Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Nina Dobrev (Bulgarian-Canadian) aka Elena Gilbert in "The Vampire Diaries (TV Series 2009 )" aka Anna in "Chloe (2009)" aka Bella in "Fugitive Pieces (2007)" aka Mia Jones in "Degrassi: The Next Generation (TV Series 2001 )" aka Rachel in "The Poet (2007)" (age 24)
[Iran Press TV] Afghan forces have recaptured a town under long-time Taliban occupation in the country's troubled south, Press TV reported.
According to a statement made by the Afghan government, its forces along with foreign troops pushed Orcs and similar vermin out of the Miyanshin district in Kandahar Province.
Further information regarding casualties during the operation has not been released.
Afghan sources say several towns in Sothern Afghanistan are still under Taliban control.
The US-led invasion of Afghanistan took place in 2001 under the pretext of combating terrorism, toppling the Taliban regime, and establishing security in the country.
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... insecurity continues to rise across Afghanistan despite the presence of thousands of foreign forces in the country.
The US-led war in Afghanistan, with civilian and military casualties at record high, has become the longest military conflict in US history.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Why don't I feel reassured by Iranian television's account of the successes of Afghanistan's forces?
Posted by: American Delight ||
01/09/2012 6:44 Comments ||
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#2
I dunno, seems like testimony against interest, but this is clearly a barely rewritten Afghan governmental press release, so YMMV.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
01/09/2012 8:41 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Suspected Islamists have rubbed out three poker players near a church in the latest attacks targeting Christians in northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... , residents said Sunday.
The killings took place late Saturday in Biu town of the northeast Nigerian state of Borno. The area is one of several placed under emergency rule by a presidential decree last week.
Two gunnies on a cycle of violence shot into a crowd of Christians playing cards at an abandoned hotel near a church on the outskirts of the town, killing three and wounding seven others
"The gunnies, believed to be members of Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie... , riding a cycle of violence, opened fire on a group of Christian residents playing poker outside the abandoned Honeymoon Hotel near EYN church and killed three people," Ba'na Ubaidu, a resident, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Biu is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Maiduguri, the homeground of Boko Haram and capital of Borno state.
Godwin Shamaki, a Christian resident, gave a similar account.
"They just fired into the group of about 15 people playing cards, and killed three people," Shamaki said, adding that seven people were maimed.
"The attackers decamped into the bush and disappeared. They are by all indications members of Boko Haram," Shamaki said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
As per TOPIX + WORLD NEWS, Nigeria's President has made references/inferences to CIVIL WAR breaking out, fear of alliance between BOKO HARAM + AL-SHABAAB, + AL-SHABAAB per se repor getting ready to strike Kneya's capital.
YOOHOO, LONDON = UK, METHINKS YOUR ROYAL MARINES + SAS, ETC. ARE UP.
[Iran Press TV] Yemen's interim government has endorsed a US-backed draft law granting the country's outgoing dictator President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... immunity from prosecution.
The draft, which was approved by the Yemeni cabinet on Sunday, also applies to anyone, who has worked with Saleh, saving them from prosecution for any crimes they have committed during his 33-year-long rule.
According to the government, Saleh and his associates "including in civilian, military and security institutions during the period of his presidency" are thereby awarded 'legal and judicial immunity.'
Yemen's parliament will now have to ratify the draft, which paves the way for Saleh's departure.
The decision is in line with a power transfer deal brokered by the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ... the Medes and the Persians are very sensitive on the subject of the Persian Gulf, which the Arabs refer to as the Arabian Gulf... ([P]GCC), which Saleh signed in the Saudi capital Riyadh on November 23.
The Saudi-backed deal grants him immunity from prosecution in return for his handing over the power to acting ruler Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
The United States, which regarded Saleh as a pillar of its 'counter-terrorism' strategy for years, pushed through with the power transition deal, while Soddy Arabia has been supporting him by donating diesel and crude oil to the country.
The prospect of the immunity law comes as thousands of anti-regime demonstrators, calling their protest action the 'March of Dignity,' arrived from the western port city of Hudaydah to the capital Sana'a on Sunday to demand Saleh's prosecution.
