Long piece in the Mail with plenty of pics. Good to see the Prince do this.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I have to admit PRINCE CHUCK doesn't look half- bad in Army field dress - REMINDS ME OF WHEN HE WAS YOUNGER + STILL PRINCE OF WALES = "PRINCE ROYAL".
#2
It would be better if he locked himself in the chamber and actually looked into the filing cabinet.
He is a child leader like ours and most the rest of the kings. They all suck and know nothing.
no direction, knowledge, or substance.
He may as well have a game of crickett as he knows nothing at all of this earth. Focused on global warming, trash bags - ya'know. All things Kings focus on.
Throne is for the youngster. Charles is a joke walking.
Learn something dude. You are a Jerkoff of your own crown guy. Sorry to say but true. No king shall you be.
#3
Focused on global warming, trash bags - ya'know. All things Kings focus on.
And building permits to prevent that loathsome modern architecture, dontchaknow. It's nice that this morale visit kept him from interfering in local affairs while he was away. He should make more such trips, now he's started -- perhaps that would encourage the government to actually fund the bullets and helos requests that have been on MoD desks for several years.
Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer ||
03/26/2010 6:50 Comments ||
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#4
According to his past years of behavior, I hope he wasn't pacing coordinates.
[Quqnoos] Taliban militants have denied holding secret meetings with Kai Eide, the former UN envoy to Afghanistan, in a statement
Dated March 22, the statement by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan said it "categorically refutes the irresponsible remarks of Kai Eide," and vowed to continue fighting until the "unconditional withdrawal" of US-led forces.
Eide said in a March 19 interview with the BBC that he had been holding secret talks with Taliban leaders for about a year, which lasted until almost the end of his tenure in Kabul last month.
In the interview, Eide said the recent arrests of Taliban leaders had stopped a secret channel of communications, which had had a "negative" impact on efforts to achieve a political solution to the Afghan war.
He was referring to the arrest in Pakistan of the Taliban's No 2, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, and other Taliban leaders.
But in its statement, picked up by the SITE monitoring service, the Taliban said: "The Islamic of Emirate of Afghanistan does not believe in any political surreptitious contacts nor has it had such contacts."
It called the reports of contacts in Saudi Arabia, Dubai and the Maldives as "baseless propaganda," and said reports that Baradar had taken part in the meetings "have no basis."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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NATO has rejected an appeal made by Russia for eradication of opium fields in Afghanistan, arguing that the sole source of income in the region cannot be removed.
Addressing a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on Wednesday, head of Russia's Federal Drug Control Agency (FSKN) Victor Ivanov said "Afghan opiates led to the death of 1 million people by overdose in the last 10 years, and that is United Nations data. Is that not a threat to world peace and security?"
The Russian official tasked NATO forces with "normalizing the situation in Afghanistan" which includes "the elimination of drug production."
Meanwhile, NATO spokesman James Appathurai voiced understanding for Russian concerns, given the country's estimated 200,000 heroin and morphine addicts and the tens of thousands dying each year as a result of their addiction.
However, he went on to say that the Afghan drug problem had to be handled carefully in an effort to avoid alienating local residents.
"We share the view that it has to be tackled," the spokesman said. "But there is a slight difference of views," Appathurai added.
"We cannot be in a situation where we remove the only source of income for people who live in the second poorest country in the world without being able to provide them an alternative. That is simply not possible," the NATO official explained.
According to statistics provided by Ivanov, Russia was the single largest consumer of heroin in 2008. Moscow blames NATO for the surge in heroin trafficking from Afghanistan to Russia.
The production of opium in Afghanistan has skyrocketing since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Now if Russia were willing to cough up some hard cash to replace that crop for the next year or two, perhaps an agreement could be reached. Of course, Putin would have a hard time appropriating that cash for his personal use, so it ain't gonna happen.
#2
I have a win-win proposal: have Russia' Ivanov come in a buy the poppy direct from the farmers, and cut out all the middle men. Then they can employ quality control in refining and packaging, and distribute the safer product directly to their junkies.
#3
Pay the farmers directly to burn the crops in the field. Cheaper, more effective and costs a hell of a lot less, plus it starves out the middle-men (drug cartels and Taliban).
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir warned on Thursday that making, selling or consuming alcoholic drinks will be punishable by the lash under the country's Islamic laws. Cheese. Having to live someplace like Sudan and not even being able to drown your sorrows...
"Whoever makes, drinks or sells alcoholic drinks in Khartoum will be whipped, regardless of what the United Nations or human rights groups have to say about it," said Bashir, who is seeking re-election next month.
His comments came in a speech in the capital's suburb of Um Dawaban, a stronghold of the Sufi Qadariyaa movement. Under Sudan's Islamic Sharia law, consumption or sale of alcohol is punishable with 40 lashes.
The president, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court to face charges of war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region, has thrown himself into a nationwide campaign tour ahead of elections due to start next month.
Alcohol is banned in Muslim north Sudan and whipping is a common punishment for anyone caught drinking, brewing or selling it.
Rights groups have complained about lashing sentences handed out against women caught brewing alcohol in Khartoum, many of them from the non-Muslim south.
A peace agreement between Sudan's predominantly Muslim north and the largely Christian south makes special provision for Christians in the semi-autonomous south.
Shops in Khartoum do not sell alcohol, but rural women who have moved to the capital make an alcoholic concoction out of dates.
Last year Nigerian footballer Stephen Worgu, star player for Sudan's premier league al-Merreikh club, was sentenced to 40 lashes for drinking alcohol. He appealed, but there has been no further announcement about his case.
Sudan's legislative, regional and presidential elections, scheduled for April 11-13, are a key part of the 2005 peace accord which ended two decades of civil war between the north and south.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Former U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Dr Mohammed ElBaradei reiterated the possibility of running in Egypt's 2011 presidential election. In the first interview to a non-Egyptian satellite channel, ElBaradei told Al Arabiya that his relationship with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is quite frank.
Upon answering a question by Al Arabiya correspondent Randa Abul Azm about whether he had phoned President Mubarak at the hospital in Germany, ElBaradei said that Mubarak's latest illness was a "human condition" and he wished him a quick recovery and a safe return back to Egypt.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
It would be awfully cheeky of Dr. El-Baradei to call the president of Egypt in his hospital room -- they aren't friends, after all. Sending a brief note might be appropriate, if sent to his home or office, but nothing more intrusive than that.
Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer ||
03/26/2010 6:54 Comments ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Foreign nationals currently occupy leadership positions in Al Qaeda as well as financing, training, and recruitment in Saudi Arabia. This comes following the news that Saudi authorities have dismantled a 101 Al Qaeda elements operating in Saudi Arabia, the majority of which are foreign nationals. The Al Qaeda cell was planning on attacking the kingdom's oil facilities.
According to the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Interior, security authorities arrested 47 Saudi nationals, 51 Yemenis, a Somali, an Eritrean, and a Bangladeshi, with links to Al Qaeda. It is believed the group was planning to "target national facilities and security personnel." The Saudi Ministry of Interior also announced that security authorities had also arrested two other independent terrorist cells with direct ties to Al Qaeda in Yemen. The Ministry of Interior report revealed that each cell was comprised of six members, and that these were eleven Saudi nationals and one Yemeni, and that they were arrested in the "initial stages of preparing an attack on oil and security facilities in the Eastern Region."
