[Tolo News] Karim Khalili, the second Vice President of Afghanistan, on Wednesday asked the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... (UN) to investigate the authenticity of the audiotape that presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... 's team has claimed shows Khalili was involved in electoral fraud.
Khalili said that if the legitimacy of the voice is confirmed, he is ready to be held accountable to the people of Afghanistan. If the audio is not proven genuine then those behind the deceptive act must be held responsible, he said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde... the UN's Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Jän KubiÅ¡, said that the matter would be discussed with other UN officials before an action is taken.
The tape was released on Sunday, August 3, by Abdullah's campaign team, which claimed that Khalili was involved in electoral fraud. The voice, who they alleged was Khalili's, emphasizes the importance of his favored team winning and a willingness to ensure that victory by any means necessary.
The same day the recording was broadcasted, an official from Khalili's office held a presser denouncing the audio recording stating that the voice recorded was not that of the second vice president.
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08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] Hand-wringing over Pakistain's covert activities in Afghanistan are nothing new, however, concerns among leaders in Kabul may be growing as the fighting season wears on.
A top Afghan security official on condition of anonymity reported this week that Islamabad has issued a warning that if certain demands are not met, Afghanistan could become even more heavily targeted by Pak attacks.
Over the past year, tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistain have heightened with new instances of cross-border shelling and accusations of support for bad boy groups grabbing headlines just about every month. This summer, top Afghan security officials have directly linked Pak intelligence (ISI) to a series of suicide kabooms and broader myrmidon offensives around the country.
According to the security source who spoke to TOLOnews, there is evidence that suggests direct Pak involvement in the recent Taliban operations in Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... and Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. provinces.
"The strategy that the Paks pursue, we also need to have such a strategy against Pakistain's interventionist policies," political analyst Nasrullah Estankizai argued. But he did not advocate for supporting active myrmidon groups in Pakistain, or any other tit-for-tat strategy. Instead, he said, "[Afghanistan] must also forge relations with powerful countries in the region that do not enjoy ties with Pakistain in order to put pressure on it."
Other analysts would seem to agree, advocating for a resolution to the animosities between the two neighbors through level-headed political negotiations rather than an emotional response.
Ahmad Zia Refat, a professor at Kabul University, said Afghanistan is in no position to respond to Pakistain's interferences and aggressions with military action. "Afghanistan should seek a political way through its strong allies and the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... (UN) instead of using military options," he said.
Mir Ahmad Joyenda, another political analyst, emphasized the utility of the UN Security Council. "It is still not too late," he assured. "The government of Afghanistan must present documents and evidence of Pakistain's interference in Afghanistan to the UN Security Council, and discuss the issue at the Islamic countries conference as well."
A member of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), speaking to TOLOnews on condition of anonymity, reported this week that a Pak journalist was incarcerated Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in Nangarhar province under charge of cooperating with Pakistain's intelligence agency. According to the NDS source, the Pak journalist is believed to have been preparing a report for ISI on the Pak Taliban's activity in Afghanistan. The news hound is said to be facing a prison sentence of up to four years.
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08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] Illegal distribution of weapons to the residents of Northern Parwan province has caused an increase in the number of murders and robberies in the region.
Provincial Governor Basir Salangi confirmed the increase in the number of illegal gunnies in parts of the province, saying that an operation will be launched on Saturday to collect the weapons and arrest those responsible for the recent insecurities.
Even though the province has been considered as one of the safest in the country, recent events have contributed to the escalating insecurities.
The residents complain about the illegal gangs in the province, explaining that the number of murders and robberies has increased since the runoff elections.
"The election chaos contributed to the increase in the number of gunnies," Parwan resident Ahmad Fawad told TOLOnews. "The police and other security officials are not able to prevent or stop them."
Parwan residents add that the illegal gangs are responsible for murders and confiscation of people's properties by force.
"We heard about three or four instances of murders in the villages," another resident Mohammad Yahya added.
Residents believe that high-ranking officials and powerful figures support the illicit armed circles.
"Some powerful figures inside the government are supporting these gunnies," Parwan resident Taj Mohammad said. "We cannot name them as our lives will be in danger."
Forensic official Abdul Murid Parwan told TOLOnews that eight people have been rubbed out during the last days of Ramadan and after Eid.
One of the victims was a taxi driver named Sarbaz who was driving his taxi on the Parwan-Kabul route. According to his family, while driving, Sarbaz splashed water on an armed man, said to be a National Directorate of Security (NDS) employee, resulting Sarbaz to get shot.
"My son was not a Talib, nor was he a jacket wallah or a thief," Sarbaz's mother said. "He was a poor driver and was killed by a NDS employee."
Sarbaz was the sole breadwinner in his family. He is survived by his wife and four children, the eldest being a six-year-old.
"My husband was the sole provider. I have four children. They [the government] must take Dire Revenge™," Sarbaz's wife said. "Government employees own a gun to protect people not to kill innocent people."
Furthermore, businessmen in the province have expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... s about the security situation, stating that armed bike riders stop vehicles on highways to take ransom.
Provincial Governor Basir Salangi confirmed the presence of about 40 weapons in the center of Parwan province, nearly 60 in Sayed Khail district, 50 in Bagram and 20 in Jabal Saraj district.
"We had a meeting on Monday with about 500 tribal elders to share our concerns," Salangi said. "We will launch an operation in the center of Parwan on Saturday."
Moreover, a former Parwan provincial council member, Hayel, asserted that local officials know of those responsible for the unlawful distribution of prohibited arms.
With a population of 700,000, Parwan is facing new challenges with the increase in the activities of anti-government armed forces in Kohi Safi, Siah Gerd and Shinwari districts.
The insecurity in Parwan also threatens the capital, as Kabul could be easily targeted from Kohi Safid. Rumors indicate that Kabul's north highways might be closed to prevent the spread of insecurities into the capital.
