Close allies of Prime Minister Tony Blair dismissed talk on Sunday that he would resign early into his third term, despite a post-election chorus of calls for him to do so. Three days after the Labour Party scored its first ever-electoral hat trick, but with a much-reduced majority in parliament, speculation was rife that Blair might go sooner rather than later. Several Labour MPs went on the record to say they would prefer to see him make way for his Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, his virtually anointed successor, who enjoys a higher degree of popularity and respect. "The idea that we're going to go for several years with a prime minister who's said he's going to resign at some point is really not acceptable," said left-wing Labour backbencher Jeremy Corbyn. But close allies of Blair predicted that he will make good on the pledge he made last September that "if I am elected, I would serve a full third term" - a maximum five years - and then no more.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Tony real socialists would take these wankers out back and shoot them. You need to establish your socialist bona fides and do it.
#2
This could happen sooner than you all may think. Remember it happened to Thatcher and this is starting to be similar. Unpopularity with your party versus waning popularity with your nation equals no-confidence. But I believe it will be over something more domestic like NHS or immigration than Iraq. Iraq will be the BBC lede but not necessarily the Brown-led attack point. Brown needs a headstart for the next round of elections.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
05/09/2005 9:37 Comments ||
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Actually, if I recall correctly, when the Tories did this very thing to Margaret, her successor, John Majors, went down in flaming defeat...
#4
Not quite. Thatcher was dumped in 1990. Conservatives won 1992 by a small margin (much smaller than Labour just did). It was the following election (1997) in which they lost.
The CIS group of former Soviet republics meeting in Moscow on Sunday is committed to a democratic path, Kyrgyzstan's post-revolutionary leader, interim President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, insisted. "Today the members of the CIS are moving along this path of development... there is no other way for the CIS when the whole of the civilised world is developing on democratic lines," Bakiyev said ahead of the summit of the 12-nation Commonwealth of Independent States. Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who chairs Saturday's meeting of the increasingly fractious block, "is doing a lot to ensure that democratic principles, above all in the Russian Federation, develop &0151; everything the leadership of the Russian Federation has done up to now demonstrates this," Bakiyev told journalists.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2005 00:00 ||
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EFL:SEOUL, May 9 -- A North Korean official told a delegation of Japanese academics visiting Pyongyang last week that a nuclear test was an "indispensable" step toward proving the nation's military capabilities to the world and suggested the government might conduct one soon, according to the head of the delegation. Word of the new North Korean threat came even as the Pyongyang government appeared to hint late Sunday night that it may be willing to return, under certain conditions, to multilateral talks aimed at its nuclear disarmament. During those talks, which have been stalled for the past 11 months, North Korea previously suggested it might conduct a test. But the statement to the Japanese delegation marked the first time officials in the secretive Stalinist state have issued such a threat since intelligence emerged that North Korea may be in the midst of preparing an underground nuclear test.
Yasuhiko Yoshida, a former U.N. proliferation expert and North Korea specialist at Osaka University of Economics and Law, said in a telephone interview that he had held two discussions on May 3 with North Korean officials at the Institute for Disarmament and Peace, a Pyongyang think tank linked to the North Korean Foreign Ministry. Yoshida said the key comment came during the second discussion -- a phone call from the institute's deputy director, Pak Hyon Jae, who Yoshida said used studied language and spoke through an interpreter. Pak, according to Yoshida, said a North Korean nuclear "test is indispensable," adding, "You'll find that out soon."
"It is important that this official at a government think tank admitted that nuclear testing was necessary," said Yoshida, a former diplomat with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency. Yoshida was leading a humanitarian medical mission to Pyongyang and spoke on Monday after returning from the eight-day trip. Yoshida's account sent a fresh wave of alarm through North Asian media outlets at a time when fears that North Korea soon may conduct a nuclear test are running high. U.S. officials have privately said that spy satellite photos indicate North Korea could be making preparations for a nuclear test at a site in the northeast of the country; they have also warned that the detected activity could be a North Korean ruse.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/09/2005 1:44:27 PM ||
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#1
Too bad we can't arrange an 'early test' while kimmie-boy-the-baby-killer and his henchmen are drooling over their latest toy.
#7
I remember reading something similar. Old saying adapted: If a test fails in the forest can you still hear the spittle....
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/09/2005 19:12 Comments ||
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Some of the weapons did fizzle. Even those that worked gave a lower than expected yield (from the seismic signature).
The Chinese design may have been proven but Pakistani engineering capability is another matter.
The AQ Khan documents from Libya (bomb blueprints in Chinese, with Urdu translations) show the Chinese had to provide very detailed instructions for component fabrication.
Here is an interesting fact: During the first 40 years, all the universities and research institutions in Pakistan produced only 128 PhDs in scientific disciplines. Of these 89 were produced in 1982-86.
Most of these PhDs were in chemical and biological sciences
http://www.mshel.com/book00079.html
No country that has produced just 128 science PHDs in 40 years can have any sort of scientific or engineering capability to produce nuclear weapons or missile systems.
Posted by: john ||
05/09/2005 19:30 Comments ||
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good point, John - and hired hands have less motivation to make things perfect
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/09/2005 19:43 Comments ||
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Their bulk purchase of medical triggered spark gaps (used in lithotripers but usable in nukes) is also notable.
Pakistan is simply unable to manufacture all the components in their bombs. They are not buying machinery to manufacture components, they are buying the actual triggers for weapons.