The participation of foreign nationals in Al Qaeda operations is nothing new, but this is something that has been on the increase in the recent period for a number of reasons, such as the difficulty Al Qaeda is facing in recruiting Saudi nationals due to an increase of awareness in Saudi society, which is something that has forced Al Qaeda to significantly rely on "foreign" elements.
Security spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Interior, Major General Mansour al-Turki told Asharq Al-Awsat via telephone that Al Qaeda represents a threat from abroad to Saudi Arabia, and therefore it is certain that the terrorist organization is relying upon foreign elements in order to implement its objectives.
He added "The Al Qaeda organization is currently facing many difficulties in recruiting Saudi Arabians following the increase in the level of awareness [of Saudi society] and the exposure of the ideology and actions of the deviant [Al Qaeda] group, causing the organization to resort to [recruiting] non-Saudi elements."
Major General al-Turki also pointed out that Saudi Arabia is being targeted from abroad, and this is why the Al Qaeda organization is utilizing these foreign nationals to achieve their objectives and for recruitment purposes. He also stressed that the presence of foreign nationals in Al Qaeda has increased due to their failure to recruit the Saudi youth.
Major General al-Turki told Asharq Al-Awsat "The foreign nationals play different roles in Al Qaeda, and each plays a role that suits him, and the majority of terrorist cells in Saudi Arabia are under the direct management of foreign leadership, and this is with regards to persuading Saudi Arabians to become suicide bombers, or to utilize them for shelter, financing, fund-raising, and in order to serve the purposes and objectives of the Al Qaeda organization."
As for the foreign countries that have the highest number of elements in Al Qaeda, the Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman told Asharq Al-Awsat that it is difficult to identify this information, saying that the Al Qaeda organization does not target any particular nationality for recruitment but rather seeks individuals who are concerned with Muslim issues, and draws them in through this.
Major General Mansour al-Turki added "this deception and persuasion that Al Qaeda's actions are in the interests of the Islamic Shariaa has been uncovered in Saudi Arabia, and this is what has enabled Saudi Arabian society to protect itself from this ideology."
For his part, retired Major General Yahya al-Zaidi, a Saudi Arabian expert in security, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Al Qaeda is open to all, and that foreign nationals will continue to join this organization so long as Al Qaeda is able to provide them with training and support in the areas that they are recruited from.
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, al-Zaidi said that "following the events in southern Saudi Arabia and the Huthi war, Al Qaeda's centralization in Yemen has become clear, and Al Qaeda elements include Yemenis, Somalis, and other foreign nationals." He also said that the goal of this diverse recruitment was to create confusion and instability in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi security expert also revealed that the uncovering of the terrorist network yesterday included arresting foreign elements within Saudi Arabia, and that "this issue requires attention and care from all [security] apparatus and citizens."
Al-Zaidi also told Asharq Al-Awsat "Saudi Arabia has managed to be like a counter-terrorist school, especially as many other Arab countries have begun to implement Saudi Arabian programs and plans in the fight against terrorism." Al-Zaidi also stressed that the foreign nationals involved with Al Qaeda received their training outside of Saudi Arabia. .
The retired Major-General attributed the rising number of foreign nationals in Al Qaeda to the organization's inability to find a place in Saudi Arabia, which has caused it to establish centers in other countries and recruit foreign elements.
Al-Zaidi told Asharq Al-Awsat "The number of non-Saudi Arabians involved in terrorist activities in Saudi Arabia is on the increase following the events of the Huthi war, not to mention that Al Qaeda is preparing to enter Saudi Arabia either through the border areas or by infiltrating using forged passports and aliases or even entering using Umrah and Hajj visas under the guise of religion."
Saudi Interior Ministry security spokesman, Major General Mansour al-Turki told Asharq Al-Awsat that in the beginning Al Qaeda relied upon Saudi nationals, and that during this time some foreign nationals had leadership roles in the organization, but this was extremely limited in comparison to Saudi nationals.
Al-Turki said that "with the failure of the terrorist cells and the uncovering of their intentions and their misguided ideology, as well as the [increased] awareness that society has reached with regards to this, it has become difficult for them to easily recruit Saudi youth, which has forced them to recruit Muslims of other nationalities."
He added "the increase in the number of foreign nationals working on plans that target the Saudi state coincided with the success of the state security authorities to thwart these plans and begin to confront the difficulties of the misled youth through awareness campaigns carried out by the Ministry of Interior and other relevant authorities in order to expose this ideology and its misguidance."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"Damned foreign Untermenschen! No real Uebermensch Saudi would stoop so low as to let one of them order him around," added the anonymous Ministry of Interior spokesman.
Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer ||
03/26/2010 0:28 Comments ||
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#2
Thats the problem with you wahabbist and salifist idiots.
You paid to make them, You as@ole kings get to break them or FOAD.
Saud, this is your term. Or your last whatever it is you think you have.
You get control of every ahole stupid assed radical org on the planet YOU made or I will have NO MERCY on your apostate asses. You spawned the hellions, YOU PAY FOR IT AND KILL IT.
Or the great big giant Jewish God that is about to smackdown this entire planet starting with your apostate asess may be more cruel to YOU than anyone sitting in the desert breeding like rats with no water.
I have been nice before, but GOD will not.
King of Saud, you fix what your tent made and quickly. Everyone knows it's a sham.
One more funded mess from you and it's a glass kingdom.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expressed "deep concern over the use of the punitive power of the State to criminalize human rights advocates, judicialize peaceful social protests, and persecute through the criminal system persons the authorities consider political opponents in Venezuela."
The OAS human rights watchdog issued the statement in reference to the recent arrest of the former presidential candidate Oswaldo Alvarez Paz for statements he made to a TV channel, and the trial against Judge María Lourdes Afiuni.
In a press release, the IACHR reiterated what had it already stated in it is report about the situation of human rights in Venezuela. "The lack of independence and autonomy of the judiciary with respect to the political branches constitutes one of the weakest points of democracy in Venezuela, a situation that seriously hinders the free exercise of human rights in Venezuela."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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South Korea and the U.S. have completed an operational plan that envisages military responses to six types of emergencies in North Korea including regime collapse, a government source said Sunday. The source said the two sides will continue to complement and develop the plan.
In 1999, during the Kim Dae-jung administration, the South Korean and U.S. militaries gave shape to the contingency plan, but it was then billed as a "concept plan" and envisaged five scenarios -- a civil war caused by a transition of power or a coup after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's death; theft and sale abroad of WMD including nuclear, missile and biochemical weapons, by an insurgent army; a mass exodus; massive natural disaster; and the kidnapping of South Korean citizens.
The plan included no details on troop mobilization and deployment. During the Roh Moo-hyun administration, the two militaries discussed ways to turn it into an "operational plan," but Cheong Wa Dae slammed the brakes on the idea since it feared the plan infringed on South Korea's sovereignty.
But reports that Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke in August last year brought fresh impetus to the plan, and "Operational Plan (OPLAN) 5029" was completed after about a year of consultations.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sunday denied the plan has been completed. "Media reports that OPLAN 5029 has been completed are unfounded. We deeply regret that a secret military operations plan has been reported," it said in a statement.
The U.S. military is apparently most concerned about the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons and technology falling into the hands of an insurgent army and being sold to terrorists abroad.