The march, led by members of the north-based Yemeni Shia minority, known as Houthis, was welcomed in Sana'a by other anti-regime protesters, who also called for the trial of the outgoing Yemeni dictator.
Also, in late December 2011, tens of thousands of anti-regime protesters marched towards Sana'a from the southern city of Taizz, about 322 kilometers (200 miles) from the capital.
Yemeni demonstrators hold Saleh responsible for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the popular uprising against the regime that began in January 2011.
Protesters say the country's Elite Republican Guards, led by Saleh's son Ahmed, are responsible for most of the deadly attacks on the anti-regime activists.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Soddy Arabia has begun the trial of 16 suspected al Qaeda members accused of killing a policeman and plotting attacks on government officials and military weapons facilities, Saudi media reported on Sunday.
The group is also accused of financing "terrorism" in other countries, smuggling weapons and training and sending beturbanned goons to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, Asharq al Awsat newspaper said.
Soddy Arabia faced a Death Eater insurgency from 2003-06 in which al Qaeda members staged attacks on residential compounds for foreign workers and Saudi government facilities, killing dozens.
The authorities ended the assaults after arresting thousands of suspected beturbanned goons and launching a media campaign to discredit their ideology with the backing of influential holy mans and tribal leaders.
Last year the Interior Ministry said nearly 5,700 people had been incarcerated of whom 5,000 had faced a court, but human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... groups inside Soddy Arabia say more than 12,000 were placed in durance vile, including political prisoners who have demanded reforms.
The trial of 14 Saudis, one Pak and one Afghan citizen started on Saturday in the special criminal court in the Saudi capital Riyadh, which was set up to handle trials of suspected Death Eaters.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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Two terrorists militants and two soldiers were killed in clashes in the North Caucasus region of Chechnya. Five other soldiers were injured in the gun battle which broke out in the Vedensky district on Sunday morning.
Troops faced an armed group involving several senior terrorist militant figures amid "deep snow and thick fog," Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, himself a former terrorist militant, said earlier today.
[Fox News] A 25-year-old man described as an Islamic krazed killer was jugged in an alleged plot to attack crowded areas in the Tampa, Fla., area with a car boom, assault rifle and other explosives, authorities said Monday.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Sami Osmakac, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in the former Yugoslavia, Y'mean like Bosnia?
was set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Saturday night.
Osmakac, from Pinellas County, allegedly told an undercover agent that "We all have to die, so why not die the Islamic way?'" according to a federal complaint.
FBI agents grabbed Osmakac on Saturday after he allegedly bought bombs and firearms from an undercover agent. The firearms and explosives were rendered inoperable by law enforcement. The federal complaint says that shortly before his arrest, Osmakac made a video of himself explaining his motives for carrying out the planned violent attack.
He has been charged with one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. That used to mean chemical, biological, or nuke weapons. Today it's been cheapened to the point where it means killing more than one person at a time.
His first appearance in federal court is scheduled for Monday at 2 p.m. ET.
Sources close to the investigation told Fox News that Osmakac was being "closely monitored by law enforcement" for months in what authorities have described as a "sting operation."
Federal officials said a confidential source told them in Sept. 2011 that Osmakac wanted Al Qaeda flags. Two months later, the federal complaint said, Osmakac and the confidential source "discussed and identified potential targets in Tampa" that Osmakac wanted to attack.
Osmakac allegedly asked the source for help getting the firearms and explosives for the attacks, and the source put him in touch with an undercover FBI employee.
On Dec. 21, Osmakac met with the undercover agent and allegedly told the agent that he wanted to buy an AK-47-style machine gun, Uzi submachine guns, high capacity magazines, grenades and boom belt. During a later meeting, Osmakac gave the agent a $500 down payment for the items.
"According to the complaint, Osmakac also asked the undercover employee whether he/she could build bombs that could be placed in three different vehicles and detonated remotely, near where Osmakac would conduct a follow-up attack using the other weapons he requested," a blurb from the Department of Justice said. "The undercover employee said he/she could possibly provide explosives for one vehicle. Osmakac also allegedly said that he wanted an boom belt constructed to kill people."
