SANAA - Yemeni security forces have launched an operation to release two Chinese oil workers kidnapped by separatist militants, a Defence Ministry website said on Monday. The website, quoting the governor of Shabwa province where the men were kidnapped, called on the kidnappers to quickly release the hostages unconditionally and surrender themselves to security forces'. It gave no details of the operation.
A government official told Reuters that negotiations are still ongoing' but that at the same time, troops are being prepared to move into the area'.
Details over the number of hostages and who employed them have been unclear since the kidnapping on Sunday. A local official had previously stated that three oil workers had been kidnapped on Sunday, but state media later said two Chinese men were abducted.
The men were working for the Chinese company Sinopec, the Defence Ministry website said. An official had said earlier they worked for a unit of U.S. firm Nabors Industries, which denied the report.
The ... Chinese workers are employees of a competitor of ours which is a Chinese drilling contractor named ZPEB,' said a Houston-based Nabors spokesman. There is no connection to Nabors whatsoever other than we have two rigs operating in the vicinity.'
The kidnappers, believed to part of a separatist group, are demanding compensation for injuries suffered by a group member during clashes with troops in a March demonstration, a local official said.
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An Al Qaeda operative arrested in a high profile terror swoop won the right to stay in Britain today because he would be in danger if he returned to his native Pakistan.
Abid Naseer, the alleged ringleader of an alleged plot to bomb Manchester, won an appeal against deportation alongside fellow Pakistani national Ahmad Faraz Khan despite a court accepting that both are a threat to the country.
Mr Justice Mitting, in a written ruling, said: For the reasons stated, we are satisfied that Naseer was an al-Qaeda operative who posed and still poses a serious threat to the national security of the UK and that... it is conducive to the public good that he should be deported.'
He added that the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in London was allowing the appeal because the issue of safety on return' made it impossible to deport Mr Naseer to Pakistan.
Mr Justice Mitting said that Mr Faraz Khan could safely be taken to have been willing to participate' in Mr Naseer's plans but that his appeal too was being allowed on the grounds of his safety on return.
They are being held at immigration removal centres but are expected to be released later today.
A third man detained in the raids, Shoaib Khan, 31, who has gone back to Pakistan, won his appeal against exclusion. He can now apply to return to the UK.
Two other men who have returned to Pakistan, Abdul Wahab Khan, 27, and Tariq Ur Rehman, 38, had their appeals against exclusion rejected.
Mr Naseer, 24, and Mr Faraz Khan, 26, were arrested in April last year in North West England in a counter-terror raid known as Operation Pathway. They were never charged with an offence.
The Home Office is not to appeal against today's ruling as it can do so only on a point of law and none exists.
Teresa May, the Home Secretary, said: Protecting the public is the Government's top priority.
We are disappointed that the court has ruled that Abid Naseer and Ahmad Faraz Khan should not be deported to Pakistan, which we were seeking on national security grounds.
As the court agreed, they are a security risk to the UK. We are now taking all possible measures to ensure they do not engage in terrorist activity.'
#3
You guys are missing the point. If they experience a, shall we say, explosive situation in the UK, they might get some virgins in the afterlife. If Abdul the al-Qaeda HR outreach guy gets them in Pakistan, there's no chicks waiting for them when he finishes his personnel review.
The "justice" just wanted to be sure they would have a suitable post-employment situation that met their expectations.
The Mexican army arrested a reputed lieutenant of the Juárez drug cartel.
Military officials said Crispin Humberto Borunda Cardenas was arrested Friday after crashing a bulletproof vehicle while fleeing from soldiers in Chihuahua City.
The mysterious disappearance of a former presidential candidate is stoking fear in Mexico that nobody may be safe from relentless kidnapping and rampant drug violence. Diego Fernandez de Cevallos was reported missing over the weekend and his car was found in the central state of Queretaro with some evidence of violence, but authorities said Sunday that they don't know if he was kidnapped or if drug gangs were involved.
Many feared one of Mexico's most successful attorneys and enduring politicians was targeted by kidnappers, and any involvement by drug trafficking gangs would signal an escalation in the government's bloody standoff with organized crime.
There was still no evidence that the 69-year-old attorney and power broker had been kidnapped, said Ricardo Najera, spokesman for the federal Attorney General's Office, on Sunday.
Fernandez de Cevallos' disappearance comes amid a wave of drug violence that has killed more than 22,700 people since Calderon launched a crackdown against organized crime in December 2006. Drug traffickers are increasingly attacking political and government leaders in retaliation. Last week, gunmen burst into the farm supplies business of mayoral candidate Jose Guajardo Varela and killed him and his son, after he ignored warnings to drop out of the race in Valle Hermoso, 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Brownsville, Texas.
Federal prosecutors and police are aiding Queretaro state investigation in the probe that had lines of officers combing the fields of rural central Mexico for signs of the 69-year-old power broker.
Fernandez de Cevallos, was the 1994 presidential candidate of President Felipe Calderon's National Action Party, and he has continued to be an influential figure. He finished second to Ernesto Zedillo that year, but his party finally won the presidency six years later when Vicente Fox was elected. The bearded, cigar-chomping politician known as "El Jefe Diego," or "Diego the Boss," is an elder statesman for Mexico's center-right ruling party. He also is known for his brash, confrontational statements as he brushed off accusations of using his political ties to advance his practice as an attorney for some of Mexico's richest businesses. He represented companies that often won lucrative lawsuits against the government event as he served in Congress.
