that drove Ebbers to commit fraud, prosecutor William Johnson said in his closing argument.
Ebbers gambled by taking the witness stand. He directly disputed the testimony of Sullivan, saying he became aware of the fraud only in the summer of 2002, after he was asked to leave WorldCom. The conviction completes a staggering fall for Ebbers, who took a small long-distance company in Mississippi and merged with or acquired ever-larger companies, earning him accolades and the nickname Telecom Cowboy. He still faces civil litigation, including from the company, which backed up his $400 million in personal loans when Bank of America demanded more and more collateral as the stock price fell. WorldCom, which was based in Clinton, Miss., was driven into bankruptcy — the largest in U.S. history — in the summer of 2002. It has since re-emerged as MCI Inc., based in Ashburn, Va. The company struck a $750 million settlement with federal regulators to repay aggrieved investors, a small sum compared to the tens of billions of dollars of market capitalization that evaporated in the scandal. Twelve former directors of the company, plus some investment banks that underwrote WorldCom securities and auditing firm Arthur Andersen, also face a civil trial brought by angry investors. That trial is set for late March.
#4
This makes me very happy. This SOB represents the worst of corporate America. He and his ilk need to be put away. They will serve as a very clear reminder to those who think that they too, have to "hit the numbers". Having your O-ring resized courtesey of a diseased prison gang member is a powerful deterrent to white collar crime.
#6
Remoteman, Where he's going they don't send Butch. But I hope the judge is so P. O.'ed about his perjury he gives him the max and Ebbers dies in jail of natural causes.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/15/2005 16:48 Comments ||
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#7
Now, they just need to put away the Enron chairman.
What's that, you say? He's a Bush buddy, and will likely live out the rest of his life in luxury?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/15/2005 21:05 Comments ||
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#9
Gromky - you're so in touch with most of the world - so out of it on this. Ken Lay is going down, big time. Previous Bush connections were pre-indictment and exposure of misdoings. Once they were exposed - all was off.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 21:15 Comments ||
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#10
Gromky, when Enron collapsed, an official of which administration contacted the SEC (or was it FTC) to try to pull their asses out of the fire?
If you said "Clinton administration", you've got it right! Any other answer is dead wrong -- the Bush administration is the one that exposed and prosecuted the fraud!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/15/2005 21:18 Comments ||
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#11
it was Robert Rubin they contacted
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2005 21:30 Comments ||
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Hat tip: Murdoc Online. Edited for brevity.
...a local Iraqi woman approached from the nearest farmhouse with an armful of material. The perimeter security waved her through and she approached the vehicle with her carefully husbanded cargo. When she made it to the M113 she carefully placed neat palm mats in front of the vehicles treads. By now she had everyone's attention, and all eyes followed this woman as she returned to her modest home and removed more palm mats from her roof to help the American vehicles get out of the mud. The mats provided enough grip for the vehicles to make it out of their sticky trap and the mudcaked vehicles continued to lurch onward.
In every conceivable material dimension our soldiers were better off then this Iraqi woman. And yet she didn't hesitate to help - even though it meant she would have to sacrifice a part of her very home. This woman was poor and uneducated, and the deep lines in her hands were testament to years of back breaking labor. But despite all this (or maybe because of it) she shared what she did have to help some American soldiers stuck on a muddy road. I know we have come to Iraq to build a better way of life, but sometimes we are the ones learning the lessons.
Posted by: Dar ||
03/15/2005 1:51:31 PM ||
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#1
I'm sure she and her family got quite a few dollars from the Commanders' reconstruction/humanitarian assistance fund each BN Cdr has.
