With Muammar Gaddafi's home as a backdrop, Lionel Richie, a famous US singer, jived and rocked for an adoring Libyan audience today in a concert to mark the 20th anniversary of a US raid on the North African country. "Libya I love you, I'll be back," the Oscar and Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter said to roars of approval from more than 1 000 senior Libyan officials and diplomats gathered in front of the shell-cratered building.
He was followed by Spanish opera stars Jose Carreras and Ofelia Sala who belted through a selection of classic favourites backed by 60-piece orchestra under a cloudless night sky. Organisers said the music provided a deliberately upbeat commemoration of the 1986 raid, an event that marked one of the lowest points in the decades Libya spent being seen as an outlaw state that supported terrorism. And what, exactly, is it seen as now? A country that is too weak to support terrorism any longer, but still would if it could?
US forces bombed Tripoli and Benghazi in the early hours of April 15, 1986. Then president Ronald Reagan said it was in retaliation for what he called Libyan complicity in the bombing of a discotheque in Berlin a month earlier in which three people, including a US serviceman, were killed.
Gaddafi's former home has been kept in its wrecked state to mark the overnight attack in which an estimated 40 people were killed including Gaddafi's adopted daughter Hanna. The concert was named "Hanna Peace Day" in honour of the child, one of several infants killed in the strike.
Singing, dancing, cackling laughter
Radiating insignificance charm and wit, Richie brought the soberly dressed audience repeatedly to its feet with a succession of his greatest hits, persuading them to sing along and dance. He won laughs when he joked that some in the audience knew the words to his songs better than he did, and drew shouts of "Death to America" "thank you" and "Aloha Snackbar" "we love you" from some in the crowd.
The concert took place in a park-like compound, dotted with tents, low-rise residential buildings and security encampments. Herds of camels belched and spit dozed beneath palm trees and young children chased scorpions antelopes over the sand grass beneath a bright full moon god. Searchlights swivelling on remotely controlled brackets probed the dark sky in an apparent attempt to recreate some of the atmosphere of the raid. Perhaps the U.S. military could have helped them recapture the magic.
The organisers said they wanted the Western singers' tarnished star power to underline the phony sincerity of Libya's three-year-old rapprochement with the outside world, bury past enmities and promote a message of goodwill. "I stand in front of this silent house where 20 years ago my childhood was torn and my toys were destroyed," said Gaddafi's daughter Aisha, who was about 10 at the time of the attack.
The event ended with a group of children dressed as angels standing on a balcony of the house and waving candles as they sang along to a recording of the US humanitarian pop anthem We are the world. All that was missing was Michael Jackson to denounce Jews and fondle the kiddies.
Tension is prevailing at the Surjapur village, located along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengals Darjeeling district, after the Indian and Bangladeshi border security forces exchanged fire yesterday.
The incident took place after Border Security Forces (BSF) personnel shot dead a Bangladeshi national, who was trying to illegally sneak into Indian Territory, provoking Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) to exchange fire with the BSF.
After killing the alleged intruder, R.P. Daga, Company Commander of BSF, said that they would take action as per the law and would hand over the body to the police and would lodge a case.
The BDR, however, ruled out that the person killed was a Bangladeshi national and refused to accept the body.
It (body) is not from our country. If it would have been from our side then there would have been a lot of hue and cry in our side, said Subedar Abdur Sattar of Bangladesh Rifles.
This was the fourth incident within a fortnight, when the border forces of the two countries exchanged fire.
India has been deploying thousands of new troops on its frontier with Bangladesh and setting up hundreds of border posts to check illegal migration and movement of armed militants.
New Delhi began to bolster its eastern border defences in last September to crack down on militants moving in from Bangladesh, although Dhaka denies anti-India elements are using its soil.
India and Bangladesh share a 4,096-km (2,544-mile) frontier, regarded as one of the worlds most fluid borders. It is guarded by about 45,000 troops of the BSF.
New Delhi estimates there are up to 20 million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in India -- mostly poor people who come in search of jobs.
The normally friendly relations between India and Bangladesh have sometimes been marred by border skirmishes.
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 13:44 ||
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They're also building a 2500 mile long fence, sections of which will be electrified, along the border
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 17:04 Comments ||
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Keep in mind that there are already 20 million illegal immigrants from Bangladesh living in India.
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 17:06 Comments ||
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It seems the current orders to the BSF along the Bangladesh border is
"shoot at sight at the zero point after 6 pm"
This is also the situation along the border with Pakistan in the Punjab:
"BSF jawans manning border outposts have been directed to shoot any intruder spotted between the international border and the barbed fencing at night."
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 17:19 Comments ||
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Adviser to the ministry of foreign affairs Reaz Rahman said the government did not see a link between Jamaat-ul-Mujaheddin Bangladesh (JMB) and al-Qaeda. "We did not see a link between the groups and al-Qaeda," Rahman told the Washington Post during an interview Wednesday last.
I don't, either. I think they were more inspired by the Taliban.
"The members of organisations behind a wave of bombings last year were on the run. Still, it is a constant process and we cannot be complacent," Rahman was quoted as saying by the online edition of the Washington Post.
They claim they've got most of them. But still we don't hear much about operations against HUJI, who're the main threat — and who're linked to al-Qaeda.
Reaz Rahman visited Washington last week to try to allay concerns over latent Islamic militancy and to update officials on the arrests of radical leaders and their followers as political unrest continues in the country.
Somehow I have my doubts many concerns were actually allayed.
Last month, Bangladesh authorities arrested several leaders of Jamaat-ul-Mujaheddin Bangladesh and the Jagrata Muslim Janata group, including Siddiqul Islam, and rounded up 900 of their followers, Rahman said. The two movements were behind the August bombings in various districts of Bangladesh that killed more than two dozen people.
ROME: An Italian magazine close to the influential Catholic conservative Opus Dei group has published a new caricature of Prophet Muhammad (may his drip clear up peace be upon him), sparking outrage among Muslim associations.
"Harrr! A cartoon, is it? Well, we're outraged!"
The drawing in Studi Cattolicis March issue shows the Italian poets Dante Alighieri and Virgil making sacrilegious remarks about the Prophet Muhammad (ptui pbuh), according to a description by the Italian news agency ANSA.
"Neener neener neener!
Mohammad's got no wiener!"
Opus Dei distanced itself from the magazine, with spokesman Giuseppe Corigliano telling ANSA that Studi Cattolici is not an official publication of the group, even though it is edited by an Opus Dei member.
"Wudn't us."
However, he said Opus Dei members are free to have all the opinions they want.
"We got all that killing apostates and burning heretics stuff out of our system centuries ago. It's not like we're Muslims or somethin'."
Studi Cattolici Editor Cesare Cavalleri told ANSA, I hope the publication of this drawing wont lead to attacks, because if that happened it would only prove the idiotic positions of Islamic extremists.
The drawback to making fun of them for being ignorant primitives who'll riot at the drop of a hat is that they really are ignorant primitives who'll riot at the drop of a hat.
The cartoon in Studi Cattolici drew immediate fire from Italys Muslim community.
As I was just saying...
With all the efforts made in the Christian and Muslim world for inter-faith dialogue, there are nevertheless always minorities that inflame things and cause provocations, said Roberto Piccardo, an official of the Union of Italian Muslim Communities.
And for all the ranting and raving and issuing of fatwahs and death threats, Europeans still maintain their freedom to write and draw pretty much what they please.
Souad Sbai, president of an association of Moroccan women in Italy, called on the magazine to step back, stop and lower the tone.
The magazine might equally call upon the turbans to do the same.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 00:22 ||
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Huzzahs for the illustration. Ignatz is no dhimmi.
The Netherlands could have to pay significant damages to expats who can show they have suffered as result of the failure to implement a new directive on a permanent residence status for non-EU citizens, an immigration lawyer warned on Friday. "The argument by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) that the directive hasn't been implemented in 17 of the 25 EU member states doesn't hold water," Michiel Tjebbes, a partner with Everaert Immigration Lawyers, told Expatica.
No legal challenges have yet been mounted in relation to the IND's refusal to grant permanent EU residence status. "But my fingers are itching, as I would very much like to start one," Tjebbes said. He maintained that there is nothing stopping the IND from implementing the directive now. The IND denied it is dragging its feet on the issue and said that the delay is a procedural matter. It conceded, however, the EU directive (2003/109/EC on third-country nationals who are long-term residents) should have come into force in the Netherlands and 16 other countries by 31 January 2006.
The directive establishes the right to a new, permanent EC residence status for migrants from outside the EU (described as 'third-country nationals'). To be eligible, a migrant must be in possession of a valid residence permit and reside legally in an EU member state for an uninterrupted period of five years for the purpose of employment or to be with a partner. Asylum seekers, refugees and EU citizens are not eligible. The applicant must have a fixed and regular income and health insurance. The goal of the directive is to make it easier for long-term non-EU residents to settle in another member state.
To explain how the system should work, Tjebbes cited a fictional example of an Argentinean professor living and working in the Netherlands who is offered a position at a prestigious university in Italy. The job is dependent on having the permanent EU residence status. "If the person can prove that the IND's refusal to implement the directive has had severe financial and professional consequences, he or she could take legal action against the State to seek damages," Tjebbes said.
Tjebbes said he hoped such a case will be taken soon to force the IND to reconsider its position. The IND has posted a statement on the English section of its website in relation to the directive. It said that advice is still required from the Dutch Council of State on "necessary amendments to the legislation concerning aliens". Then parliament (de Tweede Kamer) must make a number of choices, for example about the form that the application is to take. "As a result, applications for permanent EC resident status cannot yet be processed," the IND said.
Immigration Lawyer Patrick Rovers of Van Velsen C.S. said that the Netherlands is far from being alone in this. Of the 25 member states, 17, including the Netherlands, have yet to implement the directive. Only Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Lithuania have done so. The UK, Ireland and Denmark opted out from the start. Rovers said the Netherlands has a fairly good record when it comes to implementing EU directives but "some files are not so interesting and are left at the bottom of the pile". There is a constant debate about whether EU directives are automatically binding on member states or whether the only come into force once a national parliament has passed a law to incorporate it.
Tjebbes argued that a court case could prove the directive can be applied at this stage. He also pointed out that the member states have known this directive was pending for several years. The deadline was in January this year. "If each of the 17 states were to argue they have to wait for the other 16 before acting, the directive would never come into operation," Tjebbes said. It is unclear how many people will seek to avail of permanent EU residence status, as long-term non-EU citizens are generally eligible to apply for citizenship in the European country they reside in after five years. But it may appeal to people who want to retain their original nationality.
Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda refused Thursday to appear before a German parliamentary commission investigating alleged US-funded flights for transferring suspected terrorists.
I rather think not.
In a statement to the Czech news agency CTK, Svoboda said it was "unthinkable" for a cabinet member to be questioned in Berlin "on a topic with which the Czech state has nothing in common at all."
There is that matter of a border between the two countries, after all.
Parliament deputy Max Stadler of the liberal opposition party FDP said this week that Svoboda should appear before the commission investigating the flights allegedly sponsored by the US intelligence agency CIA.
no.
Not even a phone call.