In a speech at an international conference hosted by the Council on Korea-U.S. Security Studies last Friday, U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Walter Sharp said Seoul and Washington agreed that the USFK would take the initiative to remove WMD from the North and launch Marine assault operations in case of an all-out war, even after the transfer of full operational control of Korean troops to Seoul in April 2012.
The South Korean military will reportedly be in charge in the remaining five scenarios.
The South Korean and U.S. militaries are set to destroy or retrieve WMD in the North by sending elite forces into the North via U.S. nuclear-powered submarines and special warfare transport aircraft and helicopters if there is a possibility of weapons or technology being stolen by insurgents and smuggled overseas, a source said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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Just in time for today's naval incident.
WMF > CHINA'S DONGFENG-31 MBMS CAN COVER ALL OF JAPAN AND RUSSIAN FAR EAST; + RUSSIA SENDS STRATEGIC BOMBERS INTO TAIWAN AIRSPACE TO TEST US REACTION TO THE "VARYAG" PLAN CARRIER. WARNING TO THE US THAT RUSSIA WILL NOT ACCEPT US TOTAL GEOPOL DOMINATION OF ASIA?
[Kyodo: Korea] The U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday adopted a resolution criticizing North Korea"s human rights situation, for the third year in a row. A record 28 countries voted in favor of the resolution, tabled by Japan and the European Union, while five countries -- China, Russia, Egypt, Indonesia and Cuba -- were against it. Thirteen countries abstained.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Bullshit. You never cared.
The whole country is a GULAG.
The UN is an ENABLER if not a promoter of human rights abuses and should be flown to every country they supported and left there.
God help any of you scumbags if I AM ever in charge here.
Two ethnic Uighurs from China freed from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay have arrived in Switzerland, Swiss authorities said on Wednesday, after the two were granted asylum despite China's opposition.
The Swiss federal government and local authorities in the northern Swiss canton of Jura said the two men, who were not named, arrived on Tuesday. "The two Uighurs with Chinese citizenship, who were granted admission for humanitarian reasons by Switzerland, have arrived in canton Jura," the federal government said in a statement. China had warned after Switzerland formally decided to take in the two ethnic Uighurs last month that the move would "surely undermine" bilateral relations.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Could be the makings of a helluva reality show...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/26/2010 8:30 Comments ||
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Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the US Military's Central Command (CENTCOM), telephoned IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi on Wednesday night to reassure Israel that comments attributed to him regarding supposed Israeli intransigence were spun out of context.
Last week, Petraeus testified before the Senate's Armed Services Committee. A 56-page report that CENTCOM had submitted alongside Petraeus's oral testimony caused a storm by claiming that Israeli intransigence was a problem for the US military and was fomenting conflict in the Middle East.
The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbors present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests,' the CENTCOM report read. Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships with governments and peoples in the [Middle East] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world.'
The above words, which appeared in the report but were not uttered by Petraeus in his oral testimony, were pounced upon by critics of Israel as confirmation of what many of them have said for years that Israel is the source of instability in the region.
On Wednesday, though, Petraeus poured cold water on the written testimony. In an appearance at St. Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire, he told reporters that his testimony had been spun by bloggers.
There's a 56-page document that we submitted that has a statement in it that describes various factors that influence the strategic context in which we operate, and among those we listed the Mideast peace process,' he said, according to a transcript of the press conference that appeared on the Web site of The American Spectator monthly. We noted in there that there was a perception at times that America sides with Israel and so forth. And I mean, that is a perception. It is there. I don't think that's disputable. But I think people inferred from what that said and then repeated it a couple of times and bloggers picked it up and spun it. And I think that has been unhelpful, frankly.'
Defense officials said that the defense establishment was not concerned by the possibility that the diplomatic crisis with Washington would impair defense ties. Proof, the officials said, was that an IAF and Defense Ministry delegation signed a deal this week to buy three giant Hercules military transport aircraft.
The deal, which had been in the works for a year, was scheduled months ago to be signed in March, and its finalization was not connected to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's visit to the US, officials said.
Oh dear. Are the DoD officials to undergo a severe tongue lashing from Secretary of State Clinton, too?
Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
comments attributed to him regarding supposed Israeli intransigence were spun out of context.
#2
Oh dear. Are the DoD officials to undergo a severe tongue lashing from Secretary of State Clinton, too?
must.resist.cheap.DADT.jab.
/going preemptively to my room
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/26/2010 8:31 Comments ||
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#3
About that original article in Foreign Policy magazine's website: Max Boot writes
Back on March 13, terrorist groupie Mark Perry a former Arafat aide who now pals around with Hamas and Hezbollah posted an article on Foreign Policys website, claiming that General David Petraeus was behind the administrations policy of getting tough with Israel.
I tried to set the record straight, based on talking to an officer familiar with Petraeuss thinking, that Perrys item was a gross distortion in fact a fraud. I noted that in Petraeuss view, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was only one factor among many affecting U.S. interests in the region and that Israeli settlements were far from the only, or even the main, obstacle to peace. I even suggested again, based on inside information that the 56-page posture statement that Central Command had submitted to Congress, which stated that the Arab-Israeli conflict foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel, was not the best indicator of his thinking. Better to look at what he actually told Congress in a hearing he barely mentioned Israel (until prompted to do so) and never talked about settlements at all.
In other words, the original article was straight-forward propaganda, designed to cause problems between Israel and the U.S.
Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer ||
03/26/2010 9:18 Comments ||
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#4
In other words, the original article was straight-forward propaganda, designed to cause problems between Israel and the U.S.
Posted by trailing wife on the other computer
Yes! "Designed to cause problems for Israel" as well as discredit Petraeus. A 'win-win' for the administration. I don't know who runs Barry's psywar campaign, but it is effective.
A military judge in California has denied a motion to dismiss charges against a Marine sergeant whose squad killed 24 Iraqi men, women and children after a bomb killed a Marine.
Lt. Col. David Jones ruled Friday at Camp Pendleton on a defense motion claiming there was unlawful command influence while a general considered a court-martial for Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich.
The judge ruled there was no record of any "meaningful comment" between the general and an aide who had investigated the case as a military lawyer.
Continued on Page 49
Al-Qaida and other Islamic groups are actively targeting blacks, Hispanics and single mothers in the U.S. as a part of building Al-Qaida's American arm in its war against America. In the last week there have been three arrests of Americans recruited by Al-Qaida: one Black, one Hispanic and one White. This has been a major fear of the intelligence community since September 11th. The fear is now a reality.
The recruitment is happening in our prison system with a special focus on the Blacks and Hispanics. Imams are playing the race card in their first appeal to the felons about Islam. They are telling them that Christianity is the religion that enslaved them -- that Islam is an African religion and the religion that will give them their power back and their rightful place in society.
They are targeting single women via the Internet and also via bars. They know that single women are strapped for cash. Muslim men who are doing the recruiting (tall dark and handsome in the eyes of these American women) are offering financial security and stability, a home and a man who will love her, provide for her and protect her. They tell the women all she has to do is be a mother and the lady of the household -- as God intended her to be cooking, shopping and visiting with her girlfriends.
Continued on Page 49
#1
***insert sarc tag***
Gosh, and here the MSM had me thinking that the only ones threatening legislators these days were Tea Partiers. My, oh my... Does Atty-General Eric Holder know about this, do you think?
***end sarc tag***
#5
In other news, the Kansas house has sent to the senate a bill supporting cc peoples (over age 21) to be able to enter any public building or area unless said building or area has its own security system in place.
