British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met Afghan President Hamid Karzai on an unannounced visit on Sunday, aiming to fix a relationship that has frayed as the Afghan war grows deadlier and more unpopular.
Brown, whose troops have this year faced Britain's deadliest fighting in a generation, said the next few months would be critical in Afghanistan as the United States and it allies ramp up their forces to turn the tide against Taliban insurgents.
"What we need to show is that there's a determination to take on the Taliban and to weaken them, but also a determination on the part of the Afghan government to play a bigger part in the future in what is to be done," Brown told reporters at Kandahar air field, where he spent the night before meeting Karzai.
Darwin always wins. Here are a couple more who selected themselves out of the gene pool.
blockquote>Mahad Dhorre, Mustafa Mohamed, Mohamed Abscir and a fourth we know only as Ahmed vanished the first week of November. A fifth, Ahmed Elmi, left his home in Scarborough about three months ago. A sixth man, an Afghan, who worshipped at the same mosque, is also reportedly missing.
Their passports are missing and they haven't called home. The overwhelming fear is that -- like at least 20 young Somali-American men in Minneapolis who have disappeared in the past two years, and others from Australia, Sweden and Britain -- the young men are en route to Somalia to fight alongside al Shabaab, an Islamist youth militia aligned with Al Qaeda.
The Shabaab, which is fighting the government, is often called Somalia's Taliban. Its increasingly savvy online presence is being blamed as a possible reason for the disappearance of the five Canadians. And Somali community leaders fear other young people will be targeted as long as they feel alienated in this country, and embraced by another.
"These people can speak in their language and lure them from right under our nose," said Ahmed Hussen, the Ottawa-based president of the Canadian Somali Congress, adding people in the community have told him chat rooms were also used to lure the missing men. "We won't even know what's going on."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I can not understand this " Overwhelming Fear " of Muslims wanting to leave any Western nation to go and fight a Jihad in some Muslim country. Let them all go, and good riddance to them every single one of them.
Posted by: Dave UK ||
12/13/2009 4:45 Comments ||
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#4
It's the returning that has people concerned. But it's really a drop in the ocean when at least 80% of US mosques are already controlled by the radical Wahabis and Muslim Brotherhood.
Posted by: ed ||
12/13/2009 11:45 Comments ||
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#5
i'M WITH YALL ON THIS ONE I WISH THEY WOULD ALL "DISAPPEAR" ESPECIALLY ALL THE ONES THAT SEEM TOO MIGRATED TOO NORTH ga AND atl
Posted by: chris ||
12/13/2009 12:34 Comments ||
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#6
sorry about the caps I'm a moron
Posted by: chris ||
12/13/2009 12:35 Comments ||
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#7
:-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/13/2009 12:38 Comments ||
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#8
It happens to the best of us on occasion, chris dear. Just click the Preview button at the bottom-right of the poster box to see what you've done, before clicking Submit at the bottom-left. Remember, "Proofing is my friend." Which is why PIMF!!!! is posted here on a regular basis, entirely too often by me.
#9
Hopefully the Center Ice package is available in Mog or else they will miss the playoffs
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/13/2009 15:11 Comments ||
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#10
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > EXTREMISM BY US MUSLIMS + NEW CASES TEST OPTIMISM ON MUSLIMS
[Ability of US = US-Western Muslims to effec resist pro-VIOLENCE RADICALIZATION-MILITANCY
still potent BUT INCREASINGLY STRAINED OR CHALLENGED BY WAVE = SEEMINGLY NEVER-ENDING SURGE OF ISLAMIST-VS.ANTI-ISLAMIST SOURCES].
[Dawn] Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Saturday that the government was ready for launch of a military operation in Orakzai Agency if efforts for a 'peaceful resolution' failed.
'We will first try to convince elements in Orakzai to accept a peaceful resolution,' he said, referring to proposals for a negotiated settlement made by some politicians, including Imran Khan, of the Tehrik-i-Insaaf.