On Jan. 1, Osmakac told the agent that he wanted to bomb night clubs, the Operations Center of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and a business in Tampa, Florida.
Osmakac told the undercover FBI agent that he wanted to detonate a car boom and use the boom belt to "get in somewhere where there's a lot of people" and take hostages.
He also allegedly told the agent that "Once I have this...they can take me in five million pieces," in an apparent reference to a suicide kaboom. During that meeting, the agent told Osmakac he could always change his mind about his plot.
Osmakac had created a "martyrdom video" and tried on a bomb belt before being set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Saturday, law enforcement officials told Fox News.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 13:55 ||
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#1
Osmakachad created a "martyrdom video"
I think that's called a "taped confession"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2012 14:00 Comments ||
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#2
I'm stealing that, Frank. Consider it purloined.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 14:14 Comments ||
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#3
Suspected Islamic Extremist Arrested in Alleged Florida Bomb Plot
#9
I thought the Westboro link was taking me to a Youtube video of Celebrity Death Match. Jerry Springer would have probably added some hermaphrodites.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/09/2012 17:55 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Three people, including a former activist of Sunni Tehreek A Brelvi political group founded in bloody Kärachi in 1992 by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. Its political wing is the Pakistan Inqilabi Tehreek. As the MQM's power declined it became the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque hard boyz in the heyday of Nizamuddin Shamzai. By coincidence, Muhammad Saleem Qadri was bumped off by Deobandi button men of the SSP in 2001. Even more coincidentally, SSP's funding comes from Kärachi, where‐also strictly coincidentally‐Binori Mosque is located. Go figure. (ST), were killed in separate acts of murder and violence in the metropolis on Sunday.
A former activist of ST was rubbed out at Tonga Stand Street, Jutt Lines within the precincts of Brigade cop shoppe.
The 36-year-old victim, Abdul Aziz alias Bhayya, son of Abdul Hameed, resided in the same area.
He was sitting at a friend's optical store, when two armed motorcyclists opened fire, killing him on the spot.
The culprits managed to flee from the scene with no trouble. The body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for medico-legal formalities. SHO Rasool Sayal said that the victim was a former activist of ST and at the time of incident was sitting at his friend's shop.
According to eyewitnesses, two gunnies wearing Shalwar Kameez fired a single shot in his head. Police have recovered empty shells of 9 mm pistol from the scene.
They believed that it was a murder incident, however; the actual motive would be determined after the investigation.
Investigation Officer Sub Inspector Asif said that the victim quit ST one year ago and was working as a painter. The case could not be registered till filing this report.
Separately, the body of a man was found near Dar-ul-Uloom, Korangi, sector 5 ½ within the limits of Awami Colony cop shoppe. The victim was identified as 27-year-old Sarwar Khan, son of Asghar Khan, a resident of Sharif Colony, Landhi, sector 36-G.
Police said that his hands and legs were tied with ropes and had received a bullet in the head.
The body was shifted to the JPMC for his appointment with Doctor Quincy. Police officials said the victim was an employee of a garment factory and had been missing since yesterday.
They further informed that he got married some seven months ago.
Police suspected that a personal enmity might have been the reason behind the murder. An FIR (9/12) has been registered against faceless myrmidons on the complaint of victim's brother.
A man was rubbed out at Karalla stop, New Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... within the jurisdiction of Bilal Colony cop shoppe. Thirty-year-old Pervez Jan, son of Ahmed Jan, was standing at the bus stop when two armed motorcyclists after an exchange of hot words, opened fire. Resultantly, Jan received a bullet in his neck and was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital at death's door.
The culprits easily managed to flee from the scene while Jan succumbed to the injuries while being treated at the hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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Border Police officers captured close to a dozen pipe bombs at the Salem Crossing near Jenin in the northern West Bank on Sunday, thwarting what appears to have been a major terrorist attack, possibly against a nearby military court.
Four Paleostinians were tossed in the calaboose at the crossing and were found to be in possession of 11 pipe bombs, a homemade pistol and a commando knife.
