Sez they should have been tried first.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the Taliban-led execution of a couple by stoning in public in northern Afghanistan after being accused them of adultery.
The militants carried out the barbaric punishment in front of a market crowd on Sunday in the Taliban-controlled village of Mullah Quli
In a statement on Tuesday, Karzai said "Executing these two young people without trial is a crime, an act of inhumanity, and is counter to Islam."
The man, found alive after the stoning was over, was shot to death by the insurgents. They warned the throwers against engaging in adultery.
Karzai described as "unforgivable" executions of the young man and woman who were in their twenties.
This is the second incident within a week of self-imposed execution by the dreaded terrorists on charges of adultery in the country. The other victim, flogged to death in the western province of Baghdis, was a pregnant woman.
Relatively peaceful until three years ago, Kunduz is currently infested with Taliban and other insurgents.
[Tolo News] The spokesperson for President Karzai Monday told reporters in a Press Conference that private security firms are to be banned in four months time
Based on decree that will be issued by President Karzai soon, private security companies will be dissolved within four months.
"A four-month deadline will be set to private security firms; which means private security firms will be dissolved within four months. And this is going to happen based on a process," he told reporters.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson remarked that the Afghan President will fly to Russia on Tuesday to attend a quadrilateral summit among Afghanistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Pakistan.
The Afghan president will also hold a bilateral meeting with the Russian President on the sidelines of the summit.
The President's spokesperson also acknowledged that efforts are on the ground to secure the upcoming Afghan parliamentary poll.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder who Karzai is going to get to provide his own security?
[Straits Times] THAILAND will send two naval vessels, including one warship, to join the fight against piracy in the lawless Gulf of Aden off Somalia, officials said on Monday.
The Thai navy will deploy 371 personnel for the 98-day operation, starting in early September, said deputy government spokesman Supachai Jaisamut.
An international armada has been patrolling the Gulf of Aden, one of the globe's busiest maritime trade routes, since 2008 in a bid to stop pirates from hijacking commercial vessels.
Several Thai vessels have been hijacked by Somali pirates, including three fishing boats with a total of 77 crew members aboard who were seized in April.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The head of a commission to plan south Sudan's looming vote on independence said north- south divisions within the body were undermining preparations and threatened to resign if the deadlock continued.
Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil said the Jan. 9 vote which many analysts believe will create the world's newest nation should be a national process. He criticised five southerners in the nine-member referendum commission for excluding northerners from taking a key post.
"If things continue like this I will just excuse myself that's all," Khalil told Reuters in an interview on Sunday.
The divisions have left referendum arrangements at a standstill with no schedule to begin complex voter registration which, according to the law, should have already been completed.
Khalil said the five southerners were voting as a block to prevent any northerner taking the key post of secretary-general, a principle he said he could not accept.
The secretary-general controls the funds and budget of the commission and south Sudan's ruling party has warned the deadlock could derail the vote -- the climax of a 2005 landmark north-south peace deal which ended Africa's longest civil war.
"This (commission) can only work if we can get people to be cooperative, to have mutual trust ... and to approach things objectively from a national point, not from the point of view of north and south," the lawyer and former foreign minister said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Two detained top Jamaat-e-Islami leaders yesterday filed a writ petition with the High Court (HC) challenging the First Amendment to the Constitution and some sections of the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 under which the war crimes trial is being held.
Jamaat senior assistant secretaries general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla jointly filed the writ seeking direction from the HC to stop proceedings of the International Crimes Tribunal and trial against them.
The International Crimes Tribunal is holding the trial of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the Liberation War. The act was amended last year.
The Jamaat leaders challenged the constitution amendment that empowers the government with sweeping authority to try war criminals by introducing any law regardless of inconsistency with any part of the Constitution.
They said the provisions of the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act, 1973 which have restricted the accused to challenge the formation, proceedings and order of International Crimes Tribunal are unconstitutional.
The petitioners prayed to the HC to rescind the proceedings of complaint petition filed with the International Crimes Tribunal against them on charges of war crimes during the Liberation War and the tribunal's orders against them.