This Article best sums up point/counterpoint as the focus is on CC at KU, the most prog part of the state; the fact there is interest there overturns what a year ago many thought was going to be a pocket expire of the cc program.
You will simply love the comments, classic neo-Lawrence revival stuff. I say that because at a time not soo long ago, Lawrence was a rather tough town where hippies going out of their own little neighborhood did so at their own risk, at least 4 major ethos who did not particularly get along.
#6
2012 + PAN-ISLAMIST NUCLEARIZATION is only two years away > I still hold that neither IRAN NOR RADICAL ISLAM = MILTERR GROUPS CAN IDEOL OR PRGAMTICALLY WAIT UNTIL 2015 AND BEYOND [2020's] TO FORMALLY OR OVERTLY GO NUKE.
IMO, once they formally go Nukies + deem that their new strongholds in AFRICA + EURASIA ARE SOLID, i.e. unlikely to be defeated or destroyed by the US-ALLIES even via force of arms, is when ROUTINE OR REGULAR TERRSTRIKES AGZ CONUS-NORAM WILL OCCUR.
VARIOUS NETTERS > broadly opine that all the MILTERRS would need ala SUCCESSFUL ANTI-US NUCLEAR-WMDS DOMESTIC TERROR INSIDE CONUS IS A RELATIVELY WEAK US MILPOL COUNTERRESPONSE TO THEIR ATTACKS, as PCorrectly blamed by POTUS Bammer + Admin on various, serious US-Global economic, etc. trubles???
[Geo News] Jamaat-e-Islami Naib Amir Siraj ul Haq said Thursday that the ongoing visit of high-level Pakistani delegation to the United States for holding strategic talks would be considered a failure if it failed to secure the honorable release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqi from the US detention.
Addressing a press conference here, Haq said that Pakistani nation wants honorable return of Aafia, not the US aid.
He said that Pakistani should push for resolution of Aafia's issue during the visit. If they return empty-handed, the visit would be declared a failure, he commented.
The JI leader said that national decisions were being made at the US embassy instead of Parliament due to US meddling and the weak government.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
ION NEWS KERALA > NYT: HEADLEY STORY SHOWS AL QAEDA, LeT LINKS.
#6
If they return empty-handed, the visit would be declared a failure, he commented.
Sorry, boys, but it looks like the results of your trip are preordained. Maybe try to get down to Disneyworld instead. I'll bet the crew would look good all decked out in Mickey Ears...
[Al Arabiya Latest] The U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday narrowly passed a resolution condemning Islamaphobic behavior, including Switzerland's minaret building ban, despite some states' major reservations.
The resolution, which was criticized by the United States as "an instrument of division," "strongly condemns... the ban on the construction of minarets of mosques and other recent discriminatory measures."
In a November referendum Swiss citizens voted to ban the construction of new minarets, a move that drew criticisms worldwide. These measures "are manifestations of Islamophobia that stand in sharp contradiction to international human rights obligations concerning freedoms of religions," said the resolution.
Such acts would "fuel discrimination, extremism and misperception leading to polarization and fragmentation with dangerous unintended and unforeseen consequences," it charged.
Some 20 countries voted in favor of the resolution entitled "combating defamation of religions," 17 voted against and eight abstained.
The resolution also "expresses deep concern ... that Islam is frequently and wrongly associated with human rights violations and terrorism."
It "regrets the laws or administrative measures specifically designed to control and monitor Muslim minorities, thereby stigmatizing them and legitimizing the discrimination they experience."
Putting forward the resolution on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Pakistan's ambassador Zamir Akram said that the specific references to Islam, the only religion mentioned in the text, "reflect the existing regrettable situation in some parts of the world where Muslims are being targeted."
Babacar Ba, who represents the Organization of the Islamic Conference, also told reporters that the resolution was a "way to reaffirm once again our condemnation of the decision to ban construction of minarets in Switzerland."
"This initiative that breaches religious freedom and rights of Muslims to build their places of worship as they wish to," he added.
However, the European Union pointed out that the concept of defamation should not fall under the remit of human rights because it conflicted with the right to freedom of expression, while the United States said free speech could be hindered by the resolution.
"The European Union believes that reconciling the notion of defamation with discrimination is a problematic endeavor," French ambassador Jean-Baptiste Mattei said on behalf of the bloc.
Eileen Donahoe, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. also slammed the resolution as an "ineffective way to address" concerns about discrimination.
"We cannot agree that prohibiting speech is the way to promote tolerance, and because we continue to see the 'defamation of religions' concept used to justify censorship, criminalization, and in some cases violent assaults and deaths of political, racial, and religious minorities around the world," she said.
"Contrary to the intentions of most member states, governments are likely to abuse the rights of individuals in the name of this resolution, and in the name of the Human Rights Council," added the U.S. envoy.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
A phobia is defined as an irrational fear. I would suggest that the behaviors the UNHRC is condemning are neither irrational nor evidence of fear.
A coalition led by secularist challenger Ayad Allawi has won the most seats in Iraq's parliamentary elections, narrowly defeating Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in results released Friday by the country's election commission. Maliki immediately said he would challenge the outcome.
Allawi's coalition took 91 seats; Maliki's State of Law bloc won 89 seats. The Iraqi Parliament has 325 seats.
In a televised news conference minutes after the results were released, Maliki said that he would not accept the final tally of votes from the March 7 election. The prime minister said he would challenge the results through the legal process.
His supporters had demanded a manual recount even before the results were announced, but the election commission said there was no basis for a recount.
Ad Melkert, a top United Nations official in Iraq, said the U.N. believes the elections were credible and urged all sides to accept the results. Those sentiments were echoed by U.S. Ambassador Christopher R. Hill and Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military official in Iraq. Both praised what they called a "historic electoral process," and said they did not believe there was evidence of widespread fraud.
The election results were announced shortly after two bombs exploded inside a popular restaurant in Khalis, a town 50 miles north of Baghdad. At least 40 people were killed and dozens were injured, said Maj. Ghalib Al-Karkhi, the police spokesman in Diyala province. Another police official said one of the explosions was a car bomb and the other a suicide bomber.
The bombing raised concerns about increased violence as a period of extended political negotiations ensue, though there was no evidence of a spike after the election results were announced.
Since Allawi's supporters prevailed, they'll get to make the first stab at choosing the prime minister and forming the new government, which will run the country as U.S. military officials continue with plans to draw down the number of troops in Iraq. There are now about 96,000 troops in the country, and that number is scheduled to drop to 50,000 by September. All U.S. forces are slated to leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
Months of negotiations are likely to take place as Allawi forms a coalition government. The Kurds, who are expected to win in the three provinces that make up their autonomous region in the north, and the followers of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr are likely to play key roles.
Maliki had tried to distance himself from his sectarian roots and portray himself as a nationalist who helped to stabilize the country after years of violence. But his support for a ban on hundreds of candidates with alleged ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party undercut support from Sunnis, who felt it unfairly targeted their candidates.
Sunnis threw their weight behind Allawi, a secular Shiite and former interim prime minister who has built a coalition from both Islamic sects. Allawi's anti-Iran stance appeals to Sunnis wary of Tehran's influence over Iraq's Shiite-majority government.
Maliki's advisers have warned against challenging the election results for fear of violence from the country's Shiite majority. Others say there could be a risk of renewed sectarian conflict if the Sunni minority feels alienated from a coalition government.