While no rounds of bullet were found at the spot, there has been no comment about phone calls from Mahmud the Weasel.
They were transferred to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) for interrogation.
The four were last in line to enter the Samaria Military Court when one of the soldiers stationed at the crossing, from the Military Police, spotted wires protruding from under his jacket.
"Dammit, Belal, I told you to tuck in your shirt before we left!"
The officers shut down the crossing and ordered the Paleostinian to undress and discovered three pipe bombs. Another eight were discovered in his bag together with a homemade pistol, several bullets and a commando knife.
Has somebody has been shopping in the markets of Peshawar?
"I don't remember such a large cache of bombs caught on one person," Lt-Col. Erez, commander of the Haruv Battalion said.
Three other Paleostinians who were in line with the man carrying the weapons were also jugged. The IDF suspects that the attack was planned against the Samaria Military Court, since the line the Paleostinians were standing in only goes into the court and back out.
The thwarted attack came a week after the IDF captured a number of weapons in a home in Kfar Salem, near Nablus, including an M-16 and an Uzi and after the Shin Bet recorded an increase in the number of attacks in December in the West Bank..
A soldier was seriously wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in Yala province on Sunday morning. Six soldiers on three motorcycles were patroling on a local road when the roadside bomb was detonated. Private Suwit Kanmuang, 22, was hit by shrapnel and taken to the hospital.
Police are searching for suspects involved in Fridays attack on a defense volunteer post in Narathiwat province which killed two volunteers and injured three others.
The incident happened early Friday morning when an estimated 30 presumed terrorists insurgents attacked the defense volunteer post located at the Rueso district office. The post was littered with hundreds of spent bullet casings found around the bodies of the two slain defense volunteers.
A closed circuit television camera installed near the scene revealed that the surveillance camera captured an image of 12 black-clad men firing in front of the post before running into it and spraying bullets quickly. The gunmen then fled the scene, taking away five guns belonging to defense volunteers.
Police believe that the assailants may be well-trained members of an armed force and may have previously been involved in several violent incidents involving the insurgent group Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) led by local leaders.
Western powers this week readied a contingency plan to tap a record volume from emergency stockpiles to replace nearly all the Gulf oil that would be lost if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, industry sources and diplomats told Reuters.
They said senior executives of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises 28 oil consuming countries, discussed on Thursday an existing plan to release up to 14 million barrels per day (bpd) of government-owned oil stored in the United States, Europe, Japan and other importers. Ah, looks like someone finally found a good use for those silly oil reserves. Of course, someone should have to replentish those reserves after they have been tapped ....
Action on this scale would be more than five times the size of the biggest release in the agency's history -- made in response to Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The maximum release, some 10 million bpd of crude and about 4 million bpd of refined products, could be sustained during the first month of any coordinated action, the plan says. And don't forget there are a bunch of oil tankers floating around in circles.
"This would form a necessary and sensible response to a closure of the strait," a European diplomat told Reuters. "It wouldn't take long to put in place if it was required ... and would be unlikely to prove controversial amongst the (IEA) membership."
A spokesman for the IEA confirmed that the Paris-based agency has an existing contingency plan that outlines a maximum stock release capability of 14 million bpd for a month. "We're watching the situation carefully," he said of Iran.
Tehran announced plans on Friday for new military exercises in the world's most important oil shipping lane, through which some 16 million barrels of crude pass each day.
Iranian officials have threatened to block the strait if new sanctions, aimed to discourage Iran's nuclear programme, harm Tehran's oil exports.
Many oil experts believe the threats are rhetoric aimed at pushing up oil prices in a bid to avert sanctions.
"The IEA is monitoring the situation very closely, and is fairly concerned about it," the diplomat said, confirming that senior management discussed Iran at the meeting on Thursday.
Western governments are targeting Iranian oil supplies and the European Union is readying a ban on the country's crude oil exports of about 500,000 bpd with the goal of a final decision by month's end, while Washington has already imposed financial measures to discourage business with Tehran.