Fernandez de Cevallos exchanged insults with public figures including the Zapatista rebel leader Subcomandante Marcos and leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, labeling the latter "a danger for Mexico." Lopez Obrador narrowly lost the presidential election in 2006.
Kidnappers often target the wealthy in Mexico but rarely go after such high-ranking politicians or public officials.
#6
Re: Darth: I think we should only selectively pay the ransom; the the drug gangs keep the dregs. I think that at the end of the day there will be few ransoms paid, lotsa notsogood pols in captivity and we will be free of them and richer.
Álvaro Uribe, the President of Colombia, said on Monday that "there have always been many pieces of evidence" of a possible cooperation between the Basque terrorist organization ETA and the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
In an interview with state-run TV station Televisión Española (TVE), Uribe said that eight or 10 years ago, when he was a presidential candidate, there were two attacks in which "the Colombian police told me that the explosives used by FARC were similar to those used by ETA or the Irish Republican Army (IRA)," Efe reported.
"That is to say, there have been many pieces of evidence" of a possible cooperation between ETA and the FARC. "That's all I can say," the president stated.
Regarding the investigations carried out by the Spanish justice into the alleged cooperation of the Venezuelan government with an alleged alliance between ETA and FARC to launch attacks in Spain against Colombian political leaders, including Uribe, the president said that cooperation among countries against terrorism was very important.
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#1
A few years ago it was the IRA. FARC and their patron Chavez have linked up with some really nasty sorts.
Activists on Monday said they will send some 500,000 propaganda leaflets to the North from the scene of the Navy corvette Cheonan's sinking off Baeknyeong Island in the West Sea, despite threats by the North to shut off overland travel to South Korean business interests.
"We're going to send 500,000 propaganda leaflets, 1,000 CDs showing footage of a skirmish between South and North Korean Navies in waters off Yeonpyeong Island, 1,000 radios, and 3,000 one-dollar bills on three to four occasions until June 7," said Choi Sung-yong, the leader of a group named Family Assembly Abducted to North Korea.
"We have to let North Koreans and the international community know that the explosion of the Cheonan was a terrorist attack launched at Kim Jong-il's orders. We'll use the leaflets revealing the truth to accuse Kim so the deaths of the 46 fallen sailors won't have been in vain."
Since early this year, the North has complained about the leaflet campaign three times.
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#1
ION NOT-NECESSARILY-UNRELATED-TO-NORTH-KORYE, PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > WORLD HUNGER FAR MORE DEADLY THAN GLOBAL TERRORISM.
ARTIC > Children in INDIA + elsewhere are repor EATING DIRT = "MUD/DIRT COOKIES" [Cakes?] TO STAVE OFF HUNGER PAINS, BUT STILL MAKES THEM SICK.
Investigators have apparently discovered pieces of a propeller from a torpedo, which could provide valuable clues to exactly what caused the Navy corvette Cheonan to sink on March 26.
"In a search using fishing trawlers, we recently discovered pieces of debris that are believed to have come from the propeller of the torpedo that attacked the Cheonan," a high-ranking government source said Monday. "Analysis of the debris shows it may have originated from China or a former Eastern-bloc country like the former Soviet Union."
If conclusive evidence is found for North Korea's role in the attack, the government plans to implement sanctions against the North immediately after announcing the results of the investigation on Thursday. Officials gathered at the presidential office on Monday to discuss specific sanctions, including joint anti-submarine exercises by South Korean and U.S. forces, the resumption of psychological warfare against North Korea, blocking North Korean ships from waters off the coast of Jeju Island and a halt to all inter-Korean trade except the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
Investigators already concluded that traces of explosives and aluminum debris found in the funnel and split section of the Cheonan are highly likely the same type used by former Eastern-bloc countries as well as North Korea in manufacturing torpedoes, and that the North is the only likely culprit given circumstantial evidence such as the movements of submarines around the time of the sinking.
The investigators will announce the results on Thursday afternoon and show the media the split section of the corvette, which is currently in storage at a naval base in Pyeongtaek.
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#1
Bush was right about the "axis of weasels;" NK, Iran, and Iraq. Well, we did trim off one. Two on hold at least until 2012. In the meantime, we will have to settle for reading them their Miranda rights.
#2
I presume that the next step is to convene an international court, appoint a prosecutor, and draft a sternly worded letter. all of which will bring renewed fits of laughter from the responsible parties. maybe 0bama can get them to play along with his magic reset button. calling the 'leadership' of USA/SKOR weak and cowardly would be slanderous to weaklings and cowards the world over.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
05/18/2010 9:15 Comments ||
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#3
Investigators have apparently discovered pieces of a propeller from a torpedo, which could provide valuable clues to exactly what caused the Navy corvette Cheonan to sink on March 26
However, Given the area the Cheonan was sailing in, the chance of the vessel hitting a drifting mine existed, and that chance was higher than getting hit by a NorK torpedo.
FAISAL Shahzad, the man accused of attempting to detonate a car bomb in New York City's Times Square, was expected to appear in Manhattan federal court today, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York said.
Shahzad is charged with five counts, including attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, attempting acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries and transporting and receiving explosives.
The US attorney's office said that Shahzad, a Pakistani-born US citizen, had provided valuable intelligence from which further investigative action has been taken'.
The appointment of a well-respected ex-Navy lawyer to oversee war-crime trials is being seen in military legal circles as a sign the Obama administration might reverse its decision to bring Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to New York for a civilian trial.
