[Iran Press TV Latest] Afghanistan's neighbors have met in Turkey to seek a common ground on the Afghan war ahead of a major conference slated for Thursday in London.
Speaking at a press conference in Istanbul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai emphasized that for rebuilding a strong Afghan army financial support, training, equipment, as well as proper education for the Afghan military personnel are needed.
"We began actually from the scratch to rebuild Afghan army. The issues we face are better training, equipment, barracks, places to stay and proper education for the armed forces and the time which should take for the armed forces in order to begin to function as an institution," President Karzai said.
Among those attending the summit were China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, Iran's First Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin, Britain's Foreign Minister David Miliband and Paul Jones, the deputy to the US special envoy Richard Holbrooke.
Officials from Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, NATO and the European Union were also in Istanbul. Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan did not attend.
Karzai is expected to give details of a program to "reach out" to Taliban militants as part of a political settlement. He met Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari in Istanbul on Monday.
The US ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry has publicly claimed that President Karzai is not an adequate strategic partner. He said that the US troop surge in Afghanistan will only deepen Afghanistan's dependence on the US.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The United States should talk to the Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar if it wants to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan, a former ISI officer who is believed to have trained Omar, said in an interview to a US-based news group.
Retired Brigadier Sultan Tarar, known as Colonel Imam, said Mullah Omar was open to talks. He said if a sincere message came to him from the Americans, it will be heard.
"If a sincere message comes from the Americans, these people (the Taliban) are very big-hearted. They will listen. But if you try to divide the Taliban, you'll fail. Anyone who leaves Mullah Omar is no more Taliban. Such people are just trying to deceive," said Tarar, in an interview with McClatchy Newspapers.
His comments come as the United States and its allies seem increasingly restless to find a path toward a political solution to the war in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, US national security adviser James Jones said that the Obama administration is "pursuing a general strategy of engagement."
"We'll see where this takes us," Jones said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I bet he is , as he sits outside of Quetta listening to daily reports of his underlings being taken down.
Posted by: Oscar ||
01/27/2010 4:50 Comments ||
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#2
former ISI officer who is believed to have trained Omar
Egyptian Maher El-Gowhary and his 15 year old daughter Dina never pray twice at the same church, never stay longer than a month in any one apartment. They are constantly under threat, always on the run because they converted to Christianity in a largely Muslim country.
Maher and Dina nervously agreed to meet us at a Church in Cairo. The priest at the Church said he feared problems from the Egyptian authorities and while he agreed to have us watch his Sunday mass, the Priest declined to speak to us about what is happening in Egypt and to the El-Gowhary's.
They tell their story out of fear and desperation. Born Muslims they chose to convert to the Christian Church after both claim they had religious visions.
Now Maher says "Muslims try to kill us, and will kill us if they find us."
Several religious fatwas have been issued for "spilling his blood" after Maher asked an Egyptian Court to legally recognize his conversion, so he can one day be buried as a Christian and so his daughter won't be forced into a marriage by her Muslim mother.
The court ruled a legal conversion to Christianity would threaten public order. His lawyer told us it's a dangerous double standard because in Egypt a Christian can convert to the Muslim faith in a week, but a Muslim cannot convert to the Christian faith.
Ten percent of Egypt is Christian, largely the Coptic Christians who increasingly say they face daunting discrimination and even death.
We had to hide our camera as we followed the El-Gowhary's because we were told if the authorities discovered we were preparing our story we would be arrested.
Religious tensions are running high in Egypt.
On January 6th, the Coptic Christmas eve, three Muslim men sprayed gunfire at a Church in Upper Egypt killing six Christians and wounding up to a dozen more. Christians rioted the next day and the area is still closed to outsiders including the press.
Human rights activist Hussein Bahjet say's Egypt has the potential to become like Lebanon because of growing sectarian violence.
"Civil strife that could engulf the country" Bahjet says.
The U.S. State Department reports respect of religious freedom in Egypt is declining, Christians are denied Government jobs, Priests are threatened and harassed, Christians are increasingly attacks in what State describes as "a climate of impunity that encourages violence."