We also know their missiles are Chinese and North Korean imports (but painted islamic green). They have never made a satellite laucher. What kind of rocket program could they have?
The Chinese strategy of arming proxy rogue nations in order to tie down potential opponents is responsible for this mess.
Posted by: john ||
05/09/2005 20:06 Comments ||
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One other point:
The reports on the North Korean test preparations state that no equipment for monitoring has been seen.
This is similar to the Pakistani 1998 tests. Reports at the time said they quickly excavated a shaft, buried a bomb and set it off.
No real attempt at gathering data was observed.
Why not? Answer is simple. The design was not theirs and they were unable to modify it. Test data is meaningless in this context. They could do nothing with it. The physics is beyond their capabilities.
Posted by: john ||
05/09/2005 20:19 Comments ||
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UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohammed ElBaradei has said North Korea could possess several nuclear bombs. Speaking on US television, he said Pyongyang had enough plutonium to make five or six nuclear weapons. The country also has the necessary infrastructure to convert the plutonium into weapons, Mr ElBaradei added. North Korea announced in February that it had nuclear arms - but that claim has not been verified by Mr ElBaradei's International Atomic Energy Agency. When asked by CNN if it was the IAEA's assessment that North Korea already had as many as six bombs, Mr ElBaradei replied: "I think that would be close to our estimation."
"We knew they had the plutonium that could be converted into five or six North Korea weapons," he went on to say. "We know that they had the industrial infrastructure to weaponise this plutonium. We have read also that they have the delivery system." IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told the BBC there was no way the agency could know for sure whether North Korea had six bombs. But she said it would not be surprising if it did. The agency's inspectors were kicked out of North Korea at the end of 2002. Pyongyang has shunned multilateral talks on its nuclear programme for almost a year. Recently, reports have suggested it is preparing to test a nuclear bomb. Mr ElBaradei warned that a nuclear test would have disastrous political and environmental consequences. "I do hope that the North Koreans would absolutely reconsider such a reckless, reckless step," he told CNN. He said that whether the activity observed by satellites was real or simply a bluff, "it involves crying for help, frankly."
"North Korea, I think, has been seeking a dialogue with the United States, with the rest of the international community... through their usual policy of nuclear blackmail, nuclear brinkmanship, to force the other parties to engage them," he said. Mr ElBaradei has already urged the international community to put pressure on North Korea not to go ahead with the test, and appealed to Pyongyang to return to the negotiating table.
#1
Golly, wasn't it his job to prevent this from happening? You'd think that CNN, great news organization that it is, would have had their journalist ask the man that question.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2005 00:00 ||
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The Bush administration has turned a blind eye to Chinaâs crackdown on its Muslim Uighur minority in return for Beijing's cooperation in Washingtonâs so-called war on terror, many Uighur activists have complained.
Why are y'all bothering us with this? We're "infidels", remember?
THE leader of Australia's Muslims is flying to Iraq to try to save Australian hostage Douglas Wood. The Mufti of Australia, Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali, today said he would meet Australia's response team - headed by foreign affairs official Nick Warner - in Baghdad. He would stay there for three days, he said. "We are going to Iraq to help our Australian brother," he said. "We feel for his family and we will do all the best to bring Douglas Wood home." Sheik Alhilali was due to leave Sydney this morning.
I apologize for abusing my moderator status to call your attention to this, but I didn't want to abuse Fred's bandwidth with the long post. Here's a short excerpt ... click on the link for the whole thing if you want to read it.
Armed Liberal raises some important issues regarding WWII and our judgements about Allied behavior. I thought you, our readers, might want to reflect on an excerpt from Michael Walzer's Just and Unjust Wars -- and also to apply your thoughts to the current war on terror. For as this excerpt shows, the issues have not gone away ..... and this discussion has relevance to recent and future decisions in our own time.
From Chapter 16, "Supreme Emergency", which discusses the firebombing of Dresden.
Everybody's troubles make a crisis. "Emergency" and "crisis" are cant words, used to prepare our minds for acts of brutality. And yet there are such things as critical moments in the lives of men and women and in the history of states ... Churchill's description of Britain's predicament in 1939 as a "supreme emergency" was a piece of rhetorial heightening ... but the phrase also contains an argument: that there is a fear beyond the ordinary fearfulness (and the frantic opportunism) of war, and a danger to which that fear corresponds, and that this fear and danger may well require exactly those measures that the war convention bars. Now a great deal is at stake here, both for the men and women driven to adopt such measures and for their victims ....
The issue takes this form: should I wager this determinate crime (the killing of innocent people) against that immeasurable evil (a Nazi triumph)?
#1
No victory against the Nazis is tainted, no matter how much post-modern, relativist hand-wringing we might want to indulge in.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/09/2005 14:11 Comments ||
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The salient point here is that the Germans and Japanese fought like hell and damned near won the war. The question for Churchill et al. was not: how can we win this war in the most morally responsible manner possible?, but rather: are we going to win this war at all? Moral judgments made by those who know the outcome of the war and have had sixty years to ruminate on it, IMHO, should be approached with a large grain of salt.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/09/2005 14:19 Comments ||
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More 9/10 belch.
There's a certain segment of academia or thinktankademia that's paid to agonize over whether victory's "tainted." Sorry. I'll take mine straight. Why argue the inarguable?
