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Clashes between Houthis and Tribesmen in Sa'ada Province
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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Bangladesh
US, UK urged to stop training RAB
AP story. Don't copy it verbatim. We've had enough problems here...
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) -- The United States and Britain should immediately stop supporting a Bangladeshi anti-crime force blamed for killing hundreds of suspects without trial if there is no visible effort to reform it, a rights group said Thursday.
Gee, I wonder who they are talking about?
The Rapid Action Battalion, or RAB, was responsible for more than 1,000 extra-judicial slayings in the preceding five years, a 2009 report by Human Rights Watch alleged.
Oh, right
Yup, about a thousand Purba Banglars, Biplobis (new and old) and other assorted miscreants are pining for the fjords. A thousand. Wow. Busy beavers the RAB is ...
The United Kingdom and United States have trained the Bangladeshi force as part of a counterterrorism strategy since at least 2008, leaked U.S. diplomatic cables say.
Have we? Great! At least we're doing something that works ...
Moriarty said the RAB recognized the need to address allegations of past abuses and had incorporated human rights training at the RAB's academy and in units of the force.
That's working well
The Bangladeshi government has not commented on the allegations.
Did you expect them to?
According to the cables, foreign diplomats in Dhaka believe that the battalion is enjoying a wide range of public support because of deteriorating law and order in Bangladesh.
Or maybe they define 'law and order' a little differently. Remember these are the people who lynch muggers and robbers on the spot. It's the sort of 'cultural difference' you think a good progressive would honor in the name of 'diversity' ...
But a nation cannot ensure law and order by being complicit in violating the very laws it should protect, Meenakshi Ganguly, the rights group's South Asia director, told The Associated Press in an e-mail."Criminals should be arrested, prosecuted and punished, not randomly picked up and crossfired encountered killed in an effort to put an end to the activities for which they are suspected," Gunguly said.

The New York-based group said continued violation of human rights by the battalion will only harm Bangladesh's law enforcement capacity. "Does Bangladesh really want a force that can easily run amok because it is protected by the state from being prosecuted for human rights violations," she asked.
Apparently the answer is 'yes' ...
Posted by: Steve || 12/23/2010 09:21 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As they sit in their heated, air conditioned office in the middle of a civil society, HRW has no clue of what it means and the sacrifices that have to be made when things get out of hand.
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2010 10:26 Comments || Top||

#2  One can only hope that some dark and moonless night, some members of the HRW decides to take a walk through some unnamed upizilia or banana tree orchard and be set upon be some miscreats. And in the ensuing 'crossfire' said HRW member receives a mis-directed round of bullet from one of the miscreants, just prior to their fleeing ( as if they were never there). And if the RAB just 'happened' to not 'find' the murder weapon, that would be a plus.....
Posted by: USN,Ret || 12/23/2010 18:34 Comments || Top||

#3  USN,Ret, are you bucking for a second career with the Rab? ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/23/2010 19:57 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea warns of nuclear "sacred war" in standoff with South
North Korea warned on Thursday of a "sacred war" against the South using its nuclear deterrent as South Korean President Lee Myung-bak vowed a "merciless counterattack" if southern territory is attacked again.
I don't think the Norks' definition of "deterrent" is the same as that used in the Western world.

In any case, bring it Sonny. It will guarantee that you don't die of cancer.
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2010 10:41 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  My online translator of the Nork's statement only comes out as: "Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip!"

Must be broken.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/23/2010 11:06 Comments || Top||

#2  After years of "...sea of fire...running dog yankee imperialists" and other traditional Stalinist era drivel, this is a new of image, suggesting religion of some weird kind.

And people don't think 60 years of appeasement haven't produced progress....
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 12/23/2010 13:11 Comments || Top||

#3  These Nork meatballs are so rigid minded and psychotic, the best approach might be to hit them with surrealism.

For example, the South might reply: "We accept your surrender on the condition that you throw your Kim Jong Il and his sons off a high cliff. We will provide abundant food to your soldiers when they lay down their arms."

You have to admit that it would fluff some feathers up North.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/23/2010 16:12 Comments || Top||

#4  hit them with surrealism

Perhaps a chorus of South Korean schoolchildren singing I'm So Ronery just south of the DMZ.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/23/2010 17:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Sth Korea unveils its latest deadly weapon in the "Sacred War"
Posted by: tipper || 12/23/2010 21:23 Comments || Top||

#6  ION CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > ISRAELI EXPERTS SAY SOUTH KOREAN ARMOR WILL NOT SURVIVE NORTH KOREAN PLATOONS.