In some cases authorities turn a blind eye to attacks on Christians, in other cases there is evidence police sparked the attacks.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been largely silent about the problem, but this week he spoke out saying Egyptians must up-root "fanaticism and sectarianism, which threatens the unit of our nation."
Dina has written a letter to President Obama which has been published on Christian websites. She has been pulled out of school. She has only a blue jean jacket to stay warm and little food to eat. Her letter was a desperate plea. "I wrote that we are a minority Christian Community treated very badly and I want to tell President Obama to tell the Egyptian Government to treat us well."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Now that's an interesting thing---I've read the staff by a lot of Paleocons criticizing "Israel's mistreatment of Christians". I never read one of them addressing Muslim treatment of Christians.
The U.K. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the British government had overstepped its powers in freezing the assets of terror suspects.
The judges said the government should have sought Parliamentary approval before issuing two orders that imposed broad controls over the finances of five terror suspects. In response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, the United Nations Security Council passed resolutions requiring member states to freeze assets of various individuals believed to be involved in terrorism. The U.K. implemented the measures through government orders, while some other countries introduced legislative acts.
"Even in the face of the threat of international terrorism, the safety of the people is not the supreme law. We must be just as careful to guard against unrestrained encroachments on personal liberty," wrote Supreme Court Deputy President David Hope in his judgment.
"The Government is committed to maintaining an effective, proportionate and fair terrorist asset-freezing regime that meets our U.N. obligations, protects national security by disrupting flows of terrorist finance, and safeguards human rights," the U.K. Treasury said in a statement. It added that the ruling doesn't change the U.K.'s obligations under the U.N. charter to freeze assets of suspected criminals and that it "will introduce fast-track legislation to ensure there is no disruption" to its the system.
In another ruling related to the same case, the Supreme Court also on Wednesday lifted a ban on identifying the five individuals who had challenged the government's right to freeze their assets. The individuals had argued to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, among other reasons. The judgement cited several arguments for identifying individuals, including that more vivid and compelling media stories will "stimulate discussion" around important issues such as the use of freezing orders.
#1
It's kind of hard to get used to the idea of the U.K. Supreme Court, which has only been around since 2005, replacing the "Law Lords", a 12-seat judicial panel appointed to the House of Lords specifically for that purpose.
The nagging sense is that this is because the SCOTUS is the highest profile court in the world, with credibility far greater than any other national or international court. Every one of its decisions is pondered by attorneys and judges around the world.
This has created endless consternation, because a lot of non-Americans think that SCOTUS decisions apply to them, instead of the laws of their own country.
A similar predicament happened in Italy, because of TV reruns of Perry Mason. Most Italians became far more familiar with US law than Italian law. So much so that they ended up changing their judicial system.
#2
Most Italians became far more familiar with US law than Italian law. So much so that they ended up changing their judicial system. Hmm. Maybe we should offer free reruns of Perry Mason to all those Islamic countries.
Mohammed Usman Saddique, 27, was stopped by police after getting out of a silver BMW outside his family home in Walthamstow, East London. Inner London Crown Court was told that Saddique was not alleged to be part of the conspiracy to blow up aircraft over the Atlantic but was arrested as part of the same police operation.
When he was cautioned by police he is said to have told them: You gotta be joking' but among a set of CDs on the desk in his attic bedroom, police found one labelled mHacker' said to refer to Master Hacker.' Richard Whittam QC, prosecuting, told the court the CD contained a number of folders including the Terrorist Handbook which contained detailed instructions and advice on the availability and use of component parts for different types of explosives, including a list of useful household chemicals and availability.'
Another, called bombs and more' contained step-by-step instructions on mixing and making various types of primary and secondary explosives,' Mr Whittam said. He added: If the chemicals recommended were difficult to obtain, it included household substitutes that could be obtained through more conventional means.' Other files included a document on detonators and another on improvised munitions' which was described as step by step instructions.'
