#1
damn . I posted a dupe (it's prolly in the hopper). My bad
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2009 9:45 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I want to see a wide-ranging criminal investigation into fraud & financial misfeasance done by Goldman Sachs & their ilk. That's where the real damage to this country & the world has been done. FAT CHANCE of that happening. This proposed investigation is merely for distraction of the public & entertainment for the worshipers of Obama.
"..if they appoint a special prosecutor, it would ultimately be unsuccessful, and it would go on forever and cause enormous collateral damage on the way to getting that unsuccessful result."
Posted by: Lord garth ||
08/09/2009 17:07 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The Wolf and the Lamb
WOLF, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf's right to eat him. He thus addressed him: "Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me." "Indeed," bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, "I was not then born." Then said the Wolf, "You feed in my pasture." "No, good sir," replied the Lamb, "I have not yet tasted grass." Again said the Wolf, "You drink of my well." "No," exclaimed the Lamb, "I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me." Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, "Well! I won't remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations."
The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.
In dozens of mountain hamlets in this remote corner of Afghanistan, opium addiction has become so entrenched that whole families — from toddlers to old men — are addicts.
Posted by: ed ||
08/09/2009 15:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Health workers say that to treat the addiction, they need to treat the entire community. Last year, the Ministry of Health took 120 addicts from Sarab to a facility in a town one day's drive away to be treated. Three months later, they found that 115 of the 120 had relapsed
The only solution is to remove the drug availability. The dreaded War On Drugs. In Afghanistan, opium has been available for centuries, why now, the addiction crisis? Breakdown in tribal society?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2009 16:04 Comments ||
Top||
#2
this was interesting: Iran immediately to the west has the world's highest per capita heroin use. The heroin labs there, as well as in Pakistan to the east, use opium imported from Afghanistan.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2009 16:09 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Hmmm, let's see. They grow it to sell, and use it themselves, with detrimental results.
Am I supposed to care about them?
Let them die.
One bright spot; they should be less, ahh, 'adept' at making and planting IED's. Result might be more work accidents, a definite upside there.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/09/2009 16:30 Comments ||
Top||
#4
It's probably been the situation for centuries, it's just that now reporters have noticed.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/09/2009 20:34 Comments ||
Top||
#6
In Afghanistan, opium has been available for centuries
Opium has been available in China for 1300 years. The Chinese only started noticing that some people were opium addicts after they started running trade deficits with the West. The problem wasn't opium addiction per se - it was addiction to an imported product. They then made a show of banning opium products - by burning Western imports, even as opium remained widely available (probably from domestic sources) in China.
NAIROBI, Aug. 6 -- After a decade of U.S. concern that Somalia could become a base for terrorists bent on launching attacks across the region, many analysts say that al-Qaeda's Somali sympathizers are at their weakest, and perhaps also at their most dangerous, point in years.
According to Somali analysts, U.S. officials and others, the country's Islamist rebels, known as al-Shabab, are becoming more divided and unpopular across this war-weary and traditionally moderate Muslim country -- a development that makes the group more vulnerable but that is also driving some factions to embrace the most extreme leaders linked with al-Qaeda.
A recent move by the group to purge members deemed "impure" Muslims -- including the beheading of seven militiamen last month -- and other brutal actions are signs, some say, of the Shabab's growing desperation.
It does sound like it. How else to placate an angry god but to sacrifice those least worthy.
All through the 1990s, when Islamic militants waged a ferocious war on the Algerian state and nightlife died in the city that once called itself "The Paris of Africa," the Hanani bar and restaurant stayed open. It was "an act of resistance," says owner Achour Ait Oussaid. Yet today, at a time when the bloodshed has ebbed, local authorities have shuttered the hole-in-the-wall bar. "This same state has done what the Islamists never managed to do," Ait Oussaid said, standing amid abandoned tables and empty shelves gathering dust.