Iraq's Supreme Court must ratify the results for them to be finalized.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The Iraqi justice ministry released on Thursday 62 detainees from its prisons in Baghdad.
Iraqi courts found the 62 detainees innocent,' a source from the ministry told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said that there were insufficient evidence to implicate them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Iraqis nervously awaited results from the country's March 7 election, set to be released on Friday, amid a tight battle between two main rival blocs and fears of a nascent political crisis.
With the national election commission set to announce final results nearly three weeks after the vote took place, sitting Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has cried foul and demanded a manual recount, becoming the most prominent of a large number of politicians who have alleged fraud.
While electoral authorities have rebuffed the incumbent's request, Maliki's State of Law Alliance has threatened not to recognise results it sees as tainted, potentially plunging Iraq into a major political crisis.
The tension was palpable in Baghdad on Thursday, where most discussions on the streets revolved around the elections, revealing the fears of many Iraqis of a return to violence in the event of a political standoff.
"Everyone is only talking about elections," said Abdul Jalili, a 55-year-old pensioner at the capital's Liberation Square, one of the city's biggest.
"We think that the forces involved are in the process of assembling their rank and file for a confrontation, that there will be more violence.
"I do not think we are going to see a peaceful transfer of power."
Iraq was engulfed in communal bloodshed from 2006 to 2007 that saw tens of thousands killed, and while the overall levels of violence have dropped dramatically since then, hundreds of Iraqis are still killed every month as a result of attacks.
"People are scared that the losers will refuse to accept defeat and provoke violence," said Kamel Mutlak, a 25-year-old traffic policeman.
"And in the end, it will be all Iraqis who will have lost."
State of Law has organised several demonstrations in recent days in predominantly Shiite provinces in Iraq's south, where it performed well in the parliamentary election.
Council chiefs in 10 central and southern provinces, including Baghdad, who belong to the bloc published a statement on Wednesday threatening "a major escalation" if Maliki's recount demand is not met. They did not elaborate.
"It is normal to see tensions today because the process did not proceed normally," said Ali al-Adeeb, a State of Law candidate.
"We have information on the existence of fraud within the commission."
Adeeb predicted: "The formation of the government will be complicated and delayed."
For his part, Maliki warned on Sunday that his recount request was needed to "protect political stability... and prevent a return to violence," in a statement which pointedly noted that he remained head of the country's armed forces.
From the perspective of the Iraqiya bloc of secular ex-premier Iyad Allawi, the incumbent's main challenger, Maliki's demand was intended merely to sow discord.
"Some of those in the State of Law Alliance are trying to spark chaos in Iraq's streets," said Haidar al-Mullah, a spokesman for Iraqiya.
State of Law and Iraqiya are neck-and-neck in the race to be the biggest single bloc in parliament and have first cracking at trying to form a government.
They were both on course to win 91 seats in the 325-member parliament under Iraq's complicated system of proportional representation after 95 percent of ballots had been counted, according to AFP calculations.
The election comes less than six months before the United States is due to withdraw all of its combat troops from Iraq and Washington will be keen to see a smooth outcome.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Maliki's State of Law Alliance has threatened not to recognise results it sees as tainted
On Wednesday, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh condemned Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi's Sunday meeting with 29 Saddam loyalists, describing the move as "undiplomatic" and an "insult" to the people of Iraq.
Iraq's post-Saddam governments are particularly sensitive to any contacts between foreign governments and Saddam loyalists. It views such meetings as an attempt to undermine their legitimacy and casting doubt on the right of the country's Shiite Muslim majority to be the country's most dominant political group.
The head of the 22-member pan-Arab organization Amr Mussa met privately with Zebari over breakfast on Thursday to try to contain the diplomatic spat between Libya and Iraq, and convince the Iraqi foreign minister to remain for the summit.
Several Arab foreign ministers also tried to persuade Iraq's top diplomat to stay but were told by Zebari that he had no choice but to return home, the diplomat added.
Libya's JANA official news agency said that Gaddafi received on Sunday a high-ranking delegation of Iraqi opposition leaders, including former members of the outlawed Baath party of executed dictator Saddam Hussein.
The Iraqi delegation included former oil minister Issam Shalabi as well as ex-Baathist Salah Omar al-Ali.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Sounds like the meeting was a target-rich environment. Too bad the drones weren't in place.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/26/2010 20:27 Comments ||
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...However the circle of seven top ministers, known collectively as the 'Septet', did not come to any conclusions following the five-hour discussion and will probably only announce the government's position after the Passover Seder which occurs Monday evening.
#1
See also DAILY TIMES.PK > IRAN SAYS MUSLIMS MUST ACT OVER JERUSALEM.
* ION SAME > YEMEN AT RISK OF [new]SECESSIONIST INSURGENCY IN SOUTH, oer Southern Temeni regions claims of protractive/enduring neglect by the main Govt-State.
For a head of government to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of.
The man has no manners and few morals beyond a determination to be present as a father and husband. May his post-presidential life be very long and filled with reminders of how he made himself despised in his chosen nation and around the world, and how quickly his greatest triumphs were overthrown.
Yet that is how Binyamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night.
The majority of Israelis saw through Candidate Obama's glamour before the election. Even more see him for what he is, now that he's been President Obama for a while. It strikes me as a reasonable proposition that, in turn, President Obama will insult each of the special interest groups that voted for him so enthusiastically in 2008.
After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on settlements, Mr Obama walked out of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisers and "let me know if there is anything new", a US congressman, who spoke to the Prime Minister, said.
"It was awful," the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting "a hazing in stages", poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House telephone line.
Gentlemen, of course, neither read one another's mail nor listen in on their phone calls. This simple statement encompasses my opinion of the situation.
Another said that the Prime Minister had received "the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea".
Left to talk among themselves Mr Netanyahu and his aides retreated to the Roosevelt Room. He spent a further half-hour with Mr Obama and extended his stay for a day of emergency talks to try to restart peace negotiations. However, he left last night with no official statement from either side. He returned to Israel yesterday after what Israeli media have called a White House ambush.
It seems to me Prime Minister Netanyahu ought to spend his next trip to the America with everyone else: his old friends from MIT, old friends from the military, CIA, both houses of Congress, various Jewish groups. President Obama has wasted enough time, and they both are busy men; it would be a courtesy to work with visitors from America who are ready to do something useful toward common goals, rather than waste time expressing childish pique.
Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Obaby pouts when he doesn't get what he asks for.
#2
What a complete fool. Obama has secured nothing-- zilch, nada-- in the way of concessions from the Palestinians, and yet he's bullying our ally to make unilateral concessions first? He's secured nothing from Iran-- in fact, he's getting his ass kicked, again and again, by not just Iranian but also Russian and Chinese leaders who now see him for what he is: the proverbial patsy at the poker table, the dolt whom everyone can plunder at will.
This jacka$$ is making war with Iran MORE, not less, likely.
#7
This, like so many things Zero does, seems stupid, but he is NOT stupid, so it must be on purpose. WHAT is the purpose? To force Israel's hand in attacking Iran? Political 'cover' for us if/when they do? Part of a deal with the KSA for oil supply/price or GWoT (or whatever it's now called) promises? I'm sure I have missed some qualifying motives, but I believe there is one, and this is not just stupidity or boorishness.