OTOH CMF Poster = doubts that DPRK will last beyond SEVEN WEEKS due to the ROK'S AIR, MILTECH SUPERIORITY.

* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > CHINA MUST RECOVER LOST TERRITORIES "LOOTED" BY NEIGHBORS, SAYS PLA GENERAL [Luo Yuan].

ARTIC > In the good General's professional opinion, CHINA CANNOT BECOME OR LABEL ITSELF A "GREAT POWER/NATION" UNLESS IT DOES, as the recovery of lost territories is + MUST BE an integral part of ANY CHIN FOREIGN POLICY.

IOW, THE US-WORLD POWERS WILL NOT GIVE RISING CHINA ANY RESPECT OR CREDIBILITY UNLESS CHIN PROVES IT IS WILLING TO DEFEND ITS RIGHTS BY MIL FORCE, + TO UNILATERALLY FIGHT, SOLE ANDOR IN JOINT, INCLUD TO ADDRESS + CORRECT HISTORICAL WRONGS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/23/2010 22:27 Comments || Top||


S Korea to hold 'mega drill'
[Al Jazeera] South Korea will hold its largest-ever live fire drill near the military border with North Korea in a show of force just as tension on the peninsula was easing after Pyongyang's attack on a southern island.

The drill on Thursday, involving the largest number of personnel in a peace-time exercise, comes after the South's artillery exercise on Monday on the island of Yeonpyeong. The move is bound to infuriate the North.

North Korea this week offered to re-admit UN inspectors to its nuclear-weapon programme, leading to speculation of a resumption of the six-party disarmament talks and a general sigh of relief around the world that the crisis had passed.

"Yes, it will be a show of force against that," an army officer said when asked if the shelling of Yeonpyeong last month was a factor in the new drill's planning.

He added similar drills had been staged previously on more than 50 occasions, but the scale this time was unprecedented.

It will take place in Pocheon region, less than 50km north of downtown Seoul and will also involve artillery and fighter jets.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  See also PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > SOUTH KOREA [holds] LARGEST MILITARY DRILL EVER CHALLENGING THE NORTH'S BOTTOM LINE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/23/2010 3:37 Comments || Top||

#2  If I were SKOR id "Drill" the shit out of 5 miles or so of land blowing up any and all AP Mines, then move the border 5 Miles north and seize the now pulverized and unoccupied ;and the NORK "Abandoned"
Repeat once each year, or as quickly as Ammunition stores are sufficient.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/23/2010 12:32 Comments || Top||

#3  I would send 3 cells of Buffs every hour to Arc-light the place until everyone agreed that it was a really stupid idea. Then I'd nuke it from space to be sure. Then Putt-putt golf.

Posted by: Goldies Every Damn Where || 12/23/2010 17:19 Comments || Top||

#4  You forgot the Agent Orange and Rods From God.
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2010 17:43 Comments || Top||

#5  More...

* TOPIX > CHINA ASKS SOUTH KOREA TO CANCEL NEW DRILLS, to once again ease tensions wid Kimmie.

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > SOURCES: CHINA SPEEDING UP PLANS TO LAUNCH AIRCRAFT CARRIER.

versus

* WMF > DPRK-ROK "YEONGPYEONG" CRISIS REVEALS CHINA'S SHOCKING STRATEGIC WEAKNESS IN CIVIL DEFENSE.

ARTIC = Beijing is MOSTLY + "SHOCKINGLY" UN-PREPARED AS PER NATIONAL WARTIME CIVIL DEFENSE IFF YOU-KNOW-WHAT EVER BEGINS BETWEEN KIMMIE + SEOUL.

Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/23/2010 23:00 Comments || Top||


N.Korean Propaganda Fax Aims at Sowing Dissent in South
[Chosun Ilbo] North Korea has faxed propaganda material to a large number of South Korean organizations and businesses, shifting the blame for its artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island to the South Korean and U.S. governments in an attempt to foster conflict between conservatives and progressives here.

In the wake of its Nov. 23 artillery attack on the border island of Yeonpyeong, Pyongyang dispatched the propaganda fax from China to some 80 South Korean religious and social organizations and businesses, according to a Unification Ministry official. But only 15 of them, including nine companies with plants in North Korea, reported the fax to the ministry, it added.