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08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[MAGHAREBIA] The Philippines last Thursday (July 31st) started evacuating 13,000 of its nationals from Libya after a Filipino worker was kidnapped and beheaded in Benghazi and a nurse was raped at a Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... hospital.
Libya's health ministry has warned of a complete collapse of the country's health care system because the security chaos is threatening the evacuation of many foreign health workers.
Workers from the Philippines make up 60 per cent of Libya's hospital staff. Personnel from India account for another 20 per cent.
"Al-Joumhouria Hospital's maternity ward is now facing an acute shortage of medical staff, with only five doctors, instead of 12, working at the night shift given the bad conditions at the hospital and despite the increased number of patients," said Dr Naima al-Fitouri, who works at the Benghazi-based hospital.
She added that the hospital was the only one serving the entirety of eastern Libya and was facing a shortage of medical supplies. "This is in addition to the old medical facilities and bad security," the doctor said.
"What made matters even worse is the bad treatment we receive from the companions of patients; whenever the operation of someone is postponed or when they don't find integrated services due to the bad condition of the hospital, they just vent their anger on poor doctors, cursing, insulting and even beating them," she said.
In her turn, Asmaa Atia, a 32-year-old gynaecologist, said: "We as female doctors, especially at the maternity ward, are facing a terrible situation; there is a shortage of everything."
"We also work too much, with four doctors working on six emergency caesareans and two or three abortions, not to mention the complex deliveries and other cases that need concentration, coupled with shortage of medical equipment," she continued. "Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, a little lightbulb figuratively appeared over Bossy's head... the health ministry is not providing us with any solutions."
According to Amal Mansour, a 26-year-old patient from Shahat receiving treatment at a Benghazi hospital for a blood disease, the nursing shortage was "a very big problem, especially when there are battles and festivities on the streets, which make it difficult for nurses and doctors to get out of their homes to go to hospitals".
"In the past, when I had a chemotherapy session, I would find the nurses waiting for me. As to now, the head of department tells me to just wait and if a nurse comes, I will take the session, and if not, they won't be able to give it to me," Mansour added. "This is how the health care is in my country now."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Historically, healthcare has always suffered under totalitarian regimes.
[CHANNELSTV] Zakari Muhammed, who was jugged Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! by security operatives, said he joined the sect two years ago and had risen to become the chief butcher in the Bauchi State cell of the sect, until his arrest by the police on July 15.
According to him, his job is to butcher the sect's victims whenever they are kidnapped or attacked.
The members of the terrorist group has killed several persons in the north-east, a situation that has become a common site in many parts of the region.
They attack schools, churches, mosques , villages and public places in the region detonating Improvised Explosive Devices that had claimed lives and left scores dead.
Spokesman for the police, Mr Frank Mba, who paraded the suspect before journalists, said that contrary to claims in some quarters that the suspect had escaped, Zakari remained in police custody. "His revelations has become valuable to police counter-terrorism operations," he said.
Investigations are ongoing and the suspect will be prosecuted as soon as investigations are over.
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[ARABNEWS] Senior officials from the Labor and Interior ministries held a meeting in Riyadh on Tuesday to intensify the campaign against labor and residency law violators across the Kingdom.
An official statement issued after the meeting warned Saudi sponsors and employers against allowing their employees to work for other firms, saying they would face stiff punishment for labor-related offenses.
During the meeting, officials also pledged to inspect documents of foreign workers, not only at their work places, but also in streets and thoroughfares.
Saudis have welcomed the campaign against illegal expats and expressed hope that the move would create more jobs and business opportunities for citizens.
"Employers should inform authorities about absconding workers, as well as expats doing illegal jobs in order to avoid punishment," it said, adding that employers of illegals would also face punitive action.
Employers should also inform police about absconding workers, especially when the latter have outstanding dues, the statement said, adding that foreign employees have to pay such dues before being deported from the Kingdom. The meeting reviewed the joint operation of the two ministries to flush out illegal workers from the country and approved new techniques and mechanisms to make the campaign more effective and successful.
Individual employers who allow their workers to work for others or for their personal accounts will be fined SR15,000 and deported (if expat), and banned from recruiting new labor for one year.
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08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] The United States imposed sanctions on three men, two of them Kuwaiti, on Wednesday, accusing them of providing money, fighters and weapons to Death Eaters in Iraq and Syria.
Under the order, issued by the U.S. Treasury, any assets the men hold in the United States are frozen and American citizens and residents are "generally prohibited" from doing business with them.
The order accused Shafi Sultan Mohammed al-Ajmi, 41, and Hajjaj Fahd Hajjaj Muhammad Shabib al-Ajmi, 26, of raising money for the Al-Nusra front, a jihadist group fighting in Syria.
Both men are said to be Kuwaiti, and the elder Al-Ajmi's street address in Kuwait was given.
A third man, Abdulrahman Khalafa al-Anizi, whose nationality was not disclosed and who is thought to be around 40 years old, is accused of supporting the so-called Islamic State, formerly al-Qaeda in Iraq.
All three have been named a "specially designated global terrorist" by the United States government, which accuses them of soliciting donations for murderous Moslems from wealthy donors in the Gulf region.
"We and our international partners, including the Kuwaiti government, need to act more urgently and effectively to disrupt these terrorist financing efforts," said Treasury Under Secretary David Cohen.
The Treasury statement alleged that Al-Anizi had worked in the past with al-Qaeda controllers based in Iran, and that the younger Al-Ajmi had tried to get fellow Kuwaitis into leadership positions in Al-Nusra.
The latest U.S. terrorism report on the country noted "increased reports of Kuwait-based private individuals funneling charitable donations and other funds to violent bad boy groups outside the country."