(According to Reuters, the prime minister said the army had ended its offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan and was shifting focus to Orakzai. 'The operation has finished in South Waziristan. Now there is talk of Orakzai,' Mr Gilani said).
A spokesman later said, Mr Gilani's remark on Waziristan were taken out of context. The prime minister made the remarks at functions in Karachi and Lahore.
Talking to journalists after presiding over a convocation of the Government College University Lahore, Mr Gilani also said the federal government was considering offering a general amnesty in Balochistan.
He said his close aides were in touch with Brahmdagh Bugti in furtherance of the government's policy of holding talks with dissenters. He said that 89 arrested people who were not involved in 'heinous' crimes in Balochistan would be released soon.
The prime minister said the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NCTA) had been set up to curb militancy. The authority, he added, would gather intelligence and share it with federal and provincial governments.
He said the strategy was aimed at uniting all intelligence and law-enforcement agencies and the interior ministry had already submitted a summary to the PM's Secretariat in this regard.
'We want to strengthen capacity of the provinces and the federal government,' the prime minister said, adding that authorities like NCTA were working in several developed countries, including the United States, Britain and France.
Mr Gilani said he had raised the issue of Indian involvement in Balochistan with New Delhi, adding that the question of an Indian hand in terrorist acts elsewhere in the country would be taken up at appropriate forums after thorough investigations.
In reply to a question about the accord on the National Finance Commission award, Mr Gilani said: 'Difficult tasks can be accomplished only by democratic forces, and not by dictators.'
He said the committee on constitutional reforms would soon take a decision about repeal of the 17th Amendment.
'We are committed to doing away with this controversial amendment and implementing the Charter of Democracy.'
Mr Gilani stressed that parliament should be made so powerful that nobody dare play with or deface the Constitution. 'There is a dire need to strengthen institutions, not the prime minister.'
'Nobody is above the law,' Mr Gilani said in reply to a question about alleged violation of Pakistani law by foreign diplomats.
The prime minister said terrorists were trying to stall development, but the government was determined to maintain peace and harmony.
The government, he added, could achieve this goal with the support of the academia and youth. 'Stand by the government and safeguard Pakistan' was his message to them.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Six of the seven men accused of involvement in planning last year's Mumbai attacks have sought acquittal on the ground that they could not be tried for offences committed in India.
"But terror attacks on India are required by Sharia law, and therefore by Pakistani law cannot be offenses."
In three applications filed on Saturday seeking acquittal, the six contended that the evidence against them was inadmissible in court.
Malik Mohammad Akram Awan, special judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court-I, directed the prosecution to submit their arguments on Dec 19 when the court would take up the three petitions.
Ammad Amin Sadiq, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Mazhar Iqbal, Abdul Majid, Shahid Jameel Riaz and Mohammad Yunus Anjum moved two applications under Section 265-K of the Criminal Procedure Code (power of court to acquit an accused at any stage), saying that they could not be tried for offences committed in India.
Khwaja Sultan Ahmed, who represents the accused, maintained that the prosecution had relied on Section 4 of the Pakistan Penal Code (extension of the code on extra-territorial offences) and the law could only be referred to offences under PPC and not acts of terrorism.
The accused said that they had been charged with criminal conspiracy for carrying out the Nov 26, 2008, attacks in Mumbai, but without mentioning the motive or the place where they had hatched the conspiracy.
They said according to law, the charge-sheet should have been specific about the motive.
According to them, the trial judge had 'not applied his independent mind while charging them' because their charge-sheet was the same that they had objected to earlier.
The second petition assailed the court's decision to conduct a separate trial of Ajmal Kasab, who is being tried in India. They said according to Pakistani laws, separate trials of the accused could not be held.
They also urged the court to direct the prosecution to give legal reasons for not producing Kasab in court.
Another application challenged the admissibility of Kasab's confessional statement in a Pakistani court. It said that the statement handed over to the accused was 'not duly verified'.
They said that their lawyers could not cross-examine Ajmal Kasab or the magistrate who had recorded his confessional statement in India 'as necessary part of the trial'.