At least 40 bars, restaurants and nightclubs have been closed in the past year around Algiers alone, according to local media. The government insists that the closures are strictly a matter of safety and hygiene, but suspicion is widespread that Muslim conservative pressure is to blame. Ait Oussaid, a Muslim like almost all of Algeria's 32 million people, contends that officials caved in to a petition circulated in his seaside neighborhood of La Perouse demanding that the Muslim prohibition of alcohol be enforced.
Many see this as one of a series of measures the government is taking in Algiers and other cities to soothe Muslim sensitivities and isolate the militants who still carry out bombings and assassinations.
The North African country has a history of tolerance and secular-leaning government, but its nightlife has gone through several ups and downs. When it was a French colony it boasted countless classy nightclubs and restaurants. The fun went on in the early years of independence in the 1960s, lost its flair when doctrinaire socialists ran the country, made an exuberant comeback, and then was devastated by the so-called "Black Decade" of Islamic violence and government countermeasures that left up to 200,000 dead.
The fighting erupted in 1992 when the army canceled elections that Islamic candidates were expected to win. In the ensuing years, bars, nightclubs and anything else the militants deemed Western could be targeted. Ait Oussaid says he defied death threats to keep Hanani open. "For me, it was an act of resistance, a way to defend the Algerian state," he said. Youcef Kerdache, a construction entrepreneur who still drops by Hanani for old times sake, calls the bar a victim of "the ostentatious Islamization of Algerian society."
Mohamed El Kebir, Algiers' regional governor, declined to comment for this report, but speaking to the French-language Liberte newspaper, he said safety regulations are the only consideration, not "religion or other pressures." Still, other signs point to increasing enforcement of a stricter, more visible version of Islam. Several workers were prosecuted last fall for smoking in public during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Groups of Algerian Muslims have recently been put on trial for converting to Christianity. Censorship of sexual content on national TV has become stricter, and although women aren't officially obligated to cover their heads, students at provincial universities complain of being pressured to wear head scarves.
While the affluent elite can unwind at Algiers' costly private clubs or international hotels, the closures appear to be hitting lower-income neighborhoods hardest. In the Boumerdes province next to Algiers, Gov. Brahim Merad has pledged not to approve a single liquor license. "Even better; I won't miss a single opportunity to close the existing establishments," the French-language El Watan newspaper quoted him as saying in June. Rundown Boumerdes remains one of Algeria's most violent areas, with several killings and roadside bombings a week on average, blamed on Al-Qaida-linked militants.
The program of "national reconciliation" put forward by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2005 is widely credited with ending the worst of the civil strife. But Rachid Tlemcani, a political science professor at Algiers University says: "We're witnessing the slow growth and triumph of Islamism through society." Conservatives, he charged, "are nibbling at Algerian values, and authorities are following suit."
(NB : since yesterday, article seems to have been renamed : Mass brawl between right-wing group and anti-fascists as race riots spill onto streets of Birmingham and comments closed, such as for the beeb article - original title still is in the link's url).
Three stories threaded together here: tributes to the young paratroopers who died in Helmand, concerns about the soldiers having the right equipment, and concerns about proper insurance for the soldiers.
Fewer than a third of military personnel are satisfied with the vehicles and helicopters available to do their job, a Ministry of Defence survey has found.
As tributes poured in for three British paratroopers killed on Friday in a Jackal armoured carrier in southern Afghanistan, the survey raised new questions over the effectiveness of frontline military kit. The three were named yesterday as Corporal Kevin Mulligan, Lance Corporal Dale Hopkins and Private Kyle Adams.
The MoD survey of more than 10,500 military personnel found that only 31% were satisfied with the main equipment at their disposal. A third of senior officers expressed "dissatisfaction", while 28% of senior ranks said that not enough armoured vehicles and helicopters were available. Their responses follow heated claims over whether a lack of helicopters in Afghanistan has cost British lives.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
The Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya said in a radio interview that a human rights activist whose bullet-ridden body was found in a neighboring province last month "never had any honor, dignity or conscience." Natalya Estemirova had been a staunch critic of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and led the Chechen branch of Memorial human rights group. Her body was found July 15 on a roadside in Ingushetia hours after she was kidnapped in the Chechen capital.