Following his arrest in August 2006, Saddique made a statement through his solicitor in which he claimed that the computer equipment found in the house belonged to his brother, an IT analyst for a firm in the City of London. But interviewed by police officers, his brother is alleged to have told them the CD was not his.
Police also found a DHL courier receipt in the pocket of a black leather jacket hanging on a door in the hall dated February 2005 for the sending of a two-way radio to Pakistan. They also found a book called Join the Caravan' by Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, which included a quote from Osama bin Laden and was described as a source of inspiration to thousands of young Muslims to go and fight jihad [holy war].'
Inside a copy of the SAS Personal Survival Handbook, was a printed document that said: I am appointing you to lead this army to test and try you.' Printed documents from the internet referred to al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban.
Saddique is charged with engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts in relation to the mHacker CD and two mobile phones and possessing a document or record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism. The case continues.
Imprisoned members of the militant Basque separatist group ETA said Monday they were launching a hunger strike in Spanish and French jails.
Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the protest would not make the government change its penitentiary policy even by 'an inch.'
The inmates were protesting Spain's policy of placing them in separate prisons far from the Basque region. They were also requesting their recognition as political prisoners, reported the Basque newspaper Gara, quoting a communique from EPPK, an association representing the prisoners.
EPPK said the hunger strike was part of a string of protests launched in early January, which included fasting, not making use of opportunities to make phone calls or to go out to the prison yard.
Spanish and French prisons hold more than 700 people who have been sentenced for belonging to or collaborating with ETA.
However, the ongoing protests have had an unequal and sometimes scarce following among the inmates, according to sources of the Spanish prison administration.
Several ETA prisoners are believed to have distanced themselves from the organization and to have called for an end to its armed strategy in attempts to create a sovereign Basque state.
ETA accuses the government of inhuman policies in placing its jailed members so far from the Basque region that their family members must travel hundreds of kilometres to visit them. Rubalcaba said the government maintained its policy of giving preferential treatment to prisoners who repented and renounced violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm a quarter Basque and don't give a shit if they starve to death. I imagine the sympathy level elsewhere is even lower
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2010 9:06 Comments ||
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Don't fear. Hunger strike means they will not be eating prison's food only the food brought by their relatives; cold blooded murderer De Juana Chaaos, one who told about the pleasure he took from the weeping faces of his victims relatives, actually put up weight or at least lost none during a fifty days hunger strike. In the last days og his hunger strike he was even honoring his fiancee (who was allowed to stay in his cell). Contrast with Irish Robert Sands who after fifty days was barely conscious and unable to move.
White House lawyers are mulling the legality of proposed attempts to kill an American citizen, Anwar al Awlaki, who is believed to be part of the leadership of the al Qaeda group in Yemen behind a series of terror strikes, according to two people briefed by U.S. intelligence officials.
One of the people briefed said opportunities to "take out" Awlaki "may have been missed" because of the legal questions surrounding a lethal attack which would specifically target an American citizen.
A spokesperson said the White House declined to comment.
While Awlaki has not been charged with any crimes under U.S. law, intelligence officials say recent intelligence reports and electronic intercepts show he played an important role in recruiting the accused "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Awlaki also carried on extensive e-mail communication with the accused Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, prior to the attack that killed 12 soldiers and one civilian.
According to the people who were briefed on the issue, American officials fear the possibility of criminal prosecution without approval in advance from the White House for a targeted strike against Awlaki.
An American citizen with suspected al Qaeda ties was killed in Nov. 2002 in Yemen in a CIA predator strike that was aimed at non-American leaders of al Qaeda. The death of the American citizen, Ahmed Hijazi of Lackawanna, NY, was justified as "collateral damage" at the time because he "was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," said a former U.S. official familiar with the case.
In the case of Awlaki, born in New Mexico and a college student in Colorado and California, a strike aimed to kill him would stretch current Presidential authority given to the CIA and the Pentagon to pursue terrorists anywhere in the world.