Under the circumstances, they argued, Ajmal Kasab's statement 'cannot be considered legal'.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"Aquittal" yeah?
Get down and give me ten. All the way up and all the way down, maggot. Call 'em out for me.
[Dawn] The Shamsi airbase in Balochistan is being used by American forces for logistical purposes but the government is not satisfied with payments for the use of the facility, disclosed the defence minister.
Talking exclusively to DawnNews, Defence Minister Ahmad Mukhtar said that the US was still using the Shamsi airbase, however, the govt is not satisfied with payments for its use.
Earlier, the US was also using the Jacobabad Airbase and Pasni for its operations in Afghanistan.
Just a day earlier, the defence minister had also admitted the existence of the Afghan Taliban's Quetta Shura for the first time but said that the security forces had taken on the Quetta Shura and damaged it to such an extent that it no longer posed any threat.
However, until this admission by the defence minister, the government had so far denied the existence of any Taliban leadership or the Quetta Shura in Balochistan's capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
IMHO, the only upside to Obama's inflating our currency to the stratosphere will be that turds like these will be only barely able to buy a bar of soap (if only) with what they manage to extort from us....
[Dawn] The US Central Intelligence Agency has cancelled a contract with a security company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide that allowed the company to load bombs on CIA drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan, The New York Times reported late Friday.
Citing intelligence officials, the newspaper said the contract gave Blackwater employees an operational role in one of the CIA's most significant covert programs, which has killed dozens of militants with Predator and Reaper drones, AFP reported.
The contract with the company, now called Xe Services, was canceled this year by CIA Director Leon Panetta, the report said.
CIA spokesman George Little said Panetta had ordered that the agency's employees take over the jobs from Xe employees at the remote drone bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the paper noted.
Panetta had also ordered a review of all contracts with the company, according to the report
'At this time, Blackwater is not involved in any CIA operations other than in a security or support role,' Little was quoted by The Times as saying.
The disclosure about the terminated contract comes a day after The Times reported that Blackwater employees had joined CIA operatives in secret operations against suspected militants in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
One wonders what the early termination penalties were, and how soon an independent subsidiary of Xe signs new contracts that look astoundingly like the old ones.
#3
CIA spokesman George Little said Panetta had ordered that the agency's employees take over the jobs from Xe employees at the remote drone bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan,
Does not pass the smell test. Positions and duties were probably converted to Agency temp-hire. It just isn't that easy to find "Rough men who stand ready to do violence."
#4
Shhhh, Besoeker. This complies with the Administration's mandate to agencies to reduce contractors in favor of govt positions. Let's not call attention to how that is being done if it is being done appropriately, yes?
[Geo News] Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik Saturday said if the government today begins action against the diplomats, then Pakistani diplomats may face hardships in other countries as well. Talking to journalists at Karachi airport on arriving in the city, he said no diplomat having his identity on him could be arrested nor could he be searched under Geneva Convention. Best you can do with diplos is to declare them PNG and kick them out of the country. If they've committed a crime you can ask that they be sent back to face charges in the courts.
The Interior Minister said, 'We are out to make friends not enemies,' adding he urged the nation to rely on the security as the government is working for the welfare of the nation and country.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Al Qaeda denied Saturday that it was behind a series of bombings in Pakistan that have killed hundreds of civilians, saying in a new English-language video that such attacks were un-Islamic.
US-born al Qaeda operative Adam Gadahn, who commonly delivers the organization's English messages, said the extremist network was being framed by the US and Pakistani intelligence services for the bloodshed.
'The perpetration of such deplorable acts and the pinning of responsibility for them on the mujahideen, only serves the enemies of Islam and Muslims, who are today staring defeat in the face,' he said, also blaming the media for implicating al Qaeda in the attacks.
'The mercenaries of the ISI, RAW, CIA or Blackwater are the real culprits behind these senseless and un-Islamic bombings,' he added.
