Like nobody could see this coming....
Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has warned that Southern Sudan will face instability if it votes to secede from the north in the upcoming referendum. He told al-Jazeera TV the south did not have the ability to create a stable state or provide for its citizens.
Correspondents say the comments will infuriate the SPLM - former rebels who have ruled the south since the two-decades-long civil war ended in 2005.
In an interview with the Arabic news channel al-Jazeera, Mr Bashir said he understood why many southerners wanted independence, but he expressed concern at how the new nation would cope.
"The south suffers from many problems," he said.
Mr Bashir said southerners living in the north would not be allowed dual citizenship, and floated the idea of the two nations joining in an EU-style bloc.
He also raised the issue of Abyei, an oil-rich region with disputed borders. He warned that if southerners seized the region for themselves, it could lead to war.
Analysts say Mr Bashir is under intense pressure from northern politicians, who fear that secession of the south may lead to a further splintering of the country.
North and south Sudan have suffered decades of infighting in conflicts driven by religious and ethnic divides. Southerners have long complained of mistreatment at the hands of the Khartoum government.
At an event on Friday, former South African President Thabo Mbeki - the African Union's mediator on Sudan - said the vote marks the "true emancipation" of the people of the south.
"The work of freedom is just at its beginning. We are confident that the southern Sudanese people have the strength and spirit to succeed in that endeavour," he told a large crowd in Juba, the south's capital.
Southern Sudanese will have a week to cast their vote on the future of the region, one of the least developed areas in the world. Turnout will be important because the CPA stipulates a quorum of 60% of the 3.8 million registered voters.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/08/2011 03:40 ||
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Analysts say Mr Bashir is under intense pressure from northern politicians, who fear that secession of the south may lead to a further splintering of the country
Thank you, Captain Obvious
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/08/2011 11:59 Comments ||
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#2
I put the map in to illustrate a point. See the proposed border between northern and southern Sudan? Notice the predominant colors on either side?
By the way, Darfur is the northwest corner next to Chad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2011 15:02 Comments ||
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[Ma'an] Coptic Christians marked a somber Christmas on Friday, after a deadly New Year's Day church bombing in Egypt sparked riots that injured dozens of coppers and protesters.
Egypt has been under tight security since the attack in the northern city of Alexandria killed 21 people, and the measures were stepped up for Christmas Eve services held for Copts on Thursday.
Under the Coptic calendar, Christmas Day falls on January 7, it is celebrated alongside Christians from the Greek Orthodox, Assyrian and Ethiopian denominations.
Security officials said at least 70,000 officers and conscripts had been deployed across the country to secure churches as Copts, who account for 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million population, attended Christmas Eve mass.
Drivers were banned from parking in front of churches, which were being tightly monitored by explosives detection teams and coppers, a police official said.
Police said one primitive bomb -- a tin can filled with fire crackers, nails and bolts, but without a detonator -- had been found in a church in the southern city of Minya.
Hundreds of worshippers gathered on Thursday at the Saints Church in Alexandria, the site of Saturday's bombing. They were guarded by dozens of police and anti-riot vehicles.
In Alexandria, 27-year-old Maureen, dressed in black, said: "To survive, we Copts must confront our fear and pain. We have to be stronger than the terrorists. That's why I am coming to mass."
Maher, 50, arrived for the mass with his wife and two daughters. "Our sorrow is great, but we feel stronger because of the support of our Mohammedan compatriots," he said.
Others converged on Saint Mark's Cathedral in Cairo, where the head of the Coptic Church, Pope Shenuda III, conducted the service, attended by several government members and Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak's two sons Alaa and Gamal.
In Moqattam, an impoverished Cairo district with a large Coptic population, residents said the threat of further attacks would not deter them from going to church.
"With Al-Qaeda's threats, we anticipate further attacks but we are not afraid. God protects us," said Adel Al-Wazir.
Police have released a sketch of the suspected Alexandria jacket wallah's face, reconstructed from the remains of a severed head found on the roof of the church.
No one has yet grabbed credit for the attack, which came after threats to Egypt's Copts from an Al-Qaeda-linked group in Iraq that had said it was behind a deadly October assault on a Syriac Catholic church in Storied Baghdad.
