[Tolo News] A special committee has been formed to probe into acid attack on a leading Afghan journalist, officials at National Directorate of Security (NDS) said on Thursday.
An investigation committee comprised of NDS and interior ministry staff have started serious inquiries to track organisers of the attack.
Razaq Mamoon, a well-known Afghan author and journalist, had acid sprayed on his face by an unidentified man on Tuesday.
Mr Mamoon later blamed Iran for organising the attack in reaction to a book (Pharaoh's Footprint) he had published in which Mamoon has criticised Iran for violations committed against Afghanistan.
The newly formed investigation committee has made some progress in the probes, Lutfullah Mashal, a front man for National Directorate of Security, said.
"We want to assure you all that the issue is seriously pursued and those involved in the case will be jugged," Mr Mashal said at a presser.
Journalists' rights organisations refused to trust efforts being made by National Directorate of Security and Ministry of Information and Culture.
A bigwig at Ministry of Information and Culture emphasised that no organisation has the right to threaten journalists in Afghanistan.
"No one, including the Afghanistan's Caped President, the whole government and foreign embassies, have the right to intimidate our journalists," Mubariz Rashedi, publication deputy of Information and Culture Ministry, said.
Freedom of expression has been called a major achievement of the government in the past nine years, but journalists' rights organisations strongly doubt it.
Reporters in several provinces including Khost and Takhar strongly condemned the acid attack on Razaq Mamoon.
The attack was condemned by President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai and other organisations defending freedom of expression in Afghanistan.
Mr Mamoon was taken to India for further treatment today.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Egypt's Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, said on Thursday it was freezing its bi-annual meetings with the Vatican after remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that "attack" Islam.
"The freeze was prompted by the repeated attacks on Islam by Pope Benedict XVI of the Vatican.
Quite unlike the nasty things the learned gentlemen of Al-Azhar say about Christianity. No really, quite, quite unlike what the gentlemen say.
The Pope has reiterated that Mohammedans oppress non-Mohammedans who are living with them in the Middle East," according to a statement from Al-Azhar carried by the official MENA news agency.
The decision came after an extraordinary meeting of Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Academy chaired by the body's Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the statement said.
Al-Azhar and the Vatican hold bi-annual meetings to discuss mutual cooperation.
The pope had called for the protection of the Arab world's Christian communities after a New Year's attack on a church in the northern city of Alexandria that left 21 people dead.
The man clearly has delusions of equality.
He said the Alexandria attack was "yet another sign of the urgent need for the governments of the region to adopt ... effective measures for the protection of religious minorities".
The remarks prompted Cairo to recall its envoy to the Vatican.
On Wednesday, Arab leaders gathered for an economic summit in Sharm el-Sheikh voiced their "total rejection" of foreign interference in Arab affairs over the region's Christian minorities.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Moslems themselves know how the entire world views them. Their sense of Shame is impossible to bear. Its impossible for them to clean their sores and the smell cant be hidden. Its like having dripping sagging Leprosy.
There is no medicine for being a Moslem. So dont criticize them.
Dont even go ,"Tut-tut". The Pope is wasting his time trying to be discrete and encouraging Moslems to love anyone. Moslems dont even love themselves.
And its beyond the air freshener stage at this point. And well... drugs are useless. A little Holy Water isnt going to get it, Benedict.
George Galloway has demanded that Tony Blair and his former press secretary, Alistair Campbell, should be tried for war crimes.
Galloway battled with Campbell on the BBC's Question Time about policy on Iraq. With Blair due to give evidence for the second time to the inquiry into the Iraq war, the panel were asked if they thought the invasion had been illegal.
Galloway, who announced last week that he was going to make a run for the Scottish parliament in May, had no doubts.
And even fewer scruples.
He bellowed: "I look forward to the day when Mr Blair is not in front of establishment stooges but is in The Hague facing war crimes charges at the international court. And by the way, Alistair Campbell has the same blood on his hands and ought to be in the dock with him."
Campbell, while taking the opposite position, avoided a squabble with Galloway, saying: "I know you don't like me very much."
This source has the full version of Galloway's last sentence as:
"And by the way, his Goebbels, his Lord Haw-Haw, Alistair Campbell, has the same blood on his hands and ought to be sitting in the dock alongside him."
Someone alert the Incivility Police!
[Dawn] Prejudice against Mohammedans has "passed the dinner-table test" and become socially acceptable in Britain, the Conservative Party's chairwoman will say on Thursday.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the Pakistain-born minister without portfolio, will say in a speech at the University of Leicester that dividing Mohammedans into "moderate" and "extremist" fuels intolerance, according to prepared remarks published in the Daily Telegraph.