On Tuesday, Kuwait's social affairs and labor minister, Hind al-Sabeeh, announced tighter transparency rules to "correct the course" of charities gathering and distributing private donations.
The Islamic Affairs Ministry announced on the same day it had suspended all types of cash fundraising inside the country's mosques, including collections "for the Syrian people."
[ARABNEWS] A man enjugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! over a suspected bomb hoax on a Manchester-bound Qatar Airways flight has been ordered to take a psychiatric evaluation under Britannia's Mental Health Act, police said Wednesday.
The 47-year-old from northwest England were tossed into the calaboose by armed officers who met flight QR23 from Doha when it arrived at Manchester Airport on Tuesday, escorted by a Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon fighter jet.
Greater Manchester Police said that the man had now been committed under the mental health act, known as "sectioned" in Britannia.
"Following his arrest he was assessed by medical staff and again by a mental health team," a front man said.
"He was subsequently sectioned to allow for a fuller assessment and appropriate treatment."
Witnesses on board the flight, which had 282 people on board, said armed police entered the aircraft and escorted the suspect off with his hands on his head.
Police said the incident arose when the pilot received information about a possible device on board the plane, having been handed a note from a passenger.
Qatar Airways said there were 269 passengers and 13 crew aboard the Airbus A330-300 plane.
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08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] Save the Children placed full-page adverts in British newspapers on Wednesday listing the names of 373 Paleostinian children killed in Israel's offensive on Gazoo, as part of the charity's campaign for a permanent ceasefire.
The black-and-white advert in broadsheet newspapers carries the names of the children that the Paleostinian Ministry of Health and United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... (OCHA) have reported to have died between July 8 and August 3.
Readers are invited to send text messages as part of the campaign to force a permanent ceasefire "for the children of Gazoo and Israel".
A fragile ceasefire in the Gazoo Strip entered a second day on Wednesday as Israeli and Paleostinian delegations prepared for crunch talks in Cairo to try to extend the 72-hour truce.
The ceasefire has brought relief to both sides after 1,875 Paleostinians and 67 people on the Israeli side were killed in one month of fighting.
In a separate statement, Save the Children said the public health system in Gazoo was close to collapse and that half a million people were displaced from their homes.
Save the Children's David Hassell said: "For the sake of children and their families, we are hoping that this ceasefire holds.
"It is desperately needed, as essential services in Gazoo have all but collapsed and we are struggling to reach the most vulnerable children caught in this conflict."
The London Times refused to run an ad featuring Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel speaking out against what the ad says is Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' use of children as human shields.
The ad is sponsored by The Values Network, which was founded by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. It has run in The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, among other U.S. newspapers. The rejection was first reported by the New York Observer.
The London Times refused the ad because "the opinion being expressed is too strong and too forcefully made and will cause concern amongst a significant number of Times readers," according to a statement from a representative of the newspaper, the Observer reported.
Hundreds of Paleostinian children were killed in Gazoo, according to Paleostinian sources, during Hamas' latest conflict with Israel. Hamas was accused of placing munitions and fighters in areas near children.
Headlined "Jews rejected child sacrifice 3,500 years ago. Now it's Hamas turn," the ad began running last week. It reads, in part: "In my own lifetime, I have seen Jewish children thrown into the fire. And now I have seen Moslem children used as human shields, in both cases, by worshippers of death cults indistinguishable from that of the Molochites.
"What we are suffering through today is not a battle of Jew versus Arab or Israeli versus Paleostinian. Rather, it is a battle between those who celebrate life and those who champion death. It is a battle of civilization versus barbarism."
Countering the London Times statement, Boteach said in his own, "Elie Wiesel is one of the most respected human beings alive, a Nobel Peace Laureate, and is the living face of the Holocaust. No greater expert on genocide exists in the whole world.
"His call for the end of child sacrifice by Hamas, who use children as human shields, and a stop to their genocidal charter, which calls for the murder of Jews everywhere, could only offend the sensibilities of the most die-hard anti-Israel haters and anti-Semites," said Boteach.
[AnNahar] U.S. military Sherlocks started questioning a former prisoner of war Wednesday to determine how he entered Taliban captivity, after a contested prisoner swap for his release.
A U.S. Army investigator began formal questioning of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, said an Army spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Alayne Conway.
The probe, which has no set release date, is looking into how exactly Bergdahl went missing from his combat post in Afghanistan in 2009.
The determinations range from finding that Bergdahl did nothing wrong to court martialing him as a deserter -- a charge that in theory carries the death penalty, although execution would be highly unlikely.
The Army appointed Major General Kenneth Dahl, who has deployed to Afghanistan, to interview the 28-year-old after President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... came under fire for releasing five Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to Qatar in exchange for Bergdahl's release in May.
Obama has defended the deal, saying it was a long-time, iron-clad principle for the United States to secure the release of its prisoners of war.
Some soldiers have alleged that Bergdahl walked out of his unit willingly, putting other troops at risk as they sought his release, leading to outrage in some circles against the deal struck for his release.
Bergdahl is being defended by prominent lawyer Eugene Fidell, who teaches at Yale Law School.
Fidell, while declining to discuss the case in depth publicly, has said that Bergdahl was proud to wear the U.S. uniform and has been made a scapegoat by people opposed to closing down the controversial prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
After undergoing health exams, Bergdahl has returned to duty by working an office job at Fort Sam Houston.
#1
"a scapegoat by people opposed to closing down the controversial prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."
WTF does that have to do with this shitbird waking off his post in A-stan? Lefty/Political axe grinding in an attempt at a distraction by a Ivy Leaguer, what a surprise.
[DAWN] KARACHI: In the wake of Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... 's (PTI) 'Azadi march' on the federal capital, scheduled for August 14, Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain Wednesday advised the rulers to show restraint and deal with the situation with amicable consensus instead of threats and warnings.
