Rare peace talks between Somalia's interim government and opposition exiles have made a slow start in Djibouti, but a senior U.N. official said he was encouraged both sides had turned up. "I am more than hopeful, the Somalis who I met today are committed to peace and reconciliation and they are ready to do it for the sake of Somalia," the U.N. envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, told reporters in Djibouti late on Saturday.
Delegates from the government and exiles based in Eritrea have yet to meet face-to-face, but Ould-Abdallah and Arab League officials shuttled between the two sides. "We are going to work with them on how to advance commitment to peace and security, commitment to respect Somali sovereignty, integrity and independence," Ould-Abdallah said.
More than 35 people have been killed and dozens injured in a fresh surge of violence in Somalia since Thursday, casting further doubt on the prospects for the negotiations.
Militants behind near-daily ambushes and roadside bombs targeting government troops and their Ethiopian allies are the remnants of an Islamist movement that was ousted by the government and its Ethiopian allies at the start of last year.
The leaders of that group, and other critics of President Abdullahi Yusuf, have since moved to Ethiopia's arch-foe Eritrea and formed the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia. They had repeatedly refused to meet government officials until Ethiopian troops left Somali soil. But last month they dropped that demand and agreed to send delegates to Djibouti.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 00:00 ||
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An appeals court in Yemen has reduced the prison sentence for a man convicted of shooting at the U.S. Embassy there. The 2006 shooting caused slight damage to the building in the Yemeni capital of San'a, but no one was hurt. Saleh Alawi al-Ammari was initially sentenced to five years in prison. But a judge on Monday reduced the penalty to three years. Prosecutors have said al-Ammari went on a shooting spree after listening to videotapes calling on Muslims to wage jihad, or holy war, against the United States because of the Iraq war and American support for Israel.
Posted by: ryuge ||
05/12/2008 07:20 ||
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#1
"Saleh, why'd you try to shoot up the embassy?"
"Somebody told me to do it!"
"Well, okay."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 7:45 Comments ||
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday sharply attacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of her Latin America visit, calling her a political descendant of Adolf Hitler and fascism.
The leftist leader slammed Merkel for recent comments saying the Venezuelan leader was not the voice of Latin America and calling on Latin American leaders to distance themselves from Chavez.
"She (Merkel) is from the German right, the same that supported Hitler, that supported fascism, that's the Chancellor of Germany today," Chavez said in Caracas.
Merkel is to make her first visit to Latin America next week, travelling to Brazil on Wednesday. She will attend an EU-Latin America summit in Peru. On May 20, the German leader is to visit Columbia and Mexico.
In an interview with the Spanish service of news agency dpa on Saturday, Merkel she had observed a "leftist populism" in some countries in Latin America. "I don't believe that state-run economies can tackle urgent problems better and in a more sustainable manner. Our experiences in Europe show that," Merkel said. She also called for more efforts to tackle poverty in Latin America. The EU should support countries to eliminate social inequalities, she added.
Chavez said he could confront Merkel about the statements if he attends the upcoming summit of heads of state from Europe and Latin America in Peru. "Maybe I'll say something to her and she'll get mad and say 'why don't you shut up?'" he said, in a reference to a row with Spanish King Juan Carlos last November in Santiago de Chile.
At the time, Chavez had tried to interrupt a speech by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at an Iberian-American summit, prompting a strong admonition by King Juan Carlos who said, Why dont you shut up? The spat triggered a week-long crisis between Madrid and Caracas.
On Sunday, Chavez praised Brazilian leader, Luiz Lula da Silva, for making clear to our blue-blooded friends in Europe they need not fear Latin Americas Left.
Chavez, who famously called US President George W Bush the devil at a UN assembly, is notorious for his inflammatory remarks. On Sunday, he called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a "liar" who "shouldn't even run a corner store." In the past, he has called US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld "one of the dogs of the devil" and then-President of Mexico Vicente Fox the "lap-dog of the empire."