"It's not a big leap of imagination to predict where the talk of 'moderate' Mohammedans leads; in the factory, where they've just hired a Mohammedan worker, the boss says to his employees: 'Not to worry, he's only fairly Mohammedan,'" the first Mohammedan woman in a British cabinet will say.
"In the school, the kids say: 'The family next door are Mohammedan but they're not too bad'.
"And in the road, as a woman walks past wearing a burka, the passers-by think: 'That woman's either oppressed or is making a political statement.'"
What should they think, pray tell? This is not normal apparel in the West. Has it occurred to these women and their menfolk that really, they ought to fit in to their surroundings? Jews, after all, are told to remove identifying jewelry and items of clothing, lest Mohammedans beat them up on the street, and as a rule they are employed and assimilated into the general society.
There are 2.9 million Mohammedans in Britain, almost 5 per cent of the population, according to an estimate last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
Britain has regularly been a focus of Islamic myrmidon plots. In the worst attack in the country, jacket wallahs killed 52 people on the London transport network in July 2005.
"Those who commit criminal acts of terrorism in our country need to be dealt with not just by the full force of the law,"
Warsi was due to say.
"They also should face social rejection and alienation across society and their acts must not be used as an opportunity to tar all Mohammedans."
Warsi's comments follow those made by Prime Minister David Cameron in his New Year message when he said Britain still faced a serious threat from international terrorism.
"We must ask ourselves as a country how we are allowing the radicalisation and poisoning of the minds of some young British Mohammedans who then contemplate and sometimes carry out acts of sickening barbarity," Cameron said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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#2
This is an article about Britain. Doesnt it speak just as explicitly about how Moslems are viewed in the US?
HOW are Moslems viewed in the US? Do Moslems at the Mall put a smile on your face? The dress, the sandals...can you spot where they are from? The women covered up.....they sure ain't Baptists are they?
You take their money at the counter, but you really dont care if they ever come back, do you?
You dont want to see more of them certainly. ( Lets put it another way...you dont care if you never see them again.)
They are here in the US for the ride.....not because they really want to be a part of who we are. Moslems dont assimilate and until they do they arent going to be a part of what we all are. Moslems arent your friends, they just are people sitting at their own table at Starbucks. And if your name is Cohen and Finkelbaum ....dont bother with them.
You gonna invite a Moslem family over for a Casserole? You gonna "share" anything in your life or your family's life with a Moslem family?
Like what?
#3
dividing Mohammedans into "moderate" and "extremist" fuels intolerance
Okay, than we won't divide them. All Muzzies are now considered extremist. You down with that?
Posted by: Alan Cramer ||
01/21/2011 10:55 Comments ||
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#4
Actually this Conservative politician was born in the UK. Check out the clown costume she was wearing in Parliament (based on the guys in the background, this wasn't a costume party):
#5
When I see a woman walking down the street with non-western dress, I wonder whether her daughter will wear it when she grows up. That's the danger of Dearbornistan; that they will stay in the ghetto and not assimilate. But the assimilative power of the US on the younger generations is very strong and the Mohammedans don't impress me as having the ability of the Amish or Hutterites to resist it. The Euros don't want to or try to assimilate, so the Mohammedans will have a much easier time staying apart. We need to assimilate, and to isolate the true radicals.
North Korea on Thursday called for high-level military talks to South Korea to discuss the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island last year. The North has pushed for all manner of talks but so far refused to talk about the attacks.
Lack of South Korean aid is really beginning to pinch...
A government spokesman said Seoul would be willing to attend the talks if the agenda includes a promise from the North "to take responsible steps" over the sinking and the artillery attack and "to refrain from further provocations." He added Seoul will propose a preliminary round to discuss the agenda. The government also decided to propose high-level inter-governmental talks to discuss denuclearization.
The North's Minister of the People's Armed Forces Kim Yong-chun sent a message that morning to Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, the Unification Ministry said. The North offered to "express its views on the Cheonan incident and the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island and discuss ways to reduce military tensions on the Korean Peninsula."
The government will send a formal message to the North. A Unification Ministry official said, "It's still hard to see any sincerity in these proposals, so we'll have to see in working-level talks how sincere they are."
The government has insisted the North must take responsibility for the attacks, promise to prevent further provocations, and take palpable steps toward denuclearization if inter-Korean talks are to resume.