At the same time, a pending speedy-trial ruling in a second terror case in New York could give Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. an escape route through which he could switch the trial of Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) from federal court back to a military system set up by former President George W. Bush and Congress.
A month after the administration signaled a reversal, the Pentagon, with significant White House input, named retired Navy Vice Adm. Bruce MacDonald as the war-crimes convening authority. In that post, the Navy's former top lawyer is the official who brings criminal charges, selects jury pools, approves defense- lawyer expenses and makes other rulings.
Charles Stimson, the Pentagon's director of detainee affairs in the Bush administration and who still monitors terror prosecutions as a legal analyst at the Heritage Foundation, noted the significance of the MacDonald appointment.
"Picking Bruce does not prove that KSM is going to commission, but what it does show is that Bruce would not have taken the leap if he did not think he was going to get some substantive cases, because he's a worker guy. He likes real work," said Mr. Stimson. "And the White House and [Defense Department General Counsel] Jeh Johnson would not have asked Bruce to come over."
Added Mr. Stimson, a former prosecutor and currently a Navy reserve judge advocate: "They are essentially bringing 'Michael Jordan' in to head up commissions. And what that tells you is that they either want Michael Jordan there to handle the relatively uninteresting cases, or they're bringing him in because they want to be prepared if and when they have to relent and send KSM back there for lack of a better political option. So they want to have the A Team in place."
Adm. MacDonald has a master's degree in international law from Harvard University. He rose to the rank of three-star admiral and the Navy's top uniformed lawyer. He has provided advice to Congress and the Pentagon on detainee affairs.
Retired Brig. Gen. Thomas Hemingway agreed that Adm. MacDonald would not have taken the job unless he expected to oversee major terror cases. Gen. Hemingway, who was recalled to active duty in 2003 to become the chief legal adviser to the then-convening authority, said moving KSM back to a tribunal is "the right decision to make."
U.S. military officials said Monday the Army has recalled 44,000 Advanced Combat Helmets issued to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, explaining that the helmets, according to a Department of Justice investigation, do not meet Army standards.
The helmets are manufactured by contractor ArmorSource, and the Army issued a May 13 directive to combatant commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan calling for immediate turn-in of them, according to Army Brig. Gen. Peter Fuller. Fuller said the recall involves about 4 percent of the 1.6 million Advanced Combat Helmets in the Army's inventory, and the recalled helmets are not a "direct risk" to soldiers.
While the helmets failed to meet Army standards, there is no evidence that any soldier was ever harmed from their use. The recalled helmets provided a safe degree of protection, Fuller said, but they were "just not up to our standards."
The recall is the result of a Department of Justice investigation, and individual tests conducted at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, which proved the helmet did not meet Army standards. Mike Brown, the director of supply for Army logistics, said helmet inspections are currently underway in Iraq and Afghanistan. Recalled helmets are being turned in, he said.
The Army has three other helmet manufacturers, which are MSA North America, BAE Systems, and Gentex Corp.
NEW DELHI: India's Strategic Forces Command on Monday successfully tested the nuclear-capable, surface-to-surface, Agni-II missile, capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to targets within 2,000 kilometres.
A Defence Ministry statement said the missile was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars, telemetry observation stations, electro-optic instruments and naval ships stationed near the impact point in the Bay of Bengal. The launch was carried out by the SFC with logistics support from laboratories and personnel of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the statement added. The successful launch followed two earlier user trials, which could not meet all the parameters of the mission.
The 20-metre long Agni-II, which has been inducted into the services, is a two-stage, solid-propelled ballistic missile with a launch weight of 17 tonnes. The missile is part of the Agni series, including Agni-I and Agni-III, Defence Ministry sources said. Unconfirmed reports suggest India is also building an Agni variant with a range of 5,000km.
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LAHORE: Former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf telephoned several politicians of the country recently to garner their support for his recently-announced political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, Daily Times learnt on Monday.
The prominent among those called up by Musharraf were the Legharis of Dera Ghazi Khan, the Mehars of interior Sindh and Mian Muhammad Azhar in Lahore. Source told Daily Times that Musharraf had called members of the mentioned families last week to persuade them to back his party once he returned to the county.
They said Musharraf phoned former president Farooq Leghari to discuss various political aspects. The two also considered certain leaders of various parties disappointed by their respective organisations and who could potentially become part of Musharraf's party, the sources said.
They added that Musharraf also called a prominent figure of the Mehar family in Sindh and former Punjab governor Mian Muhammad Azhar, who enjoys popularity in the province'. His grievances against the Sharifs and the Chaudhry brothers were also taken up,' the sources said.
Musharraf and some of the leaders of PML-Q dissident group and PML-Z are already in contact, and some of the dissident leaders have given a green signal to Musharraf for participating in the country's politics', the sources went on to say.
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PESHAWAR: Gunmen on Monday released the remaining 11 hostages kidnapped two days ago from the border of Hangu district and Kurram Agency.
An official statement released by the FATA Secretariat Directorate of Information said refuted a news item carried by print and electronic media outlets about the abduction of 60 tribesmen from Kurram Agency. It said the number of the abducted was highly exaggerated, adding that only 14 people had been taken hostage.
It said the kidnapping took place near the Tootkas area, which falls under the jurisdiction of Hangu district and not Kurram Agency.