Stadler said Svoboda should be questioned about his alleged comments about whether the Czechs imprisoned suspected terrorists for the CIA.
what part of 'no' are you having trouble understanding? It's been a while since Germans ruled in Czechoslovakia - get over it.
However Svoboda told CTK, "I have never received any information, whether on alleged CIA prisoners in the Czech Republic or their flights over the Czech Republic."
"Even if I had, I'm under no obligation to explain myself in Berlin."
Last week, London-based Amnesty International released a report documenting about 200 takeoffs and landings in Europe by three, CIA- linked aircraft between 2001 and last year.
delivering fresh flowers and candy to loved ones, no doubt.
The report said 20 landings and takeoffs occurred at the Prague airport - more than in any other East European country. The Czech government has not formally replied to the report, although some ministries have told CTK that they have no information about the allegations.
The Czech government doesn't answer to Amnesty International, either.
A Turkish-born man who shot dead his older sister in a so-called honour-killing was convicted of murder and jailed for nine years and three months by a German court on Thursday.
man, that's HARSH. 9 whole YEARS? For a FEMALE????
It's Y'urp: he'll be out in four.
In an attack that started a national debate in Germany, Hatun Surucu was gunned down on a Berlin street last February. A vivacious single mother aged 23, she had cut her ties with her Turkish family and abandoned an arranged marriage.
Her brother Ayhan Surucu, now 20, confessed to the killing which he said had been carried out to restore "honour" to the family. Because he was 18 at the time of the killing, he could not be given the adult sentence of life imprisonment.
Michael Degreif said there was something awful about the attack, since Hatun had been killed merely for "living her life the way she thought best".
Ayhan's two older brothers, who had been accused of providing the gun and acting as lookout, were acquitted by the court, which said their involvement had not been proven. Prosecutors had claimed the men of the family conspired to "execute" their "wayward" sister.
The case drew huge attention in Germany which has a large Turkish minority numbering about 2.5 million out of a total population of 82 million. The Surucu family had moved to Berlin from a poor area of eastern Anatolia to find work.
There are growing fears over the failure to integrate foreigners in Germany and Federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble recently warned that "slums" were developing in minority areas in some cities.
The execution-style killing shocked Berliners. Ayhan walked up to his sister on a street near the apartment where she was bringing up her son in Berlin's Tempelhof district and shot her point-blank three times with a pistol. She died in a pool of blood.
Judge Degreif said the case was tragic as Hatun had been seeking reconciliation with her family. The accused had been motivated by a "code of honour" that obliged him to defend the family reputation and by his view that Islam forbade his sister's lifestyle.
and of course we have to respect peoples' views. anything else would be intolerant.
At the start of the six-month trial, Ayhan testified he had acted alone and insisted his brothers, now 25 and 26, had not been involved. A key witness against the older brothers, Ayhan's former girlfriend, went into hiding under a witness protection programme.
The death of Hatun prompted Germany to seek ways to bar arranged marriages, since Hatun was alleged to have been married in Turkey against her will. She had returned to Berlin and then moved away from home in the face of protests from her family. She completed her school education and began an apprenticeship as an electrician.
Legislation is currently under consideration that would make it a crime punishable by up to 10 years in jail to force anyone to marry.
The UN Human Rights Commission estimates that about 5,000 women and girls are the victims of "honour killings" by their own families around the world every year. The feudal-style code of honour is common in some Islamic societies and also a few Christian nations. for example?????A family policy spokesman of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Johannes Singhammer, said Germany had to show "zero tolerance" towards "this disgraceful form of kangaroo justice".
There has also been counter-reaction within some elements of Germany's Turkish community amid a perception that Berlin is trying to stamp out all foreign customs or that it may be hostile to Islam.
F*CK this particular foreign custom.
There was national news coverage when Turkish youths at one Berlin school demonstrated against Ayhan's murder prosecution.
#1
now who will do the "honor killing" to restore "honor" to their family now of this murderer?
un f*cking believable
Help remind me this is the year 2006? That this crap is still going on around the world
Posted by: Jan ||
04/16/2006 3:18 Comments ||
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The shooting was captured by a bystander's cellphone camera; don't know where it can be found now, but it showed the girl kneeling as she was imploring, and the Moderate Muslim(tm) aiming at her.
Pretty dramatic picture, like the one showing showing TVG's body lying in the street.
Muslim wimmen are usually more integrated into european society than their brothers, it's at least the case in France, since they have more to gain, they're usually much more successful at school for example. Of course, the men are acting as watchdogs, using various means of pressure, up to rape of girls deemed to "westernized".
#7
We did everything we could to rebuild German self-confidence after WWII, and all we ended up doing was foster a welfare state. They're not even a child, they're a pet. You raise them lovingly and for years they are younger than you are, and then they are your age, and then they become infirm and die. The difference is that I'll miss my cats.
A U.S. conflict with Iran could be even more damaging to America's interests than the war with Iraq, former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke wrote in Sunday's New York Times.
In an op-ed article co-authored with Steven Simon, a former State Department official who also worked for the National Security Council, Clarke wrote reports that the Bush administration is contemplating bombing nuclear sites in Iran raised concerns that "would simply begin a multi-move, escalatory process."
Iran's likely response would be to "use its terrorist network to strike American targets around the world, including inside the United States," Clarke and Simon warned.
"Iran has forces as its command far superior to anything Al Qaeda was ever able to field," they said, citing Iran's links with the militant group Hezbollah.
Iran could also make things much worse in Iraq, they wrote, adding "there is every reason to believe that Iran has such a retaliatory shock wave planned and ready."
President George W. Bush might then sanction more bombing, Clarke and Simon said, hoping Iranians would overthrow the Tehran government. But "more likely, the American war against Iran would guarantee the regime decades more of control."
The authors concluded by warning that "the parallels to the run-up to the war with Iraq are all too striking: remember that in May 2002 President Bush declared that there was 'No war plan on my desk' despite having actually spent months working on detailed plans for the Iraq invasion."
Congress "must not permit the administration to launch another war whose outcome cannot be known, or worse, known all too well," they said.
#1
Who in the f&ck has been advocating an invasion? Headlines should read "Clarke and rest of world (including W and Rumsfeld) opposes Iran Invasion"
what a weak-ass piece of "journalism" agit-prop
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2006 1:32 Comments ||
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Who?
Iran's likely response, assuming it's done correctly, thoroughly, and mercilessly, will be to roll over into the dying dead cockroach position. And stay there as Iran disintegrates.
Who do these "experts" and "geniuses" think will be around to keep up the payments on the terror networks? Aren't they smart enough to realize that once the regime goes down, so do the networks they supported? No, I guess not.
More of the anti-weathervane at work here. Whatever these clowns are against doing, we should do forthwith.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/16/2006 9:05 Comments ||
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"Iran has forces as its command far superior to anything Al Qaeda was ever able to field," they said, citing Iran's links with the militant group Hezbollah.
And that's supposed to be an argument for NOT crushing the Mad Mullahs????
Fucking idiots...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/16/2006 9:34 Comments ||
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Here's a brief symposis: Clinton (including Clarke) chickened out in late-1990s, so it is a bad idea now.
Meantime, in the subsequent years, we have reaped the difficulties of a lame Clinton administration.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/16/2006 12:12 Comments ||
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This idiot would have advised Roosevelt to stay out of World War II. We'd all be either Nazis or dead.
Two of America's most experienced generals have backed Donald Rumsfeld, the embattled defence secretary, in the escalating row over his handling of the Iraq war.
Gen Richard Myers, the former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George W Bush, and Gen Tommy Franks, who led the invasion of Iraq, both spoke out after six other retired generals urged Mr Rumsfeld to step down. That call prompted Mr Bush to interrupt his Easter break and express full support for Mr Rumsfeld, a move interpreted as a sign that the criticism had hit home.
Gen Myers said: "My whole perception is that it's bad for the military, it's bad for civil-military relations and potentially it's very bad for the country because what we are hearing and what we are seeing is not the role the military plays in our society."
The six retired generals condemned Mr Rumsfeld's prosecution of the campaign in Iraq and his management style. Their words were given added force as two had served as senior commanders in Iraq since the invasion. In his first public comment, Mr Rumsfeld, 73, struck a defiant tone in an interview with Al Arabiya television.
"Out of thousands and thousands of admirals and generals, if every time two or three people disagreed we changed the secretary of defence, it would be like a merry-go-round," he said.
Gen Myers and Gen Franks were predictable cheer-leaders for a man with whom they have worked closely. Yet even within loyal Republican ranks, there are growing fears that Mr -Rumsfeld is a political -liability as public support for the administration's Iraq policy slides ahead of November's congressional elections.
When Sen John Warner, the chairman of the armed services committee, was asked to comment, his spokesman said only that he "believes that the decision of whether to keep Secretary Rumsfeld is up to the president".
None the less, the row has probably strengthened rather than threatened Mr Rumsfeld's position, as Mr Bush is famously loyal to his inner circle. Aides made clear that the president would not be seen to cave in to public pressure over the future of a man whose handling of Iraq mirrored his own views.
The general whose comments would carry greatest weight has remained silent so far, however. Colin Powell, the country's former top soldier, lost repeated political battles with Mr Rumsfeld as secretary of state during the first Bush administration and has recently expressed doubts about pre-war US claims on Iraqi weapons programmes.
#1
Gen Myers said: "My whole perception is that it's bad for the military, it's bad for civil-military relations and potentially it's very bad for the country because what we are hearing and what we are seeing is not the role the military plays in our society."
Just for the record, this is a modern development. General Winfield Scott, senior general of the Army, ran while in uniform as the Presidential nominee for the Whig Party in 1852, after his military successes in the Mexican American War. While Scott was unsuccessful, unlike his fellow commander General Zachary Taylor who did become president in 1848, he remained in service till after the start of the Civil War in 1861.
General George B. McClellan, twice relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac, ran against Abraham Lincoln in 1864 citing the effectiveness of the president's handling of the war.
#2
And George Washington was always very respectful of the supremacy of the people's representatives in Congress, who even then and even to him and anybody else withan awareness of the military situation were idiots. See Newburgh
Which was the more important General to the country and set the better example?
#3
Gen Myers and Gen Franks were predictable cheer-leaders
Hold it right the f*ck there. I worked for Dick Myers, and his integrity is WITHOUT question. If he thought for an instant that the Administration was needlessly risking American lives, he'd have stood up and said so - publicly -
and resigned, none of this 'wait-till-I'm-out-and-writing-my-book" BS.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/16/2006 9:31 Comments ||
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And on a second note, this is a very serious and dangerous game that some folks are playing. The Pew poll a few weeks back showed the Presidents approval rating at 28%. Congresss at 10%. The militarys at 47%.
I think the historical record is clear what happens when the basis of legitimacy for a government is undermined. To paraphrase Jefferson, the powers of government are derived from the consent of the governed. With the absolute terrible display of ineffective government, perceived or real, the people will accept alternatives which offer solutions, perceived or real. The media and opposition criticisms and obstructionists have not only hurt the objective of their scorn, but have brought disrepute upon the entire organ of government. The Senates recent role in the immigration issue is a basic display of complete disconnect with the people. At what point do people across the political spectrum start talking about the separation between those who govern and the people? Can we trust any of them? If theyre all corrupt, how does the existing processing cleanse itself? At what point does the unthinkable start to become thinkable? If it doesnt work what are we willing to consider as an alternative?