#2
Someone needs to shove a corncob down hoogo's throat - preferably wrapped in high-gauge spring steel at 2500 feet per minute. He's beginning to make the entire world mad at him and his rantings. He's also trying his best to distrupt the governments of states which border Venezuela. Caracas may need to "feel the love" of a US carrier strike division or two.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/12/2008 14:33 Comments ||
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#3
I have a feeling Chavez is digging his own grave and the more he spouts off, the closer he is to an assassination.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez allegedly tried to arm Colombian rebels with help from Belarus, the El Pais newspaper reported Saturday, citing documents from the computer of a slain rebel leader.
The Spanish daily quoted a February 8 e-mail from Ivan Marquez, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), saying Chavez had considered with Belarussian authorities the possibility of providing weapons to FARC. The e-mail was alleged to have been found in the seized computer of FARC second-in-command Raul Reyes, who was killed in March, El Pais said.
The partially coded message mentioned someone identified only as "friend of Belarus," who El Pais identified as Victor Sheiman, secretary of the Belarus Security Council and a close associate of Alexander Lukashenko, the hardline president of the former Soviet republic.
El Pais added that other possible arms sources for FARC, particularly ground-to-air missiles, were mentioned in computer messages, including contacts with "Australian traffickers". The left-of-centre newspaper reported last December that Venezuela had become a safe haven for FARC, harbouring several rebel camps on its territory. Venezuela has denied this.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that US intelligence officials believe that seized computer files showing strong ties between Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Colombian rebels are authentic. The files describe meetings between guerrilla commanders and top Venezuelan officials including Chavez himself, the newspaper said, based on its review of more than 100 documents allegedly seized from Reyes' computer.
Venezuela insists the files, seized by Colombia after it bombed a rebel camp in Ecuador, killing Reyes, are fakes. "We don't recognize the validity of any of these documents," Venezuelan ambassador to the United States Bernardo Alvarez told the Journal Wednesday. "They are false, and an attempt to discredit the Venezuelan government."
And doing a fine job of it, I might add. The truth always hurts ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2008 01:29 ||
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#2
Venezuelan ambassador to the United States Bernardo Alvarez told the Journal Wednesday. "They are false, and an attempt to discredit the Venezuelan government."
Apparently Ambassador Alvarez doesn't know his enemy very well at all. The Venezuelan government "discredited" itself long, long ago. The recent importation of 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles and Hugo's desire to build his very own Kalashnikov factory in Venezuela are quite enough evidence of his intentions. Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega had a colossus gun collection as well. Could there be a common thread among these types? Additionally, the use of e-mail, is a pitifully poor communications tool for tradecraft of this sort. Tin pot amateurs badly in need of bitch slapping I'd say.
#3
The United States should declare an embargo of Venezuela, and not let anything in or out of the country - by land, by air, or by sea. Let's see how long Hoogo can hang on once his peasants start starving to death.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/12/2008 14:37 Comments ||
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#4
Somehow I just can't get behind big indiscriminate bombing waves against civilian populations. Or starving them to get at one clown who could, if need be, be assasinated in a much more discriminating strike. And Lordy knows he's begging for killing.
I'm not alone in that attitude about not indiscriminately slaughtering or vaporizing or napalming civilians, OP, so I suspect you're doomed to be frustrated in the Long War.
#7
Oh, lotp, the only problem with assassination is that it is explicitly outlawed by an Executive Order, and the Dems in Congress would impeach any President with an R after his name that utilized it against even a clown like Hugo.
Rob Malley, a Middle East policy adviser to likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, resigned after news surfaced that he had been meeting with Hamas -- something Obama pledged he himself would never do.
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said Saturday Malley called the Obama campaign on Friday to sever ties with the candidate after learning the Times of London was publishing a story about his contacts with the terrorist group.
Malley is an analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based International Crisis Group, specializing in the Israeli-Arab conflict. He told NBC News that his job "is to meet with all sorts of savory and unsavory people and report on what they say. I've never denied whom I meet with; that's what I do."
LaBolt said, "Sen. Obama strongly opposes talking to Hamas, a terrorist group committed to Israel's destruction. As president, he will work to isolate Hamas and target its resources, and rejects any dialogue until Hamas recognizes Israel, renounces terrorism, and abides by previous agreements."