RAW is the Indian intelligence agency, while Blackwater is the private security firm - now called Xe Services - whose involvement in the killings of Iraqi civilians have tarnished its reputation throughout the Muslim world.
More than 500 people have died in a slew of attacks in Pakistan that began in October, just as the Pakistani army started waging a ground offensive against the Taliban network in South Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
A single truck bomb in the northwest city of Peshawar killed more than 100 people at a market that sells mostly women's clothes and children's toys. More recently, twin bombs at a similar market in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore killed nearly 50.
Militant groups such as al Qaeda and the Taliban that operate in Pakistan tend most often to attack security targets. They generally avoid claiming responsibility for assaults that kill a large number of civilians.
In a transcript of the video released by the SITE Intelligence Group, a Washington-based monitor of militant websites, Gadahn told Pakistanis their real enemies were secular regimes, corrupt police, judges and tribal nationalists.
In Pakistan, where conspiracy theories are rife, support for militancy has only recently taken a downturn, and anti-Americanism is widespread, Gadahn's message may have some resonance.
After the market blast in Peshawar, many Pakistanis expressed disbelief that Islamist groups could have attacked other Muslims in such a manner. And in some corners of the Pakistani media, Blackwater has increasingly been floated as a culprit in nefarious events.
Gadahn grew up in Los Angeles and then moved to Pakistan in 1998, according to the FBI. He is said to have attended an al Qaeda training camp six years later, serving as a translator and consultant for the group.
al Qaeda's media arm, al-Sahab, is increasingly using English-language videos to address Muslims in Pakistan who are unlikely to speak Arabic. Gadahn's message specifically addressed Muslims in south Asia, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Not unlike ABU MUSAB ZARQHAWI ["Zark/Zarkey" on RBurg-Net], ADAM has also had his share of being ZOMBIE-IZED by the MSM-Net.
* ION WND OP-ED > DER SPIEGEL - {EU-rabia]HOW MUCH ALLAH CAN THE OLD CONTINENT/EUROPE TAKE? + SPREAD OF ISLAM FEARED BY THREE OUT OF FOUR GERMANS.
The former head of Pakistan's intelligence agency, ISI, Asad Durrani said in an interview with Press TV that Blackwater, a notorious US security firm, is carrying out operations in the country.
His comments came after the US Central intelligence Agency (CIA) revealed that Blackwater, which currently works under the name Xe Services, has been involved in drone attacks in Pakistan.
The CIA said the private security company has been loading bombs on US drones that target suspected militants in Pakistan. The attacks, according to Pakistani media, kill civilians as well.
General Durrani, however, said the group may be involved in actions that destabilize the country.
"My assessment is that they [Blackwater agents] -- either themselves or most probably through others, through the locals -- do carry out some of the explosions," he said.
"The idea is to carry out such actions, like carrying attacks in the civilian areas to make the others look bad in the eyes of the public."
Pakistan, suffering from a wave of violence, has witnessed the loss of lives of more than two thousands civilians in the past two years because of bomb attacks across the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Why is an obvious enemy like Asad Durrani alive if that is the case? Wouldn't Xe have killed him so he wouldn't make such statements? If not... It can't be Xe.
The Pakistani army has finished its offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, but may soon pursue militants in another part of the lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border, the prime minister said on Saturday.
Yousuf Raza Gilani's suggestion of an operation in Orakzai tribal region, where it recently launched airstrikes, is another sign that Islamabad did not deal the death blow it had intended against the Pakistani Taliban militants by taking them on in their main base.
It also illustrates the intractable nature of the extremist challenge facing this nuclear-armed nation: Even as troops flood one militant stronghold, the insurgents can regroup in another stretch of the rugged, barely governed tribal districts.
The US has long pushed Pakistan to retake spots along the border that have become safe havens for militants, a pressure likely to intensify now that 30 000 additional US troops are heading to Afghanistan to take on a resurgent Afghan Taliban.
To Washington's chagrin, Islamabad has focused on groups such as the Pakistani Taliban, which threaten its citizens, rather than militants who have gone after US and Nato forces across the border. Gilani did not indicate a shift in that strategy on Saturday.