They stated in the petition that this provision of this act has violated the basic structure and supremacy of the constitution.
The HC bench of Justice MA Wahab Mia and Justice Kazi Reza-ul Huq fixed today for hearing on the petition.
Petitioners' lawyer Barrister Abdur Razzaq told reporters the writ has challenged the First Amendment to the Constitution and some provisions of the International Crimes Tribunal Act.
Replying to a question whether they have filed the petition to foil the process of trial of war crimes, he said it depends on the HC verdict.
He added they have filed the petition to establish justice and rule of law.
A pro-Jamaat lawyer told The Daily Star the petition has been filed to stop the trial against the Jamaat leaders on charges of war crimes.
Advocate Tajul Islam, another lawyer for the petitioners, said the petition has challenged the first amendment, which was brought to the Constitution in 1973, including its article 47(A) and 47(3) curtailing the fundamental rights of the armed forces, defence forces, auxiliary forces and prisoners of war who were involved in war crimes, and Sections 3, 6, 19, 20, and 23 of the International Crimes Tribunal Act, 1973.
Quoting the petition he said the two articles of the Constitution and the sections of the Act have damaged the basic features of the Constitution and fundamental rights of the petitioners.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Law enforcers fear a backlash from Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) despite detaining the top brass of the banned militant outfit in recent months.
Rab and police officials said the JMB is still a concern for them as some dedicated operatives are active in the organisation. Some of the militants have training on making high-powered explosives like belt bombs.
The JMB is reportedly in a shambles due to arrest of its chief Saidur Rahman, military wing chief Shiblu and acting chief Anwar Alam alias Nazmul over one and a half months since July 12.
The officers said Sohail Mahfuz, who is oldest among three serving JMB Majlish-e-Sura members, might have taken over as its helmsman.
"Sohail Mahfuz is known as an arrogant person. He might launch bomb attacks against those he would consider as enemy," said a top Rab official seeking anonymity.
Rab Director General Hassan Mahmood Khandker told The Daily Star yesterday they have kept a grip on JMB activities. Even then, he considers it a potential threat.
Rab sources said there is also a chance that one of two sura members -- Shaheed alias Osman and Dhaka University graduate Siddiqur Rahman alias Mostafiz who worked as an adviser to Saidur -- has assumed the post of JMB ameer.
The JMB stepped into the spotlight as a hardcore militant outfit through synchronised bomb attacks in 63 of 64 districts on August 17, 2005.
In subsequent attacks, they killed a number of people including two judges in Jhalakathi.
Since August 17 blasts, crime busters have so far arrested 985 JMB leaders and operatives, including 607 captured by Rab alone.
The arrestees include its founding ameer Shaikh Abdur Rahman who along with his second-in-command Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai and four other leaders was executed on March 30, 2007.
Police sources said a total of 322 cases were filed with different police stations since the countrywide blasts.
Of the cases, police have submitted charge sheets in 289 cases and final reports in 25 cases. Eighteen of the cases are under investigation.
Trials of 115 cases have been completed in which 51 persons got death sentence, 131 life imprisonment and 184 different terms. Some 318 people have been acquitted and 174 cases are still under trial.
Of the 322, a total of 154 cases were lodged in connection with the August 17 bomb blasts.
Of the cases, detectives have submitted charge sheets in 133 cases and final reports in five cases. Sixteen cases are still under investigation, CID sources said.
The sources also said trials were completed in 81 cases in which 29 accused were sentenced to death, 80 life imprisonment and 79 persons to different terms. Some 57 cases are still under trial.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] A demonstration was held outside the US Embassy in London on Sunday to call for the repatriation of Pakistani neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.
The demonstrators say Dr. Siddiqui was unjustly convicted of attempted murder at her trial in New York.
The sentencing of Siddiqui, who was accused and found guilty of attempted murder of US agents in Afghanistan in a controversial trial, has been postponed to next month.
Siddiqui, 37, who was detained by Afghan police on July 17, 2008, was held in custody based on allegations that she had documents containing recipes for chemical weapons and explosives in her handbag, csnnews.com reported.