Speaking to members of Rabita Committee and the party's politicians over telephone from London, he said the country was going through political turmoil and the rulers should try to resolve the situation by dialogue.
The statement comes in the backdrop of Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... 's PTI gearing up for its Aug 14 'million' march in Islamabad in protest of electoral rigging in the 2013 general elections and to press for electoral reforms.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... formally announced on Tuesday that its demand for early elections was the bare minimum the party would settle for on August 14.
However, you can observe a lot just by watching... addressing a crowded presser, PTI Chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... said he would unveil the complete blueprint of how to have free and fair elections on the day of long march, which the party has named the 'Azadi March'.
"The resignation (of) Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... followed by re-elections will be the main demand of the long march," Mr Khan said when pressed by news hounds for details of his plans for the Independence Day demonstration.
"I will present a complete set of demands and the way to achieve them on August 14," he said.
Asked if the PTI's march on the capital and the demands for early elections were not paving the way for 'undemocratic forces', Mr Khan replied that he was struggling for true democracy, as the country right now was under 'one-family rule'.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] LAHORE: PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Husain has hinted that both Pakistain Tahreek-e-Insaf and Pakistain Awami Tahreek are on board and their workers will be on the road together.
"Whether it is Inqilab march or Azadi march… all are on board and all will be on road. Democracy has not come in a proper manner in the country. Real democracy will come only after the revolution," Shujaat said at a joint presser here on Tuesday.
He said the prevailing situation in the country was discussed during a telephonic conversation with former president Asif Ali Zardari as he did not ask him to review the decision to participate in the march.
Pervaiz Elahi said the PML-N government was responsible for the present crisis." The future line of action will be announced after Aug 10," he said.
He said the 'third force' that would play its role in acceptance of demands of the opposition would be known after Aug 14 and 15.
Dr Tahirul Qadri ...Pak politician, and would-be dictator, founder and head of Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quran and Pakistain Awami Tehrik. He usually resides in Canada, but returns to Pakistain periodically to foam at the mouth and lead demonstrations. Depending on which way the wind's blowing, Qadri claims to be the author of Pak's blasphemy law. Other times he says it wasn't him... reiterated that the PML-N government would be sent packing before the end of this month. He said if the government tried to stop the participants of the 'deaders day' in Lahore they would march on the Jati Umera.
Majlis-e-Wahdatul Mohammedaneen leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said it would fully support PAT's revolution march.
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08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Amidst the heated political climate in the days running up to Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... 's August 14 long march, opposition party leaders on Wednesday appealed to the ruling Pakistain Moslem League - Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) to reduce friction and try to come to an agreement.
Speaking to news hounds after a meeting with PTI chairman Imran Khan, Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... (JI) chief Sirajul Haq affirmed his support to the PTI's stance on electoral reforms, but stopped short of saying whether or not his party would join the PTI in the 'Azadi' march.
"We support Imran Khan's demand for the electoral system to be made transparent. We also support his demand that complaints of elections candidates be addressed," he said.
"All politicians that we are in contact with want to avoid a clash and that the issue to be resolved smoothly. But we want to make it clear that the entire responsibility rests on the shoulders of the federal government."
But when asked by a news hound whether he had decided on Imran's invitation to join the PTI on Aug 14, he said: "We have a very large program in Islamabad in solidarity with Gazoo on Aug 10, and then a 'million' march in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . We will decide on the (PTI's) long march after Aug 10. Right now, we are in contact with all political parties to reach a solution.
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[AnNahar] The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... is ready to help rebuild Gazoo but for the last time, U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... warned Wednesday.
Ban opened a special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly with an appeal for a lasting peace as a 72-hour ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, was holding for a second day.
"The senseless cycle of suffering in Gazoo and the West Bank, as well as in Israel must end," he told the 193-nation assembly.
After three wars in Gazoo in six years, the U.N. secretary general warned that the world's patience with the Israelis and the Paleostinians was being tested.
"Do we have to continue like this -- build, destroy, and build and destroy?" Ban asked.
"We will build again but this must be the last time -- to rebuild. This must stop now."
Four weeks of fighting in the Gazoo Strip has killed 1,875 Paleostinians and 67 Israelis, with nearly half of Gazoo's 1.8 million people driven from their homes.
U.N. Middle East envoy Robert Serry said the destruction and corpse count from the latest fighting was worse than the 2008-2009 conflict.
The U.N. General Assembly was convened at the request of Arab countries, who have criticized the Security Council for failing to adopt a strongly-worded resolution to press Israel and Hamas to stop.
Jordan has circulated a draft resolution in the Security Council calling for a ceasefire, a lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gazoo and an investigation of attacks on U.N.-run schools, used as shelters by civilians.
The document has yet to come up for a vote.
The 15-member Council adopted a statement on July 27 calling for a ceasefire and expressing support for Egypt's mediation efforts after the United States dropped reservations that such a text would single out Israel.
#2
Didn't I mention the other day that the UN (and by extension the US) will give Hamass millions, if not billions, to rebuild Gaza (and, by extension, their rocket arsenal)?
We will, once again, insure that Gaza doesn't have to pay the price of their terrorism.
BIG MISTAKE! Losing war has consequences and it's time they face up to the result of their foolishness.
#7
Why bother to get the agreement in writing? It won't be worth the toilet paper it's written on.
I would agree to rebuilding IF it's done by the Israelis (at UN expense). That way the can watch for tunnels, and other traps.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/07/2014 15:27 Comments ||
Top||
#8
give them tissues - to cry into.
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/07/2014 17:59 Comments ||
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#9
For what the UN will end up paying, you could buy them an island with more land, give them their own nation on it, and build a completely modern infrastructure and city - or offer them payment to move to the West Bank and give them a big stipend there. Basically empty the joint out.