History may not exactly repeat itself, but human nature is pretty consistent. Others have gone down this road before and it isnt a surprise what can happen next. Which is why those like General Myers are reminding his fellow officers of the modern role of the military in our society.
* NWFP minister says nuclear capability is every nations right
* Iranian president thanks Pakistan for supporting its nuclear stance
Staff Report
PESHAWAR: The Pakistani nation celebrates Irans successful steps in missile technology and uranium enrichment and respects the bold stance of the Iranian government, NWFP Senior Minister Sirajul Haq said on Saturday.
Talking to Iranian President Mehmood Ahmadinejad in Tehran, Siraj congratulated Iran on successful missile tests and uranium enrichment. He said that Iran had translated wishes of the Ummah on international issues.
Siraj is leading a Pakistani delegation on a five-day official visit to Iran to attend the Al-Quds Conference in Tehran.
Siraj said nuclear capability guaranteed effective defence that was the right of every nation for the balance of power and ensure peace. He pledged support to the Iranian government and people in this respect, saying that imperial powers could not separate the people of Pakistan and Iran.
Siraj told the Iranian president about the working of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government for the development of the NWFP, prosperity of its people and enforcement of Sharia. Mr Nejad thanked the Pakistani people and leaders for supporting the Iranian stance and said that the Iranian nuclear programme was aimed for peaceful purposes. Imperials are against it because they consider it to be an obstacle in their expansionist and aggressive designs, he said.
Siraj also held formal and informal meetings with various delegates of Al Quds Conference in Tehran, including Hamas leader and Palestinian Foreign Minister Khalid Mashal, Algerian Trade Minister Abdul Jarah, Afghan Senator Dr Mengal, former Iraq president Mohsin Abdul Hameed and parliamentary delegations of other Islamic countries.
Senator Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Khan and Abdul Ghaffar Aziz accompanying Siraj worked as interpreters in meetings with these delegates. Siraj discussed matters of mutual interest with the delegates including bilateral relations and integrity, prosperity of the Ummah. He also invited them to visit Pakistan and the NWFP in particular.
Siraj also met Um-e-Nezal, the mother of four Palestinian youths martyred in Israeli bombardment. He invited her to visit Pakistan. He said slogans and anti-imperialism feelings in the conference showed hatred of the Muslim community against aggressive forces.
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 11:37 ||
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Sirajul Haq and Ahmadinejad can share a bunker when the B-52s arrive...
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 11:46 Comments ||
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shame if Sirajul's plane did a Zia landing
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2006 17:25 Comments ||
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The Paki might as well turn over to Iran some complete units of their nuke missiles to Iran and not let the Nodongs corner the lucrative market.
#4
Most Pak missiles are repainted NoKo units.
The others were bought from China.
Pakistan has not mastered the ability to make high speed lathes. It cannot make a tractor.
All of Pakistan's universities produce less than 50 PhDs a year. Don't ask how many are in science.
Between 1947 and 1986 the total number of Ph.D's
produced in the sciences by all Pakistani universities and research institutes was 128.
128 PhDs in 40 years. The quality is also poor.
According to Prof Pervez Hoodbhoy...
"In the period 1990-1994, Pakistani physicists, chemists, and mathematicians produced a pitiful 0.11 percent, 0.13 percent, and 0.05 percent respectively of the world's research publications. Pakistan's total share of world research output in 1994 was just 0.08 percent.
These painfully small numbers are even more painful if one also looks at the usefulness of these papers, also measured by the Institute. The average number of citations per paper was around 0.3, which is barely above zero. In other words, an overwhelming majority of papers by Pakistani scientists had zero impact on their field"
Don't believe for one instant that Pakistan can design an atomic bomb or a ballistic missile.
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 19:21 Comments ||
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jeez and I just paid for my MBA tuition at a Pak Madrassah...using my proceeds from my Nigerian partnership with the widow of Sani Abacha (RIP)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2006 20:21 Comments ||
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It doesn't get better for other muslim countries...
There are 57 member-countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), and all of them put together have around 500 universities; one university for every three million Muslims. The United States has 5,758 universities and India has 8,407. In 2004, Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiled an 'Academic Ranking of World Universities', and intriguingly, not one university from Muslim-majority states was in the top-500.
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 20:47 Comments ||
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But don't worry.. Pakistan has received hundreds of millions of dollars of American aid money to reform education... Perv has a brilliant idea on how to use this largesse ... soon they will have as many PhDs as India
More from Hoodbhoy...
By such sleight of hand the current tally of public universities, according to the HEC website, is now officially 47, up from the 23 officially listed in 1996. In addition, there are eight degree awarding public sector institutes.
Unfortunately, this is merely a numbers game. All new public sector universities lack infrastructure, libraries, laboratories, adequate faculty, or even a pool of students academically prepared to study at the university level.
But wait... it gets better
The casual disregard for quality is most obvious in the HEC's massive PhD production programme. This involves enrolling 1,000 students in Pakistani universities every year for PhD degrees.
Thereby Pakistan's "PhD deficit" (it produces less than 50 PhDs per annum at present) will supposedly be solved and it will soon be at par with India. In consequence, an army of largely incapable and ignorant students, armed with hefty HEC fellowships, has sallied forth to write PhD theses.
Although the HEC claims that it has checked the students through a "GRE type test" (the American graduate school admission test), a glance at the question papers reveals it to be only a shoddy literacy and numeric test.
In my department, advertised as the best physics department in the country, the average PhD student now has trouble with high-school level physics and even with reading English.
Nevertheless there are as many as 18 PhD students registered with one supervisor! In the QAU biology department, that number rises to 37 for one supervisor. HEC incentives have helped dilute PhD qualifying exams to the point where it is difficult for any student not to pass.
The implications of this mass-production of PhDs are dire. Very soon hundreds and, in time, thousands of worthless PhDs will be cranked out. They will train even less competent students.
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 23:15 Comments ||
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#8
And this is the kicker
Although this country is home to 150 million people, there are perhaps fewer than 20 computer scientists of sufficient calibre who could possibly get tenure-track positions at some B-grade US university.
In physics, even if one roped in every competent physicist in the country, it would not be possible to staff even one single good department of physics. As for mathematics: it is impossible to find even five real mathematicians in Pakistan. The social sciences are no better.
And Pakistan claims to develop atomic weapons and ballistic missiles??
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 23:17 Comments ||
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KARACHI: The president of the Balochistan National Party (BNP), Sardar Akhter Mengal, has appealed to the Supreme Court to take suo motu action against the secret agency personnel who have been (reportedly) trying to kill or abduct him and his party workers for the past 12 days.
Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday, the Baloch sardar alleged that after they filed a petition in the Sindh High Court, the siege of his house was ended by the law enforcement agencies but they have still been chasing him and his partys workers. Mengal feared his and its workers lives were in danger from secret agencies, including the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI). Province-wide wheel jam and shutter down strikes today (Saturday) were observed by Baloch and Pushtoon nationalists in Balochistan against military action in Balochistan and the siege of my house in Karachi, said Mengal, adding that the government had started victimizing his family after the BNP arranged a successful rally in Quetta last week. About the federal ban on the Baloch Liberation Army, Mengal said it was not a registered organization and no notification could harm it. In the past, the previous government had banned the defunct National Awami Party, said Mengal.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 00:45 ||
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Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, on Friday warned that revolutionary Maoist groups posed the single greatest threat to Indias internal stability and democratic culture.
The Maoist insurgency, which has ideological and logistical links to guerrillas in Nepal, has affected around a quarter of all administrative districts in the country.
The challenge of internal security is our biggest national security challenge, Mr Singh told state chief ministers, who gathered in New Delhi to discuss the Maoist threat. There can be no political compromise with terror. No inch conceded. No compassion shown.
The deteriorating situation in the Hindu kingdom of Nepal, where King Gyanendra is struggling to resist a Maoist takeover, has served as a belated wake-up call to New Delhi. State governments in India have been wrong-footed by the daring tactics and sophisticated weaponry of Maoist groups, also known as Naxalites.
We have to take a comprehensive approach in dealing with Naxalism given the emerging linkages between groups within and outside the country, Mr Singh said.
India and the US have urged King Gyanendra to abandon his project to restore royal absolutism, warning it is likely to trigger a Maoist takeover in Nepal.
In the wake of the recent hijacking of a train by Maoists in the northern state of Jharkand and the storming of a jail in neighbouring Bihar, Mr Singh has been criticised for failing to prevent the collapse of local government and the emergence of alternative guerilla-run administrations in vast swathes of the country.
Expressing his determination to wipe out the Maoist threat to Indias civilised and democratic way of life, Mr Singh also blamed iniquitous socio-political circumstances in many states for the spread of the Naxalite movement, which was born in 1967 in the Bengali town of Naxalbari.
After a week of violent pro-democracy protests in Nepal, King Gyanendra on Friday promised elections and called on political parties to engage in dialogue.
However, the opposition parties, which boycotted municipal elections in February, say any vote held under King Gyanendras rule would be neither free nor fair. They are pushing for a new constitution that would appear likely to leave little or no role for the Himalayan kingdoms once-revered Hindu monarchy. The kings call comes a little too late because the protests have moved beyond that stage, said Krishna Khanal, a professor of political science at Tribhuwan University.
The seven parties, who formed an alliance with the Maoists last year to push for the restoration of democracy, said they would intensify their protests. The kings statement is a conspiracy to defuse the movement rather than respect the wishes of the people, said Krishna Sitaula, spokesman of the Nepali Congress party.
The week-long general strike and protests saw large numbers of middle-class professionals swell the ranks of the pro-democracy movement. Analysts say the broadening of the movement leaves the royal palace needing to secure a compromise or risk being overthrown. The situation is dangerous and fluid, but the government remains in control, said Shrish Shumsher Rana, information minister.
Defying the government, employees in essential services at state banks, including the central bank, stopped work on Thursday, bringing banking to a standstill in the districts. Five people have died and 4,000 have been arrested in the protests that began on April 6. More than 1,000 protesters and party activists remain in detention.
#1
State governments in India have been wrong-footed by the daring tactics and sophisticated weaponry of Maoist groups, also known as Naxalites.
Rubbish...
Nothing sophisticatd about their weaponry.
Maoists go about with country made guns or raid police armories. Rural Indian police have 303 lee enfields.
Nothing daring about their tactics.. they extort money from people, chopping off noses and ears of people who resist. They plant IEDs to blow up police.
The Indian media, populated by lefists and maxists sympatizers, has glorified the maoists.
Indian politicians have been unwilling to wage war, seeing the maoists as misguided youth.
The various Indian governemnts have not invested in the police stations and personnel necessary to enforce the writ of the state. They pay lip service to rural areas...
Well, stupidity has its price...
"Some six months ago when Chhattisgarh approached the Home Minister with a detailed plan of airborne operations against the Naxalites in the jungles, it was told the suggestion was preposterous. "Talk to them, they are our own boys", the state government was gratuitously informed."