The following day, a team of US military officers and FBI agents in Afghanistan began interrogating Siddiqui. US authorities have alleged that during cross-examination, she grabbed a rifle and began firing at an Army captain, a claim fiercely denied by Siddiqui's attorneys based on the argument that she is too small and weak to handle the heavy US automatic rifles.
The only person injured during the episode, however, was Siddiqui, who was shot in the torso by one of the US interrogators.
On February 3, a jury unanimously found Siddiqui guilty of attempted murder, armed assault, and using and carrying a firearm.
Her attorneys argued that there was no physical evidence that Siddiqui had touched a weapon.
"I disagree with the jury's verdict. In my opinion, it is wrong. There was no forensic evidence, and the witness testimony was divergent, to say the least. This is not a just and right verdict... And my opinion is that this was a verdict that was based on fear and not fact," Siddiqui's defense attorney, Elaine Whitfield Sharp, told reporters shortly after the verdict was read on February 3.
Human rights organizations say Siddiqui was abducted in Pakistan along with her three children in 2003 and held captive for five years by the US and was interrogated and tortured while held in secret prisons.
"We think... she suffered while in secret prisons and [was] tortured for those five years while she was missing. In addition, she's been in solitary confinement for a year and a half while in US custody," Executive Director of the International Justice Network Tina Foster told Democracy Now on February 14.
"The jury was told that she was brought to the United States to face charges because she opened fire on US soldiers," said Petra Bartosiewicz, an independent journalist who wrote about Aafia Siddiqui in the November 2009 edition of Harper's Magazine.
"But what they were not told was that she'd been missing for five years and that when she went missing in 2003, she was a suspected al-Qaeda operative. And she was never charged with that in this case," she added.
Saddiqui's two youngest children, who were three months old and four years old when captured and taken into detention, are still missing.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
demonstrators no doubt being british born pakistant kids ie enemy within!
#2
nice little terrorists working off Ramadan fevah
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/17/2010 20:27 Comments ||
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#3
heavy US automatic rifles
The M4 is a little over 6.5 lbs with a 30-round magazine.
Judging by my late grandmother's ability to heft a 10" cast iron frying pan whilst in a rage, I'd say that lifting a rifle is more than doable for Siddiqui.
Seemed like a good idea at the time ....
American Lori Berenson apologized Monday for aiding leftist rebels and asked a Peruvian court to let her remain free on parole after serving 15 years of her 20-year sentence behind bars. Maybe another title might be "Useful Idiot Thinks She "Gets It" After Spending 15 Years Behind Bars". Personally, I think another five years would do the trick.
#1
The 40-year-old New York activist acknowledged collaborating with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, but said she was never a member of the group nor involved in violent acts.
"If my coming to Peru has meant harm to the country, I am sorry and I regret it," she told the criminal appeals court in Lima.
Note all the conditionals. She admits nothing and is not sorry at all for what she did. Let her rot.
#4
I think she should be given the same consideration her terrorist movement was offering to give everyone else. Murder and slavery.
If she is allowed to return to the US, she will make a fortune spreading her vile gospel to leftist groups all over the country. They will write a book for her, and she will keep the profits, while spewing bile and hatred at America like a lawn sprayer.
Hell, MSNBC will probably give her a show next to Olbermann.
#6
It is interesting how being put in a cell with no roof on top of the Andes causes an attitude adjustment.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/17/2010 15:28 Comments ||
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#7
this little trust-fund revolutionary tourist should suffer the fate of so many of her favored movement's opponents. Execute her. The world and the gene pool will thank you
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/17/2010 20:38 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The lack of a central body in France to oversee the authenticity of halal meat has made some experts doubt that animals have been slaughtered following the correct Islamic procedures. "You sure this bacon's halal?"
Estimates of the amount of meat labeled halal that does not meet the strict religious standards range from 40 to as high as 80 percent.
France has Western Europe's biggest Muslim population and producers are battling for a piece of the $7.05 billion (5.5 billion euro) halal meat market.