LaBolt, downplaying Malley's role, said, "Rob Malley has, like hundreds of other experts, provided informal advice to the campaign in the past. He has no formal role in the campaign and he will not play any role in the future."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
LaBolt said, "Sen. Obama strongly opposes talking to Hamas...
But he would obviously had no problem with you acting as a non-governmental envoy. One must wonder how many others he's got out there do similar work?
A deal to end fighting between militias and U.S.-backed security forces in the Baghdad stronghold of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was largely holding on Sunday, despite some sporadic fighting.
The U.S. military said it would scale back operations to see if gunmen obeyed the truce, but a spokesman said troops would target militants who tried to launch attacks from the Sadr City slum. U.S. troops killed one gunman on Sunday in a clash.
Residents in Sadr City said small clashes flared on Sunday, a day after Shi'ite political factions agreed to end weeks of fighting that killed hundreds of people.
The conflict between security forces and gunmen has trapped Sadr City's 2 million people in a war zone since late March, when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on militias in Baghdad and the southern oil city of Basra.
Sadr City remained tense, with shops on the main streets closed, although some stores in side streets were reopening. U.S. military aircraft hovered overhead. "This agreement really doesn't change anything for us," said Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Stover, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad. "If anyone's firing mortars, rockets or planting an I.E.D (improvised explosive device), we're going to kill him."
Deals to end battles between gunmen loyal to the anti-U.S. cleric and security forces have collapsed in the past. It is also unclear how much control Sadr has over many of the Mehdi Army militiamen who claim allegiance to him in Sadr City.
Some residents were sceptical the truce agreed by Sadr's parliamentary bloc and the ruling Shi'ite alliance would last.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
How many "truces" does that make for Tater now? I've lost count...
The Ambiguous Explosion Brigade strikes again...
Gaza Ma'an Palestinian medical sources in the Gaza Strip said on Monday that three police officers affiliated to the de facto government have been injured in an ambiguous explosion in their jeep while traveling east of Gaza City. The pin in that grenade secure, Mahmoud?
I dunno, lemme che...
Mauawiya Hassanein, the director of ambulance and emergency services in the Palestinian Health Ministry said the police officers were taken to Al-Wafa' and Al-Amal Hospital for medical treatment. He affirmed they were alright. But they won't play the piano ever again.
They play piano with their feet?
All three officers were affiliated to the Hamas-run de facto government in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday blamed Hamas movement for all attacks from the Gaza Strip and warned that "calm" would be imposed by force if they did not cease. "Hamas is the dominant force in the Gaza Strip. It is responsible (for all attacks) and will be called to bear the consequences of its activities. We do not intend to accept this reality," he told a weekly cabinet meeting. "This reality has to change... Either there is calm or Israel will use such force that will lead to calm," he added, according to AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The implied threat just sends a chill down my spine. :-|
The supply of fuel to Gaza is likely to be resumed on Monday, sources in the Defense Ministry told The Jerusalem Post Sunday. Otherwise, a World Health Organization official said, Gaza City's main Shifa Hospital would be left in the dark within a day.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak stopped the transfer of fuel over the weekend in response to the barrage of Gazan rockets that killed Kibbutz Kfar Aza resident Jimmy Kedoshim, 48, Friday evening.
But defense officials plan to revisit the decision on Monday and are likely to agree to resume fuel shipments.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Words fail me. Fueling your own murderers.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/12/2008 1:31 Comments ||
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#2
How Olmert manages to hold onto Power continues to befuddle me.
The sniper never knew what hit him. The Marines patrolling the street below were taking fire, but did not have a clear shot at the third-story window that the sniper was shooting from. They were pinned down and called for reinforcements.
Help came from a Predator drone circling the skies 20 miles away. As the unmanned plane closed in, the infrared camera underneath its nose picked up the muzzle flashes from the window. The sniper was still firing when the Predator's 100-pound Hellfire missile came through the window and eliminated the threat.