#1
An American citizen with suspected al Qaeda ties was killed in Nov. 2002 in Yemen in a CIA predator strike that was aimed at non-American leaders of al Qaeda. The death of the American citizen, Ahmed Hijazi of Lackawanna, NY, was justified as "collateral damage" at the time because he "was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," said a former U.S. official familiar with the case.
#2
The AmCit Radical Cleric in question is an open source identified AQ leadership member, the celric with whom MAJ Hassan of Ft. Hood infamy corresponded, and was in the vicinity of a targeted AQ camp.
The analogy would be calling off a B-17 strike on a Nazi headquarters during WWII because an AmCit German Army member is in the area.
Obambi himself said we are in a war with AQ, so the cleric is clearly an enemy combatant by his leadership role. But the WH lawyers need him to be exempt from military actions to avoid extra-judicial execution?
UFB!
#3
Clearly this is because he is a double agent posing as an AQ ally while actually being a US ally. AQ bigwigs would be well-advised to stick near him so as to avoid being drone zapped.
We take care of our own.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
01/27/2010 15:39 Comments ||
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It seems a remedy would be to prosecute government officials for failing to take action against known threats. Do your primary job of protecting the American people or go to jail.
Posted by: ed ||
01/27/2010 16:47 Comments ||
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After the BS surrounding the SEALS and the on again off again threat to prosecute members of GW's team, can you really blame these guys?
Bambi's team only has your back when they need it to drive the bus on it for a grease job.....
[Al Arabiya Latest] Two senior U.S. senators urged the Obama administration to hand over to the U.S. military the man accused of trying to blow up a U.S. passenger jet on Christmas Day for additional interrogation and charges.
The Independent chairman and the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins, demanded that Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab be charged as an enemy combatant rather than in a U.S. criminal court.
The decision to charge him in a criminal court "almost certainly prevented the military and the intelligence community from obtaining information that would have been critical to learning more about how our enemy operates and to preventing future attacks," they said in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Obama's counterterrorism adviser John Brennan.
Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old from Nigeria, was interviewed for about an hour by FBI agents and a day later was charged in a U.S. criminal court with trying to blow up Northwest flight 253 as it was approaching Detroit from Amsterdam on Dec. 25.
How the Obama administration handled the case has become almost daily fodder for Republicans, who accuse the White House of not being tough enough on national security matters, charges officials have denied.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
What do you expect: one is a jew and another is a republican (and both are melanin defficient)? These people never learn.
Posted by: Eric Holder ||
01/27/2010 4:49 Comments ||
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Picked right up on Scott Brown's "spend money to fight terrorists not to pay their lawyers" line didn't they?
PAKISTANI President Asif Ali Zardari has a black goat slaughtered at his house almost every day to ward off "evil eyes" and protect him from "black magic".
A spokesman for the President told the Dawn newspaper the goats were slaughtered as an act of Sadaqah - meaning "voluntary charity" in Islam whereby one gives out money or the meat of a slaughtered animal to the poor to win Allah's blessing and stave off misfortune.
"It has been an old practice of Mr Zardari to offer Sadaqah. He has been doing this for a long time," the spokesman, Farhatullah Babar, told the paper.
Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim country where many of the well-off offer Sadaqah.
Though Muslim, many people also follow certain superstitious practices.
Hundreds of goats had been sacrificed at Mr Zardari's house since he was sworn in September 2008, the Dawn newspaper reported.
It said Mr Zardari's detractors would see in his "new-found religiosity" a sign of nervousness in the face of growing woes.
Mr Zardari, who rose to power after the assassination of his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, in late 2007, has become increasingly unpopular and faces a range of problems from Islamist militancy to a stagnant economy and political rivalry.
A Supreme Court ruling last month throwing out an amnesty for Mr Zardari, several top aides and thousands of political activists and government figures triggered a political storm and expectation that he was on his way out.
[Dawn] A division bench of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday ordered petitioner Mariam, sister of Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, to submit a copy of the National Identity Card (NIC) or any another document to establish her brother's nationality.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh, also directed the Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Ashraf Khan Mughal to verify from the federal authorities the nationality of Khalid Shaikh Mohammad.