"The operation in South Waziristan is over. Now there are talks about Orakzai," the prime minister told reporters in televised remarks from the eastern city of Lahore. He did not give a timeframe or any other details.
Later on Saturday, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said "targeted operations" in South Waziristan would continue, and vowed that the government would pursue militants wherever they challenged authorities.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Regional countries are trying to influence Iraq's upcoming elections but a coalition government is the mostly likely outcome, the foreign minister said on Saturday.
Iraq is due to hold national elections in March and the United States was to an inclusive government formed swiftly after the vote to avoid of a return to sectarian bloodshed.
"Many many regional governments and countries are really involved in supporting and siding with certain Iraqi groups in the elections," Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters on the sidelines of a security conference in Bahrain.
"Definitely I think there will be a lot of regional interference in these elections, in different forms -- in offering financial, political, media support, different ways to different groups... we need to be careful to prevent that from happening or affecting our elections."
The United States still has thousands of troops in Iraq backing the Shi'ite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose relations with most of the Sunni-led Arab countries are not warm.
Iraq's government has often accused neighbouring Syria of not taking action to stop militants operating in Iraq. Many Saudis were among the foreign militants who went to Iraq after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries say Iran is backing many Shi'ite groups there.
Violence has dipped sharply in Iraq over the past 18 months but the recent bombings have stoked doubts about the ability of Iraqi security forces to keep the peace before the elections.
Militants linked to al Qaeda claimed bombings in Baghdad on Tuesday that police said killed 112 people.
"The government is really reviewing now its security measures and policies and there is definitely a need to take stronger measures against any breaches," Zebari said.
No measures have been taken so far, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Hundreds of Jewish settlers angry at reduced settlement building burned pages of Islam's holy book in an attack on a West Bank mosque as Palestinian Christians called for sanctions on "evil" Israel and rejected Christian Zionism, press reports said Saturday.
Burned pages of the Quran lay scattered on the mosque's torched carpet as Israelis from the settlement of Tappuah spray painted in large Hebrew letters "Get ready to pay the price," a statement referring to a recent government decision to curb settlement building, only in the West Bank and for only 10 months.
A lovely report from Al Arabiya. What odds it's anything remotely like true? I've never heard of anything like this before.
1:34 pm ET: The police are looking into the incident, according to the Jerusalem Post. Nonetheless, a group of Israeli rabbis have popped by the village to give the elders copies of the Quran to replace those burnt, and to condemn the unknowns who acted so badly.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
When the muslims occurpied the Church of the Holy Seplecure, and used the holy books there for toilet paper, I'm sure the local Imams came by and replaced them? (lol)
#4
NoMoreBS, I certainly remember the Christians rioting, killing the muslims, tearing down mosques, and other atrocities after that sacrilege.
/sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
12/13/2009 18:36 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Israeli rabbis have ruled that all Palestinian prisoners should be killed on the spot if captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is killed by the Hamas movement.
"If Gilad Shalit, heaven forbid, is executed or not returned in peace, prisoners will be executed immediately," ruled the court of the Rightist reestablished rabbinical body Sandhedrin organization.
The rabbis even suggested that Israel must capture top Palestinian figures, "including ministers, prime ministers, and anyone associated with the enemy's leadership," as part of the effort to bring Shalit home.
Shalit was captured in a cross border operation by Palestinian fighters in 2006. Hamas is demanding the release of 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel in exchange for his release.
No deal has yet been reached between Hamas and Tel Aviv. Israeli rabbis have played a role in blocking the exchange deal.
"In order to avoid collapse that would entail, heaven forbid, another holocaust, the Shalit deal must be blocked even at the cost of his life, while, on the other hand, any effort must be taken to rescue him immediately through using the lives of murderous terrorists we have in our hands as hostages," according to the rabbis.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I have to admit, their position makes a lot of sense.