Industry sources said the IEA is unlikely to release stocks in the event of an EU embargo on Iran. While Europe will import less Iranian oil, Tehran will seek to sell larger volumes to its biggest customers in Asia.
However, Bob McNally, a former White House energy advisor and now head of consultancy Rapidan Group, says even a more modest disruption -- if Iran were to shut in some of its own production due to sanctions pressure, for instance -- may require action.
"Given low OPEC spare capacity, IEA stock releases may need to be considered if prolonged supply disruptions even smaller than the flow through Hormuz were to take place," he said.
U.S. congressman Edward Markey, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives' Natural Resources Committee, said he would support U.S. releasing its reserves, although he views the emergency stockpiles as only a short term solution to the nation's energy problems.
"America should always be willing to use our strategic oil reserves as a weapon against OPEC dictators, Wall Street speculators and any manipulators of the oil markets, and the recent saber rattling from Iran is no different," Markey told Reuters in a statement.
Also watching closely are oil giants Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq who depend on the strait to move most of their crude.
If the Gulf channel gets blocked, Saudi Arabia, the world's top exporter, can route more crude through the country's East-West pipeline system to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea.
PIPELINES AVAILABLE
Altogether that network has effective capacity of some 4.5 million bpd and after supplying Saudi domestic refineries in Jeddah, Riyadh, Rabigh and Yanbu - there is about 3 million bpd of export capacity available, said an industry source.
The neighboring United Arab Emirates also has export flexibility. It is nearing completion of the Abu Dhabi crude oil pipeline, which will bypass the strait to ship as much as 1.5 million bpd to the Indian Ocean. Industry sources said the pipeline has been tested and the first flow of oil has already been pumped.
"It's now only a matter of switching on a button," one industry source said.
The IEA tapped emergency stocks in June to help supply refiners caught short by supply lost to Libya's civil war. It was a move that angered the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries which felt the consumer group had overstepped its bounds.
Founded in 1974 in the wake of the Arab oil embargo, the IEA has only drawn down reserves on three occasions. Apart from last summer, member countries released oil in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina damaged offshore oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico and made available 2.5 million bpd in January 1991 after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait disrupted about 4.3 million bpd.
#1
Not that it would have helped with this current potential crisis, but Obama's "delay" of the Keystone Pipeline will look silly if there is an Iranian oil crisis.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/09/2012 16:01 Comments ||
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Iran's Revolutionary Court has sentenced to death an Iranian-American man convicted of spying for the CIA, the student news agency quoted a judiciary official as saying.
ISNA news agency quoted judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei on Monday as saying, "Amir Mirza Hekmati was sentenced to death...for cooperating with the hostile country America and spying for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The court found him Corrupt on the Earth and Mohareb (one who wages war on God). Hekmati can appeal to the Supreme Court."
Iran's highest court must confirm all death sentences. When it will hear Hekmati's case was not known.
#1
"And thank you again for rescuing our sailors."
Posted by: Matt ||
01/09/2012 8:57 Comments ||
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#2
So, the drama that Jimmy Carter experienced during his, a little over last year in office repeats itself. 52 American hostages, held 444 days, mock executions, until the day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated, repeats itself. And guess who was one of the hostage takers? Dinner Jacket.
#3
Hekmati served in the Marines and has a consulting group that promotes Iran-American understanding. He was visiting grandparents when he was nabbed. The Mullahs tortured him into a preposterous confession.
A lot of Persians try too visit Iran every few years to check on kinfolk. The state dept has a warning on this but some years ago CNN put out a 'with proper precautions, travel to Iran is safe"
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/09/2012 10:38 Comments ||
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The 28-year-old former military translator, who has 20 days to appeal, was born in Arizona and graduated from a high school in Michigan. His family is of Iranian origin. He was arrested weeks into his first trip into the country when he was spending time with his Iranian grandmothers.
He is said to have received special training and served at U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan before heading to Iran for 'an intelligence mission'.
He was filmed in December 'confessing' to his crimes on Iranian state television, months after being allegedly arrested in August. But his father, a professor at a community college in Flint, Michigan, said his son was not a CIA spy and was simply visiting family when arrested.