According to Islamic law, halal meat must come from animals blessed by a short prayer and slaughtered facing the holy city of Mecca. The animal is traditionally killed with a cut to the throat to allow the blood to drain out, with a view that the meat is cleaner.
Ala'a Gafouri of the Halal Institute of Food Management Industry (HIFMI) in Paris estimated that up to 80 percent of meat and other products labeled as halal may not meet these criteria.
"They're self-certified," Gafouri, who trains halal butchers and inspectors, said.
Kamel Kabtane, rector of the Grand Mosque of Lyon, estimates about 40-50 percent of halal products sold in France have not been rigorously verified. Neither expert gave details of how their estimates were made. They're experts. Shaddup.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Weren't the French trying to ban kosher slaughtering? Brigette Bardot was speaking for anti-kashruth laws. So, why allow halal?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
08/17/2010 8:07 Comments ||
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#2
Hot dogs. Armoured hot dogs. The dogs kids love to beat.
#4
See FREEREPUBLIC + DRUDGEREPORT, TOPIX, ETC. > on how Humanity must begin consuming ARTIFICIAL/FAKE MEAT = SOLYENT GREEN, SOLYENT SOY, CURD, ETC. to save the World + Civilization from Global Warming = Dubya.
With the campaign ahead of next monthÂ’s constitutional reform referendum heating up, the debates between the two main leaders are taking an ever-more tangential turn, with the latest argument now centering on the politiciansÂ’ ancestries.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan created fresh controversy over the weekend at a party rally in the southeastern province of Gaziantep when he questioned the ancestry of his main political rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
Republican PeopleÂ’s Party, or CHP, leader Kılıçdaroğlu is from Tunceli, an eastern Anatolian province that is predominantly inhabited by Kurds and Alevis.
“Mr. Erdoğan has talked about my mother and my father. Now, in a speech in Gaziantep, he even questioned my kin,” Kılıçdaroğlu said Monday, adding that he was proud of his ancestry and his family.
“I have a suggestion to Mr. Recep. If he wants to learn about my family, then he can examine the state records. But if he is so curious about people’s ancestry, he may as well come and measure my skull. I would not mind it.”
Measuring skull was an old custom among ultra-nationalists to prove oneÂ’s roots of pure Turkishness.
#2
That damn i with no dot. I had to work on a Turkish Windows XP a few times, and boy did that make things interesting. I forget where the regular i was mapped, but it certainly wasn't convenient.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] The White House Monday denied reports that US President Barack B.O. Obama personally warned Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erodgan that the US will not sell weapons to Turkey if it does not change its position towards Israel. White House front man, Dan Burton, confirmed that Obama did not issue any ultimatum to the Turkish prime minister and that the two spoke ten days ago about Iran, the Gazoo flotilla and other issues. "No, no! Certainly not!"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] President Barack B.O. Obama has warned the Turkish prime minister that Ankara's position on Israel and Iran could lessen its chances of obtaining U.S. weapons, a report said Monday.
The Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, wants to buy American drone aircraft to attack separatist Kurdish rebels after the U.S. military withdraws from Iraq at the end of 2011, Britain's Financial Times newspaper reported.
The rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has bases in the mountains in the north of Iraq, near the Turkish border.
"The president has said to Erdogan that some of the actions that Turkey has taken have caused questions to be raised on the Hill (Congress)," a senior administration official was quoted as saying in the daily paper.
These questions centerd on "whether we can have confidence in Turkey as an ally," said the official.
"That means that some of the requests Turkey has made of us, for example in providing some of the weaponry that it would like to fight the PKK, will be harder for us to move through Congress."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"B.O. warns Turkey"
Turkey laughs its ass off.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/17/2010 22:56 Comments ||
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#1
Talk about over kill....According to eyewitnesses cited by Die Tageszeitung, eight PKK fighters tried to escape by hiding in a nearby cave. But they were soon discovered by Turkish troops, who proceeded to fire artillery shells, allegedly laden with poison gas, into the cave. Turkish troops later pulled the lifeless bodies from the cave, sprayed them with bullets, and then drove over them with their tanks.