These would be the first cross-border talks since Feb. 8 last year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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IIRC YONHAP/TOPIX > seems KIMMIE + REGIME = PYONGYANG have once again ORDERED the already starving NORTH KOREAN CITIZENRY to DONATE = GIFT FOOD,+ OTHER TO THE NORTH KOREAN ARMY.
Approxi 1/3rd of the DPRK's annual budget repor goes directly to MILITARY SPENDING, so I guess the above is evidencia of the remaining 2/3rd being used for INDRECT MIL SPENDING???
#2
PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > JAPAN SHOULD BOOST ASIA TIES, BUT BASE ITS FOREIGN POLICY ON US ALLIANCE.
* SAME > JAPAN'S BUDGETS SET TO MOVE DEEPER INTO THE RED. Its "Primary Balance Deficit" is already more than 200% the size of its economy.
* SAME > {Beijing] ITS OFFICAL: CHINA IS THE WORLD'S NUMBER TWO ECONOMY, not Japan.
OTHER = JAPAN fears the seemingly looming loss of its traditional Power, Position, + Influence to China as per the ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK [ADP].
* SAME > US NAVY: TOO EARLY TO THROW IN THE TOWEL IN THE RACE WID CHINA.
ARTIC = USDOD looking for "PLACES, NOT BASES", i.e. new or former regional base locales to keep US Milfors, etc. out of harm's way in case of US-CHINA WAR [LR PLA Bomber, Missle strikes].
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Hypersonic]BLACKSWIFT: US RESPONSE TO THREATS FROM CHINA + RUSSIA.
* WMF > THE ULTIMATE/GREATEST THREAT TO COMMUNIST RULE IN CHINA STEMS NOT FROM RADICAL ISLAM OR COMPETITION WID WESTERN DEMOCRACY + CAPITALISM, BUT THE CCP'S ABILITY TO MODERNIZE + MEET THE CONSUMER DEMANDS OF CHINA'S 1.3-1.5 BILYUHN POPULATION | CHINA'S GREATEST TERROR THREAT IS ITS OWN DEMOGRAPHIC, CONSUMER-MATERIALIST "BLACK HOLE".
Friday, 21.Jan 2011: Copenhagen police will be in place this afternoon to prevent trouble at a multi-party, multi-organisation demonstration against the Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation, which is holding a debate in the premises of the Royal Library later today.
"(Hizb ut-Tahrir) is the most dangerous organisation we have in Denmark. It is important for us to show that we are many who have a different view and that we can be seen when Hizb ut-Tahrir meets," says the Social Democratic co-organiser of the demonstration, Copenhagen Local Counsellor Lars Aslan Rasmussen.
So arrest them, when possible strip them of Danish citizenship and deport them, and throw the rest in jail.
"Hizb ut-Tahrir is different from other extreme organisations by having been found guilty of calling for the killing of Danish Jews, and now they are saying it's OK to kill Danish soldiers. It's OK to be against the war in Afghanistan, but when you produce adverts with pictures of coffins wrapped in the Danish flag, it's violence pornography," Rasmussen says.
See? You've got actual crimes to arrest them for, not merely freedom of speech issues.
He adds that representatives of all political parties will be taking part in the demonstration, as well as other organisations. The Danish Soldiers' Veterans Association will also be taking part. Rasmussen adds that the demonstration is targeted at Hizb ut-Tahrir itself, and not the controversial issue of the organisation being allowed to meet in the Royal Library premises.
The Stop Islamification of Denmark organisation has also urged its members to take part in the demonstration and the Danish Nazis have also used their home page to attack Hizb ut-Tahrir and its meeting in the Royal Library.
"We have said that everyone is welcome. We cannot decide on who is allowed to come and who not, but the theme is that we are against Hizb ut-Tahrir, and not against Muslims. So we will not accept racist slogans. We are as much against Nazis and the far right as we are against Hizb ut-Tahrir," Rasmussen says.
Copenhagen police are preparing for many different views to be represented in the streets.
"It could be a mixture of all sorts, so we are going to be there and in close contact with the organisers," says Inspector Bent Olsen of the Copenhagen Police Operational Planning and Analysis Dept.
The demonstration is to take place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. opposite Den Sorte Diamant.
OSAMA bin Laden said the release of French hostages depends on a pullout of France's soldiers in Afghanistan and warned Paris of a "high price" for its policies, in a tape broadcast today. Pretty good rant for a dead man...
"We repeat the same message to you: The release of your prisoners in the hands of our brothers is linked to the withdrawal of your soldiers from our country," said the speaker on the audiotape broadcast on Al-Jazeera television. Where are you now, Binny...