Pakistan has developed new illicit channels to upgrade its nuclear weapons program, despite efforts by the U.N. atomic watchdog to shut down all illegal procurement avenues, diplomats and nuclear experts said. Western diplomats familiar with an investigation of the nuclear black market by the U.N.'s Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said this news was disturbing. While Pakistan appeared to be shopping for its own needs, the existence of some nuclear black market channels meant there were still ways for rogue states or terrorist groups to acquire technology that could be used in atomic weapons, they said. "General procurement efforts (by Pakistan) are going on. It is a determined effort," a diplomat from a member of the 44-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "This was discussed at an NSG meeting in Vienna last week."
Nuclear experts said these channels involved new middlemen who had not played a role in earlier deals which came to light last year. "These are not the same people. They're new, which is worrying," said one Western diplomat. Pakistan is subject to sanctions against its atomic arms program as it has not signed the 1968 global nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). A diplomat from another NSG country that is a producer of technology usable in weapons programs said his country's customs agents were not surprised. "Our people are well aware of Pakistan's efforts to upgrade its centrifuge program." Asked if Pakistan was using the black market to upgrade its facilities, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said in Islamabad: "To be honest, I don't have an update on that. Pakistan's nuclear capability is a reality which has to be reconciled, and obviously in order to maintain its capability Pakistan would make all the preparations." An IAEA spokeswoman declined to comment.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/15/2005 12:33:23 PM ||
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The world just celebrated the 8th of March 2005 as the International Women's' day (IWD). The print and the electronic media remembered this day by publishing a plethora of articles, essays, features, news reportsâŠand what not...So, what about Islamic Women's day? Is there going to be such a day exclusively reserved for all the Muslimahs (female Muslims) living in all the Islamic Paradises? I can bet my bottom dollar that within a few years (possibly within the next 5 years or so) the Islamists will declare another day (not the 8th of March—it is infidel's calendar, so haram)—possibly a date commensurate with the celebration of the killing of infidels by some woman Jihadi suicide bomber (of course, the calendar to be followed will be Arabic—the Allah's calendar, no doubt) as the Islamic Women's Day..
Here is the compiled list of the 'golden' rights and provisions for all the Muslimahs in the Islamic World:
[for each of these Abul Kasem quotes passages from the Quran and/or one of the preeminent Hadiths]
The right to be treated as diseased and as sex toys
The right to be used as a sowing field
The right to enjoy another husband after the third divorce from the previous husband (hilla marriage)
The right to engage in Islamic prostitution through Mut'a marriage
The right to be treated as impure as a drunkard
The right to be treated as unreliable and untrustworthy
To uphold the inalienable superiority of men over women and the right to be beaten by husbands—no questions asked
Posted by: mhw ||
03/15/2005 9:27:49 AM ||
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"Look, that's me," says Adam, a Sudanese worker, showing his photograph in a local newspaper, hooded, handcuffed, flanked by Iraqi police. "We were 47 Sudanese all dealt with this way, arrested at dawn in the same building, mistreated and insulted before being freed at the end of the day," Adam said. Adam does not dare stray out of his neighborhood of Bataween, which has a reputation for crime, ranging from robbery to prostitution and all kinds of trafficking. But even here he is not safe. The police and army frequently raid the district teeming with non-Iraqi Arab nationals, whom Iraqis view with suspicion, eyeing everyone as a fighter here to wage holy war.
Reminders that they are living in hostile territory abound. Two banners hang in the nearby public park, named Tahrir square, where people mill about. "We support the decision of the new government to launch the war against terror and to hunt all the Arabs," the banners say. The government of outgoing Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi initiated a campaign of constant sweeps in slums like Bataween frequented by Arab foreign nationals living on the fringe. The government suspected them of involvement in crime and the insurgency. It has left the expatriates living in fear. "They (Iraqis) watch me on public transportation and sometimes they crowd around me before letting me step on the bus," said Sudanese Idriss Daoud, 35, who quit his studies at Baghdad's art college because of the new attitude among Iraqis.
There's more, if your tear ducts can take it...
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/15/2005 09:07 ||
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Another group discovered who liked it better before....