[IsraelTimes] The Paleostinian Authority foreign minister said Tuesday that his government intends to apply for membership at the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... this year in hopes of holding Israel responsible for alleged violations of war crimes law.
PA officials have said in recent days that they want to file suits against Israel over the past month's Israel-Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, war. Israeli officials, denying allegations of war crimes, have said Hamas would be vulnerable to such suits.
But the ICC said in a statement that it currently doesn't have jurisdiction over the Paleostinian territories. The court couldn't immediately be reached to clarify whether it would accept an application by the Paleostinians for jurisdiction.
"Israel has left us with no other option," Riyad Malki told news hounds after meeting with court officials in The Hague.
But he stopped short of guaranteeing that his nation will actually apply.
"This is just one step short of becoming members," he said at the headquarters of the Paleostinian mission in The Hague. Joining is now "a question of procedural matters."
An earlier attempt by the Paleostinians to join the ICC in 2009 failed because the court wasn't certain the territories qualified as a state under its rules. Malki argued Tuesday that is no longer an issue since the state of Paleostine was recognized by the U.N. General Assembly as a nonmember observer state in November 2012.
But the ICC may be loath to wade into the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict. The court prosecutes war crimes and grave violations of human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... in member countries that are unable to do so themselves. But it has no police force of its own and relies on cooperation from its members.
Israel rejects the court's authority. Paleostinian membership would open the door for an investigation of Hamas, which hasn't committed to cooperating with the court.
Last week, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said both Israel and Hamas appear to have violated international humanitarian law during fighting in the past month in Gazoo.
Malki said that after discussions with ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, the Paleostinian Authority will consult with international law experts, human rights groups and various Paleostinian groups before applying for ICC membership.
"We want to be assured that all Paleostinian factions … adhere to the decision and know in advance the consequences," he said.
[BLOGS.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] They are scared of lettuce. They abhor pumpkins. They practise maybe the oldest religion in the world. And now, after at least 6,000 years, they are finally being exterminated, even as I write this.
If you haven't noticed this epochal crime — the raping and the slaughter — you're not alone. Of late, the world has focused on the considerably less horrific horrors of Gazoo. When we've had time to acknowledge the Satanic cruelties of Isis, in Iraq, we've looked to the barbaric treatment of women, and Christians. Yet the genocide of the Yezidi, by Isis, is as evil as anything going on right now in the Middle East; it is also uniquely destructive of a remarkable cultural survival.
So who are the Yezidi? Some years ago I studied them when researching a thriller. I also traveled to meet their small diaspora community, in Celle, north Germany. And what I found was astonishing.
Yezidism is much older than Islam, and much older than Christianity. It is also deeply peculiar. The Yezidi honour sacred trees. Women must not cut their hair. Marriage is forbidden in April. They avoid wearing dark blue because it is "too holy".
They are divided strictly into castes, who cannot marry each other. The upper castes are polygamous. Anyone of the faith who marries a non-Yezidi risks ostracism, or worse. Yezidism is syncretistic: it combines elements of many faiths. Like Hindus, they believe in reincarnation. Like ancient Mithraists, they sacrifice bulls. They practise baptism, like Christians. When they pray, they face the sun — like Zoroastrians. There are also strong links with Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam.
Then there is the devil worship: arguably, the Yezidi worship what Christians or Moslems might call "Satan", though the Yezidi call him "Melek Taus", and he appears in the form of a peacock angel.
Why might Melek Taus be "the devil"? For a start, the Yezidi believe the peacock angel led a rebellion in heaven: clearly echoing the story of Lucifer, cast into Hell by the Christian God. Also, the very word "Melek" is cognate with "Moloch", the name of a Biblical demon — who demanded human sacrifice.
The avian imagery of Melek Taus likewise indicates a demonic aspect. The Yezidi come from the ancient lands of Sumeria and Assyria, in modern-day Turkey, Iraq and Kurdistan. Sumerian gods were often cruel, and equipped with beaks and wings. Birdlike. Three thousand years ago the Assyrians worshipped flying demons, spirits of the desert wind. One was the scaly-winged demon in The Exorcist: Pazuzu.
The Yezidi reverence for birds — and snakes — also appears to be extremely old. Excavations at ancient Catalhoyuk, in Turkey, show that the people there revered bird-gods as long ago as 7000BC. Even older is Gobekli Tepe, a megalithic site near Sanliurfa, in Kurdish Turkey (Sanliurfa was once a stronghold of Yezidism). The extraordinary temple of Gobekli Tepe boasts carvings of winged birdmen, and images of buzzards and serpents.
Taking all this evidence into account, a fair guess is that Yezidism is a vastly ancient form of bird-worship, that could date back 6,000 years or more. If this is right, it means that Yezidism is therefore the Ur-religion, the mother ship of Middle Eastern faiths, and it is us who have incorporated Yezidi myths and beliefs into our religions, of Christianity and Islam and Judaism.
And now, in the dusty cities of northern Iraq, Yezidism is finally dying. Moloch has returned to devour the gentle and peaceful Yezidi people, in the form of hateful, virulent, sadistic Islamism. Put it another way, the devil has revealed a sense of irony, even as the rest of us sit back, and passively watch the most ancient culture in the world being erased from human history.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Isis was also an ancient Egyptian goddess. This is getting to be as confusing as the real location of Tripoli.
[ARABNEWS] Executed former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's Sunni tribal allies moved his body from a family plot eight months ago, fearful that Shiite militias would harm it, a tribal leader told Rooters on Wednesday.
The caution paid off for Saddam's supporters and perhaps Iraq, where tensions between Sunnis and Shiites would certainly explode into even more violence if any harm is done to the corpse of a man who still commands the respect of his sect.
A leader from Saddam's Albu Nasir tribe and a police official told Rooters that Shiite forces of Evil broke into the grave site, tore down photographs of the former Iraqi leader and then set the area on fire.