German politicians and human rights experts now are demanding an international probe. “The latest findings are so spectacular that the Turkish side urgently needs to explain things,” says Claudia Roth, the co-chair of Germany’s left-wing Green Party. “It is impossible to understand why an autopsy of the PKK fighters was ordered but the results kept under seal.” Roth adds that there have been repeated “mysterious incidents of this type that are crying out for an independent investigation.”
Hey, and while you are at it, could you explain, the mysterious incidents of this type ?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/17/2010 20:43 Comments ||
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#2
COmpare wid DER SPEIGEL > THE AFGHANISTAN WAR PROVES OBAMA'S IMPOTENCE.
ARTIC = Public Optimism by GEN PETRAEUS belies HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC WAR + OUTCOME FOR US-ALLIES INBCLUDING OBAMA STRATEGY FOR PHASED US WITHDRAWAL 2011-2015, + SECDEF GAtes plans to retire from office in 2011.
* ISRAEL NN > AFGHANISTAN OIL DISCOVERY MAY BECOME SOURCE OF NEW FUNDS FOR AL QAEDA [ + also Taliban], be it COVERT METHOD(S) OR [Post-US] NATIONAL POWER-SHARING, espec once the US-ALLIES begin formally their phased withdrawal.
On July 11, 2010 it was reported that Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki had put Molly Norris on a hitlist. In an English-language Al Qaeda magazine named "Inspire," Al-Awlaki wrote "The medicine prescribed by the Messenger of Allah is the execution of those involved." and was quoted as saying "The large number of participants makes it easier for us because there are more targets to choose from in addition to the difficulty of the government offering all of them special protection,". But even then our campaign should not be limited to only those who are active participants." FBI officials have reportedly notified Norris warning her they consider it a "very serious threat."
Obama gave a little lecture on the 1st Amendment and Islam at the Iftar dinner. "His Excellency Abdulwahab A. Al Hajjri, Ambassador of the Republic Yemen" was present.
Yet Obama did not address the campaign of intimidation and terror against individuals in the West who exercise their free speech in contravention of Sharia.
He did not warn the Yemeni ambassador that Yemeni interference with American's right and freedoms will not be tolerated.
By that omission it has become very clear that the US government does not intend to seriously protect 1st Amendment rights. Obama did not defend constitutional principles, he defended Islam and Sharia.
#3
Khan said the center "will be dedicated to peace, tolerance and mutual understanding,"Â…right, Hitler only wanted those little yellow Jude emblems to protect Jews from anti-Semitism.
Name 3 things that conflict with the tenets of Islam.
Lying (taqiyya), murder, sneakiness, conquest by stealth, world domination, trying to humiliate enemies by building monuments to conquest, and more murder in the name of islam.
I'm sorry these don't conflict with the tenets of islam.
#7
The Ground Zero mosque is intended to be a provocation by the muslim swine who, if not direct parties to the 9/11 attacks, are at least in full accord with those that carried them out. They wish to use our own freedoms to attack us, to rub our noses in their past crimes against us in a show of typical Islamic arrogance.
When we can build a Christian church or Jewish Synagogue in Mecca, we might consider a mosque next to the WTC site, provided they allow that gay muslim bar to go right alongside. Until then, no f in way.
Posted by: B Dubya ||
08/17/2010 13:57 Comments ||
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[Dawn] The Supreme Court was hearing petitions challenging the 18th Amendment on Monday, DawnNews reported.
A 17-judge full court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, was hearing petitions challenging certain clauses in the Amendment. During the hearing, the federation lawyer said that the parliament's powers were limitless.
Responding to that, Chief Justice Iftikhar said that limitless powers could secularise the country. Moreover, Justice Khalilur Rahman Ramday said that the parliament did not have limitless powers.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Geez, that guy looks like a 1970s zombie funeral director or used car salesman.
#3
I think it was our good friends Mojo or Tu that commented "he's baked!" that always comes to mind. Could've been Raj, but whomever, still a great comment
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/17/2010 20:45 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] The two men vying to lead Iraq broke off talks on Monday aimed at forming a government after an unseemly quarrel over their blocs' sectarian roots, five months after general elections.