The airman who fired that missile was 8,000 miles away, here at Creech Air Force Base, home of the 432nd air wing. The 432nd officially "stood up," in the jargon of the Air Force, on May 1, 2007. One year later, two dozen of its drones patrol the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan every hour of every day. And almost all of them are flown by two-man crews sitting in the air-conditioned comfort of a "ground control station" (GCS) in the Nevada desert. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
05/12/2008 06:45 ||
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#1
Hellfire Missile - 58000
Individual Servicemen's Group Life Insurance - 450000
Dead terrorist - priceless
#5
This is a good fit for Warrant Officers but the Air Force will resist. Minimum skill sets should require an FAA pilots license as that gives a minimum skill set w/r to aviation and weather. (This is especially true where the UAV's might be used in civilian airspace. Most usage at this time is in airspace that is under military control).
Then come the specific systems and weapons training. Does this require a highly trained combat or transport pilot? Probably not. However, it is a good chance that those who have the required skills and training should be Warrants in order to retain them as specialists not waste them in command duties. I suspect that there a lot of Air Force pilots wish there was a Warrant Officer program for them as they just want to fly.
#6
This development comes about 40 years too late for me. As a kid, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. Unfortunately, I have 20/200 eyesight. Since one of the basic requirements for pilots is 20/20 vision, I had no chance. I can't see why driving one of these UAV's requires perfect eyes. For that matter, someone in a wheelchair could probably fly one (unless you need to use pedals like in a real airplane). Certainly, you don't have to be in perfect physical condition, since you don't need to withstand g-forces.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
05/12/2008 13:46 Comments ||
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#7
Actually, most of the controllers for Predators and Global Hawk aircraft are NOT pilots, but airmen. They get six to eight months' training, and then it's hands-on. There are two men to each mission, plus supervision from a pilot officer who is actually the one that allows the release of weapons. Creech is the former "Area 51".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/12/2008 14:44 Comments ||
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#8
Thanks OP. I thought the AF was trying to keep the pilot job for officers only.
#9
OP, Creech is NOT the former Area 51. It is an adjunct to Nellis, just a bit farther north of LV. It is right off a main road, not way out in the desert.
#10
IIRC, US NAVY > Selected AEGIS surface warfare ships are being equipped not only wid improved BMD missle systems, but also wid UAV + USV assets. THE NAVY IS ALSO GETTING INTO A BUDGET BATTLE WID THE US CONGRESS OVER WHETHER TO PROCEED WID FULL POST-NIMITZ CLASS CV21 DEV, OR CONVERT PRE-EXISTING NIMITZ-CLASS HULLS TO CV21 STANDARD.
*ANALOGY > MARITIME VERSION OF THE 19th CENTURY STRUGGLE FOR THE US "OLD WEST" + MANIFEST DESTINY, i.e. US Armed Service [CAVALRY = now USN] debating wid the USG + DHS ["War Dept"] over where to set up NEW HORSE CAVALRY FORTS = SEA "FORTS" [Battlespace Nodes] TO DEFEND AND PROTECT "FRONTIER" CATTLE TRAILS/SETTLERS + "TERRITORIES" = OWG GLOBAL FREE TRADE ZONES???
Leader of the Lebanese Forces Samri Geagea has slammed the Lebanese army over its reaction to the recent unrest in the country. "The incidents in the past four days have undermined the role and authority of the army. I call on the army to understand the current dangerous situation," Geagea told the LBC TV station.
Clashes erupted between supporters of the opposition and the government after Fuad Siniora's cabinet outlawed a telecommunication network used by Hezbollah and sacked the Beirut airport security chief. The opposition managed to take control of Beirut shortly afterwards and the government softened its stance over the issue.
He said he had supported the election of Army Chief Michel Suleiman as president because he had believed that Suleiman had been fit to accept the job. Geagea added he endorsed the army decision to keep Beirut Airport Gen. Wafiq Shuqeir in his post but the decision meant the army was responsible for the security of passengers and what would happen in the Airport.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
Also from WORLD NEWS > BOOK:BENAZIR BHUTTO PERSONALLY GAVE NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY TO NORTH KOREA. Handed over Uranium nuctech hidden in her overcoat back in 1993, in exchange for MISSLES???;
+ US: NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR DOCUMENTS DATES BACK TO 1986.