Mr Hekmati's father, Ali, said in a December interview that his son was a former Arabic translator in the U.S. Marines who entered Iran about four months earlier to visit his grandmothers.
At the time, he was working in Qatar as a contractor for a company 'that served the Marines', his father said, without providing more specific details.
#5
They need all the cards they can find to play against an attack on their Nukes. Doesn't matter if the charges are trumped up or not. He is a human shield for now. But that is a two way street. If Big Zero has half a brain and didn't hate Israel so much (ask his pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright about that) Obama would green light attacks on Nuke sights if the execution takes place.
#10
One of my foster daughters went to Iran with her Iranian-born father during the 2010 winter break to visit family. Both have Iranian as well as American passports; they assumed they would be safe, as they used their Iranian ones once they'd left the U.S. A number of Americans arrested for spying in Iran in the past likewise were dual citizens. So the question needs to be asked if, like my foster daughter, Mr. Hekmati had inherited Iranian citizenship from his father, and so assumed he would pass quietly under the radar.
#11
I work with a number of Iranian Americans and they have, to my knowledge, had no issues traveling to and from. This poor guy just got caught up in teh Mullahs and IRGC saber rattling. I suggest we quietly tell Iran that there will be open season on regime Iranians abroad if they pull this shit
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2012 18:28 Comments ||
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#12
It seemed that if he worked for the Marines, a trip to the Olde Country (Iran) would be a bad choice or something that the military would highly discourage.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2012 18:30 Comments ||
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#13
Sorry folks, the days of Pax Romana, where a citizen could walk from one side of the Empire to another, have long passed.
You have those fools that got close to the North Korean border, only bailed out by Bill Clinton's visit. You have those Cal-Berkley types, who I believe two of them are still held in detention.
Even in the country I live, Estonia, a bunch of bicyclists rolled - ON BICYCLES! - through the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. That should have been a Darwin Award, but after 3 months after being kidnapped, they are back home. Lord knows the secret cost.
I would love to see my grandmother. But with an American passport, I am well aware that Iran is a country I can't visit until the government changes.
[Dawn] Heavy festivities broke out before dawn on Sunday between the Syrian army and deserters, leaving 11 of its soldiers dead, human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... activists said.
Another 20 soldiers were maimed in the fighting in Daraa province, south of the capital, while nine soldiers defected to join the rebel troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In addition to the deadly festivities in the village of Basr al-Harir, the Britannia-based watchdog also reported heavy machinegun exchanges between the army and deserters in the Daraa town of Dael. There was no immediate word on any casualties.
Cradle of the protests against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike... that erupted in March, Daraa has been one of the provinces hardest hit by the deadly crackdown unleashed by his regime.
The latest deaths came as Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... foreign ministers prepared to meet in Cairo to review the record of a widely criticised observer mission to Syria, in the face of growing calls for the bloc to cede to the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... the lead role in trying to end the bloodshed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
TEHRAN, Iran - Irans intelligence minister says the countrys secret services have arrested several people on charges of spying for the United States and seeking to undermine the March 2 parliamentary elections.
Heidar Moslehi was quoted by state TV as saying that the suspects were in touch with their contacts outside the country through the Internet. He did not identify them. Moslehi didnt say how many were arrested or when.
Iran periodically announces the capture or execution of alleged U.S. or Israeli spies, and often no further information is released.
Just trying to keep the rubes whipped up...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2012 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Afghan forces have recaptured a town under long-time Taliban occupation in the country's troubled south, Press TV reported.
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
On Dec. 21, Osmakac met with the undercover agent and allegedly told the agent that he wanted to buy an AK-47-style machine gun, Uzi submachine guns, high capacity magazines, grenades and 
Three people, including a former activist of 
Border Police officers captured close to a dozen pipe bombs at the Salem Crossing near Jenin in the northern West Bank on Sunday, thwarting what appears to have been a major terrorist attack, possibly against a nearby military court.
Western powers this week readied a contingency plan to tap a record volume from emergency stockpiles to replace nearly all the Gulf oil that would be lost if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, industry sources and diplomats told Reuters.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