"This is not an easy argument to make, and yet we must resist every effort to make it easier ..." simply doesn't make it for me. All the agonizing should have been completed by 9-12-2001. I prefer the cold-blooded approach to the current war: You have attacked me and mine; you may surrender, or you and yours are at risk.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2005 14:33 Comments ||
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This debate distills quite nicely why liberals cannot be trusted with national security. They are usually stuck in one of two mindsets (some times both simultaneously):
1. There is no real threat. You have a greater chance of getting struck by a car then getting killed by a hijacker, Hitler wasn't that bad, blah blah blah.
or
2. There is a threat, but, well, what can we do? If we fight, then they'll get mad and fight even more, and even if they don't get mad, then we'll hurt innocent civilians, and that will make them mad and then they'll fight against us, and we've made the problem worse. Maybe we can get the UN to pass a resolution? How about an arrest warrant on that Mussolini chap? That'll show him we mean business. Where do we sign the surrender papers?
#5
These guys are making academic points. To me, the question here is whose lives are worth more to us - our soldiers and civilians or their soldiers and civilians. From my perspective, my relatives and friends are more important than their relatives and friends. Period.
#6
Robin's excerpts from Walzer's writings are well worth reading, as are Armed Liberal's refutations of Niall Ferguson's steaming pile of crap in the Sunday LA Times (next post down from Robin's at WoC).
The notion that there can ever be any such thing, in practice, as an "immaculate" war-- or that we should hang our heads in shame because our war against Hitler and Tojo wasn't immaculate-- is fatuous nonsense; war is Hell.
May as well get used to that simple fact, or else get used to dying in the likes of a Nazi concentration camp, or a Soviet gulag, or being shot in the back of the head by some dirty raghead because he's decreed you an "infidel".
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/09/2005 15:01 Comments ||
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Walzers book is used (or at least was until recently, can't swear to this past year) in the ethics class at West Point, by the way. It's generally regarded as one of the best discussions of various issues in warfare and goes into difficult, detailed case studies for that purpose.
Dave pretty much nails the reason I posted this. I personally agree with Walzer that we should never become comfortable with doing what is needed .... but that when enough is at stake, necessity overrides the rules I would otherwise hold myself to.
The difficulty always is: when have we reached that point?
#8
Robin, I "saw" the 60 Minutes piece on West Point yesterday. (Actually "heard" it on WCBS radio as I drove south on the Jersey Turnpike.) As I heard it, the piece was nicely done, except for a few typical snide jabs at the President and I thought the cadets handled themselves magnificently. When he was asked about insurgent warfare, the cadet said, "I will need to study harder so I'm ready when I get to Iraq." Bravo to them. How was it received at the Point?
#11
Both sides were in a TOTAL WAR. That means your total country and its interests will be wared upon. Including civies. As Sherman said, "It is good that war is so horrible, lest we grow too fond of it." The post-war hand wringing does no one any good and devalues what was fough and died for during that conflict.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/09/2005 12:13 Comments ||
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"Will the Real John Bolton Please Stand Up?"
Actually I'd prefer the real Morton Halperin to sit down and shut the hell up.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
05/09/2005 12:28 Comments ||
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#3
oops - I meant drivel, not drive....kinda gave the wrong meaning...damn
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/09/2005 12:34 Comments ||
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if they fail to nominate him I hope Bush picks Alan Keyes. That would make the LLL have a heart attack. But I strongly believe that all this Dhimicrat hoopla is for not. They tried their best (and Senator Boxer read from the best scripts possible) but they can't fool anyone into believing that John Bolton is the boogeyman. The best thing to come out of this is that they will be on the defensive for the next 3 1/2 years ans that is a good thing!
STRAITS OF MALACCA: A 28 April Singapore press report states Indonesia and Singapore have agreed to step up efforts to protect the pirate infested Straits of Malacca through coordinated joint patrols of the waterways. Both sides have agreed to reaffirm their commitment to improve the safety of the waterway that borders Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
A 26 April Malaysian press report states the Malaysian Navy wants all merchant ships that pass through the Straits of Malacca to use channel 6 to safeguard themselves from pirate attacks. A Malaysian Navy public relations officer explained the channel is to facilitate communications of merchant ships when entering the Straits of Malacca. He goes on to explain vessels need to provide their location to make monitoring easier for the military and that the use of channel 6 had been negotiated with the Singaporean and Indonesian military.
In a 27 April message, the Malaysian Director of Internal Security and Public Order announced that any private security companies wishing to operate in Malaysian waters must obtain the necessary permit from the Ministry of Internal Security. The Director said directives have been issued to all Malaysian Marine Police commanders to detain armed escort boats and arrest their crew members if they were to encroach into Malaysian waters... Indonesia also publicly opposes the use of private security firms providing armed escort service to merchant vessels in the Straits of Malacca per [a] 29 April message.
A different message dated 27 April announced the newly established Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) will be operational in June. The MMEA will patrol the Malaysian coastline to keep it free of threats from pirates and terrorists, and to deter smuggling, human trafficking, environmental pollution, illegal fishing, and also help in search and rescue. It is expected to take up to five years before the MMEA is to be effective on its own, so in the meantime, the Malaysian Navy and other maritime agencies will assist.
ASIA: The first four countries have signed the Japanese led Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) per [a] 04 May message. Singapore, Cambodia, and Laos joined Japan last week in signing the ReCAAP agreement. The ReCAAP plans to establish and operate an Information Sharing Center, to be located in Singapore, with the goal of facilitating communication and information exchanges between the member countries, as well as improve the quality of statistics and reports on piracy and armed robbery against ships in the region. The ReCAAP agreement also seeks to enhance capabilities of member countries to combat piracy and will enter into force 90 days after the 10th country signs up.