The satellite channel said bin Laden was referring to two French journalists held in Afghanistan, although he did not specify if it also covered France's hostages seized in Africa. Got a photo of you holding up today's Pakistan Daily Times?
The foreign ministry in Paris reacted swiftly, stressing it would not bow to such threats. They won't 'bow' like certain others do...
"We are determined to pursue our action in favour of the Afghan people with our allies" in the NATO-led ISAF force that is fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters in Paris. Not that anyone knows what the 'Afghan people' want, other than to be left alone...
Cameraman Stephane Taponier and reporter Herve Ghesquiere, who work for France 3 public television, were seized along with three Afghan colleagues in December 2009 in the mountainous and unstable Kapisa province, east of Kabul.
The al-Qaeda chief, addressing the French people, said: "The refusal of your president to withdraw from Afghanistan is the result of his obedience of America, and this refusal is a green light to kill your prisoners ... Assuming you're still alive, Binny, and we don't, we just might let a Frog sniper have the honor...
"But we will not do this at a timing that suits him," he said, adding the warning that French President Nicolas Sarkozy's stand will "cost him and you a high price on different fronts, inside and outside France". Nick Sarkozy is married to Carla. You're strawberry jam in a cave in Tora-Bora. Just exactly who paid a high price?
In the tape, the authenticity of which was not immediately possible to determine, Bin Laden warned in a mocking tone that Paris "with its debt and budget deficit does not need new fronts".
[AKI]-An Italian produced comedy with an Islamic terrorism theme entitled 'Che Bella Giornata' or 'What a Beautiful day' has broken the country's all time box office records for a locally produced film, hauling in a massive 42 million dollars in just two weeks after its release.
Wasn't there a small British comedy recently about dumb "Asian" jihadis? One more and we'll have a solid trend... 'Fitna' was both a short and not a comedy, so it doesn't count.
The film's plot revolves around a security guard who falls in love with an Arab woman who is planning to bomb the Milan Duomo.
The movie's success has also dethroned Roberto Benigni's Holocaust-theme 1997 film and triple Oscar winner 'Life Is Beautiful,' which held the title of highest-earning local film for 13 years running.
It certainly would be amusing to some of us, should 'What a Beautiful day' also win statuettes in Hollywood.
The National Archives buckled to pressure and canceled the event as threats of protest grew. The building was ultimately shutdown when two suspicious packages were found. Could have been 14kT letter bombs, you know.
Canadian ministers were furious over the cancelation, known seen by many as bowing into diplomatic pressure from Iran and restricting Canadians' rights to freedom of speech. Mr. Moore made strong statements condemning the cancelation of the event, and insisted that a screening would in fact take place in the federal building.
"The response to the cancelation by senior members of Canada's government, in particular Minister James Moore, has been extremely refreshing," said Alex Traiman, Director of Iranium.
"It has been a principle of the Iranian government to stifle free speech inside Iran. I am glad that the regime will not get away with attempts to do the same in North America. At least until Iran has the bomb.
[Dawn] The wrong men were convicted of murdering US news hound Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistain in 2002, and US officials stood in the way of the real murdered being brought to justice for the grisly crime, a report released Thursday says.
British-Pak Omar Sheikh and three other men who were convicted of killing Pearl were not even present when the Wall Street Journal news hound was murdered, says the Pearl Project report, which was led by Pearl's friend and former colleague, Asra Nomani.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the man fingered in the report as Pearl's killer, Al-Qaeda strategist and suspected criminal mastermind of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is unlikely ever to be brought to justice for the journalist's brutal slaying.
The report says Mohammed told US Sherlocks at Guantanamo Bay prison that he slit Pearl's throat and severed his head, and a technique called vein-matching has shown that his hand matches the "beefy right hand" captured in a video of Pearl's murder.
But US officials opted not to charge Mohammed with Pearl's murder, fearing doing so would unravel their strategy for trying him along with four others for the attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.
"The Pearl Project reveals that justice was not served for Danny," said Nomani, from whose home in Bloody Karachi Pearl set out on January 23, 2002, the day he was kidnapped.
Pearl thought he was heading to an interview with the alleged controller of shoe-bomber Richard Reid, the Briton who tried to blow up a US-bound passenger jet over the Atlantic by igniting explosives packed into his footwear.
While the conspirators in Pearl's abduction and slaying were "inept" and bungling, US and Pak Sherlocks who worked the case were not much better, the report says.
They began the case "chasing the wrong suspect, giving the killers time to slay Pearl and disappear." They let a key informant go and failed to follow several potential leads.