"We had moved the body eight months ago to a safer place. We were afraid something would happen to him. Our fears proved true," said the tribal leader who asked not to be named.
"There were four of us that took up this mission. We could not move the bodies of Saddam's sons. We are afraid someone will desecrate those graves."
The tribal chief would not give details on where Saddam's body was taken. "We moved him to a place far from the hands of his enemies," he said. "Isn't it enough for them that they killed him once. Now they are afraid of his body."
Saddam was hanged in 2006 after being convicted of crimes against humanity for the killing of 148 Shiite villagers after a failed liquidation bid in 1982.
He was buried in his birthplace of Awja, 150 km north of Baghdad, prompting an outpouring of grief from fellow Sunni Arabs who dominated the country's Shiite majority under his rule.
Shiite officials taunted him as he stood on the gallows, defiant until his last breath.
"A militia force entered Saddam's tombsite, destroyed everything in sight and set it on fire. Until now they are surrounding the tombsites," said a police captain from the operations room in the nearby city of Sammara.
The tribal chief confirmed that account. "Shiite militia broke into the tomb, smashed everything inside, including photographs of Saddam Hussein."
A leader of a Shiite militia who is based near the area confirmed that militias set fire to the grave.
Shiite militias are positioned near Saddam's gravesite to fight the Islamic State, the Sunni turbans who swept through northern Iraq in June and declared a caliphate.
The tribal leader said he and other Sunnis were looking into reports that militias had desecrated the graves of Uday and Qusay, who were killed by US troops in 2003 six months before their father was captured, and were despised by Shiites.
Saddam Hussein's grave, in a family plot, was dug into the floor of an octagonal, domed building he had built in the 1980s for religious festivals.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] US President Barack Obama Republicans can come along for the ride, but they've got to sit in the back... said Wednesday that while he did not care for Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,, the Gazoo Strip could not remain permanently closed off from the world.
He really does wear his heart on his sleeve... and it's not blue-and-white.
"I have no sympathy for Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,. I have great sympathy for ordinary people who are struggling within Gazoo," Obama said.
The ones who voted Hamas into power in as free and fair an election as the Palestinians have ever had -- those ordinary people of Gaza?
Speaking at a presser, Obama said that the United States was supportive of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, but that "long-term, there has to be a recognition that Gazoo cannot sustain itself permanently closed off from the world."
Ordinary Paleostinians living in the impoverished, blockaded Hamas-ruled territory need to "have some prospects for an opening of Gazoo so that they do not feel walled off," Obama said.
Obama reiterated his concern about civilians killed in the conflict, which left 1,886 Paleostinians dead, according to officials in the Hamas-ruled Gazoo Health Ministry. Israel says that hundreds of them are gunnies. Sixty-four soldiers and three civilians on the Israeli side were killed in the month-long conflict.
Obama insisted he has "consistently supported Israel's right to defend itself" and repeatedly castigated Hamas, saying that the terror group has acted "extraordinarily irresponsibly" by launching rockets into Israel.
The people of Gazoo need greater hope for the future, he said as he urged the extension of the 72-hour ceasefire that was brokered by Egypt and which went into effect Tuesday morning.
"The US goal right now would be to make sure that the ceasefire holds, that Gazoo can begin the process of rebuilding," Obama said.
Similarly, he said, Israelis need to "feel confident that they're not going to have a repeat of the kind of rocket launchers that we've seen over the last several weeks."
Actually, the Israelis are confident that at some point there will be another attack. Possibly on Friday, if Hamas decides not to extend the hudna, which is why The Times of Israel, and we here at Rantburg, are continuing to observe the live blogging of the situation over there for a bit longer.
Israel and Hamas appeared to be at odds on the extension of the ceasefire that expires at 0500 GMT on Friday.
Yes, that one, Mr. President.
Negotiators from Israel were meeting with a Paleostinian delegation in Cairo for talks on extending the temporary ceasefire and trying to resolve underlying issues to broker a more lasting truce. Officials from the US, the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... and Mideast nations were helping foster the discussions, which began with both sides taking hard-line positions and much jockeying expected ahead.
Obama said that peace efforts needed to involve the Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , amid US fears that the conflict has empowered the more hard boy Hamas.
Obama said that the Abbas-led Paleostinian Authority, based in the West Bank, has been "responsible" by recognizing Israel and seeking a two-state solution.
Seeing shallower into the rock than most...
"I think Abu Mazen is sincere in his desire for peace, but they (the Paleostinian Authority) have also been weakened, I think, during this process," Obama said, referring to Abbas by his nom de guerre.
He has no idea who did the weakening.
"The populations in the West Bank may have also lost confidence or lost a sense of hope in terms of how to move forward," he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the Paleostinian Authority should play an "important" role in the Gazoo Strip.
In late April, Netanyahu ended further negotiations with Abbas after he formed a unity goverment with Hamas amid the breakdown of the US-led grinding of the peace processor.
Bad enough to be forced to pretend to negotiate with the team that wants to drive the Jews out of Israel, without adding the team that wants to eradicate the Jews from the face of the Earth.
#2
The best hope of the people of Gaza is the complete and utter destruction of Hamas, Fatah, and Hezbollah. They are the ones who are guaranteeing that they are locked in some sort of 'refugee' status.
#4
In eons to come - if status quo holds - they will by evolutionary means develop gills and webbed hands/feet. The Gazans can then take to the sea as their outlet from closed land borders. (This has happened once before in history at the seaport of Innsmouth Mass. The religion of the Innsmouth people had much in common with Islam.
#9
Not even half the people there support Hamas - they just gangstered their way in (fraud in the elections) under US State Dept observation and acquiescence, and have continued to strong-arm the area ever since.
As far as closed off - what about Egypt? Seems the Egyptians are not letting them across either.