#8
Obama is neither stupid nor is he a genius (contrary to the claims of his cult of personality.)
He's a politician pursuing political objectives, sending messages, rewarding friends and punishing enemies.
The obsequious apology to Gaddafi was an implicit permission for Libya to sponsor terrorist attacks on Switzerland.
The appalling treatment of Netanyahu, especially in contrast to his bowing to the ruler of the Saudi Entity, is an implicit permission to attack Israel.
This is how the Libyans, Hezbollah, Fatah, Syria, Iran etc interpret the Obama administration's actions, and Obama knows that this is the case.
Obama's message is as clear as it can be if he wants to maintain (somewhat) plausible deniability.
#9
I would add to Wide5539's analysis by saying that Obama wishes to avoid any sort of confrontation with Iran, even if it means the potential destruction of Israel. Obama is concerned about things domestic, not internatinal. Remember his Islamic roots, his disdain for Great Britain and the west. Remember also that according to his administration, there is no longer a "Global War on Terrror." The sooner he can withdraw from military commitments overseas, the sooner he can undertake the dismantling of the military and harvest the dividends of our military budget for his give-away programs. His recent efforts at nuclear disarmament are yet another important stepping stone toward this goal. Accommodation with the Russians is yet another proof of his peacenik at all cost intent. Getting involved in a conflict with Iran or anyone else takes him further away from his bold domestic agenda of "change" and "social justice", not closer. The radicals of the 1960's are now in charge. It's all about power and "change".
#10
Dont waste your time speculating on the motivations behind Obamas recent less then cordial behavior. Its been reported that he viewed the timing of the infamous settlement announcement as a personal slap in the face. By now most should realize that Obama is not simply arrogant but he is clinically narcissistic. And people with that character flaw are incapable of rising above their personal emotions. No Drama Obama? Shiiyaat he feeds on the stuff.
#13
a reasonable proposition that, in turn, President Obama will insult each of the special interest groups that voted for him so enthusiastically in 2008.
Trailing Wife, I have to disagree. Israel was never a supporter of Obama.
Obama seems to believe that the US is the most evil country in the world, and he must modify it.
Instead Obama seems to be insulting/betraying everyone who admires and respects America. First Poland and the Czech Republic, then Georgia, then the UK, Sarkozy and Merkel. You can be certain Canada and Australia are on his list.
I do not expect him to insult any of his bolshevik progressive base.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/26/2010 11:37 Comments ||
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#14
When Israel finally realizes it can't count on America and attacks Iran, I wonder if Obama will act surprised.
#16
I'm thinking that, for the most, part American Jews are liberal and that trumps Zionism. Many liberals Jews in America seem have a blindness to the threats of totalitarianism. Hell, they even vote for it. Israeli Jews seem to be a little more grounded in reality.
#17
So Netanyahu didn't have to eat dinner with the Nagging Nanny-in-Chief?
Lucky Ben.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/26/2010 13:32 Comments ||
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#18
Seems to me that if Bibi drove all that way for a meeting, the only decent thing for Barry to do is take him out for a beer and a burger. If not, swing by Crawford, TX. I'm sure George and Laura would show him some hospitality.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will convene his senior ministers on Friday to discuss the demands made by US President Barack Obama and his overall trip to Washington -- a trip that, because of negative atmospherics and amid a paucity of hard information, has been widely characterized as among the most difficult in recent memory.
Officials in the Prime Minister's Office continued to throw a blackout on the Netanyahu-Obama meeting, as well as give only very sketchy information about the commitments that the US is demanding of Israel as a precursor to starting the proximity talks with the Palestinians. The US, according to officials, wants these commitments by Saturday so it can take them to the Arab League meeting in Libya and receive that organization's backing for starting proximity talks.
According to a Palestinian Authority official in Ramallah, the US administration on Thursday informed the PA that the Netanyahu meetings in Washington did not produce any agreement on the issue of construction in east Jerusalem.
The official said that PA President Mahmoud Abbas met in Amman with David Hale, US deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, who briefed him on the outcome of Netanyahu's talks with Obama.
"The American envoy said that the two sides failed to reach agreement on settlement construction in Jerusalem," the PA official said.
Hale also told Abbas that the US administration would continue its discussions with the Israeli government in the next few days and weeks, in an attempt to solve the crisis that has erupted between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government.
Prior to leaving Washington late on Wednesday night, Netanyahu tried to put a positive spin on the meetings, saying that the two sides had made progress in finding a "middle path" between the "traditional policy of all Israeli governments [regarding building in east Jerusalem], and our will to also find a way to renew the peace process."
US officials indicated on Thursday that Israel had bridged some of the gaps between the two countries during their marathon consultations, even though no final resolution was presented after Obama's and Netanyahu's staffs toiled late into the night on Wednesday for a second straight day.
"I think we're making progress on important issues," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters on Thursday afternoon, but he declined to go into specifics.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
and the tantrum begins.... little fists pounding the carpet and little feet kicking in the air all while screaming and thrashing his little head.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
03/26/2010 0:17 Comments ||
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#2
I wonder if Saturday was chosen by accident or on purpose.
#3
The President is systematically alienating his allies and even the tyrants have no respect for him.
It will only be through individual contacts that we will maintain communication with allies. What an embarrassment! What an unstable situation the world is finding itself in. We are heading for multiple showdowns and war, and the President is living in his little world govt socialist fantasy pipe dream.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/26/2010 0:32 Comments ||
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#4
Even Carter was better than this fool. Every single relationship, every single theater, every crisis, has been made significantly worse by this vain and ignorant little man's bumbling, ass-backward approach to interstate relations. China laughs at him. Russia laughs at him. The Saudis, Iranians, Syrians, Turks and Palestinians all ignore him. The allies are infuriated by his "naivete" (Sarko) and his outright contempt for them (cf Britain).
I have never been so appalled by the lack of intelligent, competent US leadership on the world stage. Even the many mistakes made by W, Clinton, and Carter pale next to this arrogant little twit's amateurishness.
#6
I wonder if Saturday was chosen by accident or on purpose.
Definitely NOT by accident. Remember a few months back when Ogabe threw Poland under the bus by caving in to Putin's demand to abandon the Eastern European BMD program? He announced that on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland. I'm still wondering what he's got planned for the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
03/26/2010 1:44 Comments ||
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#8
Netanyahu is no one to trifle with. These Chicago, schoolyard bully tactics will do nothing for our intelligence sharing capabilities in the region I can assure you. We may have just turned off one of our best sources in the middle east.
#11
Weak leader:
Failing to learn from mistakes
Failing to be flexible
Failing to listen
Failing to accept criticism
Failing to be modest
Failing to realize that leadership is not forever
Failing to delegate responsibilities to experience
Failing to make fine distinctions
Failing to remember You only get what you give
Failing to set right priorities
Failing to accept personal responsibility and accountability
Failing to influence attitudes & thinking
Failing to breed positivity
Check ...
The sin of an excessive ego is admirably demonstrated in this simple fable:
A frog asked two geese to take him south with them. At first they resisted; they didn't see how it could be done. Finally, the frog suggested that the two geese hold a stick in their beaks and that he would hold on to it with his mouth. So off the unlikely threesome went, flying southward over the countryside.
It was really quite a sight. People looked up and expressed great admiration at this demonstration of creative teamwork.
Someone said, "It's wonderful! Who was so clever to discover such a fine way to travel?"