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/15/2005 9:17 Comments ||
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We support the decision of the new government to launch the war against terror and to hunt all the Arabs,"
Am i the only one who sees the irony in that banner? ;) Think of the outrage if a banner like that were raised in Israel, the US, or the Netherlands for that matter. Not that im saying one should be, mind you. Just enjoying the irony. In Iraq today, the pendulum has swung so far against pan-arab nationalism (at least outside the Sunni triangle) that "arabs" is assumed to mean non-Iraqis.
#4
Sometimes I dream about a future Iraq invading Arabia, cleansing the viper's nest and letting the Seoud with only the Nejd: the oilless desert where they came from (it would also mean they would no longer control Mecca and Medina)
Hamas is incapable of joining the PA or making any other sort of 'peace'. They are too addicted to murdering innocents or ordering suicide bombers to kill themselves.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday his forces believed they had nearly hunted down Osama bin Laden about 10 months ago but the trail had since gone cold. "Through interrogation of those who have been captured, the al Qaeda members who were apprehended here, and through technical means there was a time when the dragnet had closed," Musharraf told the BBC in an interview. "We thought we knew roughly the area where he possibly could be. That was I think ... not very long (ago), maybe about 10 months back," said Musharraf, a close ally in U.S. President George W. Bush's declared war on terrorism.
The BBC quoted Musharraf as saying his forces had since lost track of bin Laden's possible whereabouts. Some security experts say bin Laden is hiding somewhere in the rugged mountainous border region between Pakistan and Afghanisatan. On Sunday, Pakistani officials said the country's security forces had mounted a search for suspected al Qaeda foreign fighters in a tribal area near the Afghan border. Ten men were detained for questioning.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/15/2005 12:35:17 AM ||
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The world is determined to push ahead with fresh Middle East peace moves and create an independent Palestinian state, according to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan who met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his Ramallah headquarters here yesterday. Palestinian groups said they were ready for a formal cease-fire, seen as a crucial precursor to road map negotiations on Palestinian statehood, if Israel freed 8,000 prisoners and pulled back forces in the occupied West Bank. After his talks with Annan, Abbas said he expected to win militants over to a formal truce, cementing a tacit deal prone to violations, in talks with them today in Cairo. "We hope the dialogue in Cairo will yield positive results because the conditions are right among all parties concerned," he told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejected the truce bid, repeating Israel's demand under the US-backed road map peace plan for Abbas to dismantle militant groups rather than negotiate with them.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 ||
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The world is determined to push ahead with fresh Middle East peace moves and create an independent Palestinian state,
The two parts of Mr. Annan's statement seem to me to form something of a non sequitor. An independent Palestine is not a pre-requisite for Mid-East peace, especially when the support for suicide bombings amongst the Palestinian citizenry has dropped from 77% to something like 29%. In fact, the longer the rest of the Mid-East is peaceful and free without the Palestinian issue being formally resolved, the likelier that the Palestinian people will recognize that they have been defeated and therefore must trade in their unrealistic plans for something both they and the Israelis can live with.
#3
Funny how Koffi 'lying sack of sh*t' Annan is willing to give up Israeli concessions to his buddies the terrorists isn't it...
It sounds to me like Mr LyingSackOSh*t is trying to take credit for what others have done again. Next he will start saying that democracy in Iraq and Lebannon is a great 'UN' victory.
(Sorry if any sacks of sh*t were offended by the comparison to Koffi).
#4
CF - "It sounds to me like Mr LyingSackOSh*t is trying to take credit for what others have done again."
Now, now, relax. That's his job. It says so somewhere in the UN Charter, I'm sure. Just as anything the Muzzies do is sanctified somewhere in the Suras or Haddiths.
#5
Actually its not his job. He is an unelected bureacrat responsible for carrying out the instructions of the nominees of elected officials, or goverment nominees where the government is not elected. It really pisses me off that the MSM insists on quoting him all the time.