In yet another disappointing development for the war-torn nation's citizens, suffering persistent power cuts and a lack of reconstruction, election winner Iyad Allawi demanded an apology from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
A spokeswoman for Iraqiya, Maysoon al-Damluji, said the bloc stopped negotiations with Maliki's State of Law after he described Allawi's group as Sunni, rather than cross-sectarian in a television interview to be broadcast on Monday.
"We demand that he apologizes, not to Iraqiya but to the supporters of Iraqiya who voted for a national project and not a sectarian one," Damluji said.
Intisar Allawi, a senior Iraqiya official, said more than 26 of its 91 elected lawmakers were Shiite, as was Iyad Allawi himself.
"So why does he call us a Sunni bloc? This is an insult," she said.
However, Allawi's party left the door open for a return to talks. "We have asked him to apologize. Without an apology, we are not going to negotiate with him anymore," she said.
While Allawi is a Shiite, like Maliki and the majority of Iraq's population, his bloc claimed most of its electoral support from the predominantly Sunni regions of western and northern Iraq.
While neither won the majority in the March 7 election needed to govern, Maliki's State of Law won two seats fewer than Iraqiya in the 325-seat parliament. Iraqiya won broad backing from Sunnis who saw Allawi as a secular strongman willing to defend their cause and to stand up against Shiite power Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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Former UN ambassador claims Israel has only 3 days to strike Bushehr plant before fuel rods mean radioactive fallout; "that's what Israel did in Osirak, Iraq in 1981."
Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton said he didn't see "any signs whatsoever that President Obama would make the necessary decision" to strike Iran's nuclear reactor, speaking in an interview with Israel Radio Tuesday.
Bolton claimed Israel has only three days to strike before Russia "begins the fueling process for the Bushehr reactor this Friday," after which any attack would cause radioactive fallout that could reach as far as the waters of the Persian Gulf.
#5
All things equal, IMO a LIMITED OT PROTRACTIVE AIR-COMMANDO MILSTRIKE is likely only to DELAY, BUT NOT STOP, Islamist Iran from dev NUCWEAPS, NOR DITTO THE PROCUREMENT OF LEGAL + ILLEGAL NUCTECHS BY RADIC ISLAMIST MILITANT GROUPS.
IMO BOLTON + EAGLEBURGER > are trying hard NOT to say IRAN MUST BE DE FACTO INVADED + OCCUPIED AS PER IRAQ + AFPAK. Its either that or the US-ALLIES DO NOTHING EVAR! + LEARN TO LIVE WID A NUKE-ARMED IRAN + ULTIMATELY NUKE-ARMED INTERNATIONAL MILITANT CELLS-GROUPS.
Egyptian security forces seized a ship loaded with explosives coming from Israel and arrested its owner in Port Said, Egypt's independent Al-Shorouk daily reported on Monday.
The explosives were loaded inside containers on board of the ship, the newspaper reported without providing further details about the ship and explosives.
The police arrested Joseph Botryose El-Gabalwi, the owner of the ship, but the court ordered releasing him temporarily, while the Egyptian Public Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud prevented him from traveling abroad.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat on Monday charged Israel with rejecting a "serious" peace process by refusing to halt settlements in the occupied territories.
His remarks came after Israeli media reported that a forum of seven top cabinet ministers would reject an expected statement from the international Quartet calling for the resumption of direct talks and a settlement freeze.
"The announcement by the Israeli government rejecting the statement of the international Quartet before it is even issued shows that Israel is persisting in its rejection of a serious peace process," Erakat told AFP.
"Other interests besides peace and stability"
"(This) clearly proves that this government has other interests besides peace and stability in the region," he added.
The Quartet -- comprised of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia -- was expected to issue the statement in order to give cover for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to return to direct talks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his inner circle fear that a Quartet statement would be a "fig leaf for Palestinian preconditions," said an official in Netanyahu's office who spoke on condition of anonymity because no government statement was made.