WASHINGTON - Iran has a "legitimate right" to nuclear technology and has no plans to permanently halt uranium enrichment, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi told Time magazine.
Comes as a surprise, huh?
Kharazi's comments in an interview with Time, published on Sunday, but conducted last week, supported repeated comments from Tehran that it will resume uranium enrichment work if an agreement is not reached with the European Union.
Asked if there were any circumstances that could lead to a permanent freeze on uranium enrichment, Kharazi replied: "There will not be any permanent freeze, because (it) is our legitimate right to have this (nuclear) technology and produce what we need for the country. No incentive can substitute for our legitimate right."
The clerical regime has voiced frustration over its negotiations with the three weak European states, who have offered a package of bribes incentives in return for "objective guarantees" from Iran that it will not develop weapons. "Our engagement with the European side was not to stop enrichment but to continue with enrichment in a manner that would assure the other side that we would not divert material for weapons," Kharazi told Time.
Asked about the possibility of UN sanctions, the minister replied: "If for political reasons, the Americans want to push an Iranian foreign policy to the Security Council ... I dont think that would lead to any result that would be wished by the Americans."
He added that Iran was used to sanctions, and that it had managed to exist under such measures. "Americans make allegations that Iran is pursuing a nuclear-weapons program without being able to prove it."
Quizzed about media reports that pilotless US drones have conducted overflights of Iranian soil, Kharazi replied: "There are such rumors. If true, it proves that the US is violating our sovereignty. And it certainly cannot be tolerated."
"Why, we'll send a flight of our F-14 Tomcats and ... um, ... oh never mind."
On the topic of Al Qaeda, Kharazi said Iran had taken some Al Qaeda operatives into custody, but he did not identify how many operatives Tehran was holding or divulge any identities. "There are a bunch of them (in Iran). They are in custody, and certainly we will take care of them."
Food and drink are on the house, eh?
He added that Tehran was firmly against the establishment of permanent US military bases in neighboring Iraq. "We are against that. That scares the beJeebus out of us is not in the interest of anyone," Kharazi said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/09/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
I used to love MM tantrums and screeches, but it has become tedious. They're all the same, when boiled down:
"We have a right to kill you and all the Jooos with your own technology! Waaaaaaah!"
Yeah, right, IslamoNazis. Sure thing. The only certainty is that you've decided to commit suicide on the altar of Western Tech. Now that, you dim-witted wankers, is seriously fucking funny.
#2
I'll grant that they have as much "legitimate right" as anybody does. That said, I would also wipe their nuclear and military facilities off the planet if they decided to exercise that right to the point of nuclear weapons. Go ahead, Kamal, make my day.
Posted by: Tom ||
05/09/2005 8:29 Comments ||
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#3
And Iran has the 'right' to be top boy now in the Strategic Target Survey.
#4
So, to purchase that right will they pay royality and copyright fees to the Manhattan Project?
Or is their right the same as that of a hacker stealing some movie?
#5
âAmericans make allegations that Iran is pursuing a nuclear-weapons program without being able to prove it.â
Don't forget how we 'proved' Soddy didn't have WMD's.....
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/09/2005 12:58 Comments ||
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#6
So, to purchase that right will they pay royality and copyright fees to the Manhattan Project?
Or is their right the same as that of a hacker stealing some movie?
Lebanon's most prominent Christian leader said yesterday he had yet to hear from fellow opposition politicians, signaling deepening splits within the disparate front that helped end Syria's 29-year military presence. A day after returning to Lebanon amid scenes of jubilation, Michel Aoun said his allies so far were the tens of thousands of youthful supporters who welcomed him home from a 14-year exile. "Until now I haven't heard... I assume silence after a certain period means rejection," Aoun told reporters at his home just outside Beirut, where he received a stream of politicians.
Opposition calls for Syria to leave and Aoun to return mounted after the Feb. 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri plunged Lebanon into its deepest political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. The opposition, comprising Christians, Druze and Sunni Muslims, was united in blaming Syria and the security agencies it backed for the assassination. But with the last Syrian soldier leaving Lebanon 12 days ago, splits over the law organizing a general election due to begin in three weeks are pulling the opposition apart.
Aoun has said members of his Free Patriotic Movement will contest the elections, although he has yet to announce any formal political alliances. The Maronite Christian leader has not said if he will run for Parliament, but he has hinted he will consider the presidency. Parliament met Saturday to review a letter from President Emile Lahoud proposing a change to a law under which the elections between May 29 and June 19 would be held. But the assembly rejected the letter outright and Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned the session without a vote on changing the electoral law, seen favoring pro-Syria candidates.
Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblatt, who supported the Syrian withdrawal but would be well-served by the existing rules, maligned Aoun's return in the chamber and called on Lahoud to resign. Aoun rejected calls for Lahoud's resignation and took a swipe at Jumblatt and some other opposition deputies. "No one can pressure the president to resign. They must wait for the new Parliament," he said. "They came under an incorrect law, under occupation and they cannot try anyone when a large part of them need to be tried."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2005 00:00 ||
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The recent arrest of Abu Farj Al-Libbi, number three in Al-Qaeda rank, has revealed that Al-Qaeda's terrorist plans in Pakistan target foreigners, government installations and the President of Pakistan, a key US ally in the war on terror.
According to Interior Ministry sources Al-Qaeda in collaboration with local outlawed militant groups including Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) had planned bomb and rocket attacks on President General Pervez Musharraf, the US and other foreign missions and vital government installations in the country later this year.