"The Yeonpyeong Island shelling took place because the South Korean warmongers shelled our territorial waters," the fax claims. In fact, the South Korean military was only conducting a routine drill in its waters that it has carried out for 37 years.

The fax repeats a claim that the South Korean government used the island's residents as "human shields." The South "attempted to avert our retaliatory strikes by mixing military facilities with residential villages and by drawing civilians into the military base and holding them hostage," it claims.

But it is the North that fired dozens of 122-mm multiple launch rockets on Yeonpyeong Island villages. The fax appeals to nationalist sentiment by saying, "As brothers of the same blood, we must put our strength together and march forward to crush the anti-reunification forces."

Urging the implementation of the June 15, 2000 and Oct. 4, 2007 summit declarations, the fax threatens, "If a war breaks out, the South Korean people will suffer the most."

North Korea mounted a similar propaganda after torpedoing the Navy corvette Cheonan and prior to and following the local and by-elections as well. Pyongyang dispatched some 40 faxes denying the findings of an international investigation of the Cheonan sinking and some 70 calling for a defeat of the government and the ruling party in the June 2 elections.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  "we're crazy dangerous...because of you"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2010 8:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Fax pictures of food back to them.
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2010 10:30 Comments || Top||

#3  I recall the story of the Ambassidor from NORK who visited a modern Grocery store here in the US and broke down crying at the shelves bursting with food, and finding out it was an everyday thing, not a setup.(Other shoppers were filling buggies and checking out)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/23/2010 12:38 Comments || Top||

#4  I heard the same thing about Russian diplomats back in the '70s.

In either case, they were probably warned ahead of time.
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2010 17:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Now that I think about it, it wasn't Russian diplomats, it was some Russian citizen who had supposedly figured out what the Russian government had been doing to them with the food lines.
Posted by: gorb || 12/23/2010 17:49 Comments || Top||

#6  "P.S. - You are USERESS, Arec Bardwin!"
Posted by: mojo || 12/23/2010 17:49 Comments || Top||

#7  There was a similar bit in the book The Hunt For Red October in which the the crew of the October were flown over D.C and noticed all of the cars below and knew it couldn't have been faked.

Another story, the soap opera Santa Barbara played in India. The opening shots show wealthy houses along a cliff line and Indian folk realized that these were real houses. Apparently this undercut some of the garbage the communist party in India was saying at the time.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 12/23/2010 18:42 Comments || Top||

#8  #2, Operation Fax Seed?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 12/23/2010 18:57 Comments || Top||

#9  Surprised there are any fax machines in South Korea (South Korea has better / faster internet connections than the U.S. And a fair amount of "internet addiction").
Posted by: CincinnatusChili || 12/23/2010 19:15 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Penn State Student Posts Jihadist Musical Tribute to Swedish Suicide Bomber
Posted by: tipper || 12/23/2010 01:14 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  To paraph the great AL BUNDY > "WHAT A SHOCK [Not]"!

Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/23/2010 3:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Okay...looks like The Roommate From Hell.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/23/2010 8:44 Comments || Top||

#3  First a fake scientist (M. Mann) and now a fake mu-slim (this jerk). Oh how far the great Penn State has fallen.
Posted by: bigfingo || 12/23/2010 9:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Wonder how he feels about Paterno coming back?
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/23/2010 9:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Some things are eternal.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/23/2010 10:08 Comments || Top||

#6  As a longtime Rantburg lurker, (who has ...psu in my internet handle), I must say that this knucklehead does represent the , uh, diversity of my alma mater.
He will also make it easier to not "give a gift" the next time the telemarketing students dial my number, unless they are soliciting for Dance Marathon.
My consolation is that the rule of numbers means that for every "super secret agent" Valerie Plame who graduates from PSU, there is thankfully also a Lt. Michael P. Murphy http://live.psu.edu/story/26781
Posted by: Capsu78 || 12/23/2010 15:38 Comments || Top||

#7  heh - I never caught the psu in your nym as Penn State U.
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2010 16:55 Comments || Top||

#8  Man he has got to be popular with the Penn State kittens. Nazi AND a muslim?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 12/23/2010 17:26 Comments || Top||

#9  First hit on the Google search.
Someone has punked Emerson big time...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/23/2010 17:50 Comments || Top||