The Israeli prime minister and his top ministers decided to hold out for a separate invitation from the United States without preconditions, the official said.
The Palestinians have said the statement would be modeled on one issued by the Quartet in March that called for Israel to halt settlements and for a revival of direct talks leading to a peace deal in two years.
Netanyahu has said he is willing to meet with Abbas immediately but has refused to accede to Palestinian demands for a settlement freeze and a framework for the negotiations.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] INDONESIAN President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday stressed the need for religious tolerance amid growing calls for him to act against Islamic radicals who regularly attack minorities.
In a major speech to parliament on the eve of the country's independence day, Yudhoyono called on Indonesians to exercise the 'true philosophy of harmonious living in a pluralistic society'.
'To build a democratic and fair life, I want to underline the importance of maintaining and strengthening our brotherhood, harmony and tolerance as a nation,' he said. 'In everyday life, we still find cases that don't reflect the harmony, tolerance and mutual respect... related to religion, ethnicity, tribe and regions. We must not ignore such a situation. We want every citizen to live their lives in a serene and peaceful manner and accordance with his rights.'
Indonesia's constitution explicitly guarantees freedom of religion and the country of some 240 million people, 80 per cent of whom are Muslim, has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
But in recent months, it has been plagued by rising violence by Islamic hardliners who have launched attacks on mosques belonging to minority sects and Christian churches. Hundreds of Indonesians, mostly Christians, held a prayer vigil in Jakarta on Sunday urging Yudhoyono to stop the attacks and guarantee religious freedom.
Indonesian rights group the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace in July said there were 28 cases of religious freedom violations from January to July, up from 17 for the whole of 2008 and 18 in 2009. The violations - mostly by radical Muslim groups - included forced closure of churches and attacks such as torching and damaging churches, it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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Iran will respond if Israel attacks its first nuclear power plant, which will begin loading fuel Aug. 21, according to the Persian Gulf country's defense minister.
"In that case we will lose a power plant, but Israel's existence will be in danger," Ahmad Vahidi was cited as saying today by the state-run Mehr news agency, in response to questions about the possibility of an attack by Israel on the Russian-built atomic facility at Bushehr.
The Foreign Ministry's spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, said today he "doubts" that Israel would "make such a dangerous move." In comments on state television, he said, "Any aggression against this power plant will result in a serious reaction."
Israeli leaders have said that all options are on the table in dealing with Iran's nuclear aspirations. Iran is under four sets of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program, which the U.S. and many of its allies say is aimed at creating a weapon. Iran, the second-largest oil producer in the Middle East, denies the allegation, saying it needs nuclear energy for civilian purposes, such as generating electricity.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor declined to comment when asked about the Iranian defense minister's remarks.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday announced the enactment of a law that obliges Iran to produce nuclear fuel for its Tehran medical-research reactor, on the day the country said it will build its third uranium-enrichment plant as part of a program to add 10 such facilities. Iran's first uranium- enrichment plant is at Natanz and a second plant is under construction at Qom.
Iran has defied UN demands to cease production of enriched uranium, which can fuel a reactor or, at higher concentrations, form the core of a bomb.
The Bushehr power station will begin producing electricity in several months, Sergei Novikov, spokesman for Rosatom Corp., the Russian state nuclear holding company that built the plant, said Aug. 13.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran will begin building its third uranium enrichment plant in early 2011, a top official said, defying world powers who have imposed new sanctions on Tehran for pursuing the sensitive nuclear work, as Washington urged worlwide governments to step up vigilance against dealings with Iran's shipping sector
Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi was cited on state television's website early Monday as saying the search for locations for 10 new enrichment facilities has ended and "the construction of one of these facilities will begin by the end of the (current Iranian) year (to March 2011) or the start of next year."
Iran is already enriching uranium at its main plant in the central city of Natanz and is building a second enrichment facility inside a mountain at Fordo, southwest of Tehran.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
More MOUNTAIN-BASED NUCREXFACS, or more accurately UNDER THE MOUNTAINS???