Memorial's top activist, Oleg Orlov, accused Kadyrov of involvement in the slaying. But Kadyrov reportedly reiterated his denial of having any involvement in Estemirova's death, according to the transcript of an interview with Radio Svoboda posted late Saturday on the station's Web site.
"She never had any honor, dignity or conscience, and all the same I appointed her the head of the (Grozny Human Rights) Council," Kadyrov was quoted as saying. "Why should Kadyrov kill a woman whom nobody needs?" Kadyrov reportedly said, referring to himself in the third person. He was quoted as saying Estemirova "peddled all kinds of rubbish" in her investigations of torture, corruption, killings and disappearances that implicated official involvement. The station did not say when the interview took place.
Memorial executive committee member Alexander Cherkasov expressed dismay at Kadyrov's criticism of the brutally slain activist. "In this speech Kadyrov again has demonstrated his personal enmity not only toward Natalya Estemirova, but also toward other rights defenders who are simply doing their job," Cherkasov told The Associated Press. He defended Estemirova's reports on rights abuses, saying "everything was documentarily confirmed."
MOSCOW, August 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday that Russia's military contingent in the former Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia will number 1,500 personnel in each republic by the end of the year.
The Russian General Staff had earlier said 3,700 personnel would be deployed in each South Ossetia and Abkhazia to protect the region, but in mid-June Gen. Nikolai Makarov said the figure was "too large" and it would be reduced. "Presently there are some 1,000 Russian military personnel in Abkhazia and up to 800 in South Ossetia. By the end of the year there will be 1,500 Russian military personnel in each of the republics," Grigory Karasin said during a press conference at RIA Novosti.
Karasin also said Russia has allocated 10 billion rubles ($321.41 mln) to South Ossetia for projects to rebuild infrastructure destroyed during the August war with Georgia. "The Russian government allocated 10 billion rubles in 2008-2009 for reconstruction projects," Karasin said.
The deputy minister said that some 400 buildings in South Ossetia are currently under construction with the work due to be completed by the end of the year.
Last August's war saw Russian forces expel invading Georgian troops from South Ossetia and force them deep into Georgia amid accusations on both sides of human rights abuses. Russia eventually withdrew from Georgian territory and recognized the independence of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another former Georgian republic, on August 24.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
North Korea has signaled it wants to improve relations with the United States and has been told it must return to nuclear disarmament talks, U.S. national security adviser Jim Jones said on Sunday.
"The North Koreans have indicated they would like a new relation, a better relation with the United States," Jones said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday" when asked about former U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit to North Korea last week.
Clinton met with North Korea's reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il, in Pyongyang while on a mission to retrieve two American journalists who had been held in the communist-ruled Asian nation. He was the highest-level American to meet Kim in almost a decade.
Jones later said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Clinton had stressed to the North Koreans that they must abandon their ambitions to build nuclear weapons and return to six-party talks at denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.
The Obama administration has been trying to coax North Korea back into the negotiations while at the same time saying it wants to enforce U.N. resolutions to ensure North Korea's weapons of mass destruction are not spread.
Pyongyang, which tested a nuclear device in May and has since launched a series of missiles, has insisted on direct talks with the United States.
"He (Clinton) did press home the fact that if North Korea really desired to rejoin the family of nations in a credible way, that the way forward is not to build nuclear weapons; and to rejoin the six-party talks, and within the context of those talks, that they could have a dialogue with the United States," Jones said.
Washington has described Clinton's visit as a private mission.
Kim, who has appeared gaunt and is suspected of suffering a stroke a year ago, appeared to be in control of his government and had "sounded very reasoned" in his conversations with Clinton, Jones said in his "Meet the Press" interview.