The bench earlier heard the petitioner's counsel Ghulam Qadir Jatoi who submitted a report of the ICRC (International Committee of Red Cross) in which it was stated that Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and his colleague Ali Alias Abdul Aziz Alias Aziz Balochi were arrested from Pakistan and were, later, turned over to US authorities in 2003, where they were being tried in detention as 'high value detainees'.
The bench asked the petitioner's counsel to show documents proving the nationality or status of Khalid Shaikh Mohammad.
"These persons could be of any origin...from their names they appear to be Saudi or Yemeni nationals," observed Chief Justice of SHC.
The CJ was then taken through many documents by the counsel for petitioner after which the CJ said evidence was required regarding nationality of other missing persons allegedly arrested and handed over to US authorities.
The bench ordered the petitioner as well as the federal government's representative to establish whether Khalid Shaikh was a Pakistani national or not.
The bench put off further hearing till February 9.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday said the hydra-headed menace of terrorism was our common enemy and no one country could battle it out alone. Certainly not, if more than one country's generating it...
He termed the Friends of Democratic Pakistan "a collective determination against an evil mindset" and urged the international community to address root causes of terrorism such as poverty and unemployment. But the "Magnificent 19" weren't poor, and their employment prospects would have been very good in most places, had they not hijack two aircraft and smashed them into skyscrapers in New York, another one to smash into the Pentagon, and yet another one into the ground in Pennsylvania. Osama bin Laden was reputed to have a personal fortune of $300 million. So perhaps we can discount poverty and unemployment as root causes, since Haitians, who're poorer than your run-of-the-mill Arab or Pak and even less employed, haven't been committing acts of terrorism world wide.
The foreign minister was addressing the Friends of Democratic Pakistan's Public-Private Partnership Conference in Dubai. He said the three-year plan of reconstruction and rehabilitation in Malakand comprised close to 500 projects and would cost about $ 300 million. Which leaves us with the intellectual problem: if the roots of terrorism aren't in poverty and unemployment, where are they? What single factor do 95 percent of all terrorists working today have in common?
The five year development plan, based on Post-crisis Needs Assessment, would cost around $1.2 billion, and the FoDP must expedite its process to complete these projects, the minister said. Oh, what can it be?
Pakistan has suffered huge economic losses of over $35 billion since September 11 in terms of infrastructure, investment and exports, Qureshi said. Actually, we see next to no terrorism emanating from those places where the religious ethic is Lutheran or Catholic or Buddhist or Hindoo or Shinto or Taoist. The worshippers at the shrine of the Risen Elvis don't explode. When was the last time a Wiccan took a hostage? When was the last time a Jew wiped out a pizza parlor or shot up a bat mitzvah? No military adherent of the Church of the Subgenius has ever gotten up on a table and shot up his fellows.
This amount, he said, is indeed negligible, as compared to the billions of dollars being spent in the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. Perhaps it would be to the world's advantage to push translations of Marcus Aurelius or Thomas Aquinas or the collected works of John Knox or the Rg Vedas into the reluctant hands of the beturbanned masses.
Qureshi said that Pakistan prefers foreign investments in building joint ventures, public-private partnerships, investment and trade under frameworks and mechanisms that can be sustained in the years to come. We don't even have to hand out bibles to the benighted Mohammedans. Mere study groups extolling the logic and virtues of agnosticism would go a long way toward removing the edge of bloodthirst. I wouldn't go so far as to push atheism, mind you, since they don't want little kiddies to be allowed to enjoy Christmas, but a bit less certainty of the truth of Arabian superstition wouldn't hurt.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
Root Cause. Islam. Its certainly not the Amish or the little girl down the block.
Its Mohammed and his friends. Anybody named Hussein, that you know?
Posted by: The Horseman ||
01/27/2010 0:25 Comments ||
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#3
Root cause: pisslam, and its embrace of stupidity as sanctity. Second place: class warfare, which preaches have nots have a right to kill haves. Did I get enough haves in there?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/27/2010 1:25 Comments ||
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#4
pIslam's own books record Moohamhead as a thug, murderous terrorist and common caravan thief. Considering how is horde spread his cult by the sword, no one can consider the Quran as anything but a terrorist handbook.