#10  LOL tu
Posted by: Frank G || 12/23/2010 18:21 Comments || Top||

#11  I'm serious. That's the first hit on the Google search. Maybe it was...the MOSSAD!
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/23/2010 18:29 Comments || Top||

#12  LMAO tu nice find
Whoever it was deserves a Rantburg Medal of Honor for snarkery above and beyond the call of duty.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/23/2010 19:16 Comments || Top||

#13  Capsu - thanks for the Lt. Murphy post. It's good to see the other side of the Penn State coin in the same thread.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/23/2010 19:20 Comments || Top||

#14  Thanks ryuge... glad you enjoyed.
Also the class of 2011 has announced the class gift: The Lt. Michael P. Murphy/Penn State Veterans Plaza
On November 2, 2010 it was announced the senior gift for the Pennsylvania State University(Murphy's alma mater) Class of 2011 was going to be the The Lt. Michael P. Murphy/Penn State Veterans Plaza. The plaza will honor all Penn State veteran's and Penn State's only Medal of Honor recipient, Lt. Michael P. Murphy. .[
Here is a better bio of the greatness of this PSU Alum:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_P._Murphy
I see he has a Post office and an Navy Seal Training center, among other, named in his honor.
Our tax dollars at work, with no complaint from me... God bless his parents as well during this Christmas season.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 12/23/2010 19:40 Comments || Top||

#15  Oh, and Joe can coach as long as he wants to.
Any comments to the contrary and I will accuse you of being an Ageist!
Posted by: Capsu78 || 12/23/2010 19:48 Comments || Top||


Lame Duck Senate passes bill to aid 9/11 responders
(KUNA) -- The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve a health package to help first responders to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City.

New York Democrats cut a deal with Republicans who had objected to the cost of the legislation. The bill goes to the House, where final passage was expected to be assured.

The agreement reduces the total cost of the bill, closes the compensation fund after five years, and limits attorneys' fees.

Rescue workers, firefighters and others who worked at the site where the World Trade Center Towers fell have suffered serious illnesses, including cancers, from inhaling toxins at the site, medical researchers concluded.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ION PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > [Defense News]SOURCES: WHITE HOUSE ORDERS USDOD TO CUT US$90.0BILYUHN OVER FIVE YEARS, to include US$12.0Bilyuhn in fiscal year 2012.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/23/2010 3:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Legislation presented during Lame Duck sessions should be preceeded by mandatory cloakroom cystoscopy procedures.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/23/2010 17:21 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan, Iran jockey for influence after bombings
[Dawn] As tension grows between Pakistain and Iran after a mosque bombing in Iran, Pakistain could find itself increasingly isolated as its western neighbour looks to increase its influence in the region, analysts say.

Jundollah, a Sunni Mohammedan jihad boy group Iran says is based in Pakistain's southwestern province of Baluchistan, grabbed credit for a Dec. 15 double suicide kaboom in the Iranian town of Chabahar that killed 39 people and maimed more than 100.

Iran has demanded Pakistain take action with Iran's diminutive President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad calling this week on his Pak counterpart, Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari
... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ...
, to arrest "identified terrorists" and hand them over to Iran.

Iran says Jundollah fighters find shelter in Pakistain.

Pakistain denies providing shelter for the group.

But in an echo of US demands regarding Taliban sanctuaries in northwest Pakistain, a member of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee suggested that if Pakistain didn't act, Iran would.

Analysts say the strong words from Iranian officials add to growing international pressure on Pakistain to take stern action against beturbanned goons operating out of its territory.

"Iran is ... a major regional stakeholder in Afghanistan and a competitor of Pakistain there. It is therefore likely that Iran is now flexing its muscles on its eastern flank to showcase its regional rise," the intelligence firm STRATFOR said.

Pakistain and Iran have long jockeyed for influence in Afghanistan, with Pakistain supporting the ethnic Pashtun and Sunni Mohammedan Taliban and pre-dominantly Shi'ite Iran backing the Taliban's enemies in the old Northern Alliance of non-Pashtuns and some Shi'ite groups.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under: Jundullah

#1  Oh i would love a war between Pakistan and Iran.

Popcorn overload!
Posted by: Paul || 12/23/2010 6:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Hmmm, I do remember TW saying that a new rail siding was put at her House to handle Bulk Popcorn shipments to her new Extra heavy duty Industrial popcorn poppers, and Vats for Butter, I think she's got it covered.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/23/2010 12:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Good to hear that Mr. Jim. I just hope they hold off till after the Holidays. I've enough problem with over-eating as it is. 8^)
Posted by: Alan Cramer || 12/23/2010 13:23 Comments || Top||

#4  I do remember TW saying

That was Barbara Skolaut, Redneck Jim. I am merely her humble assistant when the machines need to be loaded up. Unfortunately, they don't allow railroad spurs or garden sheds in my neighborhood.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/23/2010 20:06 Comments || Top||

#5  I've gotten extra boxcar-loads of popcorn delivered lately, Alan and Jim, and plenty of melted butter for you.

Or would you prefer a sprinkling of parmesan in place of butter? (Or in addition to it?) ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/23/2010 22:19 Comments || Top||

#6  ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > INDIA'S INSURGENT MOVEMENTS + NAXALITES UNITING WITH INDIA'S SEPARTAIST MOVEMENTS TO FIGHT AGZ INDIA.

Collectively, ARTICS = There's A'PLENTY + ALL KINDS OF VARIOUS BAD/HARD BOYZ IN INDIA'S "RED CORRIDOR [East + NE Indjuh], THE "RED CORRIDOR" IS SLOWLY BUT STEADILY EXPANDING + A'WIDENING.

versies

* SAME > WIKILEAKS: INDIA'S MUSLIMS DISDAIN/FROWN ON EXTREMIST CREEDS.

ARTIC read, UNLESS NEW DELHI + CENTRAL DOES SOMETHING STUPID TO PISS 'EM OFF???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/23/2010 23:11 Comments || Top||


Pakistan Terrorist Safe Havens Threaten World Security
Johnson! Stop the presses!!
[Tolo News] Afghan defence department Wednesday said more pressures should be applied to Islamic fascisti sheltering in Pakistain because they threaten security in the region and world

It would be difficult to bring security in the region and even in the world till terrorist havens located outside Afghanistan are not targeted, said the spokesperson for Ministry of Defence (MoD), Gen. Zaher Azimi.

At a presser Mr Azimi told news hounds that Washington brings pressures on Islamabad because of terrorist safe havens and sanctuaries on Pakistain's soil.

"Fueling and training sources of insurgency should be targeted outside Afghanistan otherwise this will remain a threat not only to Afghanistan but to the whole world," Mr Azimi told TOLOnews.

Afghan forces have been equipped with modern arms and it has also increased in number, MoD said.

Mr Azimi remarked that despite modern equipment being provided to Afghan forces, we still have big problems in our air force.

"Our forces are fully equipped with modern arms, but we have a lot of problems in the air forces," he said.

According to the figures provided by MoD, currently the number of Afghan army soldiers hits 150,000. And there are efforts on the ground to speed up the process of army recruitment.

Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden
... an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body ...
had previously said in an interview to NBC news that all the US troops will be pulled out of Afghanistan without any conditions by 2014.

But Afghan Defence department said 2014 marks the end of security transition process to Afghan leadership, not the end to the presence of foreign forces in the country.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan

#1  India and Afghanistan know the cancer/problem in the Region is Pakistan but we still treat them as allies?
Posted by: Paul || 12/23/2010 5:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Solve the logistics problem.

Then you can deal with the diplomatic schtuff.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/23/2010 9:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Solve the logistics problem.

Imagine if all the money & effort invested in "nation building" in Afghanistan was invested in something more practical---like teaching dogs calculus.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/23/2010 9:34 Comments || Top||

#4  POSSIBLE US INVASION OF "CAMBODIA = PARROT'S BEAK", PAKISTAN"...

versies

* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PAKISTAN: ALLIANCE OVER IFF US EXPANDS WAR ACROSS THE BORDER, from Afghanistan.

* SAME > PAKISTAN SHOWS SIGNS OF TURNING AWAY FROM THE US.

* SAME > PAKISTAN-IRAN-TURKEY CONFEDERATION?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/23/2010 22:45 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Maliki's new government is largest in Iraq's history
Some things are the same the world over ...
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The new Iraqi government, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, that won the trust of the Parliament on Tuesday "is the biggest government, as regards to its number, in the history of the contemporary Iraqi cabinets," the Iraqi Legal Expert, Tareq Harb said.

"For the first time in the history of Iraq, a government is formed with four deputy prime ministers, that were included in Maliki's 2nd cabinet, along with 42 cabinet ministers," Harb said.

The list of cabinet ministers, presented by Maliki to the Parliament on Tuesday, had comprised 41 candidates, some of who had been assigned on acting basis, whilst included 12 state ministers, compared with Maliki's previous cabinet that comprised 37 seats.

Harb said that "the first government in the history of Iraq in the beginning of the Royalist Regime, led by Prime Minister Abdul-Rahman al-Naqib, in 1920, that comprised 7 cabinet seats only and 12 (formal) state cabinets," adding that "for the first time in the history of Iraq, a government is formed with 4 deputy prime ministers, in Maliki's 2nd government, followed by Ibrahim al-Jaafari's government, formed in April, 2005, with three deputy prime ministers."

"Maliki's new government had comprised all political components, with the exception of the Kurdish "Change" Bloc that withdrew from the government at the last moments that preceded the formation of the government, whilst it was the first cabinet that included 6 state ministries," he added.
The remainder of the article is a history lesson.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/23/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Oil ministry achieves highest production since 2003
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The daily oil production in Iraq rose to 2.5 million barrels, the biggest since 2003, spokesman of the oil ministry said on Wednesday.

“The daily oil production rose by 10% through cooperation among national and foreign companies,” Essam Jehad told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, pointing out that this is the highest production since 2003.

Iraq’s newly appointed oil minister said the country’s daily oil production has increased by 100,000 barrels a day to 2.5 million barrels a day.

Abdul-Karim Elaibi said the increase came from two southern major oil fields that are being developed by Western companies. Elaibi says his top priority is to develop Iraq’s dilapidated oil infrastructure and increase export capacity from southern terminals to 4.5 million barrels a day, from the current 1.6 million barrels a day.
Funny how you don't hear about blown-up pipelines and breakdowns any more.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/23/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel suspects Iran as source of Kornet missile used in recent attack
(KUNA) -- Israeli military sources Wednesday indicated a belief a sophisticated Kornet missile used in an attack on an Israeli tank in Gazoo Strip two weeks ago had come from Iran.

After a first of a kind incident in Gazoo, much stressed by Israeli media, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi admitted Tuesday that a Kornet missile had been fired at an Israeli tank earlier this month.

Ashkenazi had told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the massive anti-tank missile penetrated the tank's outer shell, but failed to explode inside it.

The Israelis blamed Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, for the attack, citing its use of the weapon in the so-called "second Leb war".

The sources accordingly stressed the need to change armored vehicle operations mode in Gazoo Strip.

Israel accuses Hamas of smuggling sophisticated weapons, anti-armor missiles, and long-range missiles from Iran with the aim of hitting targets in the heart of Israel, bringing the items through tunnels along the Gazoo-Egypt borderline.
Posted by: Fred || 12/23/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Israeli military sources Wednesday indicated a belief a sophisticated Kornet missile used in an attack on an Israeli tank in Gazoo Strip two weeks ago had come from Iran.

Iran makes Kornet missiles now?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 12/23/2010 12:44 Comments || Top||

#2  See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > GAZA FIGHTERS NOW USING [advanced] TANK-PIERCING MISSLES.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/23/2010 22:38 Comments || Top||


Has the PA made progress on curbing incitement?
Posted by: ryuge || 12/23/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You might as well ask if PA made a progress on learning not to breath.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/23/2010 9:32 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Anti-Israel ad on Seattle buses sparks response in kind
During a controversy over an upcoming Seattle Metro bus advertisement decrying "Israeli war crimes," two groups said they intend to run their own ads that show Israel as a victim of terrorism.

The David Horowitz Freedom Center has submitted an ad to Metro Transit showing a burning Israeli bus next to the phrase "Palestinian war crimes — your tax dollars at work."

The ad is in response to an ad by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign smearing criticizing Israel that is scheduled to go up by Monday on the sides of 12 buses.

"The issue here is very simple. If they want to run their ads we're going to run ours," Horowitz said in an interview.

Stop Islamization of America, a group associated with fighting the Ground Zero victory mosque, also announced its intention to place an ad on Seattle buses on Tuesday.

A news release indicates that group's ad proposal says, "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Islamic Jihad."

Seattle Metro received 2,000 e-mail messages commenting on the anti-Israeli ad through Tuesday, most of them from outside King County and most against the ad.

Ed Mast, a spokesman for the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign, wondered whether the competing ads are congruous with Metro regulations.

"I think that we followed the rules," he said. "We have been scrupulous in following the rules and avoiding hate speech and not showing photos of violence and carnage in action, in having things approved, in telling the unspoken side of the truth."

About Stop Islamization of America's reference to "the civilized man and the savage," Mast said, "If that's not hate speech then I'm living in the wrong planet."

Seattle Metro was advised by lawyers that it could not refuse to approve the "Israeli war crimes" ad under current guidelines. Under those guidelines, Metro won't accept bus ads "so insulting, degrading or offensive as to be reasonably foreseeable that it will incite or produce imminent lawless action ... ."
Posted by: ryuge || 12/23/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If your serious about banning hate speech, ban the Koran.

From Islam on Trial: The Prosecution’s Case against Islam By Amber Pawlik:

I originally did a small study. I wanted at least 30 samples because statistically, so as long as there are 30 samples, the central limit theorem applies, i.e. the sampling is large enough to be statistically significant. I tried to think of a fair way to pick samples. Had I gone through and just pointed to verses, I likely would have gotten accused of cherry picking. So I took verse 10 from randomly chosen Suras. I did this to show I was not picking one verse over another. I ended up with 34 verses. You can read the verses I took along with commentary regarding what context the verse is in, why I assigned it to the category I did and the calculations of my confidence interval here.



I was really quite pleased with the results: I felt they provided a nice broad overview of the Koran and even captured one good verse! It also hit some of the bigger but smaller aspects of the Koran - the fact that it mentions Noah's Ark many times (where it gleefully describes how the infidels drowned); that it thinks infidels are utterly thankless; that Allah actually makes nonbelievers not believe, etc. These were the results



18/34 (52.9%) - over half - of these random verses is vitriol aimed at infidels.
6/34 (17.6%) Deal with Allah
5/34 (14.7%) Deal with believers
4/34 (11.8%) Deal with Day of Judgment or Day of Doom
1/34 (3.4%) ... is a good verse! (Do not steal from the poor / Give to the poor)






Posted by: Rupert Chirt2546 || 12/23/2010 14:21 Comments || Top||

#2  The local Seattle press is taking a cautious stance on this, but reading between the lines they seem to favor the anti-Israeli ads over David's. go figure.
Posted by: USN,Ret || 12/23/2010 18:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Latest is that the ads will NOT be allowed.
Posted by: USN,Ret || 12/23/2010 21:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Controversy prompts Metro to ban all non-commercial ads (link)

SEATTLE - The uproar over an inflammatory anti-Israel ad proposed for Metro buses has prompted King County officials to not only reject the ad but to temporarily ban any and all non-commercial ads on buses.

The new ban applies to any non-commercial ads, including political advertisements and ads by Planned Parenthood, the Humane Society and other non-commercial organizations

Note that it temporary. I take that to mean that as soon as the uproar ends they will put up the planned parenthood, pro-abortion, and other leftist ads back up.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/23/2010 23:04 Comments || Top||

#5  sorry that last paragraph shouldn't be italic - its not part of the quote - messed up closing tag.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 12/23/2010 23:08 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2010-12-23
  Clashes between Houthis and Tribesmen in Sa'ada Province
Wed 2010-12-22
  Kenya bus explosion kills 3, injures 30
Tue 2010-12-21
  Adam Gadahn jugged in Karachi?
Mon 2010-12-20
  Police arrest 12 people 'plotting Christmas terror attack'
Sun 2010-12-19
  Iraq: 6 dead, 12 wounded during Ashuraa pilgrimage
Sat 2010-12-18
  Three US missiles kill 54 in Pakistan
Fri 2010-12-17
  Car Bomb Explodes at a Coppe Shoppe in Monterrey
Thu 2010-12-16
  Suicide Attack Kills 33, Wounds 95 Mourners in Iran
Wed 2010-12-15
  Border Patrol agent gunned down in southern AZ
Tue 2010-12-14
  Another man arrested for plotting bomb attack on DC Metro
Mon 2010-12-13
  Six police among 13 killed in Iraq suicide attacks
Sun 2010-12-12
  Yemen jails 12 Qaeda members
Sat 2010-12-11
  Car Explodes in Stockholm, Gas Cannisters & Second Blast Involved
Fri 2010-12-10
  India's ambassador gets pat-down at US airport
Thu 2010-12-09
  Pakistan suicide attack kills 17: police


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