Kim's health is one of the most closely guarded secrets in North Korea. There has never been any official confirmation of him falling ill.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2009 13:58 Comments ||
Top||
#2
They have got to be shitting us.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/09/2009 14:06 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The price for the release of the hostages now exposed. Like you didn't think this was coming?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/09/2009 16:32 Comments ||
Top||
#4
North Korean society is very much driven by connections to the ruler, and very, very insular. It's no surprise they would think personal contact with the previous leader of the American hegemon (as they see it) would be the necessary condition to get what they want. After all, to them the very fact of the visit by Mr. Clinton is proof of improved relations... and they view peons like the two reporters they kidnapped as really no more important than fingernail clippings.
The England team has withdrawn from the World Badminton Championships in India because of "a specific terrorist threat" made by extremists. The championships are being played in the city of Hyderabad.
The eight-strong squad pulled out of the tournament, which starts on Monday, following reports of a threat by the Muslim extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Badminton England chief executive Adrian Christy said it was "an incredibly tough decision".
He added: "After the Olympic Games, this is the most prestigious championships in the world but we were not prepared to risk the safety of our players, coaches and staff in what we felt could have been a very volatile environment."
Mr Christy said the team, which included Olympic silver medallist Nathan Robertson, had "carefully considered" information from local police authorities. And after taking advice from the Foreign Office and British High Commission, the conclusion made by Badminton England was "that safety is of paramount importance," he added.
Performance director Ian Moss said: "It is a disappointing outcome, especially after we had enjoyed a very good preparation at our holding camp in Doha, Qatar, last week.
"Our athletes were extremely well prepared for these championships but, at the end of the day, personal safety must take priority over performance. This was a unanimous squad decision and is not reflective of the efforts made by the organising committee to create the safest environment possible for all athletes."
#4
It must have taken a lot of courage to run away from those championships like that.
"Our athletes were extremely well prepared for these championships but, at the end of the day, personal safety must take priority over performance."
I wonder how they travel to matches and practice. A drive in a motor vehicle might result in a crash. And what if someone gets hit in the eye with a shuttlecock? After all, badminton is a very hazardous sport in its own right.
[The News (Pak)] Chairman Special Support Group (SSG) Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed on Friday said the situation in Lower Dir was normal and 80 per cent area had been cleared of militants.
He was talking to internally displaced persons and media personnel during his visits to Lower and Upper Dir.
Speaking at the Government Girls' Degree College in Timergara, where DCO Ghulam Mohammad Khan, DPO Mumtaz Zarin and armed forces officials were also present, he asked the displaced people to return to their hometowns.
Lt Gen Nadeem said the government had so far completed registration of 29,000 displaced families of Malakand, adding that 80 percent of the IDPs had been provided cash and relief goods.
He said those who had not received relief package would benefit from the facility after scrutiny, adding that efforts were underway to address the IDPs' concerns.
Lt Gen Nadeem heard the problems presented by elders. He lauded the efforts of Dir people in formation of the Lashkars to counter militancy in coordination with the armed forces.
He assured the people that Dir would get equal development opportunities like Swat and Buner in rehabilitation and reconstruction. He issued orders for provision of medicines, rations and electricity generators for hospital and the IDP camps.
He also interacted with the media personnel and appreciated their performance in positively projecting the issue of IDPs.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
ION WAFF > BALOCHIS TO DECLARE INDEPENDENCE ON AUGUST 11th.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A fellow commander in the Pakistani Taliban insisted that Baitullah Mehsud, the movement's leader, was alive, Al Arabiya reported on Saturday, rejecting government claims he had been killed in a U.S. drone strike that targeted his house last Wednesday. Hakimullah Mehsud, one of the most powerful commanders in the tribal region, completely denied reports of Mehsud's death and described them as "ridiculous," he told Al Arabia reporter in Pakistan.
Some analysts suspected that the Pakistani Taliban's leadership was divided over who should become the next chief and that Hakimullah's denial aimed to buy time until a new leader emerged. So then, in the middle of what passes for civil, well-reasoned discourse in those parts, somebody shot him.