The group, the Islamic State of Iraq, said it would attack Copts if their church failed to release two women it claimed were being held against their will after converting to Islam.
Several weeks before the attack, a website linked to Al-Qaeda published a list of Coptic churches it said should be targeted in Europe and Egypt, including the one bombed on January 1.
Several other countries, including Canada, La Belle France, Germany and the Netherlands stepped up security around Coptic Christian churches in response to the threat.
In Ramallah, a memorial service was held in the Paleostinian Coptic Church there, to commemorate those killed in the attack.
At the Saint Mark's Coptic Church in the Canadian city of Montreal, businessman and church official Robert Mishriky said a private security firm was hired for Christmas Eve mass for the first time.
"Tonight, we used a private security firm which sent three officers, one to watch for cars and two inside the church to watch bags and monitor people. We have never done that before," Mishriky said.
Some 250,000 Copts live in Canada, which has 14 Coptic churches.
A security official in Jordan, home to an estimated 3,000 Copts, told AFP police in the capital Amman had tightened security for Christmas services at two Coptic churches after the Alexandria attack.
The bombing sparked days of protests and riots around Egypt that injured dozens of coppers and protesters.
President Mubarak has vowed to find those responsible for the Alexandria church bombing, which he blamed on "foreign hands."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Per instapundit. Many Egyptian muslims showed up at thruday night services to provide a human shield:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/3365.aspx
[Ennahar] Imams of mosques in Algeria on Friday called for calm and serenity at the major Friday prayer, after the violent riots in Algeria in recent days against the high cost of living.
"Serenity and quietness are great graces of Allah. We must preserve them," said a preacher whose sermon was broadcast live on national radio earlier this afternoon.
The imam, whose identity has not been specified by the radio, following in his speech a line defined by the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Algeria because Islam is the state religion.
In other mosques in the country, the same type of speech was heard by many faithful.
"These are fundamental for the stability of the country," said the imam at the national radio.
Acts of violence, he added, are "contrary to Islam" and it is up to parents to educate their children to reject the use of violence.
"The destruction of property of others, both public and private, is forbidden by religion (Islam). The true believer build, not destroy," said the preacher.
The situation appeared to normal Friday morning, the weekly day of rest in the cities affected by incidents, because the streets had been completely cleaned.
Thursday, there had been intense festivities around the capital and in other parts of the country, according to testimonies.
Since the outbreak incident three days ago, a number of trade have been vandalized, stolen, burned.
The authorities have not yet commented on the protests against increases of up to 30% of certain essential commodities like sugar and cooking oil, since 1 January.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] At least 20 people were maimed and some 10 shops and five houses burnt yesterday as two groups of people clashed to gain authority over a mosque in Patiya upazila of the district.
Police jugged 10 people from the spot, reported our Chittagong correspondent.
The clash erupted around noon when Wahabi and Sunni people went to Baitul Ekram Mosque at Fakirhat in West Patiya for the Juma prayers, witnesses said.
The Sunni of Juldha and the Wahabi people of Shah Amirpur villages have been feuding for long to get control over the mosque, and in that effort each of the groups has been trying to appoint its Imam to the mosque.
To avoid any untoward incidents, the local administration asked the villagers not to offer prayers there, locals said.
But the groups went to the mosque yesterday and attacked each other with sticks and wooden bars.
They also vandalised and burned shops and houses in the area, Niaz Ahmed, an officer of Lamabazar fire station, told The Daily Star.
On information, police rushed to the place and made the arrests.
Mohammad Abul Hossain, upazila nirbahi officer of Patiya, said yesterday's incident was a sequel to the rivalry between the groups.
He, however, denied the administration ordered not to offer prayers at the mosque.
A police camp was set up there after the incident to defuse the tension, he added.
Rashid, officer-in-charge of Patiya Police Station, said police sat with leaders of the groups and the mosque committee yesterday to resolve the issue.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2011 00:00 ||
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The North Korean government's official Twitter account appears to have been hacked, with the feed calling for an uprising to remove the leaders from power
The microblogging site ranted to its 11,000 followers about huge spending on nuclear weapons and leader Kim Jong-il's lavish drinking parties "while 3 million people are starving and freezing to death."