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ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday granted a pardon to Interior Minister Rehman Malik against a conviction and sentence awarded to him by the Accountability Court Rawalpindi in January 2004 in absentia against which his appeal was rejected by the Lahore High Court earlier in the day.
The president's spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the pardon was granted under Article 45 of the constitution on the advice of the prime minister that was tendered late on Monday night. He said that Malik was sentenced to three years imprisonment in each of two references in absentia by Accountability Court, Rawalpindi.
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ISLAMABAD - In a dramatic development the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday dismissed an appeal filed by Interior Minister Rehman Malik against his conviction in two corruption references by an accountability court. The court verdict raised the prospect of arrest of the man regarded as most powerful figure in the country after President Asif Ali Zardari who has shown unabated confidence in him.
His detractors say he has virtually acted as de facto prime minister and played as Zardari's main trouble-shooter in political and foreign affairs. He was also very close to slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and her business partners and accompanied her in her two meetings with former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf in January and July 2007 during which a deal was struck leading to pardoning of corruption cases against political leaders and bureaucrats under the now defunct National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
The accountability court had sentenced Rehman Malik to a three-year prison term in each of the two references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The jail sentences were handed down after the minister failed to appear before court while he was living in self-exile in London.
The minister's conviction was set aside under the NRO. The cases against him were reopened after the annulment of the NRO by the Supreme Court in December last year. He was, however, freed on bail.
Malik was not present in the court on Monday. He met President Zardari after the announcement of the judgment and reportedly discussed the implications of court ruling.
Officials said President Zardari advised him to challenge his arrest through legal means.
Malik's counsel on Monday said no notice was sent to the minister to appear before the court. Therefore, a verdict given in his absence would be illegal, the counsel further argued, requesting the Lahore High Court to halt the punishment orders against him.
Malik had filed a plea with the Lahore High Court regarding the sentences, following which the LHC had suspended the rulings against him and had granted him bail. However, now the verdict against Malik in the two NAB references stands restored and legal experts say he may be arrested any time.
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05/18/2010 00:00 ||
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ISLAMABAD - The government has ruled out the prospect of giving extension to army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani who will retire in November this year.
The government is neither granting extension to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) nor has the General Kayani sought it,' Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said while talking to reporters in Lahore.
Gen. Kayani (55) is the 14th chief of the Pakistan Army who assumed the office on November 28, 2007, after the retirement of former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf who kept the office for about nine years. The tenure for the post is three years.
Next stop: president ...
Hitherto, the president had the authority to name services chiefs including the COAS. This authority has now been shifted to the prime minister under the 18th Amendment adopted last month. In recent months Gen. Kayani exercised his prerogative to extend services of three corps commanders fuelling speculations that he is setting the example for his own extension.
President Asif Zardari and Gen. Kayani are known to have enjoyed a kind of rocky relationship ever since Zardari took office. In public speeches the president has been accusing the establishment' of conspiring to dislodge him.
Now why would anyone want to dislodge Gomez the usurper ...
Gen. Kayani played a significant role in the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in March last year.
Speculations have been continuing in the country and abroad that Gen. Kayani might be given extension in view of his role in the restoration of democracy and successful military operations in Swat and South Waziristan. He has established a close rapport with the US military leadership which has publicly praised his commitment to fight militancy.
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BAGHDAD - Nine successful candidates from Iraq's March election alleged to have links to Saddam Hussein's Baath party can take their seats in parliament, the head of the body charged with barring them said on Monday.
So somebody made a deal ...
The court issued a decision that accepted their appeal and considers them winners in the election,' Justice and Accountability Commission executive director Ali al-Lami told AFP. The IHEC (Iraq's electoral commission) should present their names... as winners.'
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Sunni vice president said on Monday that the cross-sectarian Iraqiya coalition he belongs to was more determined than ever to claim the right to form the next government. The chances that Iraqiya, led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, will get a chance to form a government are diminishing, potentially angering minority Sunnis who backed it, and fuelling a slide back into broader sectarian warfare.
Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said, however, that a manual recount of votes cast in Baghdad which kept intact Iraqiya's two-seat win in the March 7 election, gave the coalition the right to form the government and name a prime minister.
After the announcement of the manual recount of votes, we in Iraqiya are more determined than ever to claim our right to form the coming government,' Hashemi told Reuters.
It is our constitutional and electoral right to form the government and to name the prime minister,' he said in an interview.
Allawi's chances of becoming prime minister are slim following the announcement of an alliance between Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's party and another major Shi'ite coalition, which would form the biggest bloc in parliament.
While Allawi has insisted the election win gives him the first right to form a new government, the union of Maliki's State of Law bloc with the Iran-friendly Iraqi National Alliance, the third-place finisher, could sideline him. It places the Shi'ite factions that have dominated Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion just four seats short of a governing majority and they are reaching out to minority Kurds to bring them into their fold.
To be extremely frank, we in Iraqiya are now more united than ever. All bargaining positions made to tempt some groups inside Iraqiya have failed. There is no way today to break up the Iraqiya list,' Hashemi said. I know that politics means being wise, flexible and able to bargain, especially in a situation like Iraq's. But even so this will not change our belief that we, constitutionally, have the right to form the government and name the prime minister. And our candidate is Iyad Allawi.'
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Rafia al-Issawi, discussed on Monday with the commander of the U.S. forces in Iraq, General Raymond Odierno, the military withdrawal and security cooperation between Iraqi and U.S. forces, according to a statement released from Issawi's office.