The journalist's killers bungled Pearl's murder and had to restage it after "the cameraman failed to capture the original scene."The report was released after a three-year probe, almost nine years to the day of Pearl's abduction on January 23, 2002.
Pearl's body was found four months after he disappeared, cut into a dozen pieces, the head severed, the upper torso still clad "in the light blue track suit that Pearl's kidnappers had him wear."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Pearl's death was a tragedy. He died a death I wouldnt wish even on his murderer. And undoubtedly Pearl had family and friends who were hurt in ways that will never heal.
But Pearl was doing a snake pit lunacy job. He died because he wasnt being smart. He died because he put snakes in his mouth and carried a Gila Monster around in his shaving kit.
Pearl died because he stuck his own butt in the blender.
The Beefcake butcher who sawed Pearl up was and is and always will be kept in the can with lots of guards and razor wire to make sure he doesnt go anywhere. Eventually the US will dispose of the man in some final manner. He will inevitably go and visit Saddam in a sudden jerk.
Pearl Project Report? Pee Wee Little did it?
You want justice in this world?
Good Luck, Chuckie.
Be sure to vote and dont be a tourist in an Aloha shirt .
#2
Almost from the start, I suspected that Pearl was working for Israeli intelligence. As South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal in Mumbai, he was in a place and a role much favored by operatives since the 19th Century.
As such, he was in a central location, under the relative protection of the Indians, and the active protection of the US. If he wasn't a spy, then he should have been.
#3
Way to go, guys! You both made me throw up a little, in your own special-education little ways!
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/21/2011 11:03 Comments ||
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Why is that, Rob? Having dual citizenship, Pearl fits the profile, and there is nothing wrong at all in being an intelligence agent.
Mossad had been very involved in Pakistan since B. Bhutto turned on the Islamist infiltrated ISI, with Israeli help, and it was probably the ISI that set him up for kidnapping, knowing who he was.
The big ransom demand was that the US continue with a sale of F-16s that had been made to Pakistan, then canceled. Not your typical terrorist stuff, huh?
The chief kidnapper surrendered to a former ISI general who then hid him for a week. Perv later wrote in a book that the kidnapper had worked for MI6, but then became a double agent against the British.
If Pearl wasn't a spy, then he was about the only person involved who wasn't a spy.
#5
Almost from the start, I suspected that Pearl was working for Israeli intelligence. As South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal in Mumbai, he was in a place and a role much favored by operatives since the 19th Century.
Doesn't make much sense to me. Historically, most Israeli agents have been locals. Many were Jews, but not exclusively so. In Pakistan, Pearl had the triple disadvantages of having an American passport, having Israeli nationality and being a Jew. He stuck out like a sore thumb. From the standpoint of Israeli interests, there was nothing in Pakistan worth risking someone of Pearl's caliber over, and he was a round peg in a square hole. If they were inclined to infiltrate, far better to insert a Middle Eastern Jew indistinguishable from an Arab into the ranks of Al Qaeda. Or better still, use sexual (or other blackmail) against an al Qaeda operative. Or run a false flag operation (pretend to be MI6) for recruitment purposes.
[Dawn] Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza distanced himself from the Tuesday crackdown launched by the paramilitary Rangers in Orangi, claiming that he or even the chief minister was not taken on board.
"I know nothing. Nothing!"
On Tuesday, a heavy contingent of Rangers cordoned off certain localities of Orangi Town, restricted movement of the residents and took into custody over 300 people. Also on Tuesday, the Sindh home department had renewed the special powers to raid and arrest suspects to the Rangers.
The shocking disclosure made by the home minister in a television interview on Wednesday only reflected a lack of cooperation between different departments of the government, as Dr Mirza claimed that even the Sindh police chief and the capital city police officer were not consulted.
He told the interviewer that he was in Badin and had come to know about the operation only from the media. For last two days he had been in contact with Interior Minister Rehman Malik, but he was not given any information as to who took the decision and under what circumstances it was taken, he added.
Agreeing that the Rangers were a federal force, he said that in Sindh the paramilitary troops were supposed to work under the provincial government and with its approval and consent.
He said that if needed he would take up the issue with President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... , as such actions only created political problems in Bloody Karachi.
Regarding the menace of illegal weapons in Bloody Karachi, the home minister categorically said that cleansing the metropolis of the illicit weapons was the prime responsibility of the party which had got 80 per cent mandate in the city.
He welcomed the bill submitted in parliament by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for the recovery of legal and illegal weapons from across the country. However, The infamous However... he felt that illicit weapons could not be recovered through a mere bill.