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 12:06 Comments ||
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#2
That should be "marxist sympathizers"
The graduates of JNU (Jawarlalhal Nehru University) populate the Indian media.
The alumni include the leaders of the Nepali Maoists.
When Indian PM Singh visited JNU a few months ago, he has cursed and shouted down by the students in a lecture hall...
Marxism rules there...
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 12:11 Comments ||
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#3
"There was unending talk of addressing the ubiquitous "socio-economic" roots of terror, and bleeding hearts decreed that the antidote to the perversions of Charu Mazumdar was the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Tribal Bill."
#1
He loves to wag his tongue for publicity with his selective rose garden worldview without regard for reality. As if a bad creed would simply just transform itself into a good one on account of that.
#3
By opening his mouth he's making the world a more dangerous place. Like opening gates.
What was that historical event when some Buddhists opened the gate of a besieged city in Central Asia around the time of Tamerlane because they fell for the Taquiyah and were all slaightered? It is hard copy- in books somehere. Buti can't seem to find a (free) URL on to this event.
#4
Sorry Dalai, Isalm pretty much made the American people pissed. Then Isalm started messing with are bookstores "Borders" and the ultimate sin censered "South Park" now Americans are going to start to hate.
#5
Buddhism was pretty much exterminated in the land of its birth when the islamic hordes invaded India.
The muslim invaders destroyed the buddhist monasteries and temples and killed all the monks.
Millions ended up as slaves. Millions were killed.
Now most people think the Buddha - the Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama - was the fat grinning chinese man they see in statues
The Dalai Lama needs to go to Bamiyan, where the peace loving muslims destroyed the thousand year old statues of the Buddha, in an attempt to erase the history of buddhism in the area.
He needs to go to Sindh province and visit the very first mosque on the Indian subcontinent where archeological excavation has revealed a layer of human bones in the foundations - the remains of the hindus and buddhists who were exterminated.
He should read the accounts written by the muslim invaders where they boast of killing.
The Bahmani sultans in central India, made it a rule to kill 100 000 Hindus a year. They were quite proud of this.
Timur killed 100 000 hindus in ONE day.
To quote Francois Gautier ...
"The historian Koenraad Elst quotes Professor K.S. Lal's "Growth of Muslim population in India", who writes that according to his calculations, the Hindu population decreased by 8O million between the year 1000 and 1525."
80 million killed over a period of 500 years...
Islam - the religion of peace (c)
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 9:50 Comments ||
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#6
Yup. The loss of integrity of South Park is my tipping point. Now I'm mad. Actually, furious at the cave-in by SP to dhimmitude. Without the muslim pokes, the rest becomes prejudice, not parody. The muzzies killed Kenny and I'm ticked.
#7
Get used to it. Islam will continue to grow. The best we can hope for is that we can kill the Wahabbi beast and dry up the oil money from rich spoiled brats with a bad sense of entitlement and guilt. Yesterday those types supported communism or nazism. Today they support Scientology or Jihad; Tomorrow...who knows. The world remains unchanged.
Islam is aggressively offering what Western culture no longer offers - something beyond the cult of self. Let's face it, if they didn't go around blowing themselves up and chopping people's heads off, it wouldn't bother us that people were finding peace and fellowship through their mosque.
As for me, today is a special day to remember the real message, tried and true, about HOW to live in peace and prosperity. Hope, faith, charity, forgiveness. Oh yeah, the world gets in the way and there is always some small man somewhere promoting one type of Jihad or another, but for the rest of us - we can make the world a better place, neighbor to neighbor ...one person at a time.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/16/2006 12:53 Comments ||
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#9
Expect the DL to continue to do so. On the way to enlightenment by cultivation you have to be an idiot first and make others idiots? I don't think the Buddha taught that sort of idiotarian PC'ness.
John Lindh Walker's mother is/was a Buddhist but apparently none of the enlightenment rubs off to her son. His father, a Christian.
Perhaps the DL is actually somewhat narcissistic in implying that he actually can positively influence the uncompromising dogmas of islam.
#11
The DL is the one who don't understand the limit of the scope of his belief system(wrt the social situation). If Buddhist don't understand this well enough, he ain't helping either.
#12
The DL has a really sterling record in helping his native land of Tibet get off the Chicom yoke. Tibet will not be free until the Chicoms are taken from power in China, period.
Islam is just a death cult. I would imagine that the majority of Muslims are just plain folks that want the same things as you and me. Most Muslim leadership wants submission. I would imagine that the so-called good Muslims are really bad Muslims in the eyes of the religious leadership. It is a twisted, convoluted thing. The DL must realize that, though he can accommodate Islam, Islam has no provision of accommodation with him or Bhuddism.
But, hey, pal around with celebreties and Hollywood stars. Knock yourself out. The DL is irrelevant.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/16/2006 17:16 Comments ||
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#13
"..the majority of Muslims are just plain folks that want the same things as you and me..."
They do but the way they use to get it sometimes includes the baser of methods used, like ascribing to themselves privileges at the wide expense of others.
IOW, they still effectively impose, through complicity, the Dhimmitude ideology no matter if it's lite. M'sia is a good example of encroaching hegemony. And its slide in International competiveness slide also approaches in tandem as if by Karma. And denial is their culture. Always emphasis on image, little of substance by comparision.
United Nations Commission on Disarmament on Tuesday elected Iran as deputy for Asian nations. The UN Commission opened its annual meeting on Monday which will work until April 28.
The UN Commission on Disarmament which is subsidiary organ of the General Assembly will review disarmament and international security. The Commission could not reach unanimity in the past two year owing to US objection to put disarmament on the agenda of the specialized commission and adopt an action plan for enforcing disarmament at international level.
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) member states have pushed for the agenda of disarmament and Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in the current annual meeting. NAM member states issued a statement on the first day of the annual meeting calling on nuclear states to respect their commitments of demolishing their nuclear arms. They also called on Israel to sign up to NPT and give access to all its nuclear sites for monitoring by UN nuclear agency.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has leveled unprecedented criticism at Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, accusing the "presidential institution" of trying to deny the elected Palestinian government its powers and present it as lacking the ability to govern.
Delivering a Friday sermon in a mosque in the Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, Haniyeh said the cabinet would remain in office for its full term, and warned that bringing about its downfall would have disastrous results.
Following the address, tens of thousands of Hamas supporters, led by Haniyeh, took to the streets in Jabalya, Khan Yunis and elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, and, to a lesser extent, in West Bank cities too. The supporters slammed the West and its economic boycott of the PA.
"How is it possible that a government from which control of internal security and border crossings has been taken away is the very government responsible for the payment of salaries to PA officials, after that government has been deprived of its powers by means of intentional decisions and it is left hanging, with its ministries emptied by intentional decision [by Abbas]," Haniyeh said.
"But Hamas is not a stupid movement; I am not a clown, and neither are the ministers in my government. Allah knows who the hypocrites and the liars are. The people will not give up its government. We will eat the weeds of the field and salt and we will not give up our principles," Haniyeh added.
Haniyeh's weekend statements became the most severe bone of contention between Hamas and Fatah since the election brought Hamas to power at the end of January.
Haniyeh, who has so far side-stepped any direct criticism of Abbas, was responding to a number of orders given by Abbas that have left the security forces, the border crossings and other entities in Fatah's hands.
Haniyeh made it clear that at present, his government, which inherited a debt of $750 million, was unable to pay the salaries of the PA officials. He slammed the international boycott of the Hamas government, calling it "an unholy alliance led by the United States, whose motives are suspect," and adding that "not two weeks after the cabinet was sworn in did the world begin its economic siege and set impossible conditions."
According to Haniyeh, "This is the elected government of the people and all sides must respect this. It will not change its positions as a result of this unfair pressure."
Abbas' bureau chief, Taib Abdel-Rahim, called Haniyeh's statements "baseless incitement," adding that Abbas had asked Hamas' advice on every decision taken. He said the presidential office was determined to keep all powers given it and to use them.
"Hamas is trying to slowly and illegally take over all ministerial positions,? Abdel-Rahim added.
A few dozen armed Fatah activists took over the offices of the Palestinian parliament in Khan Yunis Saturday and blocked dozens of roads in the Gaza Strip. The activists, accompanied by Palestinian police, were demanding that the government pay their salaries and threatened to bring down the government.
"The downfall of the new government will turn the tables on everyone, first and forement those who led this people to humiliation," Yunis Alastel, a Hamas parliamentary representative from Khan Yunis, said. He added that if the government fell "it would be the beginning of new armed resistance and suicide acts in the depth of the Zionist entity."
Alastel, who marched at the head of Hamas supporters in Khan Yunis while Haniyeh was speaking in Gaza, also said "they refused to negotiate with the new government, which showed great flexibility and they will bear the responsibility for the appearance in Palestine of Tawfiq al-Zarqawi."
Zarqawi is the senior al-Qaida activist in Iraq responsible for most of the attacks on the U.S. forces. "If they reject the government," Alastel said, "let them deal with the extremists and with the car-bombs."
The new PA ministers of education, women's affairs, health and foreign affairs have begun firing senior officials appointed by the previous administration or during the interim period.
The Palestinian foreign minister has called on Arabs to fulfil their promises of financial assistance to the Palestinian government. For their part, Arab officials, at a meeting between Mahmoud al-Zahar and the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Saturday, urged the Hamas-led Palestinian government to consider an Arab plan to end the conflict with Israel that calls for exchanging land for peace. Al-Zahar said he would discuss the initiative with the others in the government but pointed out that Israel had not yet accepted the deal. "I will convey all that I heard to every decision-maker and make a clear picture about the initiative. But the problem is: Does the other party accept it?" al-Zahar said after a meeting with Amr Moussa, the Arab League secretary-general, and other Arab envoys.
At a summit in Sudan last month, the Arab leaders said a 2002 peace-for-land initiative is the Arab world's only option for ending the conflict with Israeli, suggesting that a Hamas government should accept the plan. Israel has never committed itself to the initiative.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 01:07 ||
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#1
a threat?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2006 1:28 Comments ||
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#2
yeah, let me allow you to move into my back yard so you can position your weapons closer to my home.
hmmm, not fulfilling their promises of financial aide eh? maybe they've begun to see it's like a sink hole.
wishful thinking on my part
Posted by: Jan ||
04/16/2006 3:26 Comments ||
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#3
Honor. Heh heh. Watching this parody is juicy good.
#5
"Honor" is not something within their ken to understand as with all other things, living in an inverted world where their vocal spews are farts and they walk on their heads, leaving thinking pridefully disabld.
Kill your sister and it's an honor indeed.
They wilfully prohibit honesty by their cultish Creed and speak of such "honor" as they speak of "God". Perversion of the basest sort. Exactly the evil that the Buddha said how monotheism could wrough. Never mind the Dalai Lame-mah, he'll readily fart too in order to be politically correct and in the headlines.