#2
I may not agree with that but you have to admit that it's the Palestinians who think that the life of one Israeli is worth a 1000 Palestinians.
What's true for life...
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/13/2009 12:50 Comments ||
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#3
" Israeli rabbis have ruled that all Palestinian prisoners should be killed on the spot if captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is killed by the Hamas movement. "
A bit impractical, but there can be a lot of "accidents" while "in custody". That sort of thing.
Just a steady drip drip drip of he fell off the speeding truck during the struggle sort of thing.
Then send the disfigured body to his family with a polite note of Condolences and maybe a free trip to Disneyland.
They will get the message. The coroner may or may not tell the family and friends the body was castrated before it was bagged and delivered.
Hey, David paid for King Saul's daughter in marriage with 1,000 Palestinian ball sacks in a brown paper bag. yeah, s'truth.
They are essentially inconsequential. Even more inconsequential than, say, Helen Thomas.
Posted by: lord garth ||
12/13/2009 9:08 Comments ||
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#5
The pakis need to chuck their PC History books and read a REAL history of the Jews, they are the folks who can and have murdered Millions before and will again.
Release Shalit, Grovel in the dirt and hope the Jews decide NOT to exterminate all Palestinians.
Be sincere, your life very much depends on this.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/13/2009 19:59 Comments ||
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#6
I'm very confused, Redneck Jim. What are you talking about?
A group of former German diplomats urges the Berlin government to take a harder line toward Israel over its illegal settlement expansions. According to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, 24 former diplomats and ambassadors have signed a petition urging Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle to help "fair peace" in the Middle East.
Among the diplomats who singed it were Hans-Georg Wieck, former chief of Germany's Federal Intelligence service (BND), and German ambassadors Gerhard Fulda and Michael Libal.
"Israel cannot expect to emerge a winner of peace and at the same time to keep the Palestinian territories," the diplomats said in the document obtained by the Munich newspaper. "The continuation of certain benefits or financial support to one side or the other, as well as an increasing convergence with the European Union, could be made dependable on concrete progress in conflict management," the petition added.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Among the diplomats who singed it were Hans-Georg Wieck, former chief of Germany's Federal Intelligence service (BND), and German ambassadors Gerhard Fulda and Michael Libal.
Where then would you suggest these people live? Possibly Arbeitsdorf, Berlin-Marzahn, Flossenbürg, Hinzert, or possibly Sahcsenhausen? Enough from you, you oven-ready monsters! Have you not done enough already?
[Ma'an] Fatah's Revolutionary Council is set to hold a special meeting on Sunday, according to the movement's official spokesman, Fahmi Az-Za'reer, on Saturday.
Topics on the agenda include President Mahmoud Abbas' decision to seek UN recognition of a Palestinian state on 1967 borders and the recent endorsement of the Swedish-sponsored EU proposal, calling for east Jerusalem to be declared as the capital of a future Palestinian state, Az-Za'reer said.
Additionally, the Revolutionary Council is expected to discuss national issues, as well as the general elections and national reconciliation, before Fatah's Central Council meets next month.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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Palestinian Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash visited the mosque set on fire allegedly by settlers early Friday morning in the northern West Bank village of Yasouf, and described the incident as a "war crime" in a statement issued on Saturday following his visit.
The minister further asserted that the arsonists necessitated prosecution and punishment in international courts, he said.
Al-Habbash accused the Israeli government of supporting the "terrorism of settlers who are corrupting the West Bank, burning Palestinian olive orchards, and attack Palestinian villages with the support and protection of the Israeli army," he said in a statement.
The minister added that the "Yasouf village suffers of constant attacks by settlers." During his visit, Al-Habbash relayed President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority's praise for the villagers who resisted the settlers and assured them that the PA will assist in rebuilding the mosque, he said.
Al-Habbash further stated that it was necessary to end Palestinian division in order to strengthen the Palestinian position in the face of Israeli intransigence and aggression, targeting Palestinian land and holy sites, he said, adding that the current state of rivalry only serves Israel.