The country's official YouTube site also seemed to have been hacked, with a cartoon being posted showing Kim Jong Un, the son of the leader, driving in a sports car and running people over.
The tweets, in Korean, were unlikely to harm the internal image of the country, as internet access is widely prohibited.
#1
It wasn't me! I was nowhere near the Internet at the time!
Wait a minute, north Korea has Twitter and YouTube accounts? They don't even have electricity!
#5
And who in the hell would "follow" NorK on twitter? (Other than communist Hollyweird twits?)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut|| 2011-01-08 13:56
I'm pretty sure there's some poor schlub at DIA that's tasked with keeping track of everything that goes on with these accounts, and letting his superiors know if anything relevant pops up. I doubt he's/she's very busy
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/08/2011 20:07 Comments ||
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I doubt he's/she's very busy
Posted by Old Patriot
I doubt anyone at the Silver Bullet (DIA) is... "very busy."
The US government has subpoenaed the social networking site Twitter for personal details of people connected to Wikileaks, court documents show.
The US District Court in Virginia said it wanted information including user names, addresses, connection records, telephone numbers and payment details.
Those named include Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and an Icelandic MP
#1
From the time of the nation's founding, immigration has been crucial to the United States' growth...
Yet it is the No Growth crowd that continues to push for more immigration while telling those already here that they must give up what they have. Note for the illegals' apologists, the United States also started with slavery, but found in time that it could not socially or culturally sustain that historical and worldwide institution and paid an incredible price to rectify it.
#2
I suspect this number is very funky. A lot of illegals basically commute to the US. They only need to worry about entry, because exit is an open door. And criminals go back and forth with disturbing regularity.
And this number in particular is actually *inflated* because a lot of northern Mexicans can for once actually be called refugees from their drug wars. They do have homes in Mexico, which they have temporarily abandoned for their own safety. As soon as things are safe, they will want to return home.
So the bottom line is that the real number is probably a lot lower, and the decline is a lot greater.
But the US government gets little credit for it, as the economic downturn, and State actions, deserve far more credit.
#4
Republicans and Democrats have agreed for years on the need for sweeping changes in the federal immigration laws.
By default, they mean the Chamber of Commerce and Organized Labor. On the other hand, the rest of the country (aka citizens) have agreed for years on the need to enforce the existing laws and protect the borders.
[Arab News] The United States plans to cut $78 billion in defense spending over five years, including a reduction of up to 47,000 troops, in a politically contentious move that would trim the government's growing budget deficit.
The proposed cuts, unveiled at a somber Pentagon briefing on Thursday, follow increased White House and congressional scrutiny of military spending, which has doubled in real terms since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
They are in addition to a $100 billion cost-savings drive that Defense Secretary Robert Gates kicked off last year to eliminate waste, cut poorly performing weapons programs and redirect the money to other priorities.
Congress ultimately controls the Defense Department's budget, and politicians often block administration efforts to cut military spending that provides jobs in their home districts.
But Gates said the military had to play its part in getting US finances in order.
"As the biggest part of the discretionary federal budget, the Pentagon cannot presume to exempt itself from the scrutiny and pressure faced by the rest of our government," Gates said.
The annual budget request for the Pentagon will be submitted to Congress as part of the overall federal budget around Feb. 14. Industry sources and analysts say the B.O. regime will ask for $554 billion in military spending in fiscal 2012, not counting overseas fighting, $12 billion less than it initially intended.
Shares of major defense contractors rose. Lockheed Martin Corp and General Dynamics Corp have programs that would be hit by the reshuffle but were spared from deeper cuts that some investors feared.
Gates, in a half-hour address, said the Pentagon would cope with the belt-tightening by freezing civilian pay, changing economic assumptions and reducing troops starting in 2015, among other items.
That will allow defense spending to keep growing modestly through 2014 before leveling off in 2015 and 2016, Gates said.
He said calls from some in Congress for deeper cuts would be "risky at best and potentially calamitous," citing global tensions that require a strong, modern US military.
Mitch McConnell, the top ranking Republican in the Senate, said on Thursday he believed no US government department was off-limits from belt-tightening.
Other Republicans offered a swift rebuke of the plans, in a sign that the proposed cuts may not be realized despite growing pressure to rein in US government spending.