The meeting tackled also the latest political and security developments in the country and the ongoing talks to for the coming government,' said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The two officials agreed on the U.S. forces' future in Iraq and the importance to abide by the agreed schedule regarding the military withdrawal in accordance with the security agreement signed between Baghdad and Washington,' it added.
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A senior Hamas official on Monday denied media reports that Egypt has cut relations with his movement. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said in a press statement that Hamas had not been officially informed of the decision.
Early on Saturday, the Egyptian daily Almesryoon reported that Cairo had decided to reject requests by Hamas officials for entry visas and freeze all channels of communication with the movement. The daily quoted senior Egyptian officials as saying that the decision is part of a series of steps in response to what the Egyptians called a Hamas media defamation campaign against Egypt.'
The officials added that the severing of ties is not related to the failure of Egyptian-mediated talks to reconcile Hamas and Fatah, but comes as a response to the organized media campaign that Hamas officials are waging against Egyptian figures by defaming them in Arab satellite television stations and in the Arab media.' According to the report, the Egyptians say the public campaign is being led by the movement's senior officials, including Khaled Mashaal, Mohammed Nazzal, Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Al-Zahhar.
Tensions between Hamas and Egypt has been escalating in recent months and is rooted in Egypt's consistent refusal to open the Rafah crossing, its construction of a steel fence on the Gaza border and its clampdown on smuggling tunnels.
Abu Zuhri also denied any media escalation between Hamas and Egypt saying the matter is just a media fabrication.' The Hamas spokesman, however, said that his movement does not hide its distress over the conduct of Egyptian security forces. The army conduct led to the death of five Palestinians -- four in tunnels and a fisherman in a ship accident -- and the torture of Hamas prisoners in Egyptian jails, he said.
Last week, Hamas accused Egypt of spraying poisonous gas into one of the tunnels, which led to the death of four Palestinians. Also last week, Abu Zuhri accused Egypt of torturing 30 Palestinian detainees in its custody using electric shocks and prolonged hangings. Hamas also said that a Palestinian fisherman was killed when his boat collided with an Egyptian naval vessel in Egyptian waters. Gazans said the Egyptian sailors beat the fisherman to death with clubs and pipes. Shortly after the incident, another tense event took place when Hamas security forces announced they had defused a bomb near the Egyptian embassy in Gaza City, which has been inactive since Hamas took over the Strip in 2007.
JERUSALEM - A senior Israeli official told European diplomats on Monday that a plan by pro-Palestinian activists to break Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip was a provocation' and would be stopped.
The Free Gaza Movement, an international group seeking to ship humanitarian goods and activists into the coastal strip, aims to send three cargo ships and five passenger vessels to Gaza from Ireland, Greece and Turkey.
This is a provocation and a breach of Israeli law,' Naor Gilon, a foreign ministry deputy director general, told the ambassadors of Greece, Ireland, Turkey, and Sweden, whose nationals the ministry said were involved.
Israel has no intention of allowing the flotilla to enter Gaza,' a ministry statement quoted Gilon as saying.
The website of the Free Gaza Movement says the 1,200-tonne Saint PancakeRachel Corrie left Dundalk in Ireland on May 14 and would rendezvous with the rest of what it calls the Freedom Flotilla' in the Mediterranean.
Israel has maintained a strict blockade on Gaza since the Islamist movement Hamas seized power there in 2007. Last June the Israeli navy intercepted a ship carrying journalists and activists, including Irish Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire, from Cyprus to Gaza and towed it into the southern Israeli port of Ashdod. The crew and passengers were returned home after being questioned by police.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/18/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
One voice warning, one shot across the bow, and then sink. Maybe throw the wet rats a lifeboat or two after they go down. It's scary that the pinheads can get together and think that supporting Hamass is a good idea. BTW I include the population as well because they elected the dogs, so now they have fleas too.
#1
ION NEWS KERALA > BRITAIN WAS SECRETLY DESIGNING BIOLOGICAL/BACTERIOLOGICAL WEAPONS DURING WW2, to maximize or use wid parallel Military strikes, + intimidate or affect the Enemy's
Govt-Mil Leadership.
#4
#2: IMO, one day Muslims will realize that they should have left Israel alone.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru
Not until Israel nukes a dozen or so Arab capitals and other cities, g(r)om. Even then, they'll whine and moan, blaming Israel for the provocation that led to the strikes. Why shouldn't they - it's been a winning tactic with the West for 30 years.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/18/2010 20:27 Comments ||
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Iran's recently-concluded war games concentrated on preparations to block the Persian Gulf and wreck Western economies in the event that the United Nations Security Council tries to place harsh sanctions against it.
Forty percent of the world's oil and gas sails through the Persian Gulf, and an Iranian blockade would cause an inflationary spike in energy prices and a fuel shortage that could cause catastrophe for the West, which is dependent on Iranian crude to fuel their gas-hungry economies.
Public affairs consultant Lenny Ben-David, a former senior Israeli diplomat in Israel's embassy in Washington, pointed out on Cutting Edge.com Monday that the Islamic Republic stopped, searched or photographed several Western ships durng the eight-day war games.
The Revolutionary Navy searched a French and an Italian vessel for "environmental" checks, buzzed the U.S. Eisenhower in what American officials called a close encounter,' and patrolled the Gulf, also known as the Straits of Hormuz, stopping and checking destroyers and cargo ships.
The Iranian Air Force also drove away a U.S. reconnaissance drone that was monitoring Iran's massive Gulf military exercises that concluded last Thursday.