Hakimullah, who controls fighters in the Orakzai, Kurram and Khyber tribal regions, is regarded as one of the leading contenders to replace Baitullah Mehsud.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Friday the government was sure Mehsud was killed in the attack on Wednesday that also killed his second wife, a brother, seven bodyguards and destroyed his car. "It's 100 percent certain now," a senior member of the Pakistan government told Reuters, explaining that the intelligence services had obtained confirmation of Mehsud's death from family members.
Qureshi anticipated the death of Mehsud would leave a void in the Taliban movement that could lead to divisions. "With him gone, I think there is going to be an internal struggle and disarray in their ranks, I think it will set in demobilization. It is a great success for the forces that are fighting extremism and terrorism in Pakistan," Qureshi said.
This article starring:
Baitullah Mehsud
TTP
Hakimullah Mehsud
TTP
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
Is this going to be like all those "CHE LIVES" posters and shit?
He's DEAD.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/09/2009 14:12 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Heck, I want to see Hakimullah deny he himself isn't dead.
Posted by: ed ||
08/09/2009 15:47 Comments ||
Top||
#3
heh - "I'm not dead yet"
/Monty Python
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/09/2009 15:51 Comments ||
Top||
[Geo News] Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik has said it will take 48 hours more to confirm whether the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Chief Baitullah Mehsud has been killed or not. Talking to Geo News on Saturday he said, all the reports received so far from the area say the Taliban commander has been killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[The News (Pak)] The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Lakki chapter and administrators of various seminaries have condemned the arrest of religious leaders and demolition of madaris during the recent operation against the militants. Tossing holy men in jug really hits home...
In a joint meeting here on Friday, the participants decided to organize a 'Tahaffuz-e-Madaris convention' in the near future. They said that action against seminaries and clerics would spread hatred among the people against the government. That's assuming there's a deep and abiding love for holy men among the people. I think there's a deep and abiding fear of them, and of what they stand for. I think the hatred of the people for the government is based rather on its rapacity and incompetence.
They said the security forces launched operations on three separate occasions during the recent days against the militants in Shah Hasankhel. However, neither any militant was killed nor arrested in the operation, they added. "Local Ulema and Taliban are peace loving and they always supported government's actions to ensure writ of the state and improve the law and order situation in the district," they added. I think the ulema and their talibs are of the same opinion as Sufi Mohammad: that democracy is un-Islamic and that individual freedom is the work of the devil.
They said the demolition of the seminaries was a condemnable act as the law enforcement agencies did not recover any weapons and objectionable material during the operation. They demanded of the government to order release of the arrested clerics and direct law enforcement agencies to refrain from launching operations against religious schools.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Al Arabiya Latest] The U.S. security firm formerly known as Blackwater faced new damaging allegations about its behavior in Iraq Friday after two former employees accused the firm's president of seeking to "wipe out Muslims and Islam" as part of his crusade in Iraq, U.S. weekly magazine The Nation reported Friday. And we know just how above-board The Nation is ...
The former employees claimed in sworn affidavits lodged in a Virginia court that their boss Erik D. Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," the oldest U.S. weekly magazine reported.
Allegations made against Prince by the employees whose identities were kept secret also included weapons smuggling and the deliberate slaughter of civilians.
One employee said Prince's company "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life," and claimed Prince used aliases referring to the crusading Knights of the Templarm, a notorious Christian military order known for its militant activities in Muslim lands during the Crusades in 1099 and declined in the 1100s. "Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis," the other former employee claimed. "Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades."
The allegations surfaced in pre-trial motions in an Eastern District of Virginia civil lawsuit brought on behalf of Iraqi civilians by Susan Burke, a private attorney working in conjunction with the Center for Constitutional Rights.