#10
Why would Hamas, Fatah, and all the others want a truly free palestenian state? They'd lose all their UN boodle and political power as champions of permanent refugees.
#11
That's pretty much what I said earlier - they have managed to keep the people there as 'refugees' for about 50 years now.
They have not interest in a 'state'.
They just have to start a war with Israel every few year, hunkerdown and produce pallywood videos until the 'World' stops the war, and then there's all sort of 'rebuilding funding' coming their way for years.
Who cares if some civilians get killed? In fact the more civilians get killed the more the U.N. boodle afterwards! What a bargain!
[ARABNEWS] Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... says "the massive deaths and destruction in Gazoo have shocked and shamed the world" and is demanding an end to "the senseless cycle of suffering" in the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict.
"We will build again, but this must be the last time to rebuild," the UN chief told the General Assembly Wednesday. "This must stop now. We must go back to the negotiating table."
Ban said the UN understands Israel's right to defend itself from Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, rockets but
Ah yes. The accusatory but. Here it comes:
"the horror that was unleashed on the people of Gazoo" raises serious questions about respect for international law that requires a distinction between civilians and combatants and proportionality.
UN human rights When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much... chief Navi Pillay told the assembly that "any attacks in violation of these principles .... may amount to war crimes."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Israeli media reports say dozens of Israeli soldiers have been killed and over 1,600 maimed as the result of Tel Aviv's offensive on the besieged Gazoo Strip.
Wow. It's not just the Arabs whose use of numbers is entirely disconnected from reality.
Israeli officials say at least 1,620 soldiers have been injured during violent festivities with Paleostinian resistance fighters over the past few weeks.
The Israeli media outlets put the number of civilians injured during the onslaught at above 680. They were maimed after Paleostinian resistance fighters fired barrage of rockets into Israel in retaliation for deadly attacks on the blockaded Paleostinian enclave.
Israeli military also says it lost nearly 64 troops in festivities with Paleostinian resistance fighters, but Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, says near 150 Israeli soldiers have been killed, which is seen as the heaviest loss of life for the Israeli military in years.
Israel has so far kept the public in the dark about the exact number of casualties.
The rising corpse count of Israeli forces during the ongoing assault on Gazoo has prompted growing opposition to the war among the Israeli public.
Thousands of Israelis have held several rallies against Tel Aviv's war on Gazoo over the past few days. Demonstrators from left-wing and anti-war have strongly criticized authorities for dragging Israel into repeated wars and military actions.
A recent survey by the Israeli institute, Panels Politics, revealed that 66 percent of Israel's public believes the war did not achieve its objectives. This comes as Israeli forces have retreated from Gazoo, claiming that they have achieved their main goals.
The Israeli military aggression has also taken the lives of more than 1,875 Paleostinians, mostly civilians, and maimed over 9,600 others in Gazoo since July 8.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
The longer the Paleo situation remains unresolved to both sides' mutual satisfaction + peace, Israel's casualties will only grow higher-n-higher in coming wars.
The Paleos will also be that much harder to defeat.
[Iran Press TV] Former US President Jimmy Carter ... the worst president ever. Maybe the second worst. The votes aren't all in yet... is not the best person to defend the Paleostinians and talk about peace in the Middle East, a journalist and political commentator in Ireland says, describing Carter as part of the "American hand that has caused a lot of trouble" in the region.
"Gazoo is a humanitarian catastrophe" and "Jimmy Carter talks about 'there's no humane or legal justification for the way the Israeli Defense Forces are conducting this war.' And how could it be a war in the first place because wars are fought traditionally between armies. Here, we have an army fighting civilians," said Anna O'Leary.
In a sharply worded article Carter co-wrote with Ireland's former President Mary Robinson in the new issue of the Foreign Policy magazine published Tuesday, he called on the UN Security Council to vote for a resolution that would "mandate an end to the siege" on the Gazoo Strip.
The two former leaders also urged Western countries to recognize the Paleostinian resistance group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, as a legitimate "political actor," while blasting Israel's "war crimes" in the Gazoo Strip.
"I'm not sure that Jimmy Carter is the best person to be talking about peace," O'Leary told Press TV during a phone interview on Wednesday.
"Carter may mean well in what he's doing, but Carter, at the end of the day, is an American hand and the American hand has caused a lot of trouble in the Middle East," she added.
O'Leary blasted the American government for "openly sending in arms" and "openly sending in money to fund the genocide of the people of Paleostine" by the Zionist regime.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
O'Leary blasted the American government for "openly sending in arms" and "openly sending in money to fund the genocide of the people of Paleostine" by the Zionist regime.
So basically her position is 'if you're not going to help destroy Israel, butt out'.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/07/2014 8:13 Comments ||
Top||
#2
'Carter not the best person to talk about peace in Middle East'
[IsraelTimes] Gazoo, like the cities of Israel, is slowly returning to normal. Kind of.
There are cars on its roads once more, and shoppers are flooding its markets. "We became accustomed very quickly to war — and even faster to peace," Sameh, a prominent political analyst in Gazoo, told The Times of Israel Wednesday.
But the quiet, he said, is deceptive. "It's not over yet. Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, is under a lot of pressure to return to fighting if Egypt and Israel don't allow the blockade to be lifted," Sameh said.
The residents of the Gazoo Strip are torn between wanting the fighting to go on and wanting it to stop, he added.
"Those who have lost their children and relatives actually want the fighting to continue. So do those whose houses were destroyed," he said. "They don't have anything to lose anymore, and they are pressuring [Hamas] not to stop now unless the blockade is lifted completely. On the other hand, those whose houses are still standing want it to end."