#6
Like I've commented here many times. The Arabs have promised and not delivered for Muslims many times. It's always the West that delivers, but so far so good on the Hamsters.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/16/2006 12:17 Comments ||
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CAIRO: Arab states urged the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority on Saturday to accept an Arab initiative which offers Israel peace in return for land Israel has occupied since 1967. But Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al Zahar, on an Arab tour in urgent search of funds, made no commitment to the initiative, which conflicts with the Hamas movement's goal of a single Islamic state throughout historic Palestine. Zahar told a news conference at the Arab League he was confident that Arab governments would provide money for the authority, which has lost mainly European aid because it refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist. "All the interventions spoke about the Arab initiative and its importance to Palestinians," Zahar said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 00:21 ||
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#1
Which peace initiative are they refering to? The one where the Jews all throw themselves into the Mediterranean or the one where the Jews throw themselves into the Red Sea?
#2
I read the suggestion offered here some weeks ago during the Dubai Ports tempest that we should reciprocate as precisely as possible the same rules and restrictions on others that are applied to us, no more, no less. It has been resonating with me ever since.
I call it Level Field / Fair Play diplomacy - a better, catchier, name is welcome.
All Western nations should immediately adopt this approach. Where two nations differ in how they treat each others citizens, item by item the more restrictive takes precedence.
The US should do it immediately. No exceptions. It will shake out many inequities and end some of our own bullshit, such as goofy subsidy systems which made sense some time long ago, but are now simply giveaways which have become hardcore habit, not good economic policy.
In the Middle East, we have Israel calling for the total destruction of the "palestinians" - march them into the Dead Sea, LOL, for example. I could easily get behind that. We have America restricting Saudis and other GCC Arabs from owning US-based companies or property - limited to no more than 49% of controlling interest. All GCC citizens in the US must have a licensed sponsor who has pre-paid bonds which may be seized in the event of misbehavior, and repeated offenses by their people result in license revocation and bond forfeiture. Mexicans? They can't vote, use public services, own land, publicly demonstrate or engage in any other political activity, and may be deported on a whim. Regards Europe, the government subsidies will blow the bullshit sky high. No government-subsidized company may compete head-to-head with a private company - eliminated from bidding. Sue the hell out of any corporation that engages in true monopolistic acts. But do NOT allow punishing corporations for simply being successful, such as the EU shakedown of Microsoft. No security-related business may be foreign-owned under any circumstances. Where there are no domestic taker, then create a public agency which charges fees to pay for its services. Double taxation? Nope. Dual citizenship? Nope. Oath of Allegiance? You godamned bet. You get the idea. Extend as needed.
It's time has definitely come. Reciprocal rules, no exceptions. Get pissed off. Make it so.
#3
Throw in some domestic corrections, such as the Flat Tax, an elected Judiciary, Line Item Veto, solid rules to end unrelated riders (e.g. on defense and highways bills) in the first place, eliminate all "earmarks" (the McCain/Bayh joke is lip-service) and other Tough Love (TM) solutions that have been drowned out by the special interests, pseudo-hawks, true-blue LLL liars who "support the troops" but not their mission, and pork-barrel addicts and you're really talking. I say let West Virginia be West Virginia, LOL.
And add ending foreign aid to any country that doesn't prove by action, not words, to be a true ally in all security matters where the interests SHOULD be common.
If we do reach the point where the decks are actually cleared for action domestically, and I think you know what I mean, then instead of the same old games we might as well excise as many of those tumors, bad habits, and legacy mistakes as we can stand, too. No more bridges to nowhere. We're already there in many respects.
A wishful thinking personal pet peeve post script: Reduce or remove the congressional oversight on placement, opening, closing, etc of any and all military bases, foreign and domestic. I think there's a fair-to-middling chance that it's unconstitutional. A solid case can be made that it's within the purview of the President regards national security. I'd love to hear the case made that the congress should have overriding authority on how the military is structured and deployed. Funding is theirs (House) and treaties are theirs (Senate), but where else does their constitutional authority in this arena take precedence over the security of the nation, which belongs to the President? That would save untold billions of wasted $'s, too. On the side, it would be very telling if the congress had to vote on defense issues without any pork in the mix. So much ass coverage would vaporize instantly revealing who is actually who on defense and security issues. Everyoneis guiltyin some degree, I believe. Ah well, it'll never happen.
/wishfulthinkingpetpeevepostscript
#4
"Peace initiative", what a grotesque and perverted word for these ppl in that part of the world. Like "duty" from the SS guards in Auschwitz, Belsen or Buchewald.
An empty watchtower overlooks a deserted road lined with rusting vehicle parts. The only traffic is a pregnant bitch and a mule and cart. This is Gaza's economic lifeline, the Karni crossing into Israel, which is supposed to handle 1,300 containers of merchandise and food per day in order to sustain 1.3 million people. But nothing is entering or leaving Gaza, and now the funds to purchase what is available there are also drying up, bringing the dire situation of its people to a new and febrile crisis.
Karni is officially closed because the Israeli army has declared a security alert for the Jewish Passover holiday. Yet it has barely been open this year. The effect is a paralysis of Gaza's commerce and severe shortages of basic foods. Not that the locals are in a position to buy what food there is. There is little money because the European Union, Canada and the United States have stopped funding the aid-dependent Palestinian Authority, which can no longer pay its staff's wages.
The result is that families are existing on tiny amounts of money and businesses are facing collapse. Palestinian areas in the West Bank face similar difficulties, but the situation in Gaza is much more severe. John Ging, the Gaza director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said that, while he did not expect people to starve, 'the clock is ticking towards a crisis'.
To add further misery, in retaliation for militants firing home-made Qassam rockets at Israel, the Israel Defence Force has bombarded the north of Gaza with thousands of artillery shells. Gazans fear external pressures will lead to domestic unrest in which the situation is used as a weapon against Hamas by supporters of Fatah who have not accepted January's electoral defeat.
Confronted with the crisis facing Palestinian society, Russia broke ranks with fellow mediators the EU and Washington yesterday by promising emergency aid to save the authority from complete bankruptcy.
It came as the first anti-government protests took place in Khan Yunis in Gaza, when about 50 policemen, most of them Fatah supporters, blocked Gaza's main artery to demand the government pay their salaries or step aside. Yesterday dozens more stormed a government building and blocked roads.
At the root of Gaza's problems is Israel's determination to force Hamas to recognise the state of Israel and renounce violence. Israel has been joined in its efforts by Britain, the EU and the US. Hamas militants have been on a ceasefire for 16 months but they are determined to withhold recognition of Israel at least until it withdraws from occupied Palestinian territory.
Israel's policy was summed up by Dov Weisglass, an adviser to Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, earlier this year. 'The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger,' he said. The hunger pangs are supposed to encourage the Palestinians to force Hamas to change its attitude towards Israel or force Hamas out of government.
But it is not certain that the Palestinian reality will conform to the Israeli theory. Even if the wage bill is finally paid - with Russia's help - analysts believe it will only provide a short respite until the same problem arises next month.
Mohammed Salah, 38, a barber in the Jabalia refugee camp said that the economic crisis was 'a conspiracy from inside and outside against Hamas. Things are very low at the moment, but if we give up thieves will take over the government,' he said. He estimated that his takings had fallen by 50 per cent. 'I don't turn anyone away. They pay what they can when they can,' he said.
And while many supporters of Fatah are enjoying the discomfort of Hamas, they are not enjoying the problems that accompany it. Adib Yusef, 44, and his brother, Ahab, 37, are Fatah supporters who are responsible for a joint household of 14 - four adults and 10 children. Recently Ahab and his wife and three children moved in with his brother to share the rent and bills of £112 per month.
Adid is unemployed, but does odd jobs when he can, and Ahab is a carpenter with the Ministry of Public Works, earning £218 per month. Adib's eldest son is a policeman and is paid £192, which all goes to the family. The wages for February were paid two weeks late in March and there is no indication as to when the March wages will be paid. Adib says the family normally exists on £7.50 per day, but at the moment they are making do on £1.25. All their savings and assets have been used up. Ahab owes £3,750 to a bank for his wedding.
Adib, who is smoking a cigarette he has just bought for six pence, says that the family are existing on handouts from acquaintances. 'We eat potatoes, tomatoes and other vegetables that we can buy cheaply. The problem is not so much what is happening now, but that there is no hope on the horizon,' he said.
Ahab is quick to blame Hamas for the current predicament. 'Hamas used to give out charity coupons, but now they have to give out wages and they find out it is not so easy,' he said. Adib, like many non-Hamas supporters, also blames the West. 'They ask for democracy and then they do not like the result,' he said.
Even before the authority's wages crisis, the economy was in dire straits because of the Israeli closure of Gaza. More than 3,000 containers of goods have been stuck at the Karni crossing and the port of Ashdod in Israel for months. The majority of Gaza's farm produce did not reach its markets and had to be sold at a fraction of its value locally.
For those families who do not have a wage to rely on, the UN relief agency is their life support system. The agency, which was set up in 1948 to cater for the needs of Palestinian refugees, is responsible for 962,000 registered refugees in Gaza and 735,000 of them receive food aid. 'We are living with the consequences of an unprecedented period of closure. We have contingency plans for this event but they have been exhausted,' he said.
'We have run out of reserves, there is a pressure pot of of frustration compounded by the intensity of shelling, and in the midst of all this we have had avian flu and not a shekel has been offered in compensation to the farmers who have lost their livestock,' he said
Raji Serani, director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, said that the ultimate effect could be to silence moderate voices. 'I have no idea where this will end, but I fear it will be bleak and black,' he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2006 00:08 ||
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#1
Adib, like many non-Hamas supporters, also blames the West. 'They ask for democracy and then they do not like the result,' he said.
More precisely, Adib, it is you who do not like the result.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
04/16/2006 1:33 Comments ||
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#6
A little physics education would have gone a long long way. Cause and effect is 'such' an effective teacher...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
04/16/2006 6:01 Comments ||
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#7
'Tis the problem, Tony (UK). Apparently the science classes only cover "things that go boom".
You gotta put it in ways they understand. So, Adid and Ahab, think of it this way...
Your daughter, who has never held a job and had been supported her entire life, marries a guy with no job and no possibility of one. Would you continue to support her? That's right. No.
Hey, wait a minute.....that second part of your answer, "tell my oldest son to go kill her for the family's honor", isn't what we're looking for. Bad analogy, ok. I'll come up with something better.
Ok, little Hamid likes to build explosives at home. But little Hamid decides to ignore warnings that tell him if he does x, then there will be a bad reaction. He proceeds to have a "work accident" that blows off both of his hands and leaves him in a wheelchair. Who is to blame for this?
Uh, no, guys, that is an interesting answer, but it's not the Israelis, and the way to deal with it is not by having Hamid's buddies rig up his chair so that he can blow up a Jewish hospital when he goes there for treatment, since the Palestinian ones suck.
#9
To add further misery, in retaliation for militants firing home-made Qassam rockets at Israel, the Israel Defence Force has bombarded the north of Gaza with thousands of artillery shells.
YJCMTSU. Cause and effect in the same sentence clear as a bell and the writer still cant see it. to add further misery fer gawds sake try stopping the rockets that lead to the retaliatory shells.
How can anyone be so stupid and so collectively stupid at that?
At the root of Gaza's problems is Israel's determination to force Hamas to recognise the state of Israel and renounce violence. Yaaas. Thats such an unreasonable demand to make of a democratic government. How dare they!
'They ask for democracy and then they do not like the result,' he said.