The Canadian Caper was the unofficial name given to the covert rescue by the Government of Canada of six American diplomats who evaded capture during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran, by Iranian students on November 4, 1979, precipitating the Iran Hostage Crisis. . . .
The operation itself was initiated at great personal risk by then Canadian ambassador to Iran, Ken Taylor, and Canadian Immigration officer John Sheardown who provided sanctuary for the six endangered American diplomats in their own private residences. Two "friendly-country" embassy officials assisted as well, and an unoccupied diplomatic residence was used for several weeks.
Ambassador Taylor contacted then Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs, Flora MacDonald and Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark for assistance, who expressed support for the effort. The decision was made to smuggle the six Americans out of Iran on an international flight using Canadian passports. To achieve this, Canada's Parliament convened its first secret session since World War II to grant permission for an Order-in-Council to be made for the issuance of Canadian passports to the American diplomats in Canadian sanctuary. The granted passports, feigning Canadian citizenship and a set of forged Iranian visas prepared by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency would be used to attempt an escape from Iran.
The CIA enlisted its disguise and exfiltration expert, Tony Mendez, to provide a cover story, documents, and appropriate clothing and materials to change their appearance. Mendez worked closely with Canadian government staff in Ottawa, sending as much as he could in the diplomatic pouch, before flying to Tehran with an associate to assist with the rescue. There were alternate passports and identities for a variety of scenarios, but the cover story selected had the six being a Hollywood crew scouting movie locations. The elaborate back-story involved a film named Argo, for a Middle-Eastern feel, and a post office box in Los Angeles for "Studio Six", backed by display ads. (The movie scenario was considered one way to get an armed team into Tehran to retake the embassy.) . . . You can hear an interview with Mr. Mendez here. It's well worth the listen. Thank you Canada!
Posted by: Mike ||
01/27/2010 09:18 ||
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Iran's supreme leader accused the United States Tuesday of trying to use the Internet as a tool to confront the Islamic Republic, declaring that such a policy only showed Washington's frustration.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton challenged Beijing and other governments to end Internet censorship, placing China in the company of Iran, Saudi Arabia and others as leading suppressors of on-line freedom.
The Internet has become a battleground during domestic turmoil in Iran after June's disputed election, with the authorities blocking access to some opposition websites and pro-reform Iranians using it to spread word of new protests.
Government officials have portrayed the opposition protests that erupted after the presidential poll as a foreign-backed bid to undermine Iran's Islamic system of government.
"The Americans have said that they have allocated a $45 million budget to help them to confront the Islamic Republic of Iran via the Internet," state television quoted Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying in a speech.
"This decision shows the height of the enemy's frustration. They have spent tens of billions of dollars in the past (in confronting Iran), but have achieved no results," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"All your Intertubes are belong to us!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2010 13:37 Comments ||
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#2
If you don't like it then I suggest you return the internet to Al Gore for a refund.
Posted by: ed ||
01/27/2010 15:13 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Senior Iranian opposition figure Mehdi Karoubi recognized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as head of government even though he still believed last year's election was rigged, Karoubi's son was quoted as saying on Monday.
It was the first time such an expression of recognition had been attributed to Karoubi, who came fourth in June's disputed presidential election and who has persisted in voicing defiance over the conduct of the vote ever since.
Separately, in an interview on Monday, Karoubi forecast that Ahmadinejad's government would not stay in power for a full four-year term, an opposition website quoted an aid to Karoubi as saying.
A senior Western diplomat said he believed Karoubi, a pro-reform cleric and fierce critic of the hardline president, was sending a signal through the remark passed on by his son Hussein, but that it was unclear what it might lead to.
"It is a shift in tone ... it is very interesting," the Tehran-based diplomat said.
In a separate statement on Monday, Karoubi made clear he had not fundamentally changed his views on the election and its aftermath.