Sameh added, "You are sorely mistaken if you think it's over. Have you seen any of the Hamas top brass leave the bunkers? From the political or the military wing? Yesterday, they said in no uncertain terms: We're in the middle stage, not at the end of the war. And they are already preparing for the renewal of the festivities. They can't stop now without a significant achievement in Cairo."
Which they won't get. And they only have about 3,000 rockets left, mostly the little ones that hit Gaza as often as they do Israel.
I asked him if easing the restrictions on movement through the border crossings with Israel would prevent Hamas from renewing the fighting.
"Forget about it," he said. "If they don't get the opening of the Rafah crossing or agreement to build a port, they'll start firing rockets again — and then we'll have a tougher war ahead of us."
True. Next time Bibi will send in the paratroopers with the dogs and the robots to start with the tunnels under Shifa Hospital. The effect of the secondaries when those tunnels are destroyed should make wonderfully dramatic propaganda photos...
Other analysts sounded more hesitant. One of them explained that Gazoo was like a soldier who was seriously maimed in battle, but in the heat of the moment, continued to attack. "Now that the festivities have come to a halt, Gazoo will start screaming with pain. And I doubt it can stand on its feet long enough for another round of festivities."
Indeed, much of Gazoo lies in ruins, particularly in areas such as Shejaiya, Beit Hanoun and Hiza. Like many other Gazooks, Bassem went to see what remained of his destroyed house in Shejaiya on Tuesday — or rather, what didn't remain of it.
"There was nothing to see," he told me. "Rubble. I tried to work out which heap of rubble belonged to my house and which pile of wrecked walls was the neighbor's."
He has managed to rent a small apartment in a different neighborhood in Gazoo City. There, he and his family have been living along with 45 other Gazooks, without electricity or a working toilet.
That's not unusual. Reporters in Gazoo estimate that nearly 300,000 Gazooks were displaced during the war. Their houses were completely destroyed or too badly damaged to return to.
"Who will rebuild your house?" I asked Bassem.
"I have no idea," he replied. "Nobody knows. This is the question everyone in Gazoo wants answered now. We're trying to see what will come out of [the talks in] Cairo. Maybe we'll get some word from there. Otherwise, I don't know what to say."
Bassem and his family are relatively lucky; not everyone is able to rent an alternative house or apartment. Most of the displaced Gazooks who went out Tuesday to see the ruins of their houses returned to their relatives' houses, or to UNRWA schools, where they've been staying in recent days.
Imad, a friend from Gazoo, told me that at least 50 people were currently living in his house in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gazoo City.
"There's nothing else to be done; everyone has to help one another. But go see what's happening in the yard of [the] Shifa [Hospital]. You'll see what truly wretched people look like. There's a tent city there, a real 'nakba' (catastrophe) — hundreds of families that live in tents and have nowhere to go now."
Imad, too, doesn't know who will rehabilitate, who will rebuild.
"We understand that an international summit on the rehabilitation of Gazoo will be held in Norway at the beginning of September. Maybe we'll get some answers then," he said, sounding anything but confident.
[AnNahar] The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday offered around USD 1.5 million dollars in "immediate" aid to residents who were forced to leave the battle-hit Bekaa region of Arsal.
"Chairman of the (Emirati) Red Islamic Thingy Authority Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed ordered allocating 5 million dirhams to rescue the displaced in Arsal as a result of the region's latest developments," UAE's news agency WAM reported on Wednesday.
"The migration of large numbers of Arsal's residents has doubled the need to provide aid for these people, in addition to the burden of around 120,000 Syrian refugees present there," bin Zayed explained.
He continued: "The Red Islamic Thingy has been providing food and shelter aid since the refugees' arrival in Leb, and this required sympathizing with the crisis of the displaced and hurrying up in providing urgent assistance for them."
The fighting in Arsal erupted on Saturday after soldiers jugged Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! a man accused of belonging to al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, Al-Nusra Front.
At least 17 soldiers have been killed in the Arsal fighting, including two officers, according to security sources, and the army said 22 troops are missing, possibly taken hostage.
Another 20 coppers are also missing, security sources say, and 86 soldiers have been maimed.
[IsraelTimes] Syrian fighters have held 54 women and kiddies hostage for an entire year, a rights group said Wednesday, urging they be freed and warning that holding civilians can amount to a war crime.
New York-based Human Rights Watch ... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge.... said the group was captured in the coastal province of Latakia during an opposition offensive a year ago.
Another group of 40 hostages was released in May as part of a deal that allowed Syrian opposition forces safe passage out of the besieged Old City of Homs.
But the group of 54, which includes 34 children, was still being held, apparently "with the intention of compelling government actions, including exchanging the hostages for detainees in government custody," HRW said.
"For a year families have been waiting to be reunited while rebel groups and the government negotiate over their fate," said HRW's Middle East and North Africa director Sarah Leah Whitson.
"Civilian lives are not pawns for fighters to trade. The hostages should be let go immediately."
It is unclear which groups are holding the 54 captives, with HRW saying at least 20 separate opposition forces took part in the Latakia offensive last August.
HRW said it had identified several individuals, mostly from Gulf countries, who had fundraised for the Latakia operation and warned that citizens or countries that backed groups involved in hostage-taking could be complicit in war crimes.
The group also repeated its call for the situation in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... "Referring Syria to the ICC would send a clear message to all combatants that they must abide by the laws of war," Whitson said.
"Civilians in Syria on all sides have paid dearly for Russia and China's obstructionism" in the UN Security Council on the issue of referring to the conflict to the court, she added.
More than 170,000 people have been killed in Syrian since the conflict began in March 2011.
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.
[Tolo News] Hand-wringing over Pakistain's covert activities in Afghanistan are nothing new, however, concerns among leaders in Kabul may be growing as the fighting season wears on.
[CHANNELSTV] Zakari Muhammed, who was 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
International Criminal Court
[IsraelTimes] US President 
Jimmy Carter