#10
No Annan won't do a thing about Sudan and Dafur until others have done the heavy lifting and given a few quarts of blood, then he will rush in, hold a bunch of conferences, 5-star lunches, and press conferences where he will say he appreciates the 'help' others have provided under his 'leadership'.
Then the UN troops will implement their nookie-for-food program.
#12
"It sounds to me like Mr LyingSackOSh*t is trying to take credit for what others have done again." That's what the un does best. Remember the Tsunami fiasco? The un technocrats were still meeting in a five-star hotels (prob with hookers) while US and Aussie forces were providing aid. Then that excuse for a leader said they (the un) were behind the relief effort? Nothing would make me happier than to see that entire organization sent packing to someplace like France. They could spend all day passing Anti-Israel resolutions and groping the Phrenk staff.
Palestinian group leaders said yesterday they were ready to offer a formal cease-fire in their campaign against Israel, tied to a timetable for Israel releasing prisoners and pulling out of Palestinian towns. In effect, the militant factions would extend and formalize the existing de facto cease-fire but make clear to Israel that it must respond if the truce is to last, officials said. "We approve a conditional truce. We will wait to see what the Israelis will offer and the guarantees that we will get. We have not agreed on a specified timeframe for the truce but once we get all these we will study them and declare our decision," added West Bank Hamas leader Hassan Youssef.
"We can come out with a cease-fire agreement but we will not enter a truce with no guarantees when there are 8,000 prisoners behind Israeli bars," added another senior Hamas official, in Cairo for talks with the Palestinian Authority. The exact wording of the Palestinian offer will be at the center of debate when 13 Palestinian factions meet the Palestinian Authority in Cairo starting this evening. But any declaration by all the factions would be an advance on the current arrangements a promise by the Palestinian Authority that Palestinians will not attack Israelis, coupled with an informal agreement that the militants will not attack as long as the Israelis leave them alone.
Anwar Abu Taha, a senior official of the second largest group Islamic Jihad, told Reuters that the truce must go hand-in-hand with the timetable for Israeli actions. "We are not talking about a free or unconditional truce. There has to be a timetable agreed by all Palestinian factions ... Israel must halt all military assaults and start releasing all Palestinian prisoners as well as pulling out from Palestinian areas," he said. Sources at the Foreign Ministry said Egypt had already proposed a one-year truce. However, they did not elaborate on the conditions of the cease-fire.
This article starring:
ANWAR ABU TAHA
Islamic Jihad
HASAN YUSEF
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Trying for another hudna, are we? Let's see...
Israel must halt all military assaults and start releasing all Palestinian prisoners as well as pulling out from Palestinian areas
Israel has mostly halted military assaults, except in response to Paleo attacks. Israel has already released several hundred prisoners as confidence building measures. Israel has evacuated a great many settlements, and pulled the IDF back from some Palestinian communities.
What have the Palestinians, particularly those making these demands, done to meet the Israeli initiatives? Oh, yes, I remember now: they stopped a few potential attacks, and arrested a few people. Ah, well. I suppose the Palestinians will have to continue enduring the construction of the security fence, and the reduction of permits to work in Israeli territory, until they are start talking sensibly.
"I have reconsidered and reversed my decision not to allow Marine reservists to park non-union made vehicles or vehicles displaying Bush stickers at Solidarity House on weekends. Some people may have thought my orginal decision reflected a lack of support for the Marine Corps and the service of Marine reservists. That certainly was not my intention. Having served in the Marine Corps Reserves myself, I fully appreciate the sacrifices and contributions made by America's reservists, National Guard members and active duty military personnel and their families.
"That said, I made the wrong call on the parking issue, and I have notified the Marine Corps that all reservists are welcome to park at Solidarity House as they have for the past 10 years. I regret that the controversy over this decision has overshadowed the many good things the UAW and our members are doing to support and express our appreciation to America's service men and women and veterans."