The British and Royal Dutch Shell, which ranks as the second largest non-governmental oil company in the world, has decided to pull out of a planned gas deal in Iran.
The alleged reason is pressure from US politicians to divest from Iran in efforts to penalize the country for running a supposed nuclear weapons program.
The deal was signed in 2002 for the development of a gas field in southern Iran. The planned project would have seen the gas cooled and turned, after extraction, into liquid natural gas (LNG) for transport in tankers.
Iran will now have to find a new partner for the project and companies from countries where the US political influence is more limited - such as Russia, India and China - are now lining up to step in. However, these companies, including Russia's Gazprom and India's Indian Oil Corp, have less experience with these types of projects than Shell.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
And then LNG tanks will go boom in the night. Just sayin'.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/12/2008 1:33 Comments ||
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#2
Like say, from a 'grounding deficiency'?
Posted by: Ike ||
05/12/2008 10:37 Comments ||
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#3
Insha'allan ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/12/2008 11:24 Comments ||
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"Even the Israeli enemy never dared to do to Beirut what Hizbullah has done," Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said Sunday. Saniora was speaking as clashes between Hizbullah and pro-government fighters raged on for a fifth day across Lebanon. At least 53 people have been killed since the fighting began. Arab foreign ministers called for an immediate cease-fire to quell the worst sectarian violence since Lebanon's 1975-1990 Civil War. The Arab diplomats also agreed to immediately send a high-level delegation to Beirut to try and mediate a way out of Lebanon's crisis.
They want to get that out of the way before all the 5-star restaurants are blow up.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Just figuring that out now or just admitting it now?
Arab foreign ministers, holding an emergency session on Sunday, appealed for an immediate ceasefire between Lebanon's political rivals to end the country's worst civil strife since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
Forty-six people have been killed and 128 wounded in the fighting when Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah briefly seized control of Beirut after the pro-Western government's decision to target its military communications network.
Tensions eased in Beirut on Sunday after Hezbollah fighters pulled back from areas they had seized in the western half of the capital. But violence later erupted in mountains east of Beirut between Hezbollah fighters and supporters of the pro-government Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.
"The council (of Arab foreign ministers) appeals for an immediate halt of bombings and shooting, and the withdrawal of gunmen ... and the enabling of the army to deploy in those areas," the Arab League said in a statement read by Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed Bin Hilli.
Lebanon has been in political deadlock for 18 months over opposition demands for a greater say in government.
The foreign ministers are also expected to call for an immediate deal on forming a Lebanese national unity government and the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, according to an Arab League official.
The ministers, meeting in closed session, would also call for a team of "politicians, intellectuals and neutral parties" to work on drafting a new electoral law after the election of Suleiman, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, whose country is a main ally of Hezbollah, was not present at the meeting. Syria's delegation was chaired by its ambassador to the Arab League.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Morons. If the Lebanese government agrees to a ceasefire, they might as well hang signs reading "castrato" around their necks.
If Egypt and Saudi Arabia had any balls, they'd be clamoring to send "peacekeepers" to Beirut.
Of course, there's always the nasty suspicion that all the Egyptians and Saudis with balls are rotting in shallow graves in Afghanistan and Iraq, killed by Americans or Russians or whatever. After all, those countries' armed forces are tax-farming operations, not warfighting outfits.
Kind of like the Lebanese Army, and ain't that a horrible thought?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/12/2008 16:50 Comments ||
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Arab foreign ministers holding crisis talks in Cairo are divided on a draft resolution over the current clashes in Lebanon, reports say.
"Oh, what shall we do?"
"I make a motion we dither!"
"All in favor...?"
"Aye!... Nay!... Aye!... Nay!... Aye!... Nay!... Aye!... Nay!... Aye!... Nay!... Aye!..."
"The motion is deadlocked!"