Sources said Al-Qaeda had hired local militants to carry out suicide attacks, adding that they were buying arms and ammunition from tribal belt bordering war-ravaged and lawless country of Afghanistan. Sources said the Al-Qaeda investment started coming to limelight with the arrest of two Algerian Al-Qaeda facilitators last month from a remote area in the outskirts of Peshawar, capital of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), on a tip-off being provided by the US intelligence. Forces also seized important documents and wireless telephone sets from their possessions.
Their arrest led to the closure of US Consulate in Karachi for at least three days. The consulate sources said officials had been receiving threatening calls.
A week later, the commander of US-led troops in Afghanistan, David Barno, visited Islamabad, disclosed launching of a new operation against Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels in the tribal belt with the help of US intelligence. However, Pakistan categorically rejected his statements.
Police, two-days after the Consulate re-opened, in a commando action arrested two Islamic militants and seized huge cache of ammunition, which could be used to make around 200 powerful bombs. Finally, earlier this month, forces arrested Al-Libbi after a heavy gunfight, along with his four foreign accomplices, including another most-wanted Arab suspect but authorities have declined to divulge his identity.
Abu Farjs arrest was widely welcomed by the international community and seen as a key to find elusive Osama bin Laden and others in the terrorist network's inner circle. Intelligence officials say he was in direct contact with Laden and his chief lieutenant, Ayman Zawahiri. His arrest triggered more raids in the eastern Punjab province and NWFP, hunting down more than eighteen Al-Qaeda linked militants, including two armymen, Mushataq Ahmed, who escaped from the jail a week after his conviction in two assassination attacks on Musharraf in 2003, and Imtiaz Hussain, who was planning several attacks in the congested areas of adjoining Rawalpindi city.
Sources said the arrest of Farj also unearthed links of few low-ranking soldiers with the terror network.
A local English-daily Dawn reported that the security agencies were hunting Al Qaeda supporters in the armed forces. It said military officials connected with the Afghan cell during 1996-2001 were prime suspects.
The report added that Al-Libbi had connections with Pakistani jihadis and members of the armed forces, some of whom had participated in the two assassination attempts. Two soldiers and an air force technician were sentenced to death and one soldier was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for their involvement in near-miss attempts on President Musharraf in 2003. The military spokesman, Shaukat Sultan, when contacted rejected the report and said no such investigation is being carried out. He added that such elements were no more there in the forces.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/09/2005 15:07 ||
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Leader of Afghanistan's Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) and a warlord on the US most wanted list Gulbadin Hekmatyar has scorned the government's claim about the surrender of 17 commanders of his party.
In a letter made available to Pajhwok Afghan News on Saturday, Hekmatyar insisted none of his loyalists in Khost had walked out on him and those, who had already entered talks with the government, had weak faith.
In the letter bearing his name and signature, Hekmatyar said: "No faithful Afghan would ever give in to foreigners. Either militias or the communists would surrender to the enemy," he added.
On, April 27, 17 former Hezb-e-Islami commanders from Paktia, Paktika and Khost provinces reportedly extended their support to the Karzai administration, saying they had snapped all links with the HIA chief.
But Hekmatyar rejected such media reports as groundless, accusing the Afghan national army and American forces of releasing inaccurate reports. "Americans have yet to give an honest account of casualties of its own forces and government troops in Iraq and Afghanistan."
The letter held out this firm assurance to Afghans: "Hezb mujahideen would never abandon the long-oppressed Afghan nation. We will wage a continued jihad against the occupying forces until they retreat from Afghanistan with their heads down just like General Gromov (Lieut. Gen. Boris V. Gromov) left this country."
Hekmatyar criticized the central government for failing to check the increasing bribery and corruption in institutions under its control, child abductions, the alcohol business, gambling, dancing, screening of porno Indian and western films, narcotics, AIDS, suicide incidents, theft and robberies, insecurity, poverty and hunger.
He told the government: "You' are treating noble Afghans either as terrorists, kill them or send them to Guantanamo Bay."
Pointing to the Mujahideen's Victory Day, Hekmatyar said the day was reflective of Afghans' heroic struggle. He hastened to add subsequent atrocities inflicted on this nation were the result of conspiracies Washington and Moscow hatched against Islam and mujahideen.
He vowed the Hezb followers would celebrate Mujahideen's Day when foreign forces withdrew from all Afghan territory, his compatriots got real independent, elected an Islamic government and the green flag of Islam was hoisted in every corner of the country.
He condemned the celebration of Mujahideen's Victory Day on April 28, when they were prevented from coming to power. "This was in fact a black day when CIA and KGB conspired to stonewall the formation of an Islamic government in this country. This was actually the seventh, not eighth, of Saur."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/09/2005 15:05 ||
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#1
He told the government: "You' are treating noble Afghans either as terrorists, kill them or send them to Guantanamo Bay."
GAZA - Palestinian terrorists gunmen on Sunday shut down central Gaza offices registering voters for a parliamentary election due in July, saying they were protesting at losses by the ruling Fatah terrorist party in last week's municipal ballot. The action underlined challenges facing President Mahmoud Abbas in his drive to rein in terrorists militants and pursue democratic reform, seen by Middle East mediators as essential to launching a peace process between the Palestinians and Israel.
Witnesses said 20 masked terrorists militants belonging to Abbas's Fatah movement burst into Central Elections Committee (CEC) premises in central Gaza and closed them "until further notice", ejecting their employees. No violence was reported. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorists gunmen said they were furious over what they called fraudulent local election results showing victories by the rival Islamist Hamas terrorist faction over Fatah in two large Gaza municipalities, Rafah and Bureij.