Posted by: mom ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
That said, I still don't think I would trust that foreign marque or Bush-stickered cars would be safe in the UAW lot.
#3
"..the many good things the UAW and our members are doing to support and express our appreciation to Americaâs service men and women and veterans.â
Oooooh, allowing usage of a parking lot by vets and members of the military....such a display of appreciation and support by the UAW!
#9
I dunno, mojo. Many comments on the Detroit-area blogs weren't exactly critical of the original decision (and not because the banned cars were made elsewhere).
Fundamental changes brought about recently in the new machine-readable Pakistani passport has created such a furor in the country that religious parties are calling for nationwide strikes and boycott of Parliament. In what is seen by many as yet another gesture by President Pervez Musharraf to appease his US allies, the new passport shows the country's name as "Pakistan" instead of its complete constitutional name "Islamic Republic of Pakistan" and deletes mention of the holder's religion. According to the government it is too late to make changes as millions of passports have already been printed and it is unlikely to change the text or insert the religion column in the new passport because of "technical" reasons. Also, it is adamant that there would be no compromise on inscription of the full constitutional name of the country on the passport in English. However, in Urdu it still reads "Islami Jamhooriya Pakistan" (Islamic Republic of Pakistan), though in English only "Pakistan" is printed.
The Pakistan Muslim League leadership is clear that in keeping with the "technical" aspects of the new passport "the exclusion of religion column for the time being may be acceptable", sources maintained, but as far as the full constitutional name of the country is concerned both the Muslim League and the main opposition party, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), have been demanding that the passport also contain "Islamic Republic of Pakistan" on it.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 10:08:30 PM ||
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LMAO, everytime I read about this I laugh like crazy. What is the big deal, Oh I know, they can't use the missing religion box on a passport to discriminate against Christians and infidell allenists anymore.
The MMA. Monkeys, Morons and Assclowns at work for a better world. LOL
Israel has approved plans for a rapid withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. Officials said Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has endorsed a plan that calls for a military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank and the expulsion of their 10,000 Israeli residents in as little as three weeks. They said Mofaz decided that the withdrawal must be implemented as quickly as possible to avoid Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians. "We want to minimize the time for the evacuation to as little as possible to reduce violence and incitement," Mofaz said. On Sunday, the government announced plans to dismantle 24 Jewish outposts in the West Bank. No timetable was disclosed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Outgoing interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawir he has formed a committee of leading Sunni Muslim figures to negotiate for posts in an eventual Shia-Kurd coalition government.
Good idea. Forming a committee always works.
"In order to avoid multiple efforts, we have decided to form a committee that would preserve a role for Sunnis in the next government," he said on Monday. Apart from the symbolic position held by al-Yawir, Sunnis, who once dominated Saddam Hussein government, currently have eight of the outgoing government's cabinet seats. Sunnis garnered some 20 of the 275 seats in the newly-elected parliament due to a boycott of the 30 January elections by large segments of the community.
See, that's kinda one of the peculiarities of democracy: if you don't vote, the guy you like doesn't get elected. Sometimes even when you do vote he doesn't, but if you don't vote you know he won't.
The al-Yawir bloc includes figures like elder statesman Adnan al-Pachachi and Tariq al-Hashimi, Secretary-General of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), which had officially pulled out of the elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Forming committees is a tad better idea than forming cells, I would think.
#2
Sunnis garnered some 20 of the 275 seats in the newly-elected parliament due to a boycott of the 30 January elections by large segments of the community.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will tell militant Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo Tuesday that the right of return of refugees should be looked upon "realistically," and that not all Palestinian exiles will return to former homes in Israel and the territories, Israel Radio said, quoting the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. Palestinian sources told the paper that Abbas will tell the participants in the Cairo parley that the right of return cannot be fully implemented, and that those who cannot return should be granted compensation.