In another sworn statement, a former U.S. Marine who worked for Blackwater said he observed "multiple incidents of Blackwater personnel intentionally using unnecessary, excessive and unjustified deadly force."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
Such Bull$hit. NSDQ
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/09/2009 0:55 Comments ||
Top||
#2
A notorious Christian military order? That's hilarious.
Behold the fine art of rhetoric as practiced in most east coast universities. Couch something that is not illegal in such terms to cast it as something evil the courts must deal with.
BTW, Here is the original complaint and if you read it the way I do, you come to two quick likelihoods:
1) Booze and guns; not a good mix.
2) An overprotective employer; not exactly a federal tort the last time I checked.
The "human rights" nature of the lawsuit mostly means these lawyers will drag it as long as they can,or until their money runs out, my best guess is option two, but ya never know.
And with the imprimatur of The Nation, you know their version of this story is jam-packed with boolsh*t.
#4
Heck...As far as I can tell, shias and sunnis have killed millions more of each other than any crusader....all in the precious name of allanTM, of course.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Fatah party has reiterated that no Palestinian group will make any compromise on the future of Jerusalem (al-Quds).
In a statement issued on Saturday and during the group's general conference, Fatah declared that the future capital of a Palestinian state is a red line that no Palestinian faction is allowed to cross.
"Fatah will continue to sacrifice victims until Jerusalem will be returned [to the Palestinians], clean of settlements and settlers," the statement read, as reported by Israeli daily Haaretz.
The future of Jerusalem has been one of the thorny issues in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Israel occupied and annexed East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Say War.
The Palestinians, however, say the city should be the capital of any Palestinian state.
The group held its three-day general conference in Bethlehem to choose a leader and Palestinian Authority Acting Chief Mahmoud Abbas was mandated to lead the party.
The event was the first time in 20 years that Fatah members gathered and the group will choose a new central committee and revolutionary council on Sunday and Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Fatah
#1
Fine.... Lets make dome of the rock a HINDU temple!
Ma'an/Agencies - Fatah will continue in a downward spiral following the reelection of President Mahmoud Abbas to the party's leadership, the Hamas movement said on Saturday evening. "The reelection of Abu Mazen [Abbas] is the continuation of Fatah's political and organizational downfall and a continuation of the policy of dependence on foreign authorities from which the organization suffers," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told the Hebrew-language Yedioth Ahronoth.
Sixty-five of over 2,000 delegates to the sixth Fatah congress opposed the motion to elect Abbas, the Palestinian president and current party leader, as head of the mainstay political movement. The motion, voted on in the hall of the Terra Sancta School in Bethlehem, was done by hand count. It covered the election of Abbas as head of the party, and choice to cap the seats of the Central Committee at 18, plus the party president and four other members to be chosen by the Central Committee once it is formed.
Shortly before the vote took place, Abbas' supporters read a prepared poem praising him and his leadership. Following the decision Abbas said, "I did not expect that the conference would succeed in this way... Hamas is still carrying out its attacks against Fatah affiliates in Gaza yet the conference succeeds and will succeed despite them."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[Jakarta Post] Most wanted terror suspect Noordin M. Top stayed in a house rented by his accomplice in Jatiasih in the West Java town of Bekasi after suicide bomb attacks on two South Jakarta hotels last month, police say. "We found that Noordin stayed at the safe house in Jatiasih after the July 17 bombings," National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri told a press conference on Saturday.
He said a terror suspect who was arrested on Aug. 5 in North Jakarta, Amir Abdillah, told the police investigators during a questioning that Noordin was in Jatiasih to lead a plan to launch fresh attacks in Jakarta. The police's counterterror squad raided the house early Saturday, killing two terror suspects following an exchange of fire. Noordin is believed to have been shot dead in another raid on a house in the Central Java town of Temanggung on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Jemaah Islamiyah
The terror group under Noordin M. Top had planned to launch a series of bomb attacks in Jakarta after the anniversary of Indonesia independence on Aug. 17, police say.