[Al Arabiya Latest] France and its European allies are looking for a way to work together to save an Iranian woman who was sentenced to death for adultery, the French foreign ministry said Monday.
Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother-of-two, was initially sentenced to death by stoning, although this has reportedly been changed to hanging, and her case has caused worldwide condemnation.
"France and its European partners are currently studying all means that can be put into action to ensure the sentence against Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani is not carried out," ministry spokeswoman Christine Fages told reporters.
The ministry was reacting after figures including Nobel laureates Wole Soyinka and Jody Williams, Czech author Milan Kundera, singer and anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof and actress Juliette Binoche appealed for action.
French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy organized a petition and an open letter was published in French daily, urging world leaders to come to the woman's defense.
"Urgent intervention is necessary to prevent an execution that observers believe is imminent," said the text published in France's Liberation newspaper
Posted by: Fred ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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"There will be a real blow up," Eagleburger told Fox News host Neil Cavuto. "Somebody will end up using one of these things.
"If Iran gets the weapon it's going to use it," added Eagleburger, who served in four presidential administrations, including a brief stint as secretary of State under former President George H.W. Bush. "I think they're on the way to getting it, and we're going to let it happen.
"And when I say 'we,'" he continued, "I don't just mean the U.S. I mean the civilized world, the Russians.
"They are going to regret someday what they have done because their neighbor, Iran, is going to have a nuclear weapon and it's going to throw it around like mad. And Israel will certainly be the first target. And the world's going to go to war over this. It very much has a potential of happening . . . As sure as I'm sitting here, I know it's coming."
Eagleburger said international nonproliferation went awry "when we let the North Koreans get the weapon."
That event, he said, started the world "down the wrong track and we've been on it ever since.
Posted by: Uncle Phester ||
08/17/2010 00:00 ||
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That event, he said, started the world "down the wrong track and we've been on it ever since.
#2
Using costly French Ordnance, Israel will put a stop to the Iranian nuclear program with targeted, conventional bombings. United Nations condemnations will last two weeks. Obama will apologize to the Taliban during a visit to The Hague, sue for peace and request UN monitoring of a complete US withdrawl from Afghanistan. Joe the Plumber and Bill O'Reilly vanish in mysterious Wisconsin fishing boat accident. The Federal Government introduces Gasoline Stamps. A Federal license will now be required for new job creation. The US Labor Department will approve all non-government job applicants, hirings, and dismissals. As a jesture of inclusion, Obama will appoint the first Muslim Sharia Law judge to the Supreme Court. Personally owned firearms will soon require a costly new Federal tax stamp and unannounced ATF inspections. So called "Home schooling" will be outlawed. The US Government will introduce a new currency based on the Yuan which will have a crippling exchange rate for the soon to expire USD. The military will be decimated by cuts and the USAF will be civilianized with the majority of positions outsourced to government owned Northrop Grumman and Boeing. By 2016 the Chinese will have their first military bases in mineral rich Africa. Obama backs the establishment of the People's Republic of Alto California, with secret plans underway for the annexation of Oregon and Washington State. Obama sign an executive order during a Congressional recess approving Vermont's petition to become a new Canadian province. Continued frequent vacations fail to save Obama's marriage which will end in divorce during his 4th term as president. Secret Service Agents find cocaine in Air Force One. Jet magazine announces the engagement of Michelle Obama and Al Franken. The Federal Government will mandate that the one remaining Toyota plant in the US be unionized. The eligability age for full Social Security beneifits will be raised to 83. Early Social Security eligability will begin at 72. The Federal Government announces the CPI rate of inflation stands at 0% for second decade in a row. The US Supreme Court issues first Fatwa.
#4
The world is taking a police approach to this problem. Can't do anything until something happens, i.e. some Israeli, European, or other Western city gets turned into rubble and glass?
Time to get serious about Iran. They are wanting to become the Nazi Germany of the world. They have world domination in mind one way or another.
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.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] The White House Monday denied reports that US President 
[Al Arabiya Latest] President 
[Dawn] The Supreme Court was hearing petitions challenging the 18th Amendment on Monday, DawnNews reported. 