Whereupon the frog opened his mouth and said, "It was I," as it plummeted to the earth.
Posted by: Oscar ||
03/26/2010 7:15 Comments ||
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#12
Obama does not necessarily consider friends of the US to be his friends. Nor does he necessarily consider adversaries of the US to be his adversaries.
I believe that Obama's political philosophy is Jeremiah Wright's. He's just learned to smile and make no sudden moves (as he wrote in his book.)
Now, after his health care triumph, he's free to let the mask slip a little.
There is no nice way this is all going to end.
Especially for Mr. Obama. WHAT is he going to do when he steps down?
And what if he gets knocked down? Biden is next up then. There is going to be a war eventually. It moves closer every day. Things happen to people in a war. A lot of people go in and fewer ( sometimes a lot fewer) come out.
Where is Biden going to go? Tomorrow always comes and sometimes they let you off in a bad neighborhood. The head of Pak Intelligence in Dacca was captured alive after the city fell when the Indian Army took the city. He was released alive before the city was stabilized, they just put him off in the street. The people on the street knew who he was...
What was left of him after a short chase in the alleys was collected and buried in a public privy.
Obama and Biden both will one day have that "clear out your desk" moment. And then they have to find a way to get out of the building....and what then?
Najibullah in his final days was left without Security guards in the Palace in Kabul when the Russians pulled out and left him high and dry. The people off the street came into the Govt. Palace looking for him. He hung naked for a week ( or more ) from a rope around his neck with cigarette burns all over his arms and legs and a wad of worthless currency stuffed between his buttcheeks while the birds landed on his face and ate his eyes. His name meant "favored of God".
Obama and Biden both will one day have that "clear out your desk" moment. And then they have to find a way to get out of the building....and what then?
The street people from the city of Dacca will be waiting. Well, their American equivalent...for sure.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
03/26/2010 13:48 Comments ||
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#15
Former presidents have Secret Service protection for life, as do their spouses, IIRC.
#16
Former presidents have Secret Service protection for life, as do their spouses, IIRC.
Those SS employees who are not allowed to resign in disgrace are transferred to the Carter detail
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/26/2010 20:19 Comments ||
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#17
#15 Former presidents have Secret Service protection for life, as do their spouses, IIRC.
Wasn't the law changed to 10 years? And the size and scope of the detail is much smaller. After his term his life will be like a canary in a cage. And he will always have to wonder, will one of my enemies get lucky today.
Hamas said on Wednesday it would soon begin executing people convicted of spying for Israel despite objections from human rights groups.
"The death penalty will be implemented for (Israeli) agents who have been sentenced to death, regardless of the position of rights groups that reject these kinds of sentences," Hamas interior minister Fathi Hammad said."The near future will witness the carrying out of the death sentences," he said in a statement. The Hamas-run government said the sentences had been handed down in the last two months, with some alleged informers given prison time. Hamas has approved the death penalty for informers, murderers and drug dealers but has not officially executed anyone since it seized power in Gaza in June 2007 after driving out forces loyal to president Mahmud Abbas.
However, several alleged informers were killed by armed groups during the Gaza war at the turn of last year, according to rights groups. Last August, the New York-based Human Rights Watch accused Hamas of killing at least 32 political opponents and suspected informers during and after the war, and of maiming dozens of others. Palestinian law says the president must approve all execution orders before they can be carried out, but Hamas is likely to bypass this as it no longer recognises the legitimacy of Abbas, whose four-year term ended in 2009.
Israeli security forces routinely use Palestinian informers in the occupied territories, who play a key role in thwarting attacks and assassinating top militants.Palestinian human rights organisations have condemned the extra-judicial killings and demanded that suspected collaborators be prosecuted in accordance with the law.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Israel rejected a UN Human Rights Council resolution urging the country to pay Palestinians for damage incurred during the military assault on Gaza that began in late 2008.
"The UNHRC resolution... has nothing to do with safeguarding human rights," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said in a statement, according to The Jerusalem Post, an English-language Israeli newspaper.
"Israel, as a democratic country, will continue its internal investigations, as part of its commitment to rule of law and moral values."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has urged the international community to foil an Israeli plot to change the identity of Jerusalem (al-Quds).
"Unfortunately, the recent developments and comments made over the past few months by the officials of the Zionist regime (Israel), clearly show the seriousness of the occupiers' plot to give a Zionist identity to the first kiblah of Muslims," Mottaki said in a statement on Thursday.
"This has raised the alarm for people across the globe and has highlighted the necessity of taking serious measures and maximizing potential in all Muslim nations," the statement added.
The Iranian minister said that the expansion of the Israeli settlements, the destruction of Islamic and Christian structures and the construction of new synagogues in Jerusalem (al-Quds) have unveiled the Israeli plot, "which, unfortunately, has been approved by Washington."
Mottaki warned that the Israeli plot will have "dangerous consequences."
He urged Arab states to put the issue high on the agenda of the Arab League conference, which is underway in Libya.
Mottaki also called for the formation of a committee consisting of the foreign ministers of the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference member states to discuss the latest developments in Jerusalem (al-Quds).
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Aw, get a life, Mottaki. The city *is* called Jew-rusalem, after all. If I was you, I'd be worrying about the Gulf of Rumsfeld.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Arab foreign ministers preparing a summit of heads of state in Libya agreed on Thursday to raise $500 million for Jerusalem Palestinians, Arab League Chief Amr Moussa said.
"Yes, they have agreed," Moussa told reporters when asked if the fund had been approved by the ministers in the Libyan Mediterranean city where Arab heads of state will hold their annual summit on Saturday and Sunday.
The leaders must now ratify the agreement.
Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari earlier returned back to the meetings of the Arab foreign ministers after he was ordered by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to quit in protest citing a meeting this week between Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi and Iraqi opposition figures, Al Arabiya reporter said Thursday.
"There is no more question of the Iraqi delegation pulling out (of the summit)," Zebari told reporters in the Mediterranean city of Sirte where he will represent his country at a summit of Arab leaders on Saturday and Sunday.
"We will contribute, we will participate and we will work for the success of this summit," he added.
Zebari was told to pack up and go home, a diplomat earlier told AFP.
"Maliki instructed Zebari to leave by the end of the day Thursday in protest at a meeting granted by Kadhafi to a delegation of Iraqi opposition figures," the diplomat said earlier.
He ordered that the Iraqi delegation to the Arab summit be scaled back, leaving behind in Sirte Iraq's permanent representative to the Arab League.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
so Jerry will have an Arab Telethon?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/26/2010 8:35 Comments ||
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#2
I wonder if so much as a single dollar will get to the designated cause?
Posted by: trailing wife on the other computer ||
03/26/2010 19:41 Comments ||
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#3
if the cause is 'buy qassams to launch at Israel' then i imagine a fair portion will get to the designated end
Posted by: abu do you love ||
03/26/2010 21:38 Comments ||
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For a head of state to visit the White House and not pose for photographers is rare. For a key ally to be left to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in private was, until this week, unheard of.
Yet that is how Binyamin Netanyahu was treated by President Obama on Tuesday night, according to Israeli reports on a trip seen in Jerusalem tonight as a disastrous humiliation.
After failing to extract a written promise of concessions on Jewish settlements, Mr Obama walked out of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu but invited him to stay at the White House, consult with advisors and let me know if there is anything new', a US congressman who spoke to the Prime Minister said today.