National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri told a media conference two terror suspects who were shot dead in a raid on a house in Puri Nusa Phala housing complex in Jatiasih in the West Java town of Bekasi had prepared a car bomb for the fresh attack. Bambang said an interrogation of an arrested terror suspect, Amir Abdillah, the planned attack was discussed at the house, which was rented by Ahmad Fery. "Already prepared were a car for the suicide bomb attack and its driver. The man recruited for the attack that would be perpetrated after August 17 was IB alias Boim," Bambang said.
Bambang said Amir had reserved a room at JW Marriott Hotel for Dani Dwi Permana and Nana Ikhwan Maulana who blew up themselves in the suicide bomb attacks on the hotel and nearby Ritz-Carlton Hotel on July 17. The attacks also killed six foreigners and an Indonesian national.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Jemaah Islamiyah
[Iran Press TV Latest] Only days after his inauguration, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he will submit his new Cabinet line-up to Parliament for a vote of confidence early next week.
"I will introduce the tenth government's cabinet to the Iranian Parliament early next week," President Ahmadinejad was quoted by Fars News Agency as saying. The Iranian president, however, did not provide a specific date for the announcement.
Ahmadinejad was sworn in on Wednesday for a second four-year term following widespread opposition protests against the result of the June 12 election that granted him a landslide victory. Despite the opposition's refusal to acknowledge Ahmadinejad as president, Iran's Guardian Council, the body responsible for overseeing the election, disputed all allegations against the validity of the vote.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, for his part, formally endorsed the president on Monday.
The newly-installed president has two weeks to set up a government and submit the new Cabinet line-up to Majlis for approval. Earlier in June, Ahmadinejad announced that the cabinet will undergo "major changes" to comply with the needs of his second term in office.
In line with his decision for major changes, the Iranian president said on Saturday that there will be "an unprecedented number of young people" in the new Cabinet.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Shines with splendor Hunh?
I recall dead folks shine as they decay.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/09/2009 14:16 Comments ||
Top||
Lebanese Druz leader Walid Jumblatt says the language used against Iran, which put Tehran on a similar level of hostility as Israel, was "mistaken".
It seems that Jumblatt, who recently played the leading part in a major political power shift in the country, has now changed his tune on Iran as well. The leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, who has recently been making the headlines in Lebanon, told the local As-Safir daily that Iran's role in the region could not be ignored. In a keynote address at Beirut's Beaurivage Hotel on August 2, Jumblatt sent shock waves around the Lebanese capital by announcing that his alliance with the Western-backed March 14 coalition had been "driven by necessity and must end".
The development proved that his alliance with the March 14 coalition was the key to the group's victory in the recent parliamentary elections. That announcement, shifted political balance in favor of the Hezbollah-led opposition, which had won a total of 57 seats in parliament in comparison to the US and French-backed ruling majority's 71 seats. Guess they met Wally's price, huh?
The former March 14 heavyweight's dramatic U-turn has taken Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri by surprise, forcing him to stall efforts to form a cabinet. According to comments by Caretaker Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Hariri left Lebanon on Tuesday for a brief vacation in France to "reflect and think quietly."
During the interview with As Safir, Jumblatt once again clarified his position by criticizing the March 14 group on matters such as their "unrealistic" and "insensitive" attitude toward the Palestinian issue and Israeli occupation of Arab land. Commenting on the issue of Hezbollah's arms- weapons which the group insists will help resist Israeli invasions- Jumblatt also said that dialogue must continue to determine how they can be absorbed and used in time.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
One more side effects of Obama behavior...
Posted by: Large Snerong7311 ||
08/09/2009 12:33 Comments ||
Top||
[ADN Kronos] By Syed Saleem Shahzad - A distant cousin of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud has been tipped to be chosen as the new commander of the Pakistani Taliban. Sources have told Adnkronos International (AKI) that Hakimullah Mehsud is likely to be the new leader, but the move will be decided by Pakistan's shura or tribal council.