Democracy is meant to result in responsible government. The government you elect is responsible for its behaviour and you are responsible for having elected it. What you are experiencing is democratic countries response to your selection.
For those families who do not have a wage to rely on, the UN relief agency is their life support system. The agency, which was set up in 1948 to cater for the needs of Palestinian refugees, is responsible for 962,000 registered refugees in Gaza and 735,000 of them receive food aid. 'We are living with the consequences of an unprecedented period of closure. We have contingency plans for this event but they have been exhausted,' he said.
Sucking on the charity tit since 48. Money from the people they want to kill. You bet your butt were exhausted.
'We have run out of reserves, there is a pressure pot of frustration compounded by the intensity of shelling, and in the midst of all this we have had avian flu and not a shekel has been offered in compensation to the farmers who have lost their livestock,' he said.
Sympathy meter hasnt twitched in so long, Ive sent it out for maintenance.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/16/2006 12:51 Comments ||
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#12
I'm afraid I'll be redundant, but... I feel strangely unmoved by that tragedy.
And yet, God know how much I love them, theses nice bloodthirsty, jew-hating, welfare-addicted drama queens primitives living in beautiful Gaza.
#14
It's a very rare 128 bit digital meter. It's so sensitive it requires a super computer front end to detect the sympathy levels from the ambient apathy.
Posted by: ed ||
04/16/2006 13:29 Comments ||
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#15
Now THAT'S a sensitive meter - it can measure individual sympathon particles!
It's a surreal piece isn't it? Thinemp points out in no uncertain terms *exactly why* the Paleos aren't getting any aid, and yet the Grauniad reporter *still* can't get it.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
04/16/2006 15:07 Comments ||
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#18
Wish the meter was about 10% larger - having trouble reading the hilarious all important small print.
Russia has said it will grant the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority urgent financial aid, in opposition to the policy of the EU and the US. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the pledge to authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a telephone call, Moscow said.
The US and EU cut off aid after Hamas took power on 30 March because the militant group refused to renounce violence or recognise Israel. Iran on Friday urged the Muslim world to help fund the authority.
Do it yourself.
A Russian foreign ministry statement said: "Mahmoud Abbas stated his high appreciation of Russia's intent, confirmed by Sergei Lavrov, to grant the Palestinian Authority an urgent financial aid in the nearest future."
Mr Lavrov said on Tuesday withholding aid to the Palestinians was a mistake. "Hamas should... recognise Israel and sit down at the negotiating table. But for that it's necessary to work with them," Mr Lavrov said.
Palestinian PM Ismail Haniya, of Hamas, vowed on Friday that the cuts in funds would not weaken the people's resolve.
#1
Considering how poor the Russians are, can't imagine where they are coming up with the cash for this. Maybe we should reconsider some of the money that we have been providing the cash strapped Russians.
#8
I dunno. Maybe this is shaping up as a communist uprising against the west. See South America and the link to the poppies. Russia and China and SA and the mexican uprising of extreme socialism. The islamists and muslim countries may only be "useful idiots". There is an alignment deeper than the seen.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has announced the Government would stop executing prisoners as part of her Easter message in the largely Roman Catholic nation. "Regarding those who face the death penalty, I announce that we are changing that punishment and will make (the maximum penalty) life imprisonment," Ms Arroyo said in a statement.
If your neck's been stretched, your buds can't bust you out...
Ms Arroyo, a devout Catholic, had once before imposed a moratorium on the death penalty after coming to power in 2001. But she lifted it in 2003 after a series of violent crimes.
So there are no more violent crimes in the Philippines?
Despite this, no death sentences have subsequently been carried out. Completely abolishing the death penalty, however, requires an act of Congress.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 19:49 ||
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The Indonesian Mujahedin Council (MMI) here Saturday refuted a US Treasury Department allegation that Abubakar Ba`asyir, the MMI chairman, had assets and a bank account linked to the al-Gaeda terror network, thus saying the accusation was "totally groundless".
"We have asked the US Treasury Department to provide us with the details of Abubakar`s bank account as soon as possible because it was said to be linked to Al-Qaida," Fauzan Al Anshori, the head of IMM`s data anf information affairs department, said.
If the US treasury department could not meet the IMM`s request, we will lodge a protest to the US government for having spread such a slanderous report on Abubakar Ba`asyir," Anshori said.
"We see it as a dirty maneuver of the US in a bid to fabricate the reason for sending Ba`asyir to jail again. Baasyir will soon be released on 14 June, 2006.
According to Fauzan, his side will directly meet with Baasyir who is now serving his jail sentence in Cipinang correctional institution at about 10:00 in an effort to confirm the US accusation.
"As long as I know, Abubakar doesn`t have a bank accont nor asset in foreign country except his own house and car. The house dwelled by his family also belongs to the Ngruki Islamic Boarding School," he said.
Earlier, many mass media in Indonesia quoting BBC news report saying the freezing of Abubakar`s bank account and asset together with three other Indonesians following their link with terrorist network.
The three Indonesians were reported to be Gun Gun Rusman Gunawan (younger brother of Hambali), Taufik Rifki and Abdullah Anshori.
As to the three Indonesia, Fauzan said he had no knowledge of them.
He further said that what the US Treasury Department had done was actually wicked manuever in the run up to Baasyir`s release after the issuance of travel warnings by Australia and the US to Indonesia for fear of a bomb blast which would happen on April 2, 2006.
"Bomb attack turned out to be a big lie," he said.
In fact, the travel warning by Australia and the US has actually brough about psychological and financial impacts on the government and the people of Indonesia, he said.
BATTICALOA: The Tamil Tigers said on Saturday they were pulling out of peace talks with the Sri Lankan government, triggering fears the island could plunge back into a two-decade old civil war. The Tigers said their withdrawal from scheduled talks in Geneva aimed at saving a faltering 2002 ceasefire was due to problems with the requested safe-conduct transport of rebel commanders.
The Tigers were concerned about Sri Lankan navy plans to monitor a boat that was to have taken the commanders based in the east and their Nordic escorts on Saturday to the Tigers northern base, the head of the Tiger peace secretariat said. It is very important we meet our commanders, S Puleedevan said. We have cancelled the transport. If we cannot meet them, Geneva is off.
Swedish Major-General Ulf Henricsson, head of the unarmed Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission tasked with monitoring the truce, said the Tigers had agreed to allow the navy to monitor the rebel vessel from a distance. If the rebels did not know that, they had not read the paperwork properly, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 00:50 ||
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Iran's success in producing enriched uranium for the first time may have increased national pride, but hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is annoying predecessors by claiming the achievement in his name alone.
And others, including some among the president's supporters, worry his tough rhetoric is intensifying international anxiety over the nuclear program and worsening the country's isolation.
On Tuesday, Ahmadinejad announced that Iran successfully enriched uranium using 164 centrifuges, a significant step toward the large-scale production of a material that can be used to fuel nuclear reactors for generating electricity or to build atomic bombs.
Iran insists it is interested only in the peaceful use of nuclear power, but the United States and others suspect the regime wants to develop weapons and are demanding a halt to enrichment activities.
Since his announcement, Ahmadinejad has been even more defiant in defending his country's decision to press ahead with its nuclear program over the U.N. Security Council's objections.
Ahmadinejad rebuffed a request Thursday by Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, that Iran suspend uranium enrichment, saying Tehran will not retreat "one iota."
To those upset by that stance, he said, "Be angry at us and die of this anger."
A day later, he turned up the heat in anti- Israel rhetoric that has brought international condemnation, calling the Jewish state a "rotten, dried tree" that will be annihilated by "one storm." He previously angered many world leaders by calling for Israel to be wiped off the map.
Such talk has some in this conservative Islamic nation concerned.
"The more Ahmadinejad confronts the international community, the more power he may show to his public in the short term but deny Iran a good life among world nations in the long term," said Hossein Salimi, a professor of international relations in Tehran.
For now, it's a minority opinion. The president's tough talk resounds with many Iranians.
"Ahmadinejad is a source of pride for resisting the U.S. and defending Iran's nuclear rights," said Ali Mahmoudi, a regular attendee of Friday prayers in this strongly religious nation.
Still, the president may have alienated potential allies with this enrichment announcement because he didn't cite former Iranian leaders or thank them for their efforts in the program.
"Ahmadinejad spoke as if production of enriched uranium was his work. He didn't mention that it was the outcome of more than two decades of clandestine work by previous governments," said political analyst Saeed Leilaz.
In an apparent show of displeasure, ex-president Hashemi Rafsanjani tried to take some of the glory from Ahmadinejad by announcing the enrichment step several hours ahead of time.
Reformist Mohammad Khatami, who preceded Ahmadinejad as president, publicly reminded Iranians that the nuclear achievement was "the outcome of efforts by competent Iranian scientists, a process that had begun by previous governments."
Even some of Ahmadinejad's supporters are starting to question his tactics.
"Ahmadinejad has forgotten why he won the presidential vote. The needy voted for him because he promised to bring bread to people's homes but nothing good has been done to improve living standards," said Reza Lotfi, a student at Tehran University.
Mansour Ramezanpour, a construction worker, questioned why the government hasn't done more for the weak economy.
"Previously, I went to work four days a week. Now, not more than two days. Recession is everywhere," he said.
But Ahmadinejad appears determined to make the most of the nuclear card to bolster his standing among his people. It was no coincidence that he announced Iran had enriched uranium on April 9 the date that the United States severed ties with Iran in 1980.
He and other top leaders see the nuclear program as a level to get the United States to recognize Iran as a "big, regional power" and deal with it on that basis.
"The key problem between Iran and the U.S. is that Washington treats Iran as a non-grownup person. The Iranian leadership is very unhappy with this. Tehran wants America to treat Iran as a regional superpower," Leilaz said.
On Wednesday, Ahmadinejad sent a clear message that Iran expected to be treated as a peer.
"Today, our situation has changed completely. We are a nuclear country and speak to others from the position of a nuclear country," he said.
#2
"The key problem between Iran and the U.S. is that Washington treats Iran as a non-grownup person. The Iranian leadership is very unhappy with this. Tehran wants America to treat Iran as a regional superpower," Leilaz said.
"non-grownup person" You mean a child, don't you. Like an ignorant, whiny, bullying little tiny child who's too late for his nap?
Nope. We're treating you like a LUNATIC. Like an ingorant, whiny, bullying lunactic who's too late for a deep, deep sleep.
#6
Not all Germans supported Hitler or Japanese supported Tojo. However, the Army Air Corps and Bomber Command didn't make too much of a distinction of who was on the receiving end of their deliveries. Act now.
#7
Agree UT. The Iranian people seem to mistake our urgent need to want to impress upon them that we don't want to do this as a sign of weakness. It is not. It is an urgent plea to warn them that we don't want to do this.
If you don't get it - think about it. Its important.
#8
The pre-WWII similarities are noticeable. Before WWI, Germans had severe self-esteem problems, being sneered at elsewhere in Europe as peasants. After their defeat, this turned to neurosis, with half of their public wanting "peace at any price", and the other half wanting to put everybody else in Europe in their place.
Japan, also, was chomping at the bit to be seen as big and powerful in the world. To "have their place in the sun", and to show everybody else in their that Japan ought to rule over them.