He said that a weapon-free society could only be possible through a Swat-like operation and for this everyone, including politicians, the army, society, had to demonstrate a political will.
Replying to a question, Dr Mirza said that illegal weapons were being smuggled into Bloody Karachi through land, air and sea routes.
He said that from next month, the Sindh home department in collaboration and cooperation with the National Database Registration Authority would issue computerised arms licence for which software had been developed.
The new licences, which would be machine readable, would be issued by the home secretary, he said.
He said that with the issuance of the computerised licences, thousands of old arms licences would become invalid and would be replaced with the new ones within two years.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] The head of the vaporous Arab League said Wednesday the upheaval in Tunisia is linked to deteriorating economic conditions throughout the Arab world, warning that the people's anger has reached unprecedented heights.
In impassioned remarks, Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa ... who has been head of the vaporous Arab League since about the time Jerry and Dean split up ... told an Arab economic summit in Egypt that "the Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession."
"This is in the mind of all of us," Moussa said in his opening address to the 20 leaders and other representatives of Arab League member states gathered in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
The summit is the first top-level Arab meeting since protests fueled by joblessness and other economic woes in Tunisia forced President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country.
"The Tunisian revolution is not far from us," Moussa warned. "The Arab citizen has entered an unprecedented state of anger and frustration."
He called for an Arab "renaissance" to lift people from their frustration.
The meeting in Egypt was originally intended as a platform to discuss trade, business and investment, but has been overshadowed by the revolt in Tunisia.
Arab leaders at the summit committed to a proposed $2 billion program to boost faltering economies that have propelled crowds into the streets to protest high unemployment, rising prices and rampant corruption.
Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak, who made no mention of Tunisia in his remarks, stressed the importance of economic cooperation, tagging it "a national security" requirement.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal urged all member countries to do more in strengthening joint Arab action in order to realize the hopes and aspirations of Arab citizens. On behalf of King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, he invited all Arab leaders to attend the next economic summit in Riyadh in January 2013.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
See also RELATED > PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > ARAB LEAGUE CHIEF WARNS TUNISIAN UNREST MAY SPREAD.
and
* WAFF > AL-AZHAR ENDS DIALOGUE WITH THE VATICAN BECAUSE THE VATICAN SAID EGYPT SHOULD PROTECT CHRISTIANS.
Amr Moussa is the secretary general of the Arab League. He was at a meeting of the league and said, "The Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession ... The political problems, the majority of which have not been fixed ... have driven the Arab citizen to a state of unprecedented anger and frustration," Of course, the problems have been made worse during and arguably because of Amr Moussa's 42 years as an Egyptian diplomat and ten years as sec general of the Arab league. Dammit, dammit, dammit, I really hate when we're forced to agree with Iran Press TV...
How is the Iranian soul holding up? Is it as sensitive to poverty, unemployment, general recession, and political problems in Iran? Iran PressTV makes no mention of such concerns.
Posted by: lord garth ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON The United States is on track to complete withdrawal of its troops by the end of 2011, despite recent violent attacks which seem calculated to disrupt that timetable, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday.
Suicide bombings this week have left at least 116 people dead in Iraq and injured scores more.
These spectacular attacks are perpetrated to try to derail the process but thus far the Iraqi security forces have handled those, they havent asked us for assistance, said spokesman David Lapan. Our plan is to still to have all our forces out by the end of the year. Were still on our timeline."
There are still some 50,000 US troops in Iraq, where the United States formally ended its combat mission on August 31 of last year. US military operations now are primarily focused on advising and training local forces.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
See CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER commentary on why the POTUS Bammer 2011 timetable for US troops to begin phased withdrawal is inherently dangerous for US interests.
Michèle Alliot-Marie, the Foreign Minister of France, was mobbed by Paleo protesters in Gaza on Friday. They threw shoes at the motorcade carrying her into the Gaza Strip.
The rabble was protesting comments misattributed to Alliot-Marie by the Arab service of Israeli radio after meeting the parents of Gilad Shalit.
Alliot-Marie was supposed to have said the European Union "must condemn the war crime that Hamas is committing by keeping Gilad Shalit in captivity".
Quelle horreur!
However, she had not made that statement, even though Shalit's father had asked her to pressure the EU to denounce his son's captivity as a war crime.
As if they care whether he really said it or not. Since they can't throw shoes at brutally murder Shalit's father, throwing shoes at the French foreign minister will have to do.
The Palestinian Authority has stopped delivering medicine to the Gaza Strip, the Hamas government in Gaza said, claiming there is now a serious shortage of medicine there.