"I'm not happy," House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard McKeon told news hounds. "This is a dramatic shift for a nation at war and a dangerous signal from the Commander in Chief."
McKeon and other critics took issue with Gates' plans to cut up to 47,000 troops from the Army and Marines starting in 2015, which would represent the first cuts for those services since before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Analysts said the announcement was politically dicey for President Barack B.O. Obama, with US troops still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Earlier on Thursday, the Pentagon announced a new deployment of more Marines to Afghanistan.
"The land force end-strength cuts are just shocking," said Thomas Donnelly, at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
But Gates said the reductions would take place four years after US troops are set to leave Iraq, and that 2015 was also the year US war planners aim to hand over responsibility for Afghan security to local forces.
"The numbers that we're talking about are relatively small," Gates said.
Gates announced cuts or cancelations of troubled weapons programs, including a $13 billion Marine Corps landing craft, designed by General Dynamics.
The Arca index of defense stocks closed up 0.8 percent, a sign of relief that financial fallout from the Pentagon's spending overhaul was not worse than what had already been speculated.
"The bear argument about significant cuts has been taken off the table," said Peter Arment, an analyst with Gleacher & Co.
The plan also calls for cancelation of a ground-launched missile built by Raytheon Co, and includes the second overhaul in a year of the Pentagon's largest weapons program: Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
The Lockheed restructuring will cost the company 124 planes over the five years.
"Gates has announced the continued dismantling of the greatest military the world has ever known," said J. Randy Forbes, a Republican politician.
But some of the Pentagon's cost-savings will be reinvested in similar big-ticket programs, including a new long-range nuclear bomber, more ships for the Navy and beefed up missile defense capabilities. Boeing will win a potential $2 billion-plus order for 41 more F/A-18 fighters.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Yup O'shit continues to destroy America, how better than to force us to lose this War?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/08/2011 5:41 Comments ||
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How about mandating every other Federal department match dollar for dollar each and every cut at DoD? No waivers.
Spending trillions on shit the Feds have no business doing (Stimulus, Cash-for-Clunkers, ObumblesCare, TARP, etc..) is ok.
But we need to trim Billions from the Federal Governments primary responsibility - because having the Feds actually do the job they are supposed to do is bad.
#5
The old republicans veterans must be weeded out. The new generals and admirals are nearly in place. Obama will build new gay and adoring legions in his image.
#6
The smart move is to offer these veterans jobs in a new American Foreign Legion, an offshore corporation managed by someone like Xe (Blackwater), who would subcontract for high-cost, low intensity missions in the future.
This would save a ton of money, by not wasting our professional military on "stand around with a rifle" missions.
#7
As the biggest part of the discretionary federal budget
So I was headed for the same conclusion as P2K - who said the rest of the budget was not discretionary? If Congress were really interested in "fairness". there'd be a x% across-the-board cut.
If the Pentagon can eliminate waste and cut under-performing programs, so can DOE. TSA. DOJ. Commerce. And Congress.
x = 20 comes to mind, but I'm sure I'd be criticized for that modest proposal!
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/08/2011 10:02 Comments ||
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Lets cut the USAID budget to zero first. Then kill NPR.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/08/2011 10:19 Comments ||
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Let's not make the mistake of assuming that the defense budget is so sacrosanct that one could never cut anything in it.
$78 billion over five years is about $16 billion a year. I'll bet I could find that much in defense spending to cut. Give me a week with the books.
Of course, I could also find that $100 billion the House Pubs are suddenly reluctant to cut.
And more.
As an average, ordinary, reasonably intelligent American, I can audit numbers and find stuff that we shouldn't be spending money on. I bet all of us here at the Burg could do so.
Defense spending isn't holy. We spend on Defense what we need to spend to keep us safe, and nothing more.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2011 10:39 Comments ||
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Planning for a "Peace Dividend" a la Clinton, when he claimed to have cut the federal workforce mostly through the reduction in the Armed Forces. But the OPTEMPO has never been higher, with most ground combat forces seeing 2nd and 3rd tours in combat zones now routinely. So reducing the force structure will be followed by "right sizing" to fit the pacification, stabilization and nation building roles that the forces have been modified to do. All because there are no looming threats!