Foreign observers said the vote was generally free and fair.
As free and fair as any group of armed crazies could be.
Senior Fatah officials condemned the terrorists' militants' move, which disrupted electoral registration in central Gaza, where there are some 86,000 eligible voters. "We tried to explain to (the terrorists gunmen) that we had nothing to do with the local elections, that we were responsible only for preparing the parliamentary election, but they wouldn't hear of it," said regional CEC coordinator Jamil al-Khaldi.
"We cannot accept such assaults on Palestinian institutions. We are trying to resolve the problem so our offices can reopen tomorrow," elections committee director Amar Dweik said.
Ever consider arresting them and actually keeping them in jail?
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/09/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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MOSCOW ? Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a TV interview that, although he believes the Iraq war was a serious mistake, a US withdrawal before the county stabilizes would compound the problem. "Democracy cannot be exported to some other place. This must be a product of internal domestic development in a society," Putin said in the interview aired Sunday night on the US television network CBS' news magazine program "60 Minutes."
Which means that the Iraqis have been wanting democracy for a while, right?
"But if the United States were to leave and abandon Iraq without establishing the grounds for a united country, that would be a second mistake," he said.
In the interview, Putin rejected suggestions that he was rescinding Russian democracy by measures such as ending direct election of governors, while he took at swipe at the US presidential election system, in which voters choose electors who then elect the president. "In Russia, the president is elected through the direct vote of the whole population. That might be even more democratic," Putin said, and then went on to note the legal disputes over the US presidential vote in 2000. "You have other problems in your elections. Four years ago your presidential election was decided by the court.
"But we're not going to poke our noses into your democratic system because that's up to the American people," he said. The comment reflected Russia's frequent contention that foreign criticism effectively amounts to interference in its internal affairs.
A familiar theme the last 90 years of Soviet Russian history.
Putin also said that, despite differences of views with US President George W. Bush, he regards him as a trustworthy politician. "He is a truly reliable person who does what he says he will do," Putin said.
Thus Putin demonstrates more political savvy than the American Left.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/09/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Putin is talking as iff the Commies gave post-Czarist Russia any chance for real democracy that the long-sufferring Russian peoples deserve. Lets all defer to MARTIN SHORT, Canadian, whom on BILL MAHER's show last week adamantly proclaimed how any Canadian politician whom took away Govt-based national welfare-insurance, and or used the name of "GOD", would NOT be elected or re-elected to Canadian-specific national power, ergo CANADA per se is the ALMIGHTY, WORLD-FEARED, WORLD-DOMINATING, "ROME AND THE CAESARS WERE WUSSIES" NATIONAL POWER IT IS TODAY, instead of the hoped-for future battlefield of the Commie Airborne working to quell internal unrest and resistance to OWG and POTUS Chelsea from the AMERIKAN SSR/USSA * SONg - "WHEN YOU THINK YOU'RE SOVEREIGN, BUT YOU'RE NOT, ITS CHIFFON/BETTY CROCKER", aka POTUS Hillary and her People's Waffen SS Soviet Armored Cookie Corps of Amerikan Regulation and Protection!? SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH, MAHER > NO MORE DEMOCRATS OR LEFTIES, ONLY RIGHTIST LIBERALS AND REPUBLICANS/CONSERVATIVES FOR EMPIRE, SOCIALISM, OWG AND COMMUNISM, aka REGULATION AND PROTECTION!?
Posted by: I hate Hillary ||
05/09/2005 1:33 Comments ||
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#3
I feel like a rant.
[rant]
It is a hallmark of those who do not practice or know dick about democracy to claim it can't be exported. Never having the choice - or having it removed by force by dictators, thugs, mullahs, Islamists, fascists, socialists, communists, the spectrum of "ist" asstards - is no "proof" of anything except rule by force. That's the rant of a dictator's mindset.
Choice. Give people the choice. A free and honest choice - throughout the entire process. There are so few examples, since throughout history there have always been competing factions who sought to assure their own ascendancy. Today there are global interests at work -- media and power-brokers and malignant neighbors and "ist" movements everywhere all seeking to subvert the process for perceived gain.
Has anyone, anywhere, who enjoyed freedom of choice ever freely chosen bondage or slavery or dhimmitude or servitude? Yes, but that's because they're fools. The "honor" of that distinction is, and always will be, reserved to the Moonbats. The self-hating tools and fools who have swallowed the "ist" lies hook, line, and sinker. They deserve it, for being so stupid, but they should have the sense and decency to commit suicide in solitary fashion - not taking everyone else down with them. Since they don't, here in America - the last bastion of freedom where the majority is not the tool of some "ist" mindfuck - they'll just have to suffer. I hope it's extremely painful. Let those who can't discern between freedom and, say, socialism, live in perpetual pain - pain so extreme that it generates a fog so dense thay can't find the polling place on election day. Fuckwits.
What the Iraqis, as a confabulated group, have done, and will do, isn't exactly sterling, but it's a start. It may end in partition. So what? There is nothing inherently wrong with undoing a mistake. Sykes-Picot. Look it up, if you don't already know that Iraq is as artificial as Yugoslavia. The only tragedy that can befall them now, since they are under a level of protection by the presence of coalition forces, would be to allow stupidity to get in the way: To give up or waste this opportunity to make their own choices - and choose freedom. It's obvious that it's not an easy thing for them to do in the face of customs - sources of duress, stigma, and subversion. But the good shit always seems to demand some dues, often heavy. I'd say that, marketing BS aside, most things cost what they're worth.