And all the ambulances are busy delivering ammo...
Hamas Health Minister Bassam Naim said the PA halted drug deliveries to the Strip two weeks ago.
For its part, the Palestinian Authority blamed Hamas of stealing medication meant for Gaza civilians and hiding it in storage facilities, later giving it to members of the Hamas government or selling it to civilians and keeping the proceeds for itself.
The issue first hit the Palestinian airwaves two weeks ago, following Naim's claim that there was a shortage of medicine in the Gaza Strip. But two days ago, the Hamas health minister said the group had completed its preparations for a medical emergency - in other words, the possibility of an Israeli military operation in Gaza.
This would indicate that there is a sufficient amount of medicine in the Hamas storage facilities to serve the coastal strip's population. But Hamas' claims to the contrary continued unabated.
During a press conference held by Naim on Wednesday, he once again accused the PA of having stopped delivering all medicine to the Gaza Strip.
The director general of the Health Ministry at the Palestinian Authority, Omar al-Nasser, told Haaretz that the PA had not ceased deliveries of medicines to the Strip. Hamas is making it difficult to transfer the drugs, he said, vowing that his office will ensure that the medicine that is not available there will be delivered.
"The problem is that we are unable to find out what is missing from the stocks [in Gaza]," Nasser said. "Since the [Hamas] coup in Gaza in June 2007, a decision was made by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to ensure that Gaza will be stocked with water, food and medicine, because the matter is a 'red-line' issue for us. During 2010, we delivered NIS 71 million worth of medicine to the Strip, all paid for by the Palestinian Authority."
"Since the start of the month, Hamas has received 12 tons of medicines through the Rafah border crossing," he continued. "But it reported only about four types of medicine - which is several dozen kilograms out of 12 tons of medicine. Where are these drugs? We shall send medicine if we know what there is a shortage of, otherwise we will not do it."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Thursday with visiting French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, telling her Israel will work to end Gaza's dependency on his country, his office said.
"During their conversation... Netanyahu said that Israel would strive to disengage from the Gaza Strip with regard to infrastructure utilities like electricity and water," a statement from his office said, providing no further details.
Hamas should be pleased. They want nothing to do with the evil Jooz, and now they won't.
So...shut them off. Dependency over.
See? That was easy...
They could burn dung like they used to before Israel took them on... they've got great, overflowing ponds of the stuff just sitting there, waiting for a bright idea.
Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but still supplies some 70 percent of the strip's electricity, with the rest being provided by Egypt and local power plants. It also supplies fuel for the local plants through the Palestinian Authority.
It was not immediately clear where Gaza would get its electricity if Israel cuts off supplies.
How about an extension cord from France to Gaza...
In the past, Israel has tried to use electricity cuts as a way to pressure Gaza's Hamas rulers.
Israel also imposed a blockade of Gaza in 2006 when one of its soldiers was seized by Gaza militants in a deadly 2006 raid and tightened a year later when Hamas took over.
The siege has been significantly eased in recent months after Israeli came under international pressure following a deadly May 31 raid on a flotilla of aid ships trying to breach the blockade.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
This may not end well for either Israel or the Paleos as the PA repor is complaining about not getting much of $$$ or dev aid, etc. from Regional Arab-Muslim Govts.
Once again, the PA should NOT be surprised as many of thier fellow Regional Muslims view the Paleos as "ISLAMIZED CANAANITES" [read,"ISLAMIZED HEBREWS/JEWS" + RELATIONS therefrom]despite their common Muslim faith.
#2
the PA repor is complaining about not getting much of $$$ or dev aid, etc. from Regional Arab-Muslim Govts.
It's donor fatigue, JosephM. Last year the UN was only able to deliver about 52% of the aid that had been pledged at the beginning of the year. As for the Arab governments, they have never delivered on their commitments, although they've always talked big.
#4
Gazooans have overpumped their aquifers, so they have gone brackish. Israel supplied water and electricity to Gazoo in accordance with the Oslo agreement. Gazoo was represented by the Palestinian Authority. There is no more PA, as Hamas has taken over the show.
So what to do about water and electricity for Gazoo. They seem to have 3 choices:
Work out another agreement with Israel
Set up a reverse osmosis plant to get potable water from the sea.
Get water from Egypt.
Based upon prior history with Israel: shooting rockets into Israel, and not paying fuel, electricity, or water bills kinda kills that one.
Who is going to pay for the capital and operating costs of an RO plant? So the second one seems not viable.