The one big difference is nuclear weapons. And for this reason, Iran must die. Their one claim to national unity is nuclear power, and as long as that goal is achievable, any Iranian government will eventually be a threat.
By "death", I mean the partitioning of Iran, leaving behind Persia, Greater Kurdistan, Greater Iraq, Greater Pakistan, and Greater Azerbaijan. For only if this is done, will Persia be at peace for a very long time.
And we will be free of the fear of a nuclear Iran.
The alternative is the mistake we have made twice before, with Germany(WWI & II) and Iraq(GWI & II), of not finishing the job, of choosing a short-term resolution instead of a harder, long-term one.
#9
"Ahmadinejad is a source of pride for resisting the U.S. and defending Iran's nuclear rights," said Ali Mahmoudi, a regular attendee of Friday prayers in this strongly religious nation.
---------------------------------
It is not clear that Iran is a strongly religious nation. Attendance at fri prayers is very low (somewhere around 1% of the population in much of Tehran; up to 25% in the rural areas). It is however, a religious dictatorship.
Israeli veteran statesman Shimon Peres, responding to the latest verbal attack on the Jewish state by Irans president, said on Saturday that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would end up like Iraqs Saddam Hussein.
In a speech to a conference on the Palestinian issue on Friday, Ahmadinejad said: The Zionist regime is a decaying and crumbling tree that will fall with a storm.
Peres, in a statement quoted by Israel Radio, called Ahmadinejads comments a direct threat to Israels existence. His statements are reminiscent of those voiced by Saddam Hussein. Ahmadinejad will end up like Saddam Hussein, he said, referring to the Iraqi leader ousted by a US invasion in 2003 and on trial for the killings of 148 Shiites two decades ago. Ahmadinejad represents Satan, not God, Peres said. History has denounced the madmen and those who waved the sword.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 00:55 ||
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#1
Peres, in a statement quoted by Israel Radio, called Ahmadinejads comments a direct threat to Israels existence.
So "clear and present danger" isn't far off. This could start moving quite fast, quite soon.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/16/2006 11:54 Comments ||
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#5
"Irans president will end up like Saddam"
Not really. Unless you're talking about the future Sad-ass.
The Iranian dictators leadership will end up DEAD.
Hope they enjoy their 73 demons.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/16/2006 12:47 Comments ||
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#6
Peres is no wimp...
"The cost of surrender always exceeds the cost of a military risk. The food of terrorism is success. The end of terrorism is failure."
Shimon Peres, Israeli Defense Minister
on the Entebbe Raid, July 1976
The Operation: On July 3rd, the Israeli cabinet convened to discuss whether or not Israel should cave in to the terrorists demands. Yet, when the cabinet opened, the Israeli Chief of Staff began outlining the plan for Operation Entebbe. At that time, four Hercules aircraft with IDF soldiers on board, took off and headed south. The discussion at the cabinet meeting continued on and at one point Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister of Israel passed a note to the Israeli Defense Minister, Shimon Peres telling him that they should begin the operation, that they could always call the operation off. Peres smiled and Rabin realized that the operation was already in process. Within an hour, the cabinet had voted unanimously to approve the operation.
Israeli Nuclear Program Pioneered by Shimon Peres
In 1953, at age 30, Shimon Peres was appointed by Israel's first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, to become Director-General of the Ministry of Defense. Within three years, Peres had laid the foundation for Israel's nuclear weapon program. He picked France as the major supplier, arranged the sale of a nuclear reactor, and spent the next decade overseeing the construction of the Dimona nuclear weapon production complex.
Posted by: john ||
04/16/2006 18:12 Comments ||
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The United States will push its allies next week to consider targeted sanctions on Iran that include a freeze on assets and visa restrictions, the State Department said on Friday. Political directors from the main powers involved in trying to rein in Iran's nuclear programs are due to meet in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss what action to take after Tehran announced this week it had become a nuclear power by enriching uranium.
The senior officials from France, Germany, Britain, the United States, Russia and China will look at "real actions" the United Nations can take to get Iran to change its behaviour, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. The options under a Chapter 7 resolution under the UN charter could include a freeze on assets and travel restrictions on some members of the Iranian government, said McCormack. "These are all levers at the disposal of the international community," McCormack told reporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2006 00:19 ||
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#1
'"These are all levers at the disposal of the international community," McCormack told reporters.'
The only effective lever is the one that turns on the garbage disposal.
TONY Blair has told George Bush that Britain cannot offer military support to any strike on Iran, regardless of whether the move wins the backing of the international community, government sources claimed yesterday.
Amid increasing tension over Tehran's attempts to develop a military nuclear capacity, the Prime Minister has laid bare the limits of his support for President Bush, who is believed to be considering an assault on Iran, Foreign Office sources revealed.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is calling on the United Nations to consider new sanctions against Tehran when the Security Council meets next week to discuss the developing crisis. Blair is expected to support the call for a "Chapter 7" resolution, which could effectively isolate Iran from the international community.
But, in the midst of international opposition to a pre-emptive strike on Tehran, and Britain's military commitments around the world, the government maintains it cannot contribute to a military assault. "We will support the diplomatic moves, at best," a Foreign Office source told Scotland on Sunday. "But we cannot commit our own resources to a military strike."
Meanwhile, a new report on the Iran crisis has warned that neo-conservatives in the Bush administration are on "collision course" with Tehran.
The Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), often referred to as Blair's "favourite think-tank", will appeal for a greater effort to find a diplomatic solution in a report to be published later this week. FPC director Stephen Twigg, formerly a Labour minister, explained: "It is essential UK policy on Iran is well informed... We want to engage with the various reformist elements in Iran, both inside and outside the structures of power.
"There is potential for political dialogue, economic ties and cultural contacts to act as catalysts for the strengthening of civil society in Iran."
While the sense of crisis over Iran has been escalated by the fiery rhetoric between Tehran and the West - particularly Washington - many within the British government are now convinced that the impasse can be resolved by repeating the same sort of painstaking diplomatic activity that returned Libya to the international fold.
you mean the diplomatic activity in which the CIA showed Qadaffi the direct evidence we had of his attempts to import nuclear technology?
The approach contrasts sharply with the strategy employed during the run-up to the war in Iraq, when ministers repeatedly issued grim warnings to Saddam Hussein over the consequences of not falling in line with their demands.
"The only long-term solution to Iran's problems is democracy," said Alex Bigham, co-author of the FPC report. "But it cannot be dictated, Iraq-style, or it will backfire. Iran may seem superficially like Iraq but we need to treat Iran more like Libya. Diplomatic engagement must be allowed to run its course. There need to be bigger carrots as well as bigger sticks."
However, the conciliatory language was not reflected in the approach from Washington, where senior figures in the Bush administration remain keen to stress the danger of Tehran's intentions.
In a declaration aimed at America's allies as much as Iran, Rice claimed the Security Council's handling of the Iranian nuclear issue would be a test of the international community's credibility. "If the UN Security Council says: 'You must do these things and we'll assess in 30 days,' and Iran has not only not done those things, but has taken steps that are exactly the opposite of those that are demanded, then the Security Council is going to have to act."
Rice dismissed Iran's declaration that it is only interested in enriching uranium for use in civil nuclear power facilities, saying the international community must remain focused on the potential military applications of this technology.
"The world community does not want them to have that nuclear know-how and that's why nobody wants them to be able to enrich and reprocess on their territory, getting to the place that they can produce what we call a full-scale nuclear plant to be able to do this," she said.
Rice reiterated that President Bush has not taken any option off the table, including a military response, if Iran fails to comply with the demands of the international community.
Labik, an al-Qaeda media organization, yesterday, April 13, 2006, released a 6:30 minute video of the Martyr al-Zobeir al-Maghrabi, a memorial presentation for the deceased mujahid. Through the course of the video, mortar shellings and machine gun fire are depicted against an unidentified location, as well as a camp site; images of Zobeir shown after receiving a wound that necessitated the removal of his right hand. Additional footage contains al-Zobair al-Maghrabi manning a machine gun, firing shells and planning of a map. The presentation closes with a sorrowful eulogy for the martyr.
Sounds pretty mawkish. I hope his departure from the gene pool was very painful.
In January 2003, one of the two most wanted men in the world couldn't contain his frustration. From a hiding place probably somewhere in South Asia, he tapped out two lengthy e-mails to a fellow Egyptian who'd been criticizing him in public.
"I beg you, don't stop the Muslim souls who trust your opinions from joining the jihad against the Americans," wrote Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy leader of al-Qaeda. He fired off the message even though it risked exposing him.
"Let's put it this way: Tensions had been building up between us for a long time," explained the e-mail's recipient, Montasser el-Zayat, a Cairo lawyer who shared a prison cell with Zawahiri in the 1980s and provided this account. "He always thinks he is right, even if he is alone."
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Zawahiri has broadcast his views to the world relentlessly. Despite a $25 million price on his head, he has published memoirs, given interviews and recorded a dozen speeches that find their way to the Internet and television. Video of a speech was posted Thursday on a Web site.
Zawahiri's visibility, eclipsing Osama bin Laden's, reminds al-Qaeda's enemies that the network is capable of more attacks. But a closer look at his speeches and writings, and interviews with several longtime associates in radical Islamic circles, suggest another motive: fear of losing his ideological grip over a revolutionary movement he has nurtured for 40 years.
The success of the Sept. 11 hijackings temporarily united al-Qaeda's feuding factions under the leadership of bin Laden and Zawahiri. But now long-standing ideological and tactical disputes have resurfaced, according to analysts and former Zawahiri associates.
The schisms are reflected in Zawahiri's many speeches, in which he has attempted to assert influence over a host of seemingly unrelated issues: the war in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, elections in Egypt, oil production in Saudi Arabia and obscure questions of Muslim theology.
He is risking his credibility among Islamic radicals by speaking out on so many subjects, according to Osama Rushdi, an Egyptian who spent three years in a Cairo prison with Zawahiri in the 1980s and now lives in exile in Britain.
"He's trying to stay in control and give the impression that he's behind everything in the Middle East and everywhere else, fighting against the Americans in Iraq and against Britain in Europe," Rushdi said in an interview. "He is trying to take responsibility as a leader for what is going on in Iraq. But he knows, and everyone knows, that that is not true, that he has nothing to do with anything in Iraq."
Al-Qaeda was founded as a decentralized coalition of Islamic extremists. That structure has complicated efforts by intelligence services to penetrate the network. But the lack of clear chains of command also can make it difficult for leaders to maintain control.
Terrorism analysts said that with the Sept. 11 attacks, al-Qaeda unleashed events that are now largely outside of its control. With Zawahiri and bin Laden in hiding, most likely in Pakistan, new leaders such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq have emerged as potential rivals who follow their own script. Others have launched attacks in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, sometimes in the name of al-Qaeda but usually as independent operators with their own agendas.
"What they've started has taken on a momentum of its own," said Maha Azzam, an associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. "Obviously, this is a global movement. And it has global support, and it can't be controlled centrally as much as perhaps they'd like it to be. It's almost as if Zawahiri doesn't want to be left behind. They don't want the events on the ground to supersede them."