Mayor of Yasouf, Abed Ar-Rahim Musleh, welcomed the minister and thanked him for his visit where he briefed Al-Habbash on the constant harassment the villagers experience at the hands of settlers, the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Are bus and suicide bombings not quite an act of war?
Iran is ready to exchange the bulk of its stockpile of enriched uranium for nuclear fuel rods - as proposed by the U.N. - but according to its own mechanisms and timetable, the foreign minister said Saturday.
The minister's remarks come just days before an expected meeting between the U.S. and allies to discuss new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. The offer, however, falls far short of the conditions set by the international community.
Speaking to reporters at a regional security conference in Bahrain, Manochehr Mottaki said Iran agreed with a U.N. deal proposed in October in which up to 2,600 pounds (1,200 kilograms) of its uranium would be exchanged for fuel rods to power its research reactor.
"We accepted the proposal in principle," he said through a translator. "We suggested in the first phase we give you 400 kilograms of 3.5 percent enriched uranium and you give us the equivalent in 20 percent uranium."
Iran has about 3,300 pounds (1,500 kilograms) of low-enriched uranium and needs to refine to 20 percent to operate a research reactor that produces medical isotopes.
Uranium enriched at low levels can be used as fuel for nuclear energy, but when enriched to 90 percent and above, it can be used as material for a weapon. The United States and five other world powers have been trying to win Iran's acceptance of a deal under which Tehran would ship most of its low-enriched uranium stockpile abroad to be processed into fuel rods, which can't be enriched further.
The deal would leave Iran - at least temporarily - without enough enriched uranium to produce a bomb. However, after signaling in October that it would accept the proposal, Iran has since balked, giving mixed signals over the deal, including several statements from lawmakers rejecting it outright.
Mottaki maintained, however, that a clear proposal had been given involving the simultaneous exchange of uranium for fuel rods in stages.
"We gave a clear answer and we responded and our answer was we accepted in principle but there were differences in the mechanism," he said, suggesting the exchange take place on Iran's Kish island, in the Persian Gulf.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
In unrelated news Lucy Van Pelt agrees to hold the football for Charlie Brown (with caveats).
#2
Iran and North Korea have been playing rope-a-dope on the hopes of liberal America since the fall of the Shah and 1952 on the peninsula. And, every new set of Washington politicians, especially the liberals, have though, gee, maybe if I go down the tunnel the cheese will be there! How utterly predictable and tiresome, becasue by kicking the can down the road (the actual strategy) you let these regional turds get stronger and more pungent. Now Team Zero faces hard choices that are cumulative from the past years, and they will mouth platitides and not do anything. They already accept a nuclear Iran and proliferation by the Norks as preferable to fighting or confronting. Too busy making the workers paradise here....
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran needs up to 15 nuclear plants to generate electricity, its foreign minister said on Saturday, underlining Tehran's determination to press ahead with work the West suspects is aimed at making bombs.
Manouchehr Mottaki, addressing a security conference in Bahrain, also cast further doubt on a United Nations-drafted nuclear fuel deal meant to allay international concern about the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions.
"First I think we could just totally abandon the whole thing or we could propose something more moderate, a kind of middle way ... Iran has done that," he said.
Iran has sought key amendments to the proposed deal, under which it would send out a large part of its low-enriched uranium stockpile and receive fuel for a medical research reactor in return.
Iran, the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, says its nuclear programme is aimed at generating electricity so that it can export more of its gas and oil.
"We need 10 to 15 nuclear plants to generate electricity in our country," Mottaki said. Iran currently has one nuclear power plant, under construction by Russia.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/13/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
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.
The Pakistani army has finished its offensive against the Taliban in South Waziristan, but may soon pursue militants in another part of the lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border, the prime minister said on Saturday. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Hundreds of Jewish settlers angry at reduced settlement building burned pages of Islam's holy book in an attack on a West Bank mosque as Palestinian Christians called for sanctions on "evil" Israel and rejected Christian Zionism, press reports said Saturday. 