During and after the war games, Tehran issued daily press releases boasting of new and advanced speed boats, an anti-submarine torpedo and advanced arms for attacking ships.
Ben-David noted, While the press focuses on the Iranian military exercises, uranium enrichment, and long-range missile development, the navies of dozens of countries have been relatively quietly gravitating toward the Persian Gulf.
The war games exercises in the Gulf sent a clear signal to the West regarding what may be in store if it succeeds in placing tough sanctions against Iran as a way to try to force it to comply with international rules on the development of its nuclear program.
#2
Iran's economy is far more dependent upon exporting than the world is dependent upon her oil. The world will be discomforted. Iran will implode. In this case, maybe we shouldn't talk the dude out of shooting himself, but give him the old Clint Eastwood reply.
#3
Iran does this, Iran gets destroyed. Simple as that. Military command and control first, then the nuke sites, then government and military HQ centers. C3I targets within the first 4 hours (inclduign civilian radio and TV transmission towers), the HQ within the first 24-48. COmplete and utter destruction of any deployed Iranian military forces must be part of this (even the boghammers get strafed out of the water, and fishing boats destroyed).
If they refuse to surrender (via abdicating completely) within 12 hours of phase one, then destruction in detail via cruise missiles and bombs.
Communications and transport infrastructure first (telecom, air facilities, bridges, major highways). After that, if there is still resistance, then water and electrical distribution infrastructure.
Let them be in the dark, without water or electricity, and no hope of food to their cities.
During all this: Turn back refugees at all borders, unless they agree to take up arms against Iran's government.
They want the 6th century? Give it to them.
Its a shame we do not have a president that could calmly and credibly make this scenario clear to Short Round and the Ayatollahs, in private. It might be enough to serve as a deterrent, especially if accompanied by a small demonstration - say a single cruise missile impacting on an Ayatollah's residence during the call.
#4
The problem here is that the commercial oil tankers are very skittish to threats. When this happened during the Iran-Iraq war, the US Navy not only had to guarantee safe passage, but pay hefty insurance costs, huge crew bonuses, but deal with a major uptake in the price of crude oil at the same time.
This could actually be worse, because Venezuela would both support Iran by cutting back on its oil exports, and because of Chavez incompetence, their oil production is being cut back anyway.
Russia is pretty much out of the picture, and Canada as well as the US would need to be in full development and production for six months to catch up. This is about how much oil we have in the strategic reserve, but it can only be pumped at a given rate.
So we would be looking at $10/gal gasoline, to start, with increasing shortages.
#5
For example, hits on approximatley 25 sites puts Tehran completely without power for and include water distribution pump stations as well as sewage and water treatment. Up the number top 50 and you take out all the major bridges (think overpasses too) for rail and road transport to/from Tehran. Bump it to about 75 and you can take out communications.
100 cruise missiles. followed by 10-12 bombs a day aimed at keeping those things off line and 10-12 to take out any government centers that appear functional.
No power. No water. No sewage. No phones or cell phones. No radio broadcasts.
After 3 days, food is gone. Fires without water. Raw sewage means cholera and dysentery. Hospitals reduced to 1890's technology.
Tehran has a population 13 million. Far too many for the police and baseej thungs to control when the people start rioting for their lives.
#6
Moose that's why you have to hit hard, fast and deadly. End the "crisis" in 72 hours in terms of any military efforts Iran can make in the Gulf. And within a week, end Iran's government - not by invading but simply take the infrastructure down so that no government can function except at a local level. We will not be in the business of taking Iran over, only of smashing its government. If the region wants to get into nation building they are welcome to it.
Once Iran goes, the region becomes a LOT more stable. The only cancer left would be Pakistan.
The sad thing is that Obama is fundamentally incapable of taking the needed actions. He would rather our economy collapse and tens of millions of Americans be put into misery than killing a few thousand Iranians bad guys and making a few million of them suffer temporarily for their support of an evil government.
#7
You're a hard dude OS.
But I think you've got it just about right.
The worst Iran could do to us is make us pay $7 a gallon for gas for a few months. Canada is our biggest importer of oil now, it would be painful in the wallet but it would put an end to the Iranian threat forever.
Their country's industrial infrastructure would be laid to waste fairly easily and with much less risk to us than to them. If the little squirrels want to scrap, lets oblige them.
#8
Why aren't there big honking pipelines from Kuwait/Southern Iraq and the oil rich part of Saudi Arabia over to the Western Coast of Saudi Arabia. Massive pipes, surrounded with cement, and buried beneath sand to make them invisible and hard to target. It is not as if they don't have the money or that Iraq and Iran haven't been a threat to oil since oh, the tanker war days of the 80s.
#10
The big pipelines have never been built, partly due to the expense and partly due to the fact that pipelines are hard to protect in the same way shipping lanes are to protect. Plus it hasn't really been necessary, businesses are a bit reluctant going to spend that kind of cash.
Iran blockading the Persian Gulf would amount declaring war on the rest of the world. This would justify acts of war in response, along the lines of what has already been proposed. I believe mankind's traditional 'common law' of warfare has followed that line for centuries.
Perhaps our distinguished political leadership could make that very clear, well ahead of time, through a variety of channels, official and non-official. I agree, 0 is fundamentally incapable of even this.
#12
Once Iran goes, the region becomes a LOT more stable. The only cancer left would be Pakistan.