On March 4, President Bush was wrapping up a visit to Pakistan, where two months earlier a CIA drone had staged a missile strike in a failed attempt to kill Zawahiri. Shortly before the president's departure, Zawahiri provided another taunting reminder of his elusiveness. In a videotape aired by the al-Jazeera satellite television network, the 54-year-old Egyptian surgeon once again blasted the U.S. military and political presence in the Middle East.
But the bulk of his lecture was aimed at another radical Islamic movement: Hamas, which swept to victory in the Jan. 25 elections in the Palestinian territories. Zawahiri congratulated Hamas on its political success, but he also offered a stern warning: Avoid the temptation to work with "secular" Palestinian legislators, and never compromise on efforts to establish strict Islamic law, or sharia.
"Power is not an end in itself. Real power is application of sharia on earth," he said. "Entering the same parliament as the lay people, recognizing their legitimacy and the accords they have signed is contrary to Islam."
The lecture echoed comments made by Zawahiri on Jan. 6, when he ripped the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood for taking part in last year's elections in his native Egypt, where the al-Qaeda figure got his start in radical Islamic politics as a teenager and medical student.
The Brotherhood, he said, was "duped, provoked and used" by the United States. Zawahiri and other radicals have argued that taking part in Western-style elections is incompatible with Islam -- democracy, he has said, is an assault on God's right to rule.
With groundbreaking elections taking place in Iraq, Egypt, the Palestinian territories and even Saudi Arabia, Zawahiri and his ideological allies fear that popular sentiment in the Middle East could be turning against their goal of establishing a united caliphate to rule over the world's entire Muslim population, many al-Qaeda experts contend.
Kamal Habib is a former leader of the radical Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the network that Zawahiri joined as a young doctor. After serving a decade in prison for attempting to overthrow the Egyptian government, Habib has embraced nonviolence and is considered an authority on militant Islam.
In an interview in Cairo, he noted that Zawahiri's video messages have recently delved into the subjects of freedom and democracy. "The Arab world has witnessed change over the last year or two that is almost equivalent to the amount of change that occurred over the previous two decades," Habib said in an interview in Cairo. "He can't remain isolated from these changes. He has to respond to them."
Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical militant Islamic groups that Zawahiri has criticized generally have been reluctant to respond in public. But Hany el-Sibaai, another Egyptian exile in Britain who has known Zawahiri for years, predicts a change if the United States leaves Iraq.
"After America withdraws its troops, I think the debate will break into the open, said Sibaai, who leads the al-Maqreze Center for Historical Studies in London. "It will be, 'Why did you do this? Why did you go that way?' "
Some of the sharpest tactical differences within al-Qaeda have come to a head in Iraq.
According to intelligence officials in the Middle East and Europe, a growing rivalry has developed between Zawahiri and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian who leads the al-Qaeda faction in Iraq. Although Zawahiri has been reduced to launching rhetorical attacks from hideouts, Zarqawi has gained notoriety and respect among jihadists as an aggressive commander who continues to defy the U.S. military.
Zarqawi pledged loyalty to al-Qaeda two years ago, but analysts and officials suspect that their alliance is a marriage of convenience. Before the invasion of Iraq, Zarqawi kept his distance from the group, operating his own training camps. He has also held different strategic objectives: the overthrow of the monarchy in his native Jordan and war against Israel, neither of which have been priorities for al-Qaeda.
"There's nothing in common between these two guys," said Diaa Rashwan, a researcher at the al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. "They were two different people from different places with a different history. I have my doubts about whether the two guys are really with the same organization."
In October, U.S. intelligence officials released a letter they said was written by Zawahiri to his "gracious brother" Zarqawi. Some independent analysts have questioned its authenticity and have charged the U.S. government with inflating al-Qaeda's role in Iraq for political reasons. Several former Zawahiri associates interviewed for this article said they believe the letter is genuine and accurately reflects some of al-Qaeda's internal conflicts.
In the letter dated July 9, 2005, Zawahiri warned Zarqawi that gory tactics that had made him famous in Iraq -- the videotaped beheadings of hostages and bombings of Shiite holy sites -- risked alienating ordinary Muslims. Although the Egyptian said he agreed such acts were religiously justified, sustaining public support was more important. His advice: Kill hostages by gunshot instead, and concentrate attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces.
"You shouldn't be deceived by the praise of some of the zealous young men and their description of you as the sheikh of the slaughterers," wrote Zawahiri, who like Zarqawi is a Sunni Muslim. "We are in a battle, and more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media. And this media battle is a race for the hearts and minds of our people."
If subsequent events are any indication, Zarqawi's response to the advice has been mixed. The number of decapitations has declined, and there is evidence that Zarqawi has taken a lower profile to give Iraqi insurgents a more visible leadership role.
At the same time, attacks on Shiite mosques have increased. In November, his organization asserted responsibility for coordinated suicide bombings that killed 60 people at two hotels in Amman, Jordan, half of them members of a wedding party.
Public reaction was as Zawahiri predicted: More than 100,000 Jordanians took to the streets, the largest mass protests in the Muslim world against an al-Qaeda-sponsored terrorist attack.
About the same time, Zawahiri produced another videotape, although it did not surface publicly until this week, posted on a radical Islamic Web site.
Perhaps mindful of reports of internal dissension, Zawahiri defended the Jordanian insurgent as "my beloved brother" and urged Muslims to rally behind him. "I have lived with him up close and seen nothing but good from him," Zawahiri said. "The Islamic nation must support the heroic holy warriors in Iraq, who are fighting on the very front line for the dignity of Islam."
Zawahiri's sensitivity to public opinion can be traced to his days as chief of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Its target since the 1960s was what it calls "the near enemy," the Egyptian government, which they consider corrupt and un-Islamic.
In 1993, group members trying to assassinate an Egyptian official accidentally killed an 11-year-old girl. An angry public response, combined with a renewed government crackdown on radicals, severely weakened the network.
This and other setbacks helped drive Zawahiri into exile in Afghanistan. "His organization inside Egypt was almost completely eliminated," said Kamal Habib, the former Islamic Jihad leader, who abandoned the group after he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In 1998, Zawahiri sought to rescue Islamic Jihad by creating a formal alliance with bin Laden's nascent al-Qaeda network called the International Islamic Front Against Crusaders and Jews. The new target would be "the far enemy," the United States and other Western powers seen as protectors of secular Arab governments.
The decision sparked a rebellion in the ranks of Islamic Jihad. Zawahiri had failed to consult with other senior members of the group before ordering a drastic shift in its core mission.
"Many people said, 'Why would I want to fight the White House and Tony Blair?' " said Yasser al-Sirri, another Egyptian exile in London who has known Zawahiri for more than a decade. "But it was his only choice then, to be allied with bin Laden. He hadn't been successful in Egypt because he had made mistakes and surrounded himself with the wrong people. They were always fighting and arguing among themselves."
The internal feuding continued even as the new al-Qaeda under Zawahiri and bin Laden gained prominence for sponsoring the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa and the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen two years later. E-mails recovered from an al-Qaeda computer in Kabul after the invasion of Afghanistan show a steady stream of bitter message traffic between Zawahiri and his followers during this period, with running arguments over money, ideology and authority.
The Sept. 11 plot's success brought the squabbling to a temporary halt. But Zawahiri seems to have realized that the feuding would eventually resume and challenge his ideological authority, said el-Zayat, the lawyer who reported receiving in 2003 the admonishing e-mails from the al-Qaeda theoretician. Intelligence analysts said they believe the e-mails are genuine but that it is impossible to confirm with certainty that Zawahiri was the author.
"I'm sure he has the vision to bring the network back together, but I don't think he will be able to do that," Zayat said. "He hasn't changed. It's as if I'm listening to him in a prison cell in 1981. Except for some white hair, he is the same."
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.
Adviser to the ministry of foreign affairs Reaz Rahman said the government did not see a link between 
ROME: An Italian magazine close to the influential Catholic conservative Opus Dei group has published a new caricature of Prophet Muhammad (
The Netherlands could have to pay significant damages to expats who can show they have suffered as result of the failure to implement a new directive on a permanent residence status for non-EU citizens, an immigration lawyer warned on Friday. "The argument by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) that the directive hasn't been implemented in 17 of the 25 EU member states doesn't hold water," Michiel Tjebbes, a partner with Everaert Immigration Lawyers, told Expatica.
Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda refused Thursday to appear before a German parliamentary commission investigating alleged US-funded flights for transferring suspected terrorists. 
KARACHI: The president of the Balochistan National Party (BNP), Sardar Akhter Mengal, has appealed to the Supreme Court to take suo motu action against the secret agency personnel who have been (reportedly) trying to kill or abduct him and his party workers for the past 12 days.
Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, on Friday warned that revolutionary Maoist groups posed the single greatest threat to Indias internal stability and democratic culture.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has leveled unprecedented criticism at Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, accusing the "presidential institution" of trying to deny the elected Palestinian government its powers and present it as lacking the ability to govern.
The Palestinian foreign minister has called on Arabs to fulfil their promises of financial assistance to the Palestinian government. For their part, Arab officials, at a meeting between Mahmoud al-Zahar and the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Saturday, urged the Hamas-led Palestinian government to consider an Arab plan to end the conflict with Israel that calls for exchanging land for peace. Al-Zahar said he would discuss the initiative with the others in the government but pointed out that Israel had not yet accepted the deal. "I will convey all that I heard to every decision-maker and make a clear picture about the initiative. But the problem is: Does the other party accept it?" al-Zahar said after a meeting with Amr Moussa, the Arab League secretary-general, and other Arab envoys.
CAIRO: Arab states urged the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority on Saturday to accept an Arab initiative which offers Israel peace in return for land Israel has occupied since 1967. But Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al Zahar, on an Arab tour in urgent search of funds, made no commitment to the initiative, which conflicts with the Hamas movement's goal of a single Islamic state throughout historic Palestine. Zahar told a news conference at the Arab League he was confident that Arab governments would provide money for the authority, which has lost mainly European aid because it refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist. "All the interventions spoke about the Arab initiative and its importance to Palestinians," Zahar said.
An empty watchtower overlooks a deserted road lined with rusting vehicle parts. The only traffic is a pregnant bitch and a mule and cart. This is Gaza's economic lifeline, the Karni crossing into Israel, which is supposed to handle 1,300 containers of merchandise and food per day in order to sustain 1.3 million people. But nothing is entering or leaving Gaza, and now the funds to purchase what is available there are also drying up, bringing the dire situation of its people to a new and febrile crisis.
Russia has said it will grant the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority urgent financial aid, in opposition to the policy of the EU and the US. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the pledge to authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a telephone call, Moscow said. 
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has announced the Government would stop executing prisoners as part of her Easter message in the largely Roman Catholic nation. "Regarding those who face the death penalty, I announce that we are changing that punishment and will make (the maximum penalty) life imprisonment," Ms Arroyo said in a statement. 
BATTICALOA: The Tamil Tigers said on Saturday they were pulling out of peace talks with the Sri Lankan government, triggering fears the island could plunge back into a two-decade old civil war. The Tigers said their withdrawal from scheduled talks in Geneva aimed at saving a faltering 2002 ceasefire was due to problems with the requested safe-conduct transport of rebel commanders. 
Israeli veteran statesman 