Palestinian officials hope that the planned three days of discussions will conclude with a declaration of a hudna, or cease-fire, to which all Palestinian organizations will agree, including such militant groups as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. Abbas is expected to ask the groups to agree to a truce even if Israel violates it. He will stress that he will hold firm in talks with Israel on other core issues, including Jerusalem, settlements, and release of Palestinian prisoners. The unofficial Palestinian position is that refugees who wish to do - primarily those who live in Lebanon - should be allowed to re-settle in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and that those who choose not to, should receive compensation. Militant organizations have long held that Israel has no right to exist, and that once the Jewish state is dismantled, all refugees should return to their former homes and villages.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Abbas magnanimously says, the right of return of refugees should be looked upon "realistically," and that not all Palestinian exiles will return to former homes in Israel and the territories
He can do as he pleases wrt the Palestinian territories (not that I'd want the denizens of Ein el Hellhole as my neighbors; they aren't house trained). But no returns to Israeli territories. That's been tried already, and those people organize quite a few of the terror attacks deep within Israel.
#2
..and that not all Palestinian exiles will return to former homes in Israel and the territories, Israel Radio said, quoting the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
If Mazen was being "realistic", he wouldn't even be talking about a "right of return", because there's no such thing.
#3
BaR, if he were truly 'realistic' in his pronouncements, he would be dead the very next morning, if not the next hour. He probably knows that there's no chance, but he may be trying slowly to get the idea, in incremental form, across. It's just a guess, I have no idea what is truly on his mind.
#4
I realize that this does not compute on the cross-wired logic circuits of the group in question, but, uh, starting and then losing wars often has consequences. I'd love to challenge these nitwits, live on TV, to a little exercise to illustrate their detachment from reality.
Try booking a vacation at a Bolivian Pacific coast resort. Follow that up with a hike across the middle of Okinawa, as a civilian Japanese. Round off the exercise by trying to find ethnic German towns in western Poland and parts of the Czech Republic. Starting to get the idea?
Starting and losing wars is always a bad strategy. Persistently starting wars of annihilation and losing, then plumbing new depths of barbarism involving murder of innocents and cultivation of a national cult of racist hatred, is a VERY bad strategy.
Behaving as though the world owes you something, and not with the deep shame of the moral leper and odious criminal that you have become, is pathetic.
Not having been treated as your brother Arabs would have treated you in the same circumstances should be "compensation" enough.
Finish the wall. Import more Asian gastarbeiters and end Palestinian entry into Israel. Tell the religious lunatic settlers they're on their own. Respond to any indirect fire attacks with strikes resulting in 1,000 times the damage of the provocation. Assign some former convict to your UN post and tell him to misbehave, and add CNN to the banned media list. Go about building a vibrant high-tech economy. Are we done yet?
Support among Palestinians for suicide bombings has dropped sharply in the past six months, from 77 percent to 29 percent, according to a poll published Monday. The findings were released a day before Palestinian militants were to begin talks in Cairo on formalizing an unofficial truce with Israel. Pollster Khalil Shikaki, who conducted the survey, said the results put the militants on notice that the Palestinian public does not support a return to violence. The largest militant groups, Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, have said they would abide by the informal truce declared after a Feb. 8 Mideast summit. The smaller Islamic Jihad, however, carried out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed five Israelis in Tel Aviv late last month.
The poll also found that support for Hamas, which is competing in local elections in May and parliamentary elections in July, increased from 18 percent in December to 25 percent in March. Support for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement dropped from 40 percent in December to 36 percent. The poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research questioned 1,319 Palestinian adults, quoting an error margin of 3 percentage points.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2005 9:02 Comments ||
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#3
I guess it finally became OK to express your opinion on the subject without being blown up or hung for "collaboration."
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/15/2005 9:06 Comments ||
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#4
Arafat and Hamas - talking with the Israelis will get you nothing, gotta support the boomers
Pals - we support boomers
Abbas - lets try talking with the Israelis, we might get something
Israel - lets drop some checkpoints, cool down in Gaza, get out of Jericho and Tulkarem, and plan to totally get out of Gaza, even settlements. And support money for the PA.