Hakimullah Mehsud, the deputy of the Pakistani Taliban, is the current leader of the militant Fedayeen al-Islam, or "Islamic Patriots", believed to be responsible for the bombing of the Islamabad Marriott which killed more than 54 people and injured 260 others in September last year.
Baitullah Mehsud was killed in a US airstrike in the northwestern tribal region of South Waziristan earlier this week, sources told AKI.
US and Pakistani officials were said to to be checking the reports while Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik confirmed he had "been taken out".
Some Taliban sources confirmed for the first time late Friday that Baitullah Mehsud was immediately killed in the drone strike while he was staying with his second wife.
His face and body were said to have been completely disfigured in the bombing raid and the Taliban immediately cordoned off the area for up to five square kilometres.
A Taliban shura or tribal council immediately met to discuss candidates to replace the slain leader.
There are several contenders for the position but the fierce Hakimullah's name is at the top of the list.
Hakimullah Mehsud currently commands the Taliban in the tribal areas of Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram, bordering Afghanistan.
He also has strong influence in Peshawar and other areas. Considered less intelligent than his predecessor, Hakimullah is known for his cheap jokes.
But he also has a merciless reputation and considered responsible for several high profile abductions including the abduction of an Afghan diplomat and an Iranian diplomat.
With Qari Hussain, a cousin of both Baitullah Mehsud and Hakimullah Mehsud, Hakimullah established a reign of terror in the places like Dera Ismail Khan in North West Frontier Province, Orakzai agency and Peshawar with the targeted killings of Shias.
Supporters of Qari Hussain contacted AKI late Friday to say that Baitullah Mehsud was unharmed.
Hakimullah is also known for kidnappings in several Pakistani cities, and is believed to be responsible for orchestrating attacks on NATO supply routes from Pakistan to Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Taliban favours Mullah Hakimullah to replace slain leader
Next target Identified.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/09/2009 14:18 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
All through the 1990s, when Islamic militants waged a ferocious war on the Algerian state and nightlife died in the city that once called itself "The Paris of Africa," the Hanani bar and restaurant stayed open. It was "an act of resistance," says owner Achour Ait Oussaid. Yet today, at a time when the bloodshed has ebbed, local authorities have shuttered the hole-in-the-wall bar. "This same state has done what the Islamists never managed to do," Ait Oussaid said, standing amid abandoned tables and empty shelves gathering dust.
The Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya said in a radio interview that a human rights activist whose bullet-ridden body was found in a neighboring province last month "never had any honor, dignity or conscience." Natalya Estemirova had been a staunch critic of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and led the Chechen branch of Memorial human rights group. Her body was found July 15 on a roadside in Ingushetia hours after she was kidnapped in the Chechen capital.
MOSCOW, August 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday that Russia's military contingent in the former Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia will number 1,500 personnel in each republic by the end of the year.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A fellow commander in the Pakistani Taliban insisted that 
[Geo News] Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik has said it will take 48 hours more to confirm whether the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Chief Baitullah Mehsud has been killed or not. Talking to Geo News on Saturday he said, all the reports received so far from the area say the Taliban commander has been killed.
[The News (Pak)] The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Lakki chapter and administrators of various seminaries have condemned the arrest of religious leaders and demolition of madaris during the recent operation against the militants.
The terror group under Noordin M. Top had planned to launch a series of bomb attacks in Jakarta after the anniversary of Indonesia independence on Aug. 17, police say.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Only days after his inauguration, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he will submit his new Cabinet line-up to Parliament for a vote of confidence early next week. 
Lebanese Druz leader Walid Jumblatt says the language used against Iran, which put Tehran on a similar level of hostility as Israel, was "mistaken". 
[ADN Kronos] By Syed Saleem Shahzad - A distant cousin of Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud has been tipped to be chosen as the new commander of the Pakistani Taliban. Sources have told Adnkronos International (AKI) that Hakimullah Mehsud is likely to be the new leader, but the move will be decided by Pakistan's shura or tribal council. 