What democracy (which is press-speak for freedom, and thus patently misused and misleading) is about is choice. Freedom of choice and choices. Looking around, it's pretty clear that's something rare... equally clear is what it's NOT:
Not Russian-style, which is cult of personality based - born of a totalitarian mentality which knows only manipulation and subornation of elections, both at home and in neighboring countries - combined with the Russian custom of kleptocracy, whether communist or czarist in nature, writ very large. Russians have kleptocracy down pat. They're still clueless about freedom, I'm afraid.
Not Arab-style or Paleo-style, which is merely dictators / thugs with guns deciding who can vote or count votes - so the winner can loot whatever oil revenue / aid is available. Since they are incapable of actually producing anything, themselves, foreign aid or a sea of oil, developed by others, is all there is.
Not Chavez-style or Mad Mullah-style, which is to revert to a thugocracy / mullahcracy and then steal elections to proclaim a backward leap into destruction, chaos, and oppression.
Not UN-style with cabals of power-hungry kleptocrats, peddling inane and asinine schemes with no point other than to loot the world. All the rest is window dressing. The legitimacy joke. The justice by world court joke. The world tax joke. So many jokes, so many collaborators, so little to merit saving. A weaving of ponzi and pyramid schemes perfected by others, wrought new in touchy-feely pastels and for-the-children feelings to appeal to the "ist" suckers. OWG? Nah, just the biggest collection of freelance scam artists ever to convene in one location.
Not Chi-Comm-style, which has evolved from pure Imperial dictatorship into communist centralized command economy dictatorship-by-committee into a bastard communist centralized dictatorship-by-committee with some free-trade zones, totally controlled by the cabal's pet kleptocrats. If the Chinese had any trace of honor or justice or guts or gumption or even masculinity left in their genes - after millenia of being yes-men, patsies, servants, suckers, tools, and fools - they'd toss this cabal, this tiny group of a few dozen wankers, into the dog-pits for a snack and get their asses into freedom and capitalism - in a big way. What potential. What waste. Wotta buncha fools. A few dozen wannabee ChiCom dictators holding hostage a billion people. But it's been this way since the dawn of China. And endless stream of kow-tows. This example, China's thousands upon thousands of years of history, is the height of cowardice, the pinnacle of stupidity, the peak of weakness, the pluperfect example of the failure of man's will and sense. China is the ultimate example of the failure of man, thus far. No wonder they're so fucking sensitive. The shame of their perpetual failures is mind boggling. History's perfect losers.
Putin holding forth on democracy is utter rubbish. He's whoring for the whores of Khaleej Times - equally clueless asstards. Now war, well hey, he probably knows a smidgen about that. But it's irrelevant. Whatever comes out of this cretin's mouth, even if agreeable or complimentary, is self-serving and deserves zero notice.
Good thing I don't have any strong feelings about it. Might get all worked up.
[/rant]
STFU, Putty. I know democracy freedom. Democracy Freedom is a friend of mine. And you, sir, don't know dick about it.
#6
Wow, .com, when you say "rant", you ain't kidding, lol! And JM too!
BTW .com, Putty does know freedom - that's why he won't let the people have any. His and his mafia/KGB friends asses would be toast
Two downsides I see. First, can we maintain bases in a divided Iraq? While I know many will wince at the thought - including many Army leaders - my guess is that we need to base troops there for at least 20 years to stabilize the region.
And second, economic. If you want to kickstart functioning democracies there, they need viable economies. Jointly, the various regions of Iraq have a good chance at that. Partition, and it's much less likely -- and that means less likelihood of a middle class that has a stake in stability and a reasonably secular, representative government.
That said, Bravo .com!
Posted by: too true ||
05/09/2005 10:24 Comments ||
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#11
Well done .com... about the Chinese, a race of yes men.
#13
Thx, folks, heh. Had a few burrs under the saddle blanket.
tt - I started whacking out a response for you (built a whole pile o' stuff about partitioning), but I've decided to cut it - I think I'll stop right here. We'll have that debate if it starts to look more likely, heh.
sc - That's been a kind of marvel to me for ages - and seems to be soundly ignored. Can't see why, either. Certainly nothing to be proud of. I would've been harder on them were it not for the man on his way home from work who stopped the tank column in Tiananmen Square. Lunch bag in hand, coat over his arm, and obviously a bellyful of "authority" he cowed not just that lead tank driver - but one billion Chinese - all by his lonesome. HE should emigrate HERE, lol!
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2005 00:00 ||
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S'okay - better to know now, rather than later, that he's an asshole who cares nothing for his country. By declining, he proves he was unfit to begin with. This myopia of defining everything and every one by religious flavor and ethnicity is insane and, ultimately, a disaster just waiting to happen. Sigh. So very far to go.
Most Afghans support President Hamid Karzai's bid to have long-term security ties with the United States, the president's spokesman said after a gathering of more than 1,000 chiefs and regional leaders on Sunday. The question of whether US forces should be given permanent bases in Afghanistan has sparked debate in a country with a long history of resisting foreign intervention and in a region where big powers have long competed for influence.
Given their history — all of it — they should maybe give serious consideration to developing some long-term alliances...