The draft resolution is condemning Hezbollah for the situation in Lebanon, delegates said on Sunday. "Many countries are against this text because of the implicit condemnation of Hezbollah," AFP quoted one diplomat as saying on condition of anonymity.
"Well, why shouldn't we condemn them? They occupied Beirut!"
"They have guns. They might win in the end. What would we do then?"
"Can we condemn Israel instead?"
"Who else? It's all their fault anyway. Somehow."
The text was drawn by Egypt and put forward with the support of six other pro-Western Arab governments -- Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, delegates said. They said Syria, which did not send its foreign minister to the Cairo meeting and was represented by its ambassador to the Arab League, had objected to the draft.
"We object!"
"Okay. Motion withdrawn."
The meeting followed days of lethal street battles in Lebanon which were erupted after the US-backed ruling coalition adopted two controversial measures against Lebanon's resistance movement of Hezbollah. The draft text also calls for a meeting of Lebanon's political leaders to discuss a proposed initiative aimed at ending the political deadlock.
"I got an idea! Let's have a meeting of Lebanon's political leaders to discuss a proposed initiative aimed at ending the political deadlock!"
"Whoa! Why didn't I think of that?"
It urges Lebanese politicians "to attend a meeting with a ministerial delegation yet to be formed in order to discuss the
dangerous situation in Lebanon and draw up an urgent roadmap to implement the Arab initiative."
"Right. A roadmap. That always works."
The meeting would bring together three opposition figures -- parliament speaker Nabih Berri, former president Michel Aoun and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah -- with three pro-government politicians -- Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri and former president Amin Gemayel. Earlier, the Arab foreign ministers appealed for an end to the violence. Pro-Western Arab countries' anti-Hezbollah stance is adopted while their news outlets tried to help heighten tensions in the country by portraying the clashes as sectarian violence.
Brilliant. Simply brilliant.
This article starring:
Amin Gemayel
Fuad Siniora
Hassan Nasrallah
Michel Aoun
Nabih Berri
Saad Hariri
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
That's great, put Nasrallah in a room with three sheep and a pair of weasels. Watch a wolf and two well-fed rodents walk out of that room.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/12/2008 16:53 Comments ||
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Hezbollah has foiled a US-planned coup to seize control of Lebanon during tensions sparked by controversial gov't decisions, a report says.
"The Americans launched a pre-emptive strike against opposition nationalist forces, starting with the (Hezbollah) resistance, and attempted a Washington-planned coup but were taken aback by the opposition, which restored order in Lebanon," Syrian daily Al-Baath reported on Sunday.
"The Americans launched a pre-emptive strike against opposition nationalist forces, starting with the (Hezbollah) resistance, and attempted a Washington-planned coup but were taken aback by the opposition, which restored order in Lebanon," Syrian daily Al-Baath reported on Sunday.
"Damn, Hilliard! I am taken aback!"
"Me, too, sir!"
"We must decamp!"
The Lebanese opposition aimed to "remove foreign interference and stop the plots to transform Lebanon... into an Israeli protectorate and new focal point of US links in the region," the paper added.
Tensions mounted among the feuding Lebanese parties and their supporters after the pro-US ruling coalition decided to ban Hezbollah telecommunications network and sack Beirut Airport Security Chief on Tuesday.
At least 39 people were killed in the clashes which eased after the Lebanese army rescinded the government's controversial measures on Saturday. "The recent events in Lebanon showed that the coup (attempt) carried out by the Americans and their men in Lebanon backfired," the daily concluded.
Lebanon saw four days of fierce clashes between supporters of feuding political camps as Western and some of the regional media outlets including al-Arabia tried to portray them as sectarian violence. They tried to describe the clashes as a fight between Sunni and Shia communities. The reports came as a number of Sunni clerics in interviews with NBN and al-Manar TV stations denied the claims, saying many Sunni Muslims in Lebanon support Hezbollah especially for its heroic efforts to defend Lebanon against Israel.