As far as the third option, they would not pay Egypt if water was supplied, so Gaza has created itself as a self-fulfilling screwup. Actions meet consequences. Good luck.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/21/2011 15:30 Comments ||
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Twenty years ago, Saddam Hussein's Scud rockets began to rain down on Tel Aviv. The specter of a chemical attack was Israel's nightmare, because anthrax was a reality in Saddam's Iraq. Thirty-nine missiles fell on Israel. On those cold nights, the Israelis wore gas masks, because Saddam had revived the idea in the Israeli unconscious that the Jews could be gassed again. The Israelis checked the shelters, sealing doors and windows, they stood in line for gas masks in the hallways of neighborhood elementary schools, and watched chemical-warfare defense videos. Food cans quickly disappeared from the supermarkets. "Drink a lot of water" was the army's advice against the effects of a possible biochemical attack. Saddam's Scuds damaged 4,393 buildings, 3,991 apartments, and 331 public institutions. This accounting does not include the incalculable costs of equipping every Israeli with a gas mask, of the need for every Israeli family to prepare sealed rooms, of the national disruption caused by multiple alerts, and of lost business and tourism.
Twenty years ago, Saddam Hussein threatened to "burn half of Israel." Today Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has promised to wipe out the "dead rats," as he called the Israelis. Tehran is the biggest strategic threat to Israel's existence, especially by the terror satellites of Hezbollah and Hamas. According to the new Israeli intelligence reports, Iran would now be able to launch 400 "lethal" missiles on Tel Aviv. Hezbollah could launch up to 600 rockets per day. From Teheran to Tel Aviv, an Iranian Shihab-3 rocket would take 12 minutes to hit the Jewish state. The Dan area of Tel Aviv, where live a quarter of the entire Israeli population, is the target of the next war, about which nobody knows if and when it will burst, but everyone knows that it will have emblazoned within it the eyes of the ayatollahs.
So Tel Aviv today is not extending only to the sky with its beautiful skyscrapers but also sinks into the ground because it's a new target for Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas.
The Habima Theater, for example, will have four underground floors, with entrances on each side. Jerusalem should see the opening of the largest nuclear bunker across the country: 80 feet underground to accommodate 5,000 people. Haifa, the third-largest city in Israel, is building "the largest underground hospital in the world." And the state is continuing the distribution of gas masks. These first appeared in 1991, when Benjamin Netanyahu, then the Israeli deputy foreign minister, appeared on CNN with a mask. Today thousands of private Israeli homes have been equipped with nuclear-proof shelters ranging from air filters to water-decontamination systems.
Drills have become a routine all over the country. Hospitals and emergency facilities have to be ready in case of necessity, and the municipalities have evacuation protocols. A postcard of the Home Front Command, delivered to Israeli citizens, divide the country into six regions, from the Negev to the Golan. Each region has different times of reaction in case of attack. If you live along the Gaza Strip, you have 20 seconds to shelter. In Jerusalem, it's three minutes. But if you live close to Lebanon or Syria, the color red means that, unless you are already in a bunker, you just have to wait for the rocket. The Knesset, Israel's parliament, is building a labyrinth of underground tunnels and rooms where the Jewish leadership would guide the country in case of attacks.
Twenty years after the first Gulf War, Israel remains the only "bunkered" democracy in the world and is now even more relentlessly demonized and ghettoized. But if in 1991 Israel responded with understatement and quiet civil courage, it will probably react differently to Iran's nuclearization. Because, as Joe McCain wrote few years ago, "the Jews will not go quietly again."
#1
ION TOPIX > WIKILEAKS: IRAN HAS HAD NUCLEAR WEAPONS-BUILDING CAPABILITY FOR TWO YEARS [since 2009]; + US: IRAN HAS CLEARED MAJOR HURDLE IN MAKING/BUILDING NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
* SAME > AHMADINEJAD: IRAN WILL NOT GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR OBJECTIVES | UN SANCTIONS WON'T STOP ITS NUCLEAR DRIVE.
AHMADINEJAD > 100,000 = Milyuhns-N-Zilyuhns-N-Dilyuhns of UN Sanctions will not be enough to cause Iran to stop enrichment.
* SAME > TEHRAN: WE HAVE A RESERVE NUCLEAR FACILITY/SITE [at Fordow, near Qom], in case Natantz = Busheshr Nucfac is destroyed by enemy attack.
* SAME/PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > IRAN WARNS ENRICHMENT WILL GO ON [even]IFF ATOMIC SITE IS ATTACKED.
* SAME > IRAN WANTS MAJOR WORLD POWERS TO TREAT EACH OTHER [Iