Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Joan Bennett aka Alice Reed in "The Woman in the Window" aka Katherine (Kitty) March in "Scarlet Street" aka Ellie Banks in "Father of the Bride" (Died in 2007 at age 80)
[Tolo News] Suicide bombers recently jugged by Afghan cops have admitted to have received training in Pakistain.
At a presser, a front man to National Directorate of Security (NDS) told news hounds that 90% of insurgency in the Afghanistan is planned in Pakistain.
And the remaining ten percent of the Death Eater attacks are sketched in Afghanistan, but with equipment and ammunition provided by Pakistain.
Well then. President Obama may yet get that war with Pakistan he was so keen on before the election. Thank goodness the UAVs can carry so many more of the new, smaller missiles.
Afghan forces have jugged the controller of Jalalabad bank raid. The attack was mainly designed by Pak Taliban operating in lawless tribal belt across Afghan borders, NDS Spokesman Lotfullah Mashal told news hounds.
"Insurgent attacks are designed in border regions, including Miranshah, Datakhil, Chaman, Bajawur, Wana, northern and southern Wazoo. Suicide attacks are mainly plotted by the leader of Pak Taliban Hakimullah Mehsud, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Sirajuddin Haqqani network," Mr Mashal said.
Mutiullah, coordinator of Kabul bank attack in Jalalabad that led to the death of dozens, said "They sent me two kalashnikovs, 10 magazines, 6 grenades and one boom jacket. And I kept them for ten days in my house."
Officials in NDS believe that most jacket wallahs are Pak citizens and a limited number of misguided Afghans are cooperating with Death Eaters.
Ghamai, a 19-year-old jacket wallah has been nabbed by NDS in border regions while crossing into Afghanistan.
"I want to say to all jacket wallahs that going to paradise or hell depends on the will of Allah. Suicide boming will never lead us to paradise," said Ghamai.
Akhtar Nawaz is a 14-year-old jacket wallah from Wazoo, who had been forced by Pak Taliban to carry out a suicide kaboom in Afghanistan, but surrendered himself to Afghan security after crossing border into eastern Khost province. ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name...
Last week, in the Death Eater raid in Jalalabad, more than 40 civilians bit the dust and scores were hurt.
A couple of days after the attack, video footage of Kabul Bank attack aired by TOLOnews and TOLO televisions outraged Afghan people.
The footage showed a Pak jacket wallah dressed in police uniform shooting civilians stuck in Kabul Bank building.
Pakistain has long been under pressure of international community for failing to root out Death Eater sanctuaries and safe havens on its soil.
It's not really fair to ask them to uproot what they planted so carefully, so long ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
A few dozen ARCLIGHT strikes down through the centers of Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Quetta, and Peshawar, as well as an equal number over the "tribal areas", would put an end to this. Of course, that would depend upon having a president that actually WANTED to end this successfully. Muslims believe in the "strong horse". Nothing says "strong horse" quite like an ARCLIGHT strike.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/27/2011 14:15 Comments ||
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[Tolo News] At least one civilian was killed and 25 others were maimed in a suicide kaboom in Faryab province on Saturday, officials said.
The incident happened in Shereen Tagab district of Faryab province when a jacket wallahwent kaboom!" in a Buzkashi ground killing one civilian and wounding 25 others, Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a front man for 303 Pamir Zone told TOLOnews. The maimed were rushed to a nearby hospital, he added.
No group including the Taliban has grabbed credit for the attack.
Faryab is one of the remote provinces in the north where Norwegian soldiers are based.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] At least nine non-combatants were killed in a roadside kaboom blast on Saturday in eastern Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name...
police officials said.
The incident happened in Lakan area of Khost province when a passenger car struck a roadside kaboom, Mohammad Yaqub Mandozai, a police official in the province told TOLOnews.
Nine people including two men, three women and four children were killed in the incident, he added.
No group including the Taliban has grabbed credit for the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] The Afghan Ministry of Interior says two men are nabbed in connection with the rockets attacks on Kabul city Saturday morning.
Three rockets were fired on Kabul city early morning, causing no casualties, police officials said. The rockets were launched from Seya Geli area of Bagrami district at 6:30 am local time, but caused no casualties, Mohammad Zahir head of Criminal Investigation Department of the Kabul police said.
The first rocket landed in Froshgah area in the city centre, and the second hit a wall in Shashdarak area close to the Nato Headquarters. It is not yet clear where the third rocket has landed.
Or even if it has landed...
Police have started investigation about the incident, officials added.
The attacks came before the rush hour when the city was almost empty and caused no casualties.
"I saw a rocket coming which hit the area as I put myself down," an eyewitness told TOLOnews.
No group including the Taliban has grabbed credit for the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] The latest round of fighting for control of neighborhoods in the Somali capital Mogadishu has left at least twenty people dead.
How could they tell?
Dr. Quincy happened to be in the neighborhood. He wanted a change of scene.
Those are the ones whose pockets haven't been gone through for loose change - yet.
Three Somali soldiers bit the dust in festivities between al-Shaboobs and transitional government troops on 30th Street in Mogadishu on Saturday.
Ten government soldiers also sustained injuries, the Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported.
Also, two non-combatants were killed and four others suffered injuries as the two sides exchanged heavy fire with assault weapons and barrages of mortar shells were fired.
In a separate incident, 15 people bit the dust and 20 others were maimed on Saturday when al-Shaboobs turned on members of the rival Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a group and clashed with them in northern Mogadishu.
Boilerplate follows...
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Over the past two decades, up to one million people have bit the dust in the fighting between rival factions and due to famine and disease. There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Somalia. More than 300,000 IDPs are sheltering in Mogadishu alone.
Most of the displaced live in poor and degrading conditions on makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society High Commissioner for Refugees.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
IN all honesty, I would not give a dman if they managed to killed everyone there including themselves. We tried to help, and got the back of the hand, lost some fine operators whose corpses were dragged through the streets, and thanks to a president who was more concerned with oral sex than doing the right thing, they suffered no consequences.
Fuck em. I say napalm the whole place. Fucking savages.
Somalia is currently lost cause, except for the usual vulture-elites. The only beneficial things I can think of to do are providing support to both Somalialand and the African Union (whose robust ROE would cause the vapors among 'human rights' groups were they not of the correct demographics). The first might act as an oil-drop, the second would both tie up the Islamists and perhaps allow the Africans to handle security on their continent.
#3
I'm with OS, Pappy. I've been reading about this sh$$ for twenty years, and nothing has changed. We see tribal wars fought with modern weapons, with the majority of the dead being non-combatants. I'd say give the whole mess back to the Italians, but I don't hate the Italians that much.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/27/2011 15:22 Comments ||
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#4
Somalia is currently lost cause The Somali piracy business is doing just great.
#5
Fuck em. I say napalm the whole place. Fucking savages.
This kind of bile is beneath your dignity, OS. I expect better from a gentleman as intelligent as yourself.
The daughter who is our family's source for the Africa news I share here periodically quit reading this site because of statements like this, and for being called a troll when she expressed a request for sweet reason. This is a loss to the site; and indicates a general deterioration in the content of the comments. When your invective discourages reasonable people who know a little more about the topic than you do, you've peed on Fred's carpet.
#6
What part do you disagree with, Mom? The savages part, the napalm part, or the part where we do nothing and continue to let them kill one-another? And how exactly would your daughter be in a position to judge the situation than those who have decades of connections in the U.S. military? I read your statement and all I can think of is a professor on a campus talking down to students.
People have been trying to solve Somalia for years, but they don't want to do what's required to save themselves. Worse, they now expect us to roll over when they start preying on ships. The recent bumbling by Obama made it obvious they have no problem killing Missionaries.
So while the "Napalm" might have been crude, it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference if they were. Nobody would care. And don't think for a second they just need "guidance", or "help", or even "are good people". Ethiopia is right next door and doesn't do this. Face it, Mogadishu is the Detroit of Africa. And I might be insulting Detroit, which is amazing.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/27/2011 21:12 Comments ||
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#7
This is a loss to the site; and indicates a general deterioration in the content of the comments.
Ouch! We do have the occasional accident. But if I think long enough about Bill Clinton's sorry adventure into Somalia I can understand some people getting a little upset. And then there's the piracy thing. A little napalm on some of those Somali ports might actually slow that down a bit, especially in light of the recent murders of American yachtsmen.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/27/2011 21:48 Comments ||
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#9
You haven't been here long, then.
mom has poked her head in for years, as have at least two of her now-adult offspring. All three have made useful and informative comments. As I recall, mom's daughter spent some time working in the part of the world in question, and made good friends there.
The thing is, there are good people everywhere. But when the culture is poisonous, the goodness of the good ones is overwhelmed by the poisonous environment. Ethiopia isn't poisonous, but just next door, Eritrea is, despite being pretty much the same people. Likewise, there are good Saudis -- honest and true and open-hearted despite the brainwashing in school and in the mosque. But Saudi Arabia is a snakepit for everyone there, whether native or foreign, and the good ones have no impact beyond their immediate circle.
Per Google maps, Zawiyah is the first decent sized city west of Tripoli on the coast road, perhaps 30 miles or so.
Tanks have surrounded Libyan city as residents brace for raid by pro-Gaddafi forces at any moment. Forces loyal to the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have surrounded the city of Zawiyah, where anti-government protesters are bracing for an attack.
Men opposed to Gaddafi were patrolling the streets of the city 50km from the capital on Sunday, saying they had seized weapons and even tanks which they would use to defend themselves.
Ezeldina, a Zawiyah resident, told Al Jazeera that people in the city had raided some military camps. "We are expecting an attack at any moment," he said. "We are forming rotating watchgroups, guarding the neighbourhood."
Police stations and government offices inside the city have been torched and anti-Gaddafi graffiti painted of walls.
Hundreds of protesters in the city centre chanted "Gaddafi Out". Some stood on top of a captured tank, while others crowded around an anti-aircraft gun. Women stood on top of buildings cheering on the men in the crowd below. An effigy of Gaddafi hung from a light pole in the main square.
Let's hope the man soon follows, right-side up or upside down; it doesn't matter which...
A group of foreign journalists were driven to Zawiyah by Libyan authorities on Sunday to show that forces loyal to Gaddafi still held the town. But once there, it was evident that the protesters were in control.
A doctor at a makeshift clinic in the town mosque said 24 people had been killed in fighting with government loyalists over the past three days, and a small park next to the main square had been turned into a burial ground.
Residents gave accounts of fierce fighting for control of the town against pro-Gaddafi paramilitaries who were armed with heavy weapons. Some said they were using rocket-propelled grenades.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/27/2011 14:27 ||
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Early Sunday, Feb. 27, US President Barack Obama called on Libyan ruler Col. Muammar Qadaffy to leave now, having lost the legitimacy to rule since "his only means of staying in power is to use violence against his own people," and the UN Security Council's 15 members unanimously slapped down wide-reaching sanctions on members of his family and regime commanders, calling for an immediate International Criminal Court probe of Qaddafi, his seven sons and daughter and military commanders, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In Libya, former Libyan Justice Minister Mustafa Abdul Jalil has established a provisional government in Benghazi.
American, European and possibly Arab forces may need to enforce the Security Council resolution because, unlike Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, the Libyan ruler, according to debkafile's military and Middle East sources, is not about to go willingly.
He was fully prepared militarily for the challenge of popular dissent to his rule by creating a well-armed and trained paramilitary force of 20,000 loyal troops outside Libya's conventional army. He also laid up a war chest of many billions of petrodollars stashed out of reach of sanctions enforcers.
Living under the pressure of sanctions is not a new experience for Qaddafi who survived them for 20 years of his 41 years in power over his sponsorship of international terrorists. He also withstood an American bombardment of his residence in April 1986.
By dismantling and passing to Washington his nuclear weapons program in 2003, the Libyan ruler won another eight years in power. He believes he can escape international and American ire once again, although for the first time he has lost half his country and Western armies may appear on his doorstep at the invitation of the transitional government of Cyrenaica.
#1
What would Mua-muck do in retirement? All he knows how to do is bomb civilian airliners, fight losing wars against Chad, and suppress his own people.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/27/2011 10:18 Comments ||
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#2
Perhaps the Russians could employ him as manager of their Venezuelan banana plantation?
#4
He's painted himself into a corner now. There is nowhere to go, no chance of putting the smoke back in the bottle, he has committed himself. He either crushes the rebellion and continues the police state, much like Hussein after the 1st gulf war, or he goes out Mussolini style.
Posted by: Jefferson ||
02/27/2011 15:48 Comments ||
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[Ennahar] By releasing two Africans and a French sick, kidnapped in Niger, the group Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) disposes of hostages of less value to him and is attempting to reopen a channel of negotiations with Gay Paree, experts say.
But negotiations for a possible release of four prisoners, all French, kidnapped in September Arlit will certainly be tighter, they add.
Malian security source estimated that besides the four French that remain in the hands of AQIM may still be for many months and will be used to raise the stakes with the approach of the presidential 2012 in La Belle France.
"Abu Zeid (the AQIM leader holding the hostages) has decided to resume discussions with Gay Paree, to give a signal of appeasement", analyzes the Algerian Mohamed Mokeddem, author of the book "Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, smuggling in the name of Islam."
According to him the French Special Forces raid, which failed on Jan. 7 to release two kidnapped Frenchies in Niamey but made several killed in the ranks of AQIM, probably makes think Abu Zeid, "who understood that he was more invulnerable in the region."
"Reopening the negotiations is also ensuring the safety of their sanctuaries in the area of northern Mali," he said.
"Abu Zeid has taken over the record: it proves that the statements according to which he had to negotiate with bin Laden were never serious," said Mohamed Mokeddem, reached by telephone in Algiers. "This has never been a solution; everyone knew it was more like symbol and political posturing."
As in previous negotiations, which led to the release of Westerners in the Sahel, expected local intermediaries led the negotiations.
This time, the team of Malian and Nigerian mediators consisted including of an elected and a former bigwig.
"We stayed in the Sahara for a week to get these releases," told AFP a source close to the mediation. "The kidnappers spoke of release on humanitarian grounds. The last-minute negotiations were not easy."
The choice of the two hostages from Africa and the French Françoise Larribe, under treatment for cancer, owes nothing to chance, considers for his part Filiu Jean-Pierre, an expert on radical Islam at Sciences-Po.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Are they operating from weakness? As I recall, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat(GSPC) joined Al Qaeda as their unit in the Maghreb because the Algerians had pounded them pretty badly. Since then, while they're doing well in terms of smuggling drugs from Central and South America up to Europe, they're still getting pounded by Algeria, with the neighbors getting into the act, too. Does all that lovely money balance out death and disdain from the neighboring tribes?
[Ennahar] Three people died in festivities Saturday between demonstrators and police in downtown Tunis, said the interior ministry in a statement.
The statement said "three people were killed among the twelve who have been injured in the festivities and were transferred to a hospital to be treated." The use of the term "person" suggests that this would be protesters.
"Several members of security forces were maimed to varying degrees," the statement said without specifying their number.
On the other hand, the statement said, "more than 100 people were nabbed on Saturday" and "88 other perpetrators of acts of vandalism were nabbed the day before", during the first festivities between police and protesters that occurred Friday in the heart of Tunis.
The ministry attributed the violence against the police "to a group of agitators infiltrated the ranks of peaceful demonstrators who have used high school students as human shields to engage in acts of violence intended to spread fire terror among citizens and to the internal security forces."
He calls "the population to be vigilant and urges parents to cooperate with security forces and to convince their children not to participate in these events."
Previously, the ministry announced a ban on travel for pedestrians and cars on Avenue Habib Bourguiba in downtown Tunis, the scene of violent festivities, from 6:00 p.m. on Saturday until midnight Sunday, reported the TAP.
The central avenue was the scene Saturday of a pitched battle between police and demonstrators, the police dispersed several times by tear gas.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] For the son of Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy, the streets of Tripoli are full of jubilant crowds shooting fireworks, chanting songs and celebrating his father's long rule -- a picture painted on state television.
"Everything is calm," Saif al-Islam Qadaffy told a group of foreign journalists invited to the Libyan capital after 10 days of unrest during which media access has been limited.
"If you hear fireworks don't mistake it for shooting," the 38-year-old London-educated younger Qadaffy said, smiling.
Outside the luxury hotel where we met, the city was indeed quiet -- but the quiet of empty streets where there would more normally be animation on a Friday night.
As we arrived at Tripoli's international airport, the fear that has gripped the city was evident on the faces of thousands of desperate migrant workers besieging the main gate trying to get out of the country. Police were using batons and whips to keep them out.
Many were laborers from the Middle East, Africa and China, wrapped in thick blankets against gusts of cold wind outside the airport, which was adorned with portraits of Qadaffy's father.
Attempts by foreign journalists to interview them were intercepted by police and militias wearing green arm bands. A Rooters photographer was jugged for several hours. "Don't try to run. We will catch you," one policeman told him in English.
Two international television crews were hustled along by security officers as the news hounds tried to talk to migrants.
Residents in the capital, contacted by telephone, spoke of fear and killings as a revolt which has seen Muammar Qadaffy lose control of the east of the country closes in on his Tripoli stronghold.
But at the hotel, with its glittering lobby and chandeliers built with the influx of petrodollars that followed the West's easing of sanctions in recent years, Saif al-Islam Qadaffy described a different Libya.
"Peace is coming back to our country," he said, plainly at ease in the opulent surroundings, clad in a fashionable sweater and jeans and chatting casually in English.
Bodyguards stared as foreign journalists pressed him to explain the violence in the country.
He called much of the reporting "lies" by a hostile media and denied his father's forces had bombed civilians.
"We are laughing at these reports," he said, adding it had been a mistake to keep foreign media out and urging news hounds to now interview "hundreds or thousands" of people for themselves.
"The biggest problem is the hostile media campaigns against us. They want to show Libya is burning, that there is a big revolution here," he said. "You are wrong. We are united."
This article starring:
Saif al-Islam Qadaffy
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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For the son of Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy, the streets of Tripoli are full of jubilant crowds shooting fireworks, chanting songs and celebrating his father's long rule -- a picture painted on state television.
Those ain't fireworks.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/27/2011 8:31 Comments ||
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#2
We have Tripoli's rival for Baghdad Bob. A complete fabrication or just out of touch with reality or both.
[Ennahar] Muammar Qadaffy does not seem to be in control of Libya anymore, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Qadaffy's strongest European ally, said Saturday.
"I have fresh news from a few minutes ago and it appears that, effectively, Qadaffy no longer controls the situation in Libya," Berlusconi told a political meeting in Rome.
Berlusconi, who has been relatively subdued in condemning the violence in Libya, said popular revolts in North Africa could bring democracy and freedom but also trigger the creation of "dangerous centers of Islamic fundamentalism a few kilometers from our shores" and a mass exodus of refugees.
"For this reason, Europe and the West cannot remain spectators of this process, and above all we can't do that," he said. "The events of the past few weeks affect our trade relations, our energy supplies and our own security."
Italy has close business ties with Libya, a former Italian colony which supplies around 25 percent of Rome's oil needs and 12 percent of its gas imports.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] World powers struggled to find a way to stop Libyan leader Muammer Qadaffy lashing out at his people as he clings to power in Tripoli, the last big city where an uprising against his rule has yet to take hold.
President Barack B.O. Obama signed an order prohibiting transactions related to Libya and blocking property, the first major step to isolate the North African leader, who has used army, police and irregular forces to try to crush the protests.
"By any measure, Muammar Qadaffy's government has violated international norms and common decency and must be held accountable," Obama said in a statement on Friday.
Diplomats at the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society said a vote on a draft resolution calling for an arms embargo on Libya as well as travel bans and asset freezes on its leaders might come on Saturday after U.N. chief Ban ki Moon said it could not wait.
Western powers, with whom Qadaffy has exploited Libya's oil after years of diplomatic isolation, have struggled to keep up with the pace of protests that have swept away Western-backed strongmen in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia already this year.
Tripoli's streets were eerily quiet overnight, with portraits of Qadaffy adorning street corners and a few police cars patrolling after a day in which residents said pro-Qadaffy forces fired at and over the heads of protesters in many areas. Up to 25 people were said to have been killed in one area alone.
"Peace is coming back to our country," one of Qadaffy's sons, Saif al-Islam Qadaffy, told news hounds flown into Libya under close supervision.
"If you hear fireworks don't mistake it for shooting," the 38-year-old London-educated younger Qadaffy said, smiling.
He acknowledged pro-Qadaffy forces had "a problem" with Misrata, Libya's third largest city, and Zawiya, also in the west, where protesters had beaten back counter-attacks by the military but said the army was prepared to negotiate.
"Hopefully there will be no more bloodshed. By tomorrow we will solve this," he said on Friday evening.
The country's second city Benghazi fell to the opposition along with much of eastern Libya earlier in the uprising, which began more than a week ago. Qadaffy vowed to "crush any enemy" on Friday, addressing a crowd of supporters in Tripoli's central Green Square. Residents said government forces had fired when protesters, who had gathered after Friday prayers around the capital, approached.
"They just started shooting people," Ali, a businessman who declined to give his full name, said by telephone. A female resident said her friend had seen police fire at people in another district and had told her 25 people were killed there.
At Tripoli's international airport, thousands of desperate migrant workers besieged the main gate trying to leave the country as police used batons and whips to keep them out.
International diplomats say some 2,000 or more people have been killed. The U.N. Security Council draft, drawn up by Britain and La Belle France, said the attacks on civilians in Libya may amount to crimes against humanity.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Terrified residents braced for bloody battles in Tripoli yesterday as Muammar Qadaffy offered to arm civilians to defeat a popular revolt that poses the worst threat to his four-decade rule.
Excellent idea -- the civilians can use those arms to kill him.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the UN Security Council called a special session to consider a sanctions resolution against the Libyan leader on top of those from President Barack B.O. Obama and the European Union in a clear attempt to weaken his teetering regime.
The escalating revolt to overthrow Qadaffy, which a Libyan diplomat to the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society said has killed thousands, has seen opponents grab almost the entire east and loyalists embark on shooting sprees in the capital.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose country is the former colonial power in Libya, became the first Western leader to spell out that Qadaffy appeared to have lost control of the situation.
"If we can all come to an agreement, we can end this bloodbath and support the Libyan people," he said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Obama issued an executive order, seizing assets and blocking any property in the United States belonging to Qadaffy or four of his sons, saying the measures were not targeting the wealth of the Libyan people themselves.
The US president condemned the Libyan government's violation of human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... , "brutalisation of its people and outrageous threats".
In Tripoli, witnesses said two of the three five-star hotels were closed and the third, the Corinthia, had started to evacuate.
With banks closed, the dollar was trading for two Libyan dinars on the black market, compared to 1.3 10 days ago, and the euro at 2.5 Libyan dinars compared to 1.7 10 days ago.
Libya's ambassador to the United Nations, a childhood friend of Qadaffy, delivered an emotional speech to the Security Council, raising the spectre of Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot, asking for his country to be saved. After Mohammed Shalgham's speech, one Tripoli resident told AFP by telephone that 'people shouted with joy' but that just a few minutes later the electricity was cut and has not come back since.
"We were terrified. We thought that meant they were preparing for attacks. We grabbed whatever we could use as weapons and stayed by the door in case anyone broke in," the resident said.
"We could still hear gunfire all night."
Security forces opened fire indiscriminately on worshippers leaving prayers in the Libyan capital on Friday, witnesses said.
Almost the entire east of Libya has slipped from Qadaffy's control since the popular uprising began in the port city of Benghazi on February 15, inspired by the revolutions in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia. In Benghazi, a front man for the revolution told AFP yesterday they were drawing up plans for a transitional government to take power.
"We are all waiting for Tripoli to end Qadaffy and his sons' rule," said Abdelhafiz Ghoqa.
In the nearby town of Ajdabiya, the main square has been named 'Hurriya' or Liberty Square, but local residents said conditions were miserable.
"The situation is bad. The bakeries are closed. Finding food is very hard. I have never seen a happy day in all of my years," said Idriss Mohamed, who at 42 is as old as the regime.
The UN's World Food Programme warned on Friday that the food distribution system was "at risk of collapsing" in the mainly desert North African nation which is heavily dependent on imports.
"They do have limited production of wheat, barley and olives mainly in a small area around Benghazi, but that is not enough to meet the population's needs," spokeswoman Emilia Casella said.
Foreign governments have scrambled to evacuate thousands of expatriates who told of scenes of hell since the crisis broke out 12 days ago.
After massive protests in Tunisia and Egypt forced the resignations of longtime leaders Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, Libya's ruler of four decades appeared to dig in for a bitter fight to the end. In a brief but chilling address that presaged a bloody battle for the capital, the army colonel who grabbed power in 1969 told frenzied supporters in Tripoli's Green Square on Friday that the rebels would be defeated.
"We will fight them and we will beat them," he told a crowd of hundreds. "If needs be, we will open all the arsenals."
UN chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon has demanded decisive action by the Security Council, warning that any delay would add to the growing corpse count, which he said came to more than 1,000.
Britain, La Belle France, Germany and the United States have drawn up a resolution which says the attacks on civilians could amount to crimes against humanity. It calls for an arms embargo and a travel ban and assets freeze against Qadaffy and his entourage.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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"Ban Ki-moon has demanded decisive action by the Security Council......." 2nd question usually asked, "Are you taking any medication? "
Posted by: Steven ||
02/27/2011 22:57 Comments ||
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] From exile in London, Muhammad al-Senussi, the heir apparent in Libya's tossed monarchy, hails the "heroes" of the uprising and urges the international community to oust Muammar Qadaffy.
In more than two decades in the British capital, the successor of the deposed King Idriss has found his proclamations falling on deaf ears.
But with an uprising tearing through Libya and Qadaffy's authority shaken to its core, he hopes his voice will be heard.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Abdul Monem al-Houni, Libya's former representative to the vaporous Arab League, who resigned in protest to Colonel Qadaffy's brutal and violent crackdown against the protestors in Libya, has told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Libyan regime is in its final hours. Al Houni revealed that the Qadaffy regime is currently only in control of the Bab al-Azizah military compound in Tripoli, and 3 other military camps, including one commanded by Khamis Qadaffy, with the rest of the country being under the control of the protestors.
In a telephone interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, the former Libyan ambassador to the Arab League revealed more information about the situation in the country, including information about Qadaffy asking for help from his own tribe -- the Qadaffy tribe -- located in Sirte. There have been reports of a convoy of 30 armored Land Cruisers loaded with heavy machine guns setting out from Sirte; however anti-government protesters in Misurata objected to this and prevented this convoy from reaching Tripoli.
Al-Houni also told Asharq Al-Awsat said that the Libyan youths have vowed to overthrow the Qadaffy regime or die in the attempt, and that it is only a matter of time until the Qadaffy regime is toppled, adding that Qadaffy is facing his final hours. He also revealed that Qadaffy had attempted to negotiate with the West, promising to combat Al Qaeda in return for the West supporting him and allowing him to remain in power, however he added that the West have rejected this, considering this a "broken record."
For his part, Ahmed Gaddaf al-Dam, Qadaffy's own cousin, who was also one of the top security figures in Libya and who defected from the Libyan regime, has stressed that the most important thing is to put an end to the bloodshed and achieve national stability. He added that Libya must avoid any foreign intervention and preserve national unity.
Gaddaf al-Dam, who is currently visiting Syria, also told Asharq Al-Awsat that he had defected in protest to the manner in which the events in Libya were being dealt with. He called on all parties to stop the bloodshed for the sake of Libyan unity and stability. Gaddaf al-Dam, who was in charge of Libyan -- Egyptian diplomatic relations, stressed to Asharq Al-Awsat that Libya is above all other considerations, and he revealed that he has instructed his staff at his office in Egypt to organize a medical convoy to be sent to Libya to aid the Libyan people.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[Jerusalem Post Front Page] The UN Security Council met urgently Saturday to consider new sanctions against Libya to halt a violent crackdown on anti-government protesters, but members disagreed over a proposal to refer Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and top aides to an international war crimes tribunal.
There was broad consensus among the council's 15 members on some sanctions, including an arms embargo as well as a travel ban and asset freeze directed at Gadhafi, his family and other key regime members, said diplomats who spoke on background because the session was closed.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging council members to take immediate action to protect civilians in Libya where some estimates indicate more than 1,000 people have been killed in less than two weeks. Many people in Tripoli and other areas where Gaddafi remains in control cannot leave their homes for fear of being shot.
The major sticking point in council deliberations was language in the proposed draft resolution that refers those responsible for the violent crackdown in Libya to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, or ICC, for investigation of possible crimes against humanity.
The sanctions being considered do not include a no-fly zone over Libya and no UN-sanctioned military action was planned. NATO has also ruled out any intervention in Libya.
Backers of the proposal circulated by France, Germany, Britain and the United States insisted the reference to the international court is necessary.
But diplomats consulted outside the closed-door session said Portugal was worried that the referral could endanger Portuguese citizens still inside Libya. They added that Brazil, which like Portugal is an ICC member, also opposes the referral to the court, as do China and India, which are not parties to the permanent war crimes tribunal. China as one of the permanent council members has veto power.
France's UN Ambassador Gerard Araud said his country was still working to get consensus, and that "it may all be in the language."
Otherwise, "I have been quite surprised by the commonality of support on the sanctions," Araud said before the midday meeting. "We'll see if it lasts."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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Not the ICC, Gaddafi must be shaking with fear /sarc off....
where is the strongly worded statement from the UN??? that would have me scared....
[Al Jazeera] US President Barack B.O. Obama has said that Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy has lost his legitimacy to rule and urged him to step down from power immediately. Can we convince B.O. to do the same???
Obama's call came in a call to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday, sharpening US rhetoric after days of deadly violence and criticism that Washington was slow to respond.
"When a leader's only means of staying in power is to use mass violence against his own people, he has lost the legitimacy to rule and needs to do what is right for his country by leaving now," the White House said in a statement, summarizing Obama's telephone conversation with Merkel.
Qadaffy wasn't a legitimate ruler since at least 1973.
"The president and the chancellor shared deep concerns about the Libyan government's continued violation of human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... and brutalization of its people."
Previously the White House has stopped short of calling for Qadaffy to leave, saying -- just as in other countries affected by a wave of regional unrest -- only Libya's citizens had a say in choosing their rulers.
Which doesn't mean we can't help them.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Jay ... echoing Obama's tougher stance, said Libyans had made their preferences on that issue clear.
"We have always said that the (Qadaffy) government's future is a matter for the Libyan people to decide, and they have made themselves clear," Clinton said in a statement.
That shouldn't stop us from helping the Libyan people express themselves, Hilde...
"(Muammar Qadaffy) has lost the confidence of his people and he should go without further bloodshed and violence."
The B.O. regime had been criticised for its relatively restrained response so far to Qadaffy's bloody crackdown on an uprising against his four-decade rule.
But White House officials said fears for the safety of Americans in the country had tempered Washington's response to the turmoil.
That's what they're saying now.
Washington announced a series of sanctions against Libya on Friday after a chartered ferry and a plane carrying Americans and other evacuees left Libya.
Clinton said she signed an order directing the State Department to revoke US visas held by senior Qadaffy government officials, their family members and others responsible for human rights violations in Libya.
"As a matter of policy, new visa applications will be denied," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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But White House officials said fears for the safety of Americans in the country had tempered Washington's response to the turmoil.
But now the gloves are off, aren't they? Run away without looking back, Gadaffy. Your worthless life depends on it. Obama has unleashed ... [ Wait for it ] ... SANCTIONS!
Yes, nothing less than sanctions to confound your every breath and vex your POS existance! You'd better be afraid! The peasantry you leave behind should start feeling the edges of the effects in, oh, six or eight months. Long after your sorry ass has been deposed, denuded, diced, dessicated,and disposed of to the four winds.
Worthless, do-nothing, meaningless sanctions. Oh yes, we're all fooled by all the arm-waving and hollering. Nope, we're totally clueless about the fact that once again you have voted "present" without actually having used the word. All in the name of "not getting involved where we don't belong".
And it should only take a few years to have those very same sanctions lifted after all that's left of you is the memory of your syphilitic rule.
Better would have been to overfly the country to prevent Numbnutz from using his own planes against his own people, and plinking every tank and any group of thugs or "elite" guardsmen that shows itself. No need to land or put boots on the ground, just help them out a bit.
#3
Gaddafi kills thousands to stay in power and the denunciations roll in. The Norks intentionally starve hundreds of thousands to death in the past ten years, remain in power, and we still deal with them. As attributed to Stalin - One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic. /sarc off
#4
Events are moving too fast in Libya for sanctions to do much to curb Momar. A feckless response by a president who is incapable of leading. He has stronger statements in support of union thugs in this country.
#9
It amazes me how irrational this dipshit president is. He denigrates America's reputation and achievements for two years then he tries to use the reputation of the US and bully pulpit of the POTUS to influence events around the world.
How can you do one and expect the second to work? I just don't get the jackasses.
[Iran Press TV] Libya's former justice minister has formed an interim government as several cities are currently under the control of pro-democracy demonstrators.
Mustafa Mohamed Abdel-Jalil formed the government in the eastern city of Benghazi on Saturday, Rooters cited Libya's Quryna newspaper as reporting.
"Muammar Qadaffy alone bore responsibility for the crimes that have occurred in Libya," the paper quoted the former Libyan justice minister as saying.
Libya is bracing for more violence as thousands of pro-democracy protesters, seeking the ouster of the Qadaffy regime, are moving toward the capital, Tripoli.
But foreign mercenaries and troops still loyal to Qadaffy are making every effort to crush the revolution.
The 68-year-old Qadaffy and four of his sons, Saif al-Islam, al-Saadi, al-Mutassim, and Khamis, are reportedly in the Bab al-Azizia military barracks, located west of Tripoli, and fighting against the protesters.
His fifth son, Saif-al-Arab Qadaffy, has joined the revolutionaries, and the Libyan dictator's cousin, Ahmed Qadhaf al-Dam, who was one of the members of Qadaffy's inner circle, has defected to Egypt.
According to the latest reports, demonstrators have already passed through the suburbs of the city.
Tripoli is a strategically important city and home to two million of Libya's more than six million people.
Libyan security forces have reportedly killed over 1,000 people during the recent demonstrations against Qadaffy's four decades of repressive rule.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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"Muammar Qadaffy alone bore responsibility for the crimes that have occurred in Libya,"
Daffy's Libyan and international enablers however bear zero responsibility for the crimes that have occurred in Libya and internationally.
Given that Daffy was a nexus for a huge cabal of international crooks and miscreants (including but not limited to nazis, commies, anti-racists, racists, unideological corrupt pols), 'We waz tricked' is a mighty convenient excuse for a lot of rich and famous people.
#2
--- Qadaffy did not act alone. He has mercenaries and Libyan supporters who are carrying out the atrocities he orders.
--- Even if Qadaffy leaves,there will be a great many scores for the Libyans to settle. Post-Qadaffi, Libya will probably look like Iraq did in the first years after 2003.
--- An interim Libyan government can now ask for international assistance, and still preserve some national self-respect.
President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... vowed on Saturday to defend the republic of Yemen to the last drop of blood, saying at a meeting with the army commanders that the hundreds of thousands of protesters seeking the ouster of his regime are just imitating the Libyan people.
" There is a continuous plot against Yemen's unity and we are in the armed forces have vowed to protect the republican system to the last drop of blood," he told the meeting, adding: " this vow is standing and will remain".
Saleh who has recently made concessions as the protests erupted in the aftermath of the Tunisian revolt, said there are external conspiracies against Yemen and the opposition does not have an idea where the country will go or what the results of these conspiracies are.
What the opposition is doing is just inflexibility and if the opposition parties have real demands we would meet, he said.
We made many concessions through the House of Representatives and Shura but the opposition are not in favor of their country's interest, added Saleh, whose concessions earlier this month included promises not to run for president again and not to bring his son to power when his term expires in 2013.
On Friday, millions of Yemeni people prayed in the streets in many cities of the republic as hundreds of thousands have been continuing sit-ins and determined they will not abandon what they are on until the Saleh government was removed.
Saleh also said that the remarks of former premier Haider Al-Attas to BBC came within the bids of the separatists who are coordinating with the Joint Meeting Parties, the opposition coalition, to oust the regime, saying as if they are saying: let us seize this opportunity to oust the regime and to separate the south then.
"Our nation has passed through many difficulties over the last four years and we have been addressing the situation through democratic and peaceful means. We are contacting the opposition leaders but our efforts went in vain," Saleh said.
I am confident the Yemeni people and army will thwart any plots aiming at taking the country back to two countries and imamate rule, he said, adding that what the protesters are just imitating the Libyans.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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defend the republic of Yemen to the last drop of blood
Whose blood? The whole country? That actually might work - and is probably the only thing that might?
[Ma'an] Important Yemeni tribal leaders, including those of the Hashid and Baqil, on Saturday pledged to join protests against Prseident President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... at a gathering north of the capital, tribal sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa sacked three ministers who "caused crisis" after the latest unrest, Al Jizz television said Friday, quoting an unnamed official source. The Arab satellite channel did not provide further details.
Earlier, tens of thousands of anti-government protesters filled Bahrain's capital in an attempt to boost pressure for sweeping political concessions before possible talks to end nearly two weeks of demonstrations and festivities in the country.
At least two major processions sought to converge on Manama's landmark Pearl Square, which has become the focal point of the uprising pushing for democratic change.
Security forces made no immediate attempt to halt the marchers in an apparent sign that Bahrain's rulers do not want to risk more bloodshed and denunciations from their Western allies.
Bahrain is the first Gulf state to be thrown into turmoil by the Arab world's wave of change. The unrest is highly significant for Washington because Bahrain sits at the center of its military framework in the region. There is much at stake, too, for the Gulf's ruling clans seeking to maintain their grip on power and efforts to keep Iranian influence in check.
Bahrain is home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet, which is the Pentagon's main counterweight against Iran's widening military ambitions.
The government had declared Friday a day of mourning for the seven people killed in festivities since Feb. 14.
Many protesters waved Bahrain's red-and-white flag. Among the chants: "No dialogue before the government is dissolved" and "For Bahrain's future, we are not afraid to be killed." One procession -- split into separate groups of men and black-robed women -- passed skyscrapers adorned with images of the nation's ruling family.
The marches followed a sermon by a senior Shiite holy man who said that any dialogue between anti-government protesters and the kingdom's rulers must lead to clear reforms and changes.
In the sermon at a Shiite village mosque in the anti-government hotbed of Diraz, Imam Isa Qassim called for talks that are "clear, comprehensive and productive." He said demonstrators want guarantees on what would be accomplished by the talks.
"We don't want dialogue for the sake of dialogue, we don't want dialogue to waste time or to absorb anger," Qassim told worshippers. "We want a meaningful, viable and sustainable process. ... We seek a fundamental change to the current political process based on legitimate demands."
Bahrain's Sunni rulers have offered to talk with Shiite opposition groups to try to defuse the showdown, but the opposition has been slow to answer the call.
The opposition appears split in its aims, with some seeking greater democratic reforms, including the removal of the long-serving prime minister -- the king's uncle.
Others, however, are demanding the ouster of the ruling regime altogether.
Scores of anti-government protesters knelt down under the hot midday sun for Friday prayers in Pearl Square.
Surrounding them were dozens of tents and makeshift food stalls that have been set up by protesters intent on fortifying their position. Anti-government graffiti has been spray-painted on a towering monument to Bahrain's heritage as a pearl-diving center the dominates square as well as nearby walls -- a rare sight in the heavily policed Gulf.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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Special forces on Sunday night successfully carried out a second daring swoop into Libya to rescue civilians stranded by the crisis.
Three RAF Hercules carrying members of the SAS and SBS flew into remote locations in the desert collecting and evacuating more than 150 people. The passengers were flown to Malta, where they put in hotels overnight.
It was not immediately clear how many among the rescued workers were British, but those with UK passports were expected to be flown back to the UK on Monday.
Sunday night's mission takes to five the number of rescue flights ordered by the Government over the weekend.
#5
Maybe some are infiltrating towards Tripoli to help out, but I suspect there won't be much action. Gadaffy has his hands full and has pulled his troops back to Tripoli. I doubt there is much in the way of pro-Gadaffy forces out where these guys are landing.
#6
OTOH WAFF [old] > BRITISH FORCES WOULD STRUGGLE TO MOUNT SMALL MILITARY INTERVENTION, CLAIM OFFICERS. This week's LIBYA-style mil-led rescues may become more remote = unlikely as military manpower + military equipment is steadily reduced or phased out out of service due to Govt-ordered MoD Budget Cuts.
Again, the US-NATO believe that ALL-OUT, "TOTAL WARS" AS BETWEEN MAJOR WORLD POWERS IS OBSOLETE, OR IN THE ALTERN ARE NOT LIKELY TO OCCUR FOR A VERY VERY LONG TIME TO COME.
VARIOUS POSTERS = opine that the COLD WAR = WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL ARMED FORCES iS BEING STEADILY CONVERTED INTO REGIONAL, GLOBAL "PEACE CORPS/PEACEKEEPING" SECURITY SERVICES [OWG = UNO Police, Humanitarian Actions].
In a daylight mission, the RAF, Special Air Service and Special Boat Service used two specially equipped Hercules aircraft to snatch Britons from the country. However, it is feared up to 300 oil workers from the UK remain stranded.
The rescue teams, who flew out of bases in Malta, searched an area four times the size of Britain to locate workers before evacuating them back to Valletta in Malta last night. They were given food and water and medical assistance before being taken to hotels to rest. They will begin arriving home today.
Within hours of them arriving back to safety, the international community ratcheted up the pressure on the Libyan dictator as the security situation in the country deteriorated. The British embassy in Tripoli was closed and its staff hurriedly evacuated.
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, disclosed that a major international diplomatic offensive against the dictator was starting.
In a series of developments:
Witnesses in Tripoli told of deaths at mosques and of armed men around the city. Elsewhere in the country, pro-Gaddafi forces were said to have fired on civilians from helicopters.
The Sunday Telegraph met captured African mercenaries who Col Gaddafi had paid to prop up his regime, including a 16-year-old boy handed a gun and then told to go out and massacre protesters.
Billions of pounds of Libyan assets are set to be frozen in Britain, including shareholdings in a major publishing company and large amounts of property.
The Government is pushing for an arms embargo, a travel ban and a war crimes investigation into the crackdown on demonstrators, which appears to be reaching new heights of brutality.
#7
A friend of mine got out just days before the "festivities" began. There are quite a few Americans in Libya - maybe as many as 5000, I don't know. I do know that HRC didn't know either. In that kind of situation, SMART planners plan for more, not less. As for ferries, some of the ferries in the Med can carry as many as 1000 passengers at a time.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/27/2011 16:59 Comments ||
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#9
Only 20-25% of the passengers were American. But why are there any Americans, not connected w/ the embassy, in Libya.
Posted by: Pearl Gleaper1127 ||
02/27/2011 18:02 Comments ||
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#10
Given our past recent history with Libya, I'm with PG1127. I'd be as shocked as all get-out that there were more than a couple of dozen American citizens, over and above embassy employees and family members and stray tourists in the whole bloody wretched country. But then, I've been leading a sheltered life since I retired from the Air Force.
#13
So the UK went in, and they didn't the PoS they released on the way out? Don't get me wrong, I think they did great work getting their people out. Just think it was a missed opportunity.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/27/2011 21:17 Comments ||
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#14
But why are there any Americans, not connected w/ the embassy, in Libya.
A total of 16 individuals were murdered in ongoing drug and gang violence including a Juarez female municipal police officer kidnapped and then shot to death shortly afterwards. For a map of Chihuahua, click here.
A man was shot to death Thursday evening in Juarez. Alejandro Ontiveros, 36, was in the driveway of his residence near the intersection of calles Jarudo Oriente and Sierra de las Candelarias in the Trascendio Infonavit Jarudo in the colony when he was shot. Ontiveros lost a wheelchair bound brother in a shooting on December 18th in a nearby park. The brief published in Rantburg on that murder can be found here.
Three members of the same family were found shot to death Friday morning after being reported abducted three weeks ago. Malena, Elias and Luisa Reyes, wife of Elijah, were found in the Valley of Juärez colony near Guadalupe shot to death with several "narcomessages" nearby. The messages accused the family of being scouts for organized crime.
Two unidentified individuals were shot to death Friday in two separate attacks Friday, according to the Mexican news daily La Polaka.
A man was found shot to death near the corner of calles Higuera and Dalias in the Fransisco Villa colony. Reports say the victim was shot six times with a 9mm weapon.
A man was found shot to death on calle Genaro Vazquez in the Tierra y Libertad colony.
Two auto mechanics were shot to death in Juarez Friday. The victims were shot near the intersection of calles Buenavista and Oriente in the Infonavit Jarudo colony more than 20 times.
Two unidentified men were shot to death and a third was wounded in a shooting in Juarez Friday afternoon. The victims were standing in the doorway of a residence near the intersection of calles Cafeto and Copaiba in the Ampliacion Aeropuerto colony when they shot. Two of the victims died at the scene, and the third is not expected to survive the attack.
A Chihuahua state police agent killed himself Friday afternoon in Juarez. Arturo Fuentes shot himself at his residence on corner of calles Amozoc and Grosella in the Erendira colony using a 9mm pistol.
An unidentified pregnant female was wounded in a shooting in Chihuahua, Chihuahua. The victim was walking near the corner of calle Praderas de Manitova and Praderas de Calahan in the Urbi Villas colony in southern Chihuahua. Armed suspects aboard two vehicles fired on a row of three houses in the area, then fled the area.
An unidentified man in his 20s was shot to death in Juarez Saturday. The victim was walking alone near the intersection of Eje Vial Juan Gabriel and Genaro Vazquez in the Tierra y Libertad colony when two other young men shot the victim.
Three unidentified men were shot to death at a gas station in Juarez Saturday. The victims were aboard a Mazda sedan at a filling station near the intersection of Eje Vial Juan Gabriel and Genaro Väazquez in the Tierra y Libertad colony.
An unidentified female municipal police officer was abducted from her home and then murdered Saturday. The officer was taken from her residence in the El Mezquital colony, and then dumped out near the intersection of Fortin de Soledad and Oaxaca in the Morelos II colony, stripped naked at the waist, then shot four times with a 9mm weapon. The victim was killed less than a quarter mile from the Babicnora police station.
[Emirates 24/7] A man died after pulling the pin on a grenade and blowing himself up at the entrance of a discount retail store in northeast Moscow, news agency Interfax reported on Saturday, citing a law enforcement source.
No other injuries were immediately reported.
The man drove up to the store and parked his silver all-terrain vehicle before approaching the entrance, the law enforcement source said, quoting witnesses.
"He muttered something incomprehensible, took a grenade out, pulled the pin and an kaboom followed," he said.
The man was struck down in his prime. His motives were unclear.
A safe starting assumption would be that he wanted to blow something up...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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The outside world is learning about the latest news from North Korea with unprecedented speed these days. Information that used to be impossible to obtain, about such things as living conditions or protests, is becoming available through photos and video clips, while South Korean pop music and TV dramas are spreading quickly throughout North Korea.
The most common conduit is North Korean traders who frequently travel to China. They store the pictures and videos on USB memory sticks and bring them out with them. "In February last year we developed 'stealth' USBs and distributed hundreds of them in the North," said Kim Heung-kwang of defector group North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity.
Kim said when customs officials check the USBs on their computers, they look empty with "0 byte" appearing on the monitors. But after a certain period of time the content is automatically restored. "The stealth USBs appear to contain nothing when they are sent to North Korea and can easily pass through screening," Kim said. "But South Korean dramas, news or other content are restored later."
That little bit of subterfuge is now blown thanks to the press. We didn't need to know that.
Although most North Koreans have no Internet access, they get information about the outside world through USBs, CDs or DVDs. Some young North Koreans who used the USBs ask NKIS to send more TV dramas instead of "dull" pro-democracy propaganda.
The regime organized special squads in January last year to crack down on USBs, CDs or DVDs containing what they see as seditious information.
North Koreans in turn photograph events in the North with their digital cameras and smuggle the information out on small USBs. Activists with human rights groups get information about the North either through communicating via mobile phone with sources near the border with China or through contacts who cross the border into China.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
I guess it beats burning logs in the shape of letters to be picked up spy satellites. I mean, how many times can you send the word HELP ?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/27/2011 10:09 Comments ||
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#3
I remember this cartoon in a magazine. Some navy types were flying over a small desert island with one palm and a guy waving. The guy on the ground made a message on the sand with sticks that said, "S O B."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/27/2011 14:12 Comments ||
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#4
I never knew a vacuum tube computer could work with a USB key....
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/27/2011 22:05 Comments ||
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[Arab News] Khalid Ali M. Aldawsari, the college student from Soddy Arabia accused of buying chemicals online as part of a plan to blow up key US targets, including the home of former President George W. Bush, appeared in federal court in Texas on Friday.
Apparently he was studying chemical engineering, which makes it more likely he knew how to mix chemicals than that MBA who tried to blow up Times Square using firecrackers as a fuse. So it's probably a good thing he was caught before he assembled his device.
Aldawsari was nabbed late Thursday by FBI agents in Texas on a federal charge of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction in connection with his alleged purchase of chemicals and equipment necessary to make an improvised bomb (IED) and his research of potential US targets.
Aldawsari made his initial appearance in federal court in Lubbock on Friday morning.
Legally admitted into the United States in 2008 on a student visa and is enrolled at South Plains College near Lubbock, Texas. Aldawsari faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
Rod Hobson, his attorney, declined to comment as he left the courtroom in Lubbock. In a statement, he said the "eyes of the world are on this case" and how Aldawsari is treated.
"This is America, where everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence, due process, effective representation of counsel and a fair trial," Hobson's statement reads.
The purpose of Aldawsari's court appearance Friday was to ensure the basics. Mark White, the media coordinator for the FBI's Dallas office, told Arab News by phone that the initial court appearance "is to make sure he identifies himself, understood the criminal charges that have been filed against him, and to make sure he has an attorney."
White said a detention hearing for Aldawsari is set for March 11.
Judge Nancy Koenig asked the 20-year-old if he understood the charges against him, and ordered him to remain in jug until the March 11 detention hearing.
"We have 40,000 students from Soddy Arabia in the US," Moody Al-Khalaf, Director of Culture and Social Affairs at the Cultural Mission at the Embassy of Soddy Arabia told Arab News. "Despite all the events we do here for positive outreach and all the tremendous efforts by the thousands of students all over the US ... an incident like this gets everyone worked up against the Saudis and Islam.
"I don't know if the accusations are true or not, but they are enough to get everyone talking anti-Saudi and anti-Islam again," said Al-Khalaf, adding that Aldawsari was a sponsored SABIC student, and was not sponsored by the Saudi Embassy.
"He was quiet. I thought he was a good guy," said Ahmed Obaidan, a senior at Tennessee State University who is also from Soddy Arabia and met Aldawsari in Nashville, Tenn., when Aldawsari was studying at an English language center at Vanderbilt University.
Shauna Dunlap, Media Relations Coordinator with the FBI in Houston, Texas, told Arab News that because Aldawsari had allegedly threatened former President George W. Bush, the FBI's Dallas office was now involved since that is where the Bush now lives.
The arrest and the criminal complaint against Aldawsari, which was unsealed in the Northern District of Texas, were announced by David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; James T. Jacks, US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas; and Robert E. Casey Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Dallas Field Division.
According to the affidavit filed in support of the complaint, Aldawsari has been researching online how to construct an IED using several chemicals as ingredients. He has also acquired or taken a substantial step toward acquiring most of the ingredients and equipment necessary to construct an IED and he has conducted online research of several potential US targets, the affidavit alleges.
In addition, he has allegedly described his desire for violent jihad and martyrdom in blog postings and a personal journal.
"As alleged in the complaint, Aldawsari purchased ingredients to construct an bomb and was actively researching potential targets in the United States. Thanks to the efforts of many agents, analysts, and prosecutors, this plot was thwarted before it could advance further," said Assistant Attorney General Kris.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
Maybe the DHS should be examining visa allocations and developing background profiles of those issued instead of copng feels at the airport.
Posted by: Jaiger Protector of the Bunions8239 ||
02/27/2011 9:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
What kind of idiot buys chemicals for a bomb? If you are going to break the law, go whole hog and steal the chemicals.
Thank God that our enemies are stupid.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/27/2011 10:40 Comments ||
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#3
Probably wanted the points on his credit card.
Posted by: Steven ||
02/27/2011 13:14 Comments ||
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Strategy Page summarized: While the Pakistani army has driven the Pakistani Taliban out of other areas back to FATA, in FATA they are fighting back by attacking police stations and army bases with suicide bombers. This has resulted in more civilian deaths.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/27/2011 09:14 ||
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Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It's not exactly a stalemate, but the terrorists can't expand, are not being wiped out, and the army doesn't want to force the issue to a conclusion.
I think that the US should threaten to arm India if the Paks don't put a quick end to this. There are always simple solutions to complex problems.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
02/27/2011 9:46 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Seven oil tankers were destroyed due to an kaboom at the Ring Road on Saturday. According to official sources, the oil tankers, which were carrying oil for NATO forces, were parked at the Tor Baba stop on the Ring Road. The kaboom occurred in one of the oil tankers, setting it ablaze. The fire also engulfed six other tankers, which were parked nearby.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
[Ma'an] Israeli F16 fighter jets launched the sixth air strike of the day on Gazoo on Saturday afternoon, witnesses said.
The most recent strike hit Ahmad Abu Shareb's home, east of Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gazoo Strip. Abu Shareb told Ma'an the Israeli army told him to evacuate his home prior to the shelling. No injuries were reported.
Earlier Saturday afternoon, warplanes struck three targets in the southern Gazoo Strip leaving at least two Paleostinians injured.
The first hit an open space between Rafah and Khan Younis, a Ma'an correspondent said.
Gazoo medical official Adham Abu Salmiya said two people were maimed, but the extent of their injuries was not immediately clear.
Two more Arclight airstrikes came minutes after the first targeting two security sites belonging to the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-run government in Rafah, which is near the Egyptian border.
A family of four, including an 18-month-old girl, were lightly maimed, after their vehicle was hit by shrapnel as they were driving by one of the targets, Abu Salmiya told AFP.
A third air strike hit an Islamic Jihad facility west of Khan Younis, witnesses said.
The raids came after pre-dawn strikes against two other training camps of the hardline Islamic Jihad group.
Several missiles hit an Islamic Jihad military base in Khan Younis. Islamic Jihad has refused to observe a calm in attacks against Israel agreed by Gazoo's Hamas rulers and other groups.
The military said that during the weekend its planes shelled "several terror activity sites in the Gazoo Strip as a response to the baragging of rocket fire at the Israeli home front."
In a statement, the army said the pre-dawn raids "targeted a number of sites in the central Gazoo Strip," and the afternoon strikes "targeted a terror tunnel and two terror activity sites in the southern Gazoo Strip."
The air raids came after tensions rose along the Israel-Gazoo border this week following festivities and a rocket attack on the Israeli city of Beersheba that hit a house but caused no casualties.
It was the first rocket to strike the city since the devastating offensive Israel waged against Gazoo in December 2008-January 2009 and prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn the territory's thugs.
That conflict killed 1,400 Paleostinians, more than half of them civilians, and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers.
Commenting on recent rocket attacks, Israeli security minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said, "We cannot ignore the firing of rockets on the residents of Israel. We must stop these attacks.
"There is an attempt to give it some sort of legitimization of attack - response. The response should be much more painful. The firing of Grad rockets on Beersheba or other cities crosses the red line," he noted.
"State and the IDF must respond with a heavy hand. I will also demand this from the government. No country in the world would have allowed Grad rockets to fall on its residents," Aharonovitch noted.
Also on Saturday, a Paleostinian man was shot and maimed in the leg as he collected gravel near the border fence in the northern Gazoo Strip, Paleostinian medics said.
Paleostinians in Gazoo frequently forage through the rubble along the territory's border with Israel, seeking construction materials which are otherwise in short supply because of an Israeli-imposed blockade.
A military front man said a group of suspicious people were seen approaching the border. When they failed to heed warning shots, "soldiers fired toward their legs and identified hitting one of them."
Israel imposes a 300-meter buffer zone along the length of the border as a "no-go" area where anyone who comes too close is liable to be shot at by soldiers manning watchtowers.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
And the 18 month old baby in the same sentence?
Interview the medic about the debridements. You do know what debridements are dont you ? You do that with X-rays, tweezers and probes, and 2% spray Lidocaine.
Unless you are a Palestinian, then you do it with a camera and a loud drum.
A Grad is a 1960's technology Soviet 122mm. Nine foot Screaming Meemie rocket fired from the back of a truck and then 20 seconds later they boogey outa there. Hamas fires them at civilians and then runs like hell. Moslem values kind of weapon. Its gives moral scope to Kill the Jewzzzz for every red blooded Arab who wants to get his "respect" back.
You come to expect it from Arabs. They are that sort of people. "Grad" in Russians translates out as "Hi! there."
#3
If you hang your mouse over the light gray line under the text the browser will tell you what the original text was. If it doesn't, let me know.
Curiously enough, I have a passing knowledge of debridement, from my days driving an ambulance and working toward a paramedic certification. Doc Steve and some of the other real doctors that hang around here could describe the procedure in more detail than I could, though.
Град is pretty generic. It's the BM-21 truck-mounted multiple-launched rocket system or it's the M-21OF rocket itself, which in Paleostine is usually fired one at a time, sitting on the ground and aimed using the equivalent of a forked stick. That was the usual method of launching them at us in northern Quang Tri province when I was there, though I understand they brought the trucks south in later years. By now (at least outside the former Soviet Union) it's become a generic for most any rocket of the approximate same size and purpose, just like "Katyusha" is used for most any former Soviet vehicle-launched system.
Thank you for sharing your encyclopedic knowledge with us.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 10:12 Comments ||
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The owner of a construction supplies shop was killed in a drive-by shooting in Pattani province on Sunday morning.
Boraheng Yusoh, 54, was going in his pickup truck on a local road when the passenger of a motorcycle fired an AK47 at him. He was hit several times and taken to the hospital, where he was later pronounce dead.
Police blamed terrorists separatist militants.
Bombing suspect dies in clash
Security forces arrested a suspected terrorist insurgent after finding a gun and a large stash of ammunition buried in a ditch at a rubber plantation in Narathiwat province.
Fifty officers from the Narathiwat 35 special task force and a local office unearthed a .50 calibre rifle with a magazine and an assortment of bullets, including AK rifle bullets, M16 rifle bullets, carbine rifle bullets and .32 calibre rounds at 11 a.m. yesterday.
The ammunition was retrieved from an area where villagers had previously alerted authorities to suspicious buried items. While digging up the weapons cache, the security force detained a man for questioning after spotting him walking around the area.
At 3:15 p.m., authorities raided a rubber plantation in Narathiwat province after a tipoff that the area had been used as a hideout by the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) separatist movement.
The raid led to a 20-minute gunfight between the force and what was believed to be three terrorists insurgent suspects, believed to have plotted a car bomb attack. One suspect, later identified as Arong Awae, 42, was found dead, while two others fled.
Arong is known to be a bomb maker and was wanted by police for questioning in at least 10 cases, including the car bomb attack outside a massage parlor in Narathiwat on Feb 19 which injured 18 people.
Two guns were seized after the gunfight. A check of the firearms showed they had been stolen from a military unit in 2004.
In Yala province, three men suspected of being involved in the Feb 13 car bomb and the Feb 21 motorcycle bomb were arrested in a raid yesterday morning. The detained suspects were identified as Zofan Baka, Abiya Laemo, Anuwat Cheyuzo.
[Al Arabiya] The websites of Iranian opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have posted calls for new protests on Tuesday to demand their release from reported house arrest.
The call, posted on Kaleme.com and Sahamnews.org, was issued by the Coordination Council of the Green Path of Hope, an umbrella group backing the two leaders who steadfastly oppose President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad's government.
"We invite everyone to protest on Tuesday... against the continued restrictions and house arrest imposed on the movement's leaders," the group said in a statement posted on the two websites.
It said the protests would be held in key squares and streets of Tehran and provincial cities.
The group, which called previous protests on February 14 and February 20, said that more demonstrations would be held on March 15 if Mousavi and Karroubi remained under house arrest beyond March 1.