Abbas - see, its better to talk than boom
Pals - ok, we dont support booms, so much
When thickheaded people finally learn, the soul of tact is to not point out their inconsistency :)
#5
Support among Palestinians for suicide bombings has dropped sharply in the past six months, from 77 percent to 29 percent, according to a poll published Monday.
Given that the tactic hasn't had much in the way of success lately, it's no surprise that the idea is losing support. Now, to figure out what they're gonna try next....
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.
Bahrain has determined that Iran was sponsoring anti-regime activities in the Gulf Arab kingdom. Arab diplomatic sources said Bahrain's intelligence services have obtained evidence that Iranian operatives were directing some of the Shi'ite unrest in the Gulf Cooperation Council state. The sources said Bahrain has warned Iran to immediately end this activity or face a crisis in relations. Bahraini authorities have been alarmed by the Ashura march of Shi'ites in Manama in which participants displayed huge posters of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah. The sources said a Bahraini investigation determined that the Shi'ites were ordered by Iranian regime elements to march with the posters in support of Teheran. "For Bahrain, this was the breaking point," an Arab diplomat said. "This was a gross interference in Bahrain's affairs of the kind not seen in a decade."
A Sinn Fein leader publicly criticized the family of a Catholic man killed by IRA members, warning Monday that their relentless campaign for an arrest in his death could diminish 
The municipality of Brussels Sint-Jans-Molenbeek is a breeding-ground for a complete generation of Muslim extremists. Some of the Brussel's Imams also recruit active jihad fighters who are prepared to give their life for the holy war. Attacks in Belgium have not been planned sofar because Belgium is considered an ideal operating base.
The Hague Court refused to censor MP 
A journalist with the Arab television station Al Jazeera charged with belonging to al Qaeda will be freed from jail on medical grounds but will remain under house arrest pending trial, a court official said on Monday. Spain's High Court ordered 
Japan said it was doing its utmost to secure the release of two Japanese and one Filipino who were kidnapped by armed pirates from a Japanese-registered tugboat in the Malacca Strait. The foreign ministry set up a task force to handle the crisis and asked Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore for help, a ministry spokesman said. 
Former President 
A senior Iranian nuclear negotiator said yesterday that the European Union must accept Iran's uranium enrichment program, Iranian student news agency ISNA reported. "The Europeans have continuously demanded a halt to enrichment but this demand was not included in the agreement. The Europeans must accept Iran's uranium enrichment," said Sirus Naseri, referring to an initial deal reached with the EU last year. Britain, France and Germany have been trying to secure "objective guarantees" that Iran will not use its atomic energy ambitions to acquire nuclear weapons, and in exchange they are offering a package of trade, security, diplomatic and technology benefits to Tehran.
whilst burning an American Flag effigy for the bewhildered Paleo children's education 
Pakistan has developed new illicit channels to upgrade its nuclear weapons program, despite efforts by the U.N. atomic watchdog to shut down all illegal procurement avenues, diplomats and nuclear experts said. Western diplomats familiar with an investigation of the nuclear black market by the U.N.'s Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said this news was disturbing. While Pakistan appeared to be shopping for its own needs, the existence of some nuclear black market channels meant there were still ways for rogue states or terrorist groups to acquire technology that could be used in atomic weapons, they said. "General procurement efforts (by Pakistan) are going on. It is a determined effort," a diplomat from a member of the 44-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "This was discussed at an NSG meeting in Vienna last week."