And Pakistan might become more tractable after taking down the mullahs. Iran has been a huge pain in the derriere since the days when Jimmy Carter refused to do much about the seizing of our embassy and kidnapping of our personnel. Iran has been responsible for a lot of deaths in the M.E. If allowed to progress with nukes, they will be responsible for a lot more.
#13
Once Iran goes, the region becomes a LOT more stable. The only cancer left would be Pakistan.
And Saudi Arabia, as Paul2/Paul D. mentions frequently.
And Pakistan might become more tractable after taking down the mullahs.
I don't think so. Pakistan's leading politicians and military men have never lived in the real world, by all accounts. Years of extracting jizya affects the mind, after all. Besides, how often has it been repeated that Pakistan is too difficult to conquer, due to terrain, the madness of the citizenry, and Pakistan's legendary nukes? True or not, the Pakistani leadership believe that, also.
Bush made a big mistake by leaving it for Obummer.
President Bush didn't have the political support for another war after Afghanistan and Iraq; even some Republicans were backing away from the efforts, either because they weren't worth doing or because they weren't being done right.
#14
President Bush didn't have the political support for another war after Afghanistan and Iraq
Whoops! I missed the final point: President Bush didn't have the troops or materiel to fight another war with, even had he the political support to do so.
#15
Not only do we execute OldSpook's plan but seize the oil wells to extract the costs of the 'war' and compensation for the costs incurred by the US in lives and dollars for the act of the Iranian regime since the Shah. EFPs in Iraqi IEDs, terrorism costs in lives and security preparations.
I figure we remove the regime and make a 5oo billion in the deal.
#16
Strategypage has an article explaining why this can't possibly work. Bottom line: Iran is even more vulnerable if the strait is closed than we are.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/18/2010 19:00 Comments ||
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#17
The effort to build a Transregional OIL-GAS Pipeline has hit major snags everywhere - at current, it will likely be several decades before Iran will see any redux in export dependency via Persian Gulf routes.
#18
Forty percent of the world's oil and gas sails through the Persian Gulf, and an Iranian blockade would cause an inflationary spike in energy prices and a fuel shortage that could cause catastrophe for the West,
Most of that oil as well as well as natural gas goes to south and east Asia. Rather more than 50% of Saudi output goes via pipeline to their west coast.
China would be the big loser if Iran blocked oil exports from the Gulf.
#19
And Iran imports a large proportion of its petrol (40%?) mostly from South Asia. If Iran blocks the Gulf, setting 3 or 4 Iranian refineries ablaze would bring Iran to a grinding halt in less than 2 weeks.
#20
It's a good thing I'm not in charge. If I were, the first time Short-round made a move, a dozen Iranian cities would be vaporized, including Bandar Abbas (home port to that "navy" they're going to try to shut the Straits of Hormuz with), Bushehr, and Qom in the initial strike. Other initial strikes would be against the Revolutionary Guards Corps wherever they had a suitable contingent to make a nuke worthwhile. Do NOT nuke Tehran - use conventional weapons to make the city unlivable. Also wipe out all the weapons factories around the country, and nuke their nuke facilities so they'll NEVER be capable of being used again.
Until we literally grind one of these pissant little countries into the dirt, they will continue to peck away at us, costing us huge amounts of money and loss of capability. Thoroughly crushing one of them will make the rest of them significantly less willing to poke that beehive again. If we struck them overwhelmingly in say, 36 hours, giving them no respite until they're so totally destroyed they cannot recover, places like Syria, North Korea, even Russia and China, would be less willing to cause trouble. Chavez would have to change his underwear several times a day, for years, fearing he'll be next.
As long as our actual and potential enemies view us as being "paper tigers", as Saddam Hussein did, they'll continue to attack us asymmetrically. Once we strike back, especially if we strike back with overwhelming force, that behavior becomes too risky to continue. Unfortunately, using overwhelming force once is the ONLY thing that will keep us from having to use less force elsewhere, time and time again.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/18/2010 20:44 Comments ||
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#21
Well, negotiation has been tried for years and the west only gets rope-a-dope. Iran gets a message like described above if they try to choke of the Straits and the problem is solved. Then Syria is isolated and all the Hizb'Allah goons in the south of Lebanon get the rug pulled out from underneath them.
Suddenly the strategic picture without Iran looks better, even to the Saudis.
This type of hard, kinetic solution is a last resort, but unfortunately, we are running out of viable resorts. The question is: how much more of a game of chicken will Dinnerjacket play?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/18/2010 22:04 Comments ||
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#22
ION IRAN FREEREPUBLIC > HEZBOLLAH'S GROWING BALLISTIC MISSLE STOCKPILE TURNS FROM TERROR THREAT TO MILITARY THREAT.
and
ISRAEL FORUM > DEBKA > ALL THREE ARMIES PRACTICE WAR SCENARIOS; + SYRIA, HIZBALLAH BUILDING MASSIVE [fortified] WALL IN EASTERN LEBANON.
LEBANESE ARMY NOT allowed in SYRIAN-CONTROLLED, HIZBALLAH-OPER ZONE = ANTI-ISRAELI TANK TRAP-ARMOR FUNNEL inhabited mostly by DRUZE + CHRISTIANS???
* ALso from ISRAEL FORUM + DEBKA > IRAN BUILDS NUCLEAR-CAPABLE, LR CRUISE MISSLE [KH-55 derived] THAT CAN STRIKE ISRAEL FROM AFAR.