Karoubi said he was "ready to pay a higher price over insisting on my position and I'm not afraid of pressures," according to a report by the pro-reform Parlemannews website.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"Sure I recognize him: short as a child, bad hair, ill-fitting leisure suits, bad hygiene. Yeah, that's him"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/27/2010 13:39 Comments ||
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Israeli President Shimon Peres declares Tehran as the main obstacle to the creation of a viable Palestinian State.
"The big problem today is Iran," He said in an interview with German television channel, ARD.
The 68 year-old politician who arrived in the German capital of Berlin on an official visit to mark the so-called 'International Holocaust Remembrance Day,' was especially critical of Iran's support for the Islamic resistance movements in the region, namely Hamas and Hezbollah.
Iran's connections with the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas, he claimed, has until now prevented the creation of a Palestinian state.
Observers in the region, however, insists that Israel's preconditions on the creation of a Palestinian state render a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian state impossible.
Tel Aviv says a future Palestinian state would have to be demilitarized, cede control of its airspace to Israel and recognize the territory occupied and run by the regime in Tel Aviv as the 'Jewish homeland.'
Israel also geographically separates Gaza and the West Bank, strangling trade and other exchanges between the two territories at will.
"Iran supports Hezbollah, which has divided Lebanon," Peres claimed. "They bought 80,000 missiles. We must refer to the source, to the heart of the problem."
According to observers, the Israeli president is infamous for making baseless claims during his foreign tours in efforts to demonize Hezbollah and Hamas. Such claims have been refuted and condemned by Lebanese officials and other world leaders, namely the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erodogan.
Referring to efforts to contain Iran's peaceful nuclear program, the Israeli leader also expressed concern for a world where "nuclear proliferation is no longer controllable."
Israel, the sole possessor of nuclear warheads in the Middle East, accuses Tehran of making efforts to build a nuclear bomb and has openly threatened Iran with military strikes should the country continue enriching uranium.
As one of the four countries that have refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Tel Aviv has maintained the policy of neither admitting nor denying its possession of nuclear warheads. However, it is widely believed that Israel has some 200 nuclear warheads in its arsenal.
The doctrine of nuclear ambiguity has enabled Israel to deter foes for decades in a region with only one alleged nuclear power.
In order to maintain its military advantage, Tel Aviv insists on preventing other Muslim countries, especially in the Middle East, from acquiring nuclear capabilities while remaining outside of the international nuclear non-proliferation system.
Peres' visit to Germany comes after the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Chancellor Angela Merkel last week in a bid to press Berlin to sell six Dolphin-class diesel submarine to Tel Aviv.
Israel had previously received three submarines as a donation from the government of the then German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
The Dolphin submarines are among the most sophisticated and capable submarines in the world that could be equipped with nuclear missiles.
Built in German shipyards for the Israel Navy, the submarine is capable of carrying American-supplied Harpoon cruise missiles equipped with nuclear warheads.
While the restrictive German export regulations bar the sale of weapons to crisis areas, the German government has justified the submarine sale by invoking its "special responsibility" towards Tel Aviv.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/27/2010 00:00 ||
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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.
Mohammed Usman Saddique, 27, was stopped by police after getting out of a silver BMW outside his family home in Walthamstow, East London. Inner London Crown Court was told that Saddique was not alleged to be part of the conspiracy to blow up aircraft over the Atlantic but was arrested as part of the same police operation. 
Imprisoned members of the militant Basque separatist group ETA said Monday they were launching a hunger strike in Spanish and French jails.
[Dawn] Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday said the hydra-headed menace of terrorism was our common enemy and no one country could battle it out alone.
The Canadian Caper was the unofficial name given to the covert rescue by the Government of Canada of six American diplomats who evaded capture during the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran, Iran, by Iranian students on November 4, 1979, precipitating the Iran Hostage Crisis. . . .
Iran's supreme leader accused the United States Tuesday of trying to use the Internet as a tool to confront the Islamic Republic, declaring that such a policy only showed Washington's frustration.