"Look, that's me," says Adam, a Sudanese worker, showing his photograph in a local newspaper, hooded, handcuffed, flanked by Iraqi police. "We were 47 Sudanese all dealt with this way, arrested at dawn in the same building, mistreated and insulted before being freed at the end of the day," Adam said. Adam does not dare stray out of his neighborhood of Bataween, which has a reputation for crime, ranging from robbery to prostitution and all kinds of trafficking. But even here he is not safe. The police and army frequently raid the district teeming with non-Iraqi Arab nationals, whom Iraqis view with suspicion, eyeing everyone as a fighter here to wage holy war. 
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday his forces believed they had nearly hunted down Osama bin Laden about 10 months ago but the trail had since gone cold. "Through interrogation of those who have been captured, the al Qaeda members who were apprehended here, and through technical means there was a time when the dragnet had closed," Musharraf told the BBC in an interview. "We thought we knew roughly the area where he possibly could be. That was I think ... not very long (ago), maybe about 10 months back," said Musharraf, a close ally in U.S. President George W. Bush's declared war on terrorism.
The world is determined to push ahead with fresh Middle East peace moves and create an independent Palestinian state, according to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan who met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his Ramallah headquarters here yesterday. Palestinian groups said they were ready for a formal cease-fire, seen as a crucial precursor to road map negotiations on Palestinian statehood, if Israel freed 8,000 prisoners and pulled back forces in the occupied West Bank. After his talks with Annan, Abbas said he expected to win militants over to a formal truce, cementing a tacit deal prone to violations, in talks with them today in Cairo. "We hope the dialogue in Cairo will yield positive results because the conditions are right among all parties concerned," he told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejected the truce bid, repeating Israel's demand under the US-backed road map peace plan for Abbas to dismantle militant groups rather than negotiate with them.
Palestinian group leaders said yesterday they were ready to offer a formal cease-fire in their campaign against Israel, tied to a timetable for Israel releasing prisoners and pulling out of Palestinian towns. In effect, the militant factions would extend and formalize the existing de facto cease-fire but make clear to Israel that it must respond if the truce is to last, officials said. "We approve a conditional truce. We will wait to see what the Israelis will offer and the guarantees that we will get. We have not agreed on a specified timeframe for the truce but once we get all these we will study them and declare our decision," added West Bank 
Fundamental changes brought about recently in the new machine-readable Pakistani passport has created such a furor in the country that religious parties are calling for nationwide strikes and boycott of Parliament. In what is seen by many as yet another gesture by President Pervez Musharraf to appease his US allies, the new passport shows the country's name as "Pakistan" instead of its complete constitutional name "Islamic Republic of Pakistan" and deletes mention of the holder's religion. According to the government it is too late to make changes as millions of passports have already been printed and it is unlikely to change the text or insert the religion column in the new passport because of "technical" reasons. Also, it is adamant that there would be no compromise on inscription of the full constitutional name of the country on the passport in English. However, in Urdu it still reads "Islami Jamhooriya Pakistan" (Islamic Republic of Pakistan), though in English only "Pakistan" is printed.
Outgoing interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawir he has formed a committee of leading Sunni Muslim figures to negotiate for posts in an eventual Shia-Kurd coalition government. 
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will tell militant Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo Tuesday that the right of return of refugees should be looked upon "realistically," and that not all Palestinian exiles will return to former homes in Israel and the territories, Israel Radio said, quoting the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. Palestinian sources told the paper that Abbas will tell the participants in the Cairo parley that the right of return cannot be fully implemented, and that those who cannot return should be granted compensation.
Support among Palestinians for suicide bombings has dropped sharply in the past six months, from 77 percent to 29 percent, according to a poll published Monday. The findings were released a day before Palestinian militants were to begin talks in Cairo on formalizing an unofficial truce with Israel. Pollster Khalil Shikaki, who conducted the survey, said the results put the militants on notice that the Palestinian public does not support a return to violence. The largest militant groups, Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, have said they would abide by the informal truce declared after a Feb. 8 Mideast summit. The smaller Islamic Jihad, however, carried out a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed five Israelis in Tel Aviv late last month.