TEHRAN - Iran made an apparent concession over its nuclear programme, but big powers expressed scepticism and analysts said the move seemed intended to split the international community and avert planned new U.N. sanctions.
Tehran agreed with Brazil and Turkey on Monday to send some of its uranium abroad, reviving a fuel swap plan drafted by the U.N. with the aim of keeping its nuclear work in check. But Iran made clear it had no intention of suspending domestic enrichment the West suspects is aimed at making bombs.
"There is no relation between the swap deal and our enrichment activities," Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, told Reuters. He told Iranian television the deal was a move towards nuclear cooperation and "stopping sanctions".
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/18/2010 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON - Iran's surprise agreement on a nuclear fuel swap deal brokered by Brazil and Turkey could stall U.S. President Barack Obama's push for new U.N. sanctions if Tehran's move creates divisions among world powers.
The White House response mixed skepticism and caution, saying it would be a positive step' it Iran fulfilled its latest pledge but that its insistence on continuing to enrich uranium at home would still violate earlier U.N. resolutions.
The deal could put Obama in a bind, limiting his room to maneuver on a new sanctions package that had been gaining international momentum, especially with pivotal countries like Russia and China. Although Washington has reason to distrust Tehran's intentions and believe it is trying to buy time and split the major powers, Obama could not afford to reject the deal out of hand if it met some of the international community's demands.
As part of Obama's balancing act, the White House acknowledged the efforts by Turkey and Brazil but put the onus on Tehran to dispel serious concerns' about its nuclear program or else face consequences, including sanctions.'
It was unclear, however, whether that meant the Obama administration was ready to ease pressure for swift U.N. action on a fourth round of sanctions.
For now, Obama will have a hard time making further headway with China and Russia, both veto-holding U.N. Security Council members.
Which was sort of the point of the Turk-Brazilian offer. Almost as if it was planned to trap an inexperienced American president ...
Both are also trading partners with Iran who have been reluctant to impose punitive measures as harsh as those the Obama administration is seeking, and will be urging U.S. patience to determine exactly what Tehran is offering. Brazil, which now holds a rotating seat on the Security Council and also has strong business ties with Tehran, will be another key holdout. It was Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who went to Tehran to secure the deal.
Chances are, even after careful study, the Obama administration will not see Iran's concessions as enough to completely abandon the U.S.-led sanctions push. Tehran has made clear that despite the fuel swap deal it intends to continue enriching uranium at home despite international demands that it suspend such activities.
If that is the case, Obama will face the tough task of trying to rebuild support for sanctions while other countries are less eager to go along.
White House officials believe Obama has gained credibility on the issue by having first sought to engage Iran diplomatically. Obama critics say, however, the president's outreach strategy only showed his administration was soft on the nuclear standoff with Tehran.
He gets credibility only if he follows through with the threat that's been implicit in the negotiations -- make a deal or else. But no one, no one, thinks Bambi will pull the trigger, nor let the Israelis do the dirty work for us.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/18/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
OTOH TOPIX > OBAMA OUT OF OPTIONS ON IRAN? POTUS BAMMER + Admin slowly moving from STOPPING IRAN'S NUCPROGS to MINIMIZING OR DELAYING IRAN'S NUCDEV AT NEXT HIGHER LEVEL, i.e. DEV OR PROCUREMENT OF [POST-URANIUM] HYDROGEN, PLUTONIUM, ETC. ADVANC NUCBOMBS???
#2
IIUC ARTIC = THE US HAS ALREADY FAILED OR IS FAILING. Its only an Issue = Degree of how Nuclearized will Iran get before it is finally attacked by the US-ISRAEL???
#3
The deal could put Obama in a bind. Washington has reason to distrust Tehrans intentions. [Iran] is trying to buy time and split the major powers. Obama could not afford to reject the deal out of hand if it met some of the international communitys demands.
Reason to distrust Iran? No kidding! Hope that is not a newly found revelation. Buying time. Split the powers? Ditto and ditto the newly found revelation.
The One had better count his fingers when dealing with these haggling master rug merchants. They have been at it a long, long time. Lay a can of Saul Alinsky "community organizer" whup a$$ on em chief. Oh, that's for the folks at home? You say it ain't working so well at home either? There's always apologies and bowing although that hasn't gained too much either? There is the ole rope a dope "wag the dog" approach--deflect attention to some inane issue such as the "War on Global Warming" or "Cap and Steal."
KIEV - Russia welcomes the new agreement under which Iran would swap the bulk of its enriched uranium for nuclear fuel in Turkey, but further talks are needed, President Dmitry Medvedev said Monday.
What was done by our colleagues needs to be welcomed. This is the politics of a diplomatic solution to the Iran problem,' Medvedev told reporters during a visit to Kiev. We need to have consultations with all the parties, including Iran and then determine what to do next."
The accord signed Monday by the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Brazil commits Iran to depositing 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of low enriched uranium (LEU) in Turkey in return for fuel for a research reactor. Western powers have been sceptical of the deal, which was spearheaded by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a last-ditch effort to avoid a new round of UN sanctions against Iran.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/18/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
It's all but over. The only possible last ditch options are regime change or an Israeli strike. Barry won't lift a finger in support of the former, and he'll do whatever he can to impede the latter. Prolly time to load up on oil futures...
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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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.
LAHORE: Former president General (r) 
A senior Hamas official on Monday denied media reports that Egypt has cut relations with his movement. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said in a press statement that Hamas had not been officially informed of the decision.