Political analysts said that Tel Aviv and its staunch ally Washington have long been trying to destabilize Lebanon in a bid to avenge Israel's humiliating defeat against Lebanon's resistance movement (Hezbollah) in 2006.
"Ehud!"
"Yes, George W!"
"We must avenge your humiliating defeat by Hezbollah in 2006!"
"But George W., it is now 2008!"
"No, Ehud! That was when they humiliatingly defeated you! This year is when we will avenge you!"
"Ah! Good! I like Dire Avenge!"
"That's Dire Revenge, Ehud!"
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
In 2006, the IAF/IDF waged a scorched earth offensive, where there were no UN partisans to prevent just war. Most of south Beirut and the city of Bint Jubeil was destroyed, and remains rubble. Hizbollah's Iranian backers restored their weaponry, arm for arm, while abandoning early efforts to rebuild. So why the rearmament? An Israeli contact of mine says that they thought that Iran would concede futility, and pull out. Unfortunately, what was not forseen - in face of US interventions in 1958 and 1982 - was US indifference to pro-Western peoples. Hence, the Ayaytollahs rearmed Hizbollah to the teeth, with the intent that they would occupy the untouched sections of north Beirut and northwards. Bush defered to Condi and whatever reason, she wants them alive at all costs. In the early 'eighties, the Reagan government was launching sea to land missile and shells at Hizbi positions; it appears that 60 year US allies are being written off. When American University (Beirut) goes, American credibility will go with it. Can we not just kill terrorists?
#2
Bush defered to Condi and whatever reason, she wants them alive at all costs.
Condi has been a major disappointment.
Posted by: Spumble Prince of the Brontosaurs8229 ||
05/12/2008 8:13 Comments ||
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#3
the 60 year US allies are the Maronites, who are simply too few on the ground to run things. The demography has changed due to differential birth rates and emigration. now a Sunni-Druze-maronite coalition is needed to offset the Shia, and the Maronites arent even united (much less the other Christians).
No, LH, subtle action is what has gotten us into this mess in the first place. What's needed is the constant fire of GMLRS into Hezbollah strongpoints, filled with white phosphorus, napalm, and high explosives, with a few nukes tossed in over Qom, Tehran, Bandar Abbas and Bushehr. That's the only message islamists understand - the power of the fist. We've foolishly refrained from showing that fist, and we're paying for it. Destroy a half-dozen cities, and the rest of the population will string the imams up themselves.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/12/2008 16:40 Comments ||
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#5
IRNA > LA TIMES - US HAS BUILT ARMED MILITIA IN LEBANON, to counter or oppose the Hizzies Hezzies Huzzies, etc. under the guise of SAAID HARIN'S FUTURE MOVEMENT organization. US REPORTEDLY SPENT US$60.0MILYUUHN TO CREATE THIS ANTI-HIZB/IRAN GROUP COMPOSED OF FORMER LEBANESE ARMY OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS. ARTICLE - Unfortunately for the US, most of the member-fighters of this FUTURE MOVEMENT MILITIA CRUMBLED AND FLED WHEN MIL ENGAGED BY HIZB???
ALso from IRNA > SYRIAN MINISTER: IRAN IS THE ISLAMIC-ARABIC [strong]CASTLE OF MUSLIM WORLD.
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.
Rare peace talks between Somalia's interim government and opposition exiles have made a slow start in Djibouti, but a senior U.N. official said he was encouraged both sides had turned up. "I am more than hopeful, the Somalis who I met today are committed to peace and reconciliation and they are ready to do it for the sake of Somalia," the U.N. envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, told reporters in Djibouti late on Saturday.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday sharply attacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of her Latin America visit, calling her a political descendant of Adolf Hitler and fascism.
Rob Malley, a Middle East policy adviser to likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, resigned after news surfaced that he had been meeting with Hamas -- something Obama pledged he himself would never do.
A deal to end fighting between militias and U.S.-backed security forces in the Baghdad stronghold of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was largely holding on Sunday, despite some sporadic fighting.
Hezbollah has foiled a US-planned coup to seize control of Lebanon during tensions sparked by controversial gov't decisions, a report says. 