The February 14 protests were deadly with two people killed when festivities erupted between demonstrators and security forces. But the February 20 protests in Tehran were quelled by a massive deployment of police.
The two protests, the first to be held since February last year, infuriated the authorities who accused Mousavi and Karroubi of treason and put them under "complete" house arrest, according to opposition websites.
Officials have also branded anyone who supports the two men as "anti-revolutionary."
Mousavi and Karroubi led a string of protests in Iran after Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election in June 2009, which they claim was rigged.
Their opposition to Ahmadinejad has shaken the Islamic regime and divided the nation's elite Shiite clergy.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
[Asharq al-Aswat] Iran said on Saturday it is removing the fuel from the reactor of a Russian-built nuclear power plant, a move seen as a big blow to its controversial nuclear programme.
Oh dear. It sounds like they might be having a challenge or two. Possibly even an actual problem.
"Ardeshir, is there a problem with the reactor?"
"Who can tell, Mehdi? The control screens show no data, just skulls and crossbones, and they keep flashing 'Game Over'!"
"Ummm... That's a bad sign, isn't it?"
"I dunno. There's nothing about it in the manual."
The decision to remove the fuel from the reactor of the nuclear plant in the southern city of Bushehr comes just months before the facility -- which has seen a roller-coaster ride since its construction began in the 1970s -- was scheduled to generate electricity.
Gosh. That's... carry the 17 and add 23 ... why that's about four decades! Building inspectors can get persnickety, they can indeed.
You oughta see the fire marshals when they get goin'!
"Based on the recommendation of Russia, which is in charge of completing the Bushehr atomic power plant, the fuel inside the reactor core will be taken out for a while to conduct some experiments and technical work," Iran's envoy to the UN atomic watchdog, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told the ISNA news agency. "What're you doing with that fuel rod?"
"Experimenting. It's technical. You wouldn't understand. Hand me that claw hammer."
"After the experiments, it will again be installed in the core of the reactor." ... assuming it still fits, of course.
He did not specify when the experiments would be completed.
Take a decade or two to make sure everything is all right. We wouldn't want a Chernobyl poisoning the dust of Persia...
"Is the experiment over yet?"
"Another day or two. What's the matter with your dorsal tendril? It's drooping."
Iran had started loading the fuel into the reactor in October after the "physical launch" of the plant by Moscow on August 21. Then they stopped.
In January, Iran's former atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the plant would be ready to generate electricity on April 9 after operations began in November. "Yep. We're all set to go!"
"Those workers... They've turned bright green! And one has a pseudopod!"
"Nothing to be concerned about. Just part of our Hire the Handicapped program!"
The decision to remove the fuel rods, also supplied by Russia, is the latest setback in the more than three-decade old history of the plant, which was first launched by the US-backed shah using contractors from German company Siemens. "Somewhere in Persia... there's a budding reactor that'll get a whole country moving again!"
But it was shelved when the shah was ousted in the Islamic revolution of 1979 and it lay unfinished through the 1980s "Fritz, we're cutting the reactor project!"
"I'll start polishing my resume. When's cut day?"
"Today."
"Can I use your typewriter?"
as Iran battled internal opposition and a devastating eight-year war with Iraq. [BANG! BANG! BANGETY BANG!]
"Aaaaiiieeee!"
"Gas! Gas!"
[KABOOM!]
It was revived in the late 1980s after current supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei succeeded revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. "Is the old man dead yet?"
[Nudge!] [Nudge!] "I think so!"
"Let's try that nuclear thing again!"
In the early 1990s, Iran sought help for the project after being turned away by Siemens over nuclear proliferation concerns. "What part of 'nein' don't you understand?"
In 1994, Russia agreed to complete the plant and provide the fuel, with the supply deal committing Iran to returning the spent fuel. "You vill pay in hard currency? No rubles? No Jamaican money?"
A deal was finally signed in January 1995 after 18 months of negotiations and preliminary accords. "These dollars... They're not the same color as the other dollars!"
"The Pyongyang Central Bank assures us they're perfectly good!"
That was just the start of a spate of delays and setbacks, as the Russian contractor was repeatedly forced to postpone completion. "The work has slowed down again!"
"Yuri spilled chai on those dollars and the colors ran!"
In 2007, Russian contractor Atomstroiexport even accused Iran of falling behind in its payments, further jeopardising the project's completion. "The edges aren't even straight on these dollars!"
"Try these. See if they work!"
"There's no 'W' in 'Federal Reserve,' dammit!"
But finally on August 21 last year, Russian and Iranian engineers declared the physical launch of the plant, a move undertaken despite Moscow hardening its stance against Tehran's nuclear programme by voting for a new sanctions resolution at the UN Security Council. "Comrade... I mean Citizen Director! The check cleared!"
The West, which suspects Iran's nuclear programme is cover for a weapons drive -- a charge vehemently denied by Tehran -- does not see Bushehr as posing any "proliferation risk," however.
Israel disagrees, but nobody admits to caring about that.
The plant has faced hiccups even after its physical launch, "Ardeshir! Quick! The radiation mop!"
"Not again!"
with officials blaming the delays in generating electricity on a range of factors, including Bushehr's "severe weather."
Bushehr creates its own special climate, you see. It's a special, magical place.
But they deny it was hit by the malicious Stuxent computer worm which struck industrial computers in Iran, although they acknowledge that the personal computers of some personnel at Bushehr were infected with it. "Oh, yeah! Those screens always show those skull and crossbones things!"
In January, The New York Times reported ... and if you can't believe the Noo Yawk Times who can you believe?
that US and Israeli intelligence services collaborated to develop the Stuxnet virus to sabotage Iran's nuclear programme and the Bushehr plant could have been one of the targets. "c0dfi$h, where are you targeting that virus?"
"Not Bushehr, that's for sure!"
On Saturday, Nasser Rastkhah, head of Iran's nuclear safety system, reiterated to state news agency IRNA that Stuxnet had "no effect on the controls of the Bushehr atomic plant."
"Not that we know of, anyway. We haven't dared turn the blessed thing on yet."
Bushehr is a pressurised water reactor with a capacity to produce 1,000 megawatts of power.
It was constructed by more than 2,000 Russian engineers and workers living in a purpose-built village near the site.
Iran, which has some of the world's largest oil and gas reserves, says it wants to develop nuclear power so it can use those reserves judiciously.
The tailor's children go unclothed, the shoemaker children go barefoot...and the owners of the oilfields are powered by something other than the country's cash crop.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2011 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
"OK, people, final checklist! Cooling pumps?"
"Pumps at maximum, the board is green!"
"Control rods"
"Control rods at 100% engaged!"
"Turbines?"
"Turbines at low spin on auxiliary power!"
"Water level?"
"Primary and all backup level indicators are green!"
"OK, here we go! Control rods to 90 percent!"
"Rods at ninety."
"Temperature?"
"All indicators showing ambient."
"Hmm. OK,, control rods to 70 percent! Temperature?"
"Still holding at ambient."
"Yuri, what the hell is going...Yuri? Hey, where the hell is Yuri!?"
There are about 160 fuel rods to be removed. Each one requires special handling, storage, etc. after being removed. Then after removal, everything has to be tested, lots of re- calibrations done, etc.
In a few months, the computer screen could ultimately read,
"Game Over".
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/27/2011 16:02 Comments ||
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#4
Iranian techs couldn't understand the "This end on top" notation on the fuel rods.
#6
I hereby take back everything bad that I ever posted here about George W Bush when I was upset with him because he wouldn't bomb Iran. It's still unclear if he knew it would turn out this way or if he merely trusted in good fortune. But it does seem the combination of Russians, Iranians and maybe just a little bit of Israeli software mischief have left a useless pile of radioactive junk in the city of Bushehr. It's so much more subtle than bombing and it makes the Iranians look like such a bunch of fools. It's the feel good story of the year.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/27/2011 22:07 Comments ||
Top||
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.
The latest round of fighting for control of neighborhoods in the Somali capital Mogadishu has left at least twenty people dead.
Early Sunday, Feb. 27, US President Barack Obama called on Libyan ruler Col. Muammar Qadaffy to leave now, having lost the legitimacy to rule since "his only means of staying in power is to use violence against his own people," and the UN Security Council's 15 members unanimously slapped down wide-reaching sanctions on members of his family and regime commanders, calling for an immediate International Criminal Court probe of Qaddafi, his seven sons and daughter and military commanders, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
[Ennahar] For the son of Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy, the streets of Tripoli are full of jubilant crowds shooting fireworks, chanting songs and celebrating his father's long rule -- a picture painted on state television.
Hillary Clinton,
[Iran Press TV] Libya's former justice minister has formed an interim government as several cities are currently under the control of pro-democracy demonstrators.
President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
[Arab News] Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa sacked three ministers who "caused crisis" after the latest unrest, 