Afghanistan's relationship with the United States was one of the main issues Karzai raised with the assembly of national representatives he summoned for talks on Sunday. "Our findings from today's discussions were that people, on the whole, (are) very positive about this, and I think that people are thinking, by and large, exactly the same line as we had expected," Karzai's spokesman Jawed Ludin told a news conference after the assembly. Karzai would discuss Afghanistan's strategic relations with the United States when he meets President George W. Bush on a US visit this month, Ludin said. The possibility of permanent bases was raised in February when US Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said during an Afghan visit they would be in the interests of US and regional security.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2005 00:00 ||
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Long term bases in Afgan makes a lot more sense than keeping Incerlik open.
#2
Don't forget we have K2 in Uzbekistan also. Incerlik was important during cold war since it support our large voice and code intercept mission in Turkey as well as being a TAC forward base. But times are a changin and its time to give up the ghost of wars past.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
05/09/2005 9:30 Comments ||
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It will take a while to formalize agreements and build a suitable infrastructure. And I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss the continuing value of Incerlik, were we able to use it for various operations. But if we can't then it is of little value.
Clerics from Ahmadzai Wazir tribes on Sunday assured South Waziristan Agency's political administration their support in restoring peace in the area. A cleric's delegation led by MNA Maulana Noor Muhammad, Maulana Mir Ajam, Maulana Asamud Din and Maulana Shakirullah met officials of the political administration at Scouts Camp.
And if you can't trust a passel of holy men like that, who can you trust?
The political administrator asked them (clerics) and tribal elders to form a committee to restore peace in the area. The clerics were also asked to formulate a strategy to resolve other problems in the area besides restoring peace. Separately, Sultan Muhammad, Health Welfare Association of Afghan Refugees president, demanded the government review its decision of transferring two Basic Health Units (BHUs) set up for Afghan refugees in Wana. He said the government was planning to shift the BHUs from Wana to Dera Ismail Khan. Presently, 27,000 Afghan refugees were living in the agency and their number increased in the summer when Afghans settled in warmer areas of Pakistan migrated to Wana, he added. He also asked the government to open four schools previously set up for Afghan refugees, which had been closed.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2005 00:00 ||
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Yesterday they said they weren't talking to the "illegitimate" government...
Hamza denies any such meeting took place.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened."
The main purpose of the meeting was to get permission for Hamza's mother Nusrat Shahbaz and younger brother Salman Shahbaz to live permanently in Pakistan, the sources said. A message from Shahbaz was also conveyed to the president during the meeting, said the sources. "Shahbaz in his message applauded the efforts of the president for the sovereignty and progress of Pakistan," they said.
"See? Applauding him is different from talking to him!"
During the meeting, the sources said, Hamza admitted that his father's attempt to return to Pakistan on May 11, 2004, created difficulties for the government and he would not repeat such an attempt. Hamza also reportedly asked the president to give Nawaz Sharif a passport.
"But it's gotta have a religion column! He forgets pretty easy, y'know..."
Hamza also met CM Elahi on March 11 and the CM reportedly refused to give him any assurance that his mother and brother could stay in Pakistan. However, they decided at the meeting that Hamza should meet the president to make the same request, the sources said. Nusrat and Salman have been in Lahore since April 17. Hamza said he had met the CM to condole his father's death.
Then his lips fell off...
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2005 00:00 ||
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THERE are no political elements in universities, said Punjab Governor Lt Gen (r) Khalid Maqbool, who is also chancellor of Punjab's universities, at the fifth convocation of the Lahore School of Economics last week. He denied any political party was active in the Punjab University (PU).
Then his lips fell off...
However, the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT), the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), has been operating in the PU for the last several decades. It tried to arrange a mushaira in the campus, but the administration stopped it with the help of teachers who were IJT activists when they were studying in the PU. In the past few days, IJT activists have harassed and assaulted students of the Physics Department and the Institute of Administrative Sciences.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2005 00:00 ||
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Ohhh...... in PUNJAB, maybe....
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/09/2005 12:53 Comments ||
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There's no politics in our universities, either!
The Muslim Brotherhood has vowed to carry on with its peaceful demonstrations for real political reforms in Egypt despite a crackdown by security forces. "There are no red limits. Egypt is our homeland and we are keen on safeguarding its stability and security," the group's first deputy guide general, Mohammad Habib, told IslamOnline.net. He said the banned but officially tolerated group is resolved to practice its political rights. "We just want to ease the current political congestion and steer the country clear of the storm," Habib said.
Daily sufferings of the Egyptians, he added, creates a fertile ground for such violent acts that took place in Al-Azhar and central Cairo. "The Egyptians are really the bulwark against foreign challenges and blackmail because we are all in the same boat," he noted. A series of blasts, mostly targeting tourists, has rocked the country recently, disturbing eight years of tranquility. Egyptian pundits have said that growing frustration, piecemeal reforms and the current political turmoil in the region are the main culprit behind the attacks, fearing the government might exploit the situation to drag its on the reform process.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/09/2005 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Close allies of Prime Minister 
UN nuclear watchdog chief 
WASHINGTON - Iran has a "legitimate right" to nuclear technology and has no plans to permanently halt uranium enrichment, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi told Time magazine.
Lebanon's most prominent Christian leader said yesterday he had yet to hear from fellow opposition politicians, signaling deepening splits within the disparate front that helped end Syria's 29-year military presence. A day after returning to Lebanon amid scenes of jubilation, 
GAZA - Palestinian 
Most Afghans support President 
Clerics from 
THERE are no political elements in universities, said Punjab Governor Lt Gen (r) 
The 