And, China just keeps on growing its forces, its navy, its ambitions, its aggressive intentions, planting resources in South Amercia, Africa and other strategic locations to allow for interdiction of Sea Lanes of Communication, special forces ops in our hemisphere, massive indistrial spying and theft and disruption of our forward deployment/power projection locations.
Gee, its almost like they have a long term plan, and we have a short sighted socialists running the country, destroying the dollar and public confidence in our basic systems of government. Oh wait, they do and we do.....oh well, not to worry, we now have Oprah TV and healthcare...
I agree, but that's my point about the rest of the government as well. We've moved from over a million man Army in the 1970s to half a million today. We cut and pruned for the Peace Dividend in the 90s. Somehow its defense that gets the real cuts while all new and other existing departments bloom and grow. I don't object to cuts in defense, but its well past time that such cuts are simply an accounting gimmick to cover in other areas which have nothing to do with the Constitutionally mandated function of the national government. Thus, the cuts must be done across all departments for real savings rather than creative Hollyweird bookkeeping.
#13
I would say there are many things in the DoD budget that can be and should be cut and trimmed. Doing so will save the taxpayer money and keep our forces trim.
However, knowing the dhimocrats and their pantywaste, petty tyrants that will decide the cuts, it will all be the wrong stuff and will hurt the war effort while keeping the politically beneficial plans in place.
#14
The defense budget may not be holy. But it is the number one primary duty of the Federal Government - to provide for a common defense.
Stimulus, Klunkers, Obamacare, EPA, FDA, Education, Welfare, Social Security, etc... are *not* the duties of the Fed. While some of them may be hard to cut - they still are not expressly authorized by the Constituting - except by some stretched and twisted commerce clause.
#15
I would rather there be welfare for our citizens than welfare for the rest of the world( of which most hate us). We could also cut the budget by getting rid of the IRS and implementing a national sales tax.
Posted by: chris ||
01/08/2011 14:05 Comments ||
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I'm with Steve. However:
5x10e4 soldiers axed times, say, 2x10e5 cost each is 10 billion per year. So, they're going to do this almost entirely by throwing young males out of work, instead of cutting the fat out of the Pentagon etc. You can look at the military as a jobs and training program, and this isn't the right way to go in the current economy.
#17
One thing high on Gates' plan is cutting military health care, because it "costs too much". This DUMBSH$$ needs to understand that military service is hard on human bodies, and the medical care we receive is basically because of that. I have it written into my second re-enlistment contract. If they cut my medical benefits, I'm liable to be a bit perturbed, and may do something to people that do sh$$ like this. That doesn't mean shooting people, like this morning's hothead, but there are many other ways to fight back. Making sure that anyone that supports this and fights for it never spends another day in government service is a good start.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/08/2011 20:15 Comments ||
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#18
Remember 1969?
Man on the moon.
Building the Interstate Highway System.
500,000 troops in an Asian land war.
How many of those can we do today? None.
Where'd all the money go? Ask LBJ.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/08/2011 21:54 Comments ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Law Minister Babar Awan on Friday sought Nawaz Sharif's ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Müslim League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... policy statement over the liquidation of Salmaan Taseer, saying the Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief should clarify his party's stance over the killing of the martyred Punjab governor.
Talking to the media after a Koran Khawani held at the residence of Punjab Minister for Sports and Culture Dr Tanvirul Islam, he said that on the one hand the PML-N was condemning the killing of the governor while on the other PML-N Islamabad Lawyers' Wing President Fazlur Rehman Khan Niazi garlanded the murderer of Taseer, Mumtaz Qadri. "Why did Fazlur Rehman Niazi present flowers to the assassin of Taseer? Is it the party policy of the PML-N?" he asked, adding that it was not the policy of Nawaz, but he must issue a policy statement to clear his party's position. Babar, pointing at opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali in this regard, said that nothing could happen in the PML-N in Pothohar without the permission of Pothohar walay. He said that all this had made the PML-N's position on the matter suspicious and it was direly needed that Punjab's ruling party cleared its position as to whether they were on the killer's side or they would stand with the patriotic people of the country. My guess is that they're on the killer's side. What's your's?
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Police unearthed key facts which instigated Mumtaz Qadri into killing Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, a private TV channel reported on Friday.
According to police sources, the governor's self-confessed killer, Mumtaz Qardi, revealed that he made up his mind to assassinate Salmaan Taseer in a religious gathering addressed by Qari Haneef in his locality, Col Yousuf Colony on December 31. Qari Haneef made an emotional speech which instigated Qadri into killing the governor, the police said. He participated in the gathering in official uniform and recited Naat having his official gun on his shoulder. The police has started a search for Qari Haneef to arrest him, the channel said.
Police jugged at least eight persons on Thursday late, whose SMSs were found in the mobile phone of Qadri. The names of jugged persons are being kept under wraps. These men incited Qadri into killing Taseer. They had alleged in their SMSs that Taseer had committed blasphemy. Also, the CPO had been asked to explain as to why Qadri's name was included in the security squad of Salmaan Taseer, the channel reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Assembly unanimously passed a joint resolution on Friday, demanding the federal government make no amendment to the blasphemy law.
The movers of the joint resolution also demanded that the head of the committee formed by the federal government with regard to the blasphemy law should not be a non-Mohammedan.
Mufti Kafayatullah of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) said the federal government should avoid any proposed change or repeal of the law as it was a sensitive issue. The JUI-F member underlined the need for unity among all political and religious parties against terrorism, price hike and unemployment. Others who tabled the resolution included Awami National Party (ANP) Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour, Pakistain People's Party parliamentary leader Abdul Akbar Khan, Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentary leader Pir Sabir Shah, PPP-Sherpao members Muhammad Ali Khan and Israrullah Khan Gandapur, Provincial Government Spokesman Mian Iftikhar Hussain, minority member Kishore Kumar, Senior Minister Rahim Dad Khan, and JUI-F's Malik Muhammad Qasim, Hafiz Akhtar Ali, Dr Iqbal Din Fana and Mufti Said Janan.
Dr Fana told the House that 137 security guards, who were deployed at oil and gas reservoirs in Kohat and Karak, were on strike as they were deprived of five percent bonus. He asked the government to direct OGDCL and Fauji Foundation to give bonus to the striking security guards.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2011 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer gave his life fighting for human rights, ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... said on Friday during his visit to the bereaved family of the late governor who was martyred in an attack by one of his guards.
The president consoled Taseer's family and said that his martyrdom was a great loss not only for the family, but also for the Pakistain People's Party (PPP).
The president said that all those behind the liquidation of the governor would be exposed and punished in accordance with the law, adding that his sacrifice would not be in vain. The president, who arrived in the picturesque provincial capital on an unannounced visit to condole the death of Salmaan Taseer, met his wife Aamna Taseer, sons Shan Taseer, Sheheryar Taseer, Shehbaz Taseer, daughters Sara Taseer, Sanam Taseer, Shehrbano Taseer and sons-in-law Umar Salamat and Shoaib Taseer.
He said that Taseer led a brave and undaunted political life and embraced martyrdom following the golden tradition set by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and hundreds of PPP workers.
"The life and sacrifice of Taseer is a beacon of light for PPP workers as well as democratic forces in the country," he said, adding that the late governor had written, with his blood, a new chapter in the history of the PPP's heroic struggle against bigotry, tyranny and obscurantism. "Taseer embraced martyrdom fighting for human rights, minorities' rights and democracy as well as waging a crusade against extremism and fanaticism in the country," Zardari said.
The PPP co-chairman said that party workers and democratic forces were proud of Taseer's great sacrifice, reminiscing that he always called a spade a spade and did not mince words in expressing what he had believed to be true.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2011 00:00 ||
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Anti-U.S. Shi'ite holy manMoqtada Tater al-Sadr's ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010... security detail has a disciplined quality far removed from his old Mahdi Army ... an Iranian fifth column masquerading as an Iraqi militia ... militia, hinting at his evolution toward the mainstream that could help stabilize Iraq. Likely during his time in the Land of the Medes and the Persians he was imbibing lessons on how to organize a hezbollah along with his lessons on how to be an ayatollah when he grows up. Hopefully he was getting his teeth fixed, too.
Sadr, who led two uprisings against the U.S. military and demands its withdrawal, seems eager to shed the image of a firebrand and appear a statesman as his movement assumes a new, powerful role in Storied Baghdad's coalition government, analysts say. I'm guessing he's gonna model himself more on Hassan Nasrallah, setting his organization up as a state within a state.
Bearded men in black shirts and grey suits with pistols strapped to their belts, and others dressed like professional mercenaries, have knitted a tight circle around him since his return Thursday after years of voluntary exile in Iran. See that? His own personal Hezbullies.
Their sophistication is a far cry from the AK-47-wielding young Shi'ite fighters who made up Sadr's Mahdi Army, ... an Iranian fifth column masquerading as an Iraqi militia ... which was behind much of the sectarian violence unleashed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and battled U.S. troops. He knew what he wanted to do, he just didn't know how to do it. He was all mouth and little organizational skill, able to recruit the cannon fodder but not to use them to any effect other than to oppress the common folk.
"When Sadr was an untamed rabble-rouser, he lived in Najaf with unsophisticated, informal networks protecting him," said Toby Dodge, an Iraq expert at Queen Mary College, University of London. "The fact that he's (now) got this highly visible, highly trained and disciplined security network is both an indication of his maturity and growing sophistication."
[Arab News] The widening phenomenon of brawls between members of rival Jordanian tribes on university campuses has prompted one university to take an extreme step: banning of the traditional Jordanian headdress, the shemagh, inside university confines.
Yarmouk University, located in the northern city of Irbid, decided to expel students arriving on campus with headgear made from red-striped cloth, arguing it inflamed tribal rivalries. Students have used the shemagh to cover their faces during brawls to hide their identity and have begun wearing variously colored ones to symbolize their tribal affiliations. The university has already reportedly expelled 70 students for the offense.
Following a recent brawl at the University of Jordan in Amman that left 12 students injured and university facilities damaged, 30 students were questioned by university authorities, who promised the perpetrators "harsh punishment." Earlier, a large-scale brawl involving at least 100 students in the southern city of Ma'an had police cordoning off the road leading to the city's Al-Hussein University.
But local experts said that banning the headgear wouldn't solve the problem, which has much deeper roots than student rivalries. King Abdullah is determined to impose the rule of the law on the influential tribes, but tribal chiefs are equally determined to preserve their traditional power and privileges, putting the two on a potential collision course.
"It's a cosmetic solution," Muhammad Al-Masri, a researcher at the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan, told The Media Line. "The root cause is lack of political activity in Jordanian universities. Universities don't allow students to associate politically, which would bring them closer together."
Al-Masri said that over the past 5-7 years tribalism and regionalism have increased in Jordan, and have come to play a greater role in Jordanian politics. By contrast, in the 1980s, students were more aligned along ideological worldviews, represented in the socialist and Islamic political parties.
"The universities are just a reflection of what goes on in Jordanian society," he said.
Tribes have always played a major role in Jordanian society, but until recently their function was more social and familial than political, Al-Masri said. The turning point, he added, came in 1993 when Jordan's election law was changed.
Known as "one man one vote," Jordan's current election law sought to curb the power of the Mohammedan Brotherhood, the main opposition group to the ruling Hashemite family. By limiting the ballot in every election district to one winning candidate, the law both reduced the ability of beturbanned goons to win seats in Parliament and strengthened the tribal alliances in the kingdom.
The election law was slightly revised by King Abdallah last May, but the system under which voters are allowed to choose only one candidate remains. Political parties were only allowed to exist in Jordan in 1989.
Expulsion wasn't the sole solution taken by universities to curb brawls. Some universities announced they would introduce magnetic ID cards, hoping to keep out provocateurs who were not students at the university.
Yasser Abu-Hilalah, a columnist at the Jordanian daily Al-Ghad and head of Al-Jazeera television network's Jordan bureau, attributed the campus brawls to a deep identity crisis.
"The basic problem is the absence of a common national identity for Jordanians of Paleostinian origin and East Bank Jordanians," he told The Media Line. "The state is attempting to circumvent the identity problem."
The red and white shemagh represents the East Jordanian tribal identity, while the black and white keffiyeh represents Paleostinians, most of whom come from what is now Israel and the West Bank.
Abu-Hilalah said that when Jordan relinquished its claim to the West Bank in 1988, a Paleostinian state was meant to emerge. However, The infamous However... it never did -- leaving Paleostinian Jordanians stateless and with no clear national identity.
Economic cleavages contributed to tensions as well, he added. East Jordanians were mostly employed in the public sector, earning low wages, whereas Paleostinians worked in the private sector in Jordan and the Gulf, making more money.
Jordan's democratic experiment which began in 1989 and witnessed political cooperation between Paleostinians and East Bank Jordanians, has gradually reversed, Abu-Hilalah said.
"The state has failed in finding frameworks to mitigate tribalism," he said. "The only solution is real democracy."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"The root cause is lack of political activity in Jordanian universities. Universities don't allow students to associate politically, which would bring them closer together."
ahhh. Yaasssss. That must be the problem. Not enough "campus political activity"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/08/2011 12:46 Comments ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] A senior Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, leader on Thursday accused Israel of carrying out "countless holocausts" against the Paleostinians while saying the Nazi genocide was a "lie."
Mahmud Zahar made the remarks during a memorial ceremony for 43 Paleostinians who were killed at a UN school in the Jabaliya refugee camp during Israel's 22-day war on Gazoo that began in December 2008.
"The lie according to which they were a victim of a holocaust and the (Jewish) people are a victim -- this lie has crumbled with the holocaust of Beit Hanun, the holocaust of Al-Fakhura and the other countless holocausts ... committed by the Zionist enemy," he said.
Zahar was speaking on the second anniversary of an Israeli air strike on the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society' Al-Fakhura school in the northern Gazoo Strip.
The incident was one of the deadliest in Israel's "Operation Cast Lead" offensive, which left 1,400 Paleostinians dead, most of them civilians, along with 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers.
Before an audience that included members of the Hamas leadership in Gazoo, Zahar paid tribute to those who died in the school where they had taken refuge from the heavy fighting. ... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting...
"The blood that was shed in Al-Fakhura and in every inch of Paleostine will not be in vain," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"which left 1,400 Paleostinians dead, most of them civilians"
Hells bells they are all "civilians" ain't they? Even the ones with guns and missiles.
#4
Interesting how these buggers hang nearly every event on the old theme of Jewish hate and the non-holocaust. A pitty the Madrasses can't teach math, history, or science with the same fervor.
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs Alfredo Moreno denied reports his country had recognized Paleostinian statehood in a presser on Friday.
"Chile supports the creation of a Paleostinian state," he was quoted as saying. "Chile has always supported negotiations between both parties, thus the real question is how can we help advance the grinding of the peace processor. We have met the parties, we held a meeting with Abbas, we've talked with Israel, actually twice with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but we all have to understand that the problem is far bigger than only territories, you have the problem of water, Jerusalem, boundaries, etc. That's why Chile will not change nor lose its compass".
Earlier, the president of the Chilean Jewish community, Gabriel Zaliasnik, told The Jerusalem Post that the news originated from a report filed by a Chinese news agency based on a misinterpreted remark made by a government official.
"The Chilean government hasn't issued any statement except for one provided before yesterday by a government official and this is the only public statement," Zaliasnik claimed. "She said that the Chilean government supports the creation of a Paleostinian state, supports the dialogue between the parties and suspects that from that dialogue there will be the creation of a Paleostinian state."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
A key institutional defect of the military establishment is that for most of the last fifty years it has focused on a non-war time personnel system which tries to find a peacetime substitute in identifying and promoting officers. Unfortunately, it ends up with managers rather than leaders. We've been in a wartime environment for nearly ten years now and the system failed to shift into real wartime mode to pick and promote quickly those who have demonstrated themselves on the battlefield. It's dysfunctional. The military exists to fight and the personnel system needed to default to that mode and has failed.
#2
the last fifty years it has focused on a non-war time personnel system which tries to find a peacetime substitute in identifying and promoting officers. P2K
Behold! Affirmative action and the military social, petri dish.
#4
as a verteran and partial victim of that biased system, I wholeheartedly concur with your concise assessment. I would only add that its also biased to reduce the willingness for risk taking as a career proceeds, especially above the rank of 04. Hence senior fieldgrade emasculation complex, only trumped by GO trepanning...
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.
Law Minister Babar Awan on Friday sought 
Anti-U.S. Shi'ite 
[Asharq al-Aswat] A senior 