It was awful,' the congressman said. One Israeli newspaper called the meeting a hazing in stages', poisoned by such mistrust that the Israeli delegation eventually left rather than risk being eavesdropped on a White House phone line. Another said that the Prime Minister had received the treatment reserved for the President of Equatorial Guinea'. Shameful
Benjamin Netanyahu was left to stew in a White House meeting room for over an hour after President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of tense talks to have supper with his family, it emerged on Thursday. Good thing we have a President who's so adept at foreign policy ...
Over the previous two days, he had been feted by senior Republicans and greeted warmly by members of Congress. He had also received a standing ovation from the American Israel Public Affairs Affairs Committee, one of the most influential lobby groups in the United States.
But Mr Obama was less inclined to be so conciliatory. He immediately presented Mr Netanyahu with a list of 13 demands designed both to the end the feud with his administration and to build Palestinian confidence ahead of the resumption of peace talks. Key among those demands was a previously-made call to halt all new settlement construction in east Jerusalem.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Jolump the Wide5539 ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
We knew who our friends WERE........
And our enemies have stayed pretty much the same, despite the World KowTow Tour.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/26/2010 0:35 Comments ||
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#2
Barry is an embarrassment. Even children on a playground have a better grasp of the difference between friends and enemies than this vain and foolish little man does.
#3
"Bibi received in the White House the treatment reserved for the president of Equatorial Guinea."
This is incorrect. President Obiang of EQ would have receieved a much warmer reception than Netanyahu. He has after all, much more in common with our President Soetoro.
#6
This isn't about the friends of the US, it's about Barry's friends and who he relates to. Barry could give a rats about the rest of us.
Posted by: Jefferson ||
03/26/2010 9:53 Comments ||
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#7
Dinner with Michelle and girls instead of kibbutzing with Bibi? I think not.... he had some $$ on Syracuse vs Butler and had to watch for his brackets!!
[Straits Times] A MANILA court issued formal arrest warrants on Thursday for 189 people suspected in the election-related massacre of 57 people last year, the country's largest murder case since World War II war crime trials.
Most of the suspects are former government-armed militiamen and police loyal to a powerful clan blamed for the slayings.
The court also issued commitment orders which directed police to continue detaining seven others, including clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr. and several of his sons, who were arrested without formal warrants on suspicion of plotting the Nov. 23 massacre in southern Maguindanao province, state prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera said.
Among those covered by the arrest warrants are 47 police officers who were placed in custody after being suspended by the national police for alleged involvement in the killings, said Francisco Don Montenegro, chief of the national police investigation and detection group.
The 142 others still at large include 99 former militiamen loyal to the clan, 16 police officers and four soldiers, Montenegro said.
Days after the massacre, police arrested Andal Ampatuan Jr. and filed multiple murder charges against him. He was the only person formally charged until prosecutors filed an indictment against his father and 195 others in February. However, arrest warrants were not issued at that time because prosecutors needed time to complete the gathering of evidence and witnesses against them.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Air Force (IRIAF) hails the expansion of the defensive military capabilities of the country's armed forces.
Speaking Thursday while touring some of the operational regions of the 1980-88 Iraq-Iran war Pilot Brigadier General Hassan Shahsafi emphasized the importance of conveying the realities of the imposed war to the post-war generation of Iran, ILNA reported.
"We want to describe the braveries of the airmen to the people who have not experienced the war," said the general.
Recalling some of the major military campaigns of the war, Shahsafi said, "The Air Force considers the battles of Samin al-A'immah, Tariq al-Quds, Fath al-Mubin, Bait al-Muqaddas, ... as manifestations of victory in its résumé."
"These victorious operations rattled the enemy's backbone and left the [former Iraqi] Baathist regime and their supporters with no alternative but to retreat in humiliation behind the internationally recognized borders," he elaborated.
Turning to the development of military technology in the country, Brig. Gen. Shahsafi praised the "efforts towards self-sufficiency and progress made in the defense and military fields," and described them as "manifestations of the strength and capabilities of the armed forces and the raising of their war-fighting potential."
"Our people love the Air Force and we must value and preserve this esteem."
He went on to recall the martyred airmen "who created epics such as the "Kaman 99" operation and the raid on "H3" air base.
H3 was an air base in western Iraq, where Saddam Hussein had withdrawn his military aircraft in the belief that they would be beyond the reach of Iranian bombers. However, on April 4, 1981 in a daring and meticulously planned operation, eight IRIAF F-4 Phantoms attacked the base with top secret low-level aerial refueling and destroyed or damaged 48 enemy aircraft on the ground.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
It takes parts and maintanance to keep 40-year-old military aircraft in fighting condition. Given that, and the fact that Saddam's air force is not his future opposition, the IRIAF probably requires motivational speeches like this to get the pilots psyched up to fly what their capabilities will almost certainly make suicide missions.
[Al Arabiya Latest] An international team investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri has requested to question six Hezbollah members about the crime, a security source said on Thursday.
A suicide truck bomber killed Hariri and 22 others in Beirut in Feb. 2005. A U.N. investigation into the assassination first implicated Syrian and Lebanese officials but later held back from giving details of its findings.
Last May German magazine Der Spiegel said that according to information it had obtained, investigators believed Hezbollah was behind Hariri's killing, allegations the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Shiite group roundly rejected.
"They have asked to question six people from Hezbollah about the crime of the assassination of the martyr Rafik al-Hariri," the source, who asked not to be named, said.
Hezbollah declined to comment, as did judicial officials in Beirut. Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for the investigating Special Tribunal's prosecutor, also declined to comment.
"As long as we are still at the investigation stage we will not be disclosing this sort of information, so no comment," she said in Amsterdam.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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Russia says it may support new round of sanctions against Iran "if there is no visible progress" in resolving the impasse over Tehran's nuclear program.
"If there is no visible progress in this direction, then we do not exclude the possibility of putting additional pressure on the Iranians with the help of sanctions," Reuters quoted Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Andrei Nesterenko as telling reporters in Moscow.
Nesterenko, however, reiterated that Moscow prefers a diplomatic solution to the issue.
On Wednesday, senior diplomats from six world powers held a conference to discuss Iran's nuclear issue.
The US and its allies have been trying hard to push through a fourth round of sanctions against Iran, while China and Russia have been reluctant to go along with the scheme.
Nesterenko also stressed that his country would not throw its support behind financial and economic sanctions on Iran.
"But... such sanctions must be directed exclusively on the resolution of non-proliferation tasks and not aimed at the financial and economic suffocation of this country," he said.
Although the IAEA inspectors stationed in Iran have not been able to find evidence to support Western claims of diversion in the Iranian nuclear program, the US and its European allies continue to accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear military aims under the guise of a civilian program -- a claim repeatedly rejected by Tehran.
Iran is adamant that, as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed at civilian applications of the technology which many western countries enjoy but try to prevent others to acquire.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
It's Vladdie's turn to hold the football this week.
#2
IF there's no visible progress? Hey, Comrade Bear, there hasn't been any progress, visible or invisible, in quite some time. Iran appears to have the West's number, just like Moscow.
Posted by: American Delight ||
03/26/2010 18:55 Comments ||
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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.
[Straits Times] A MANILA court issued formal arrest warrants on Thursday for 189 people suspected in the election-related massacre of 57 people last year, the country's largest murder case since World War II war crime trials.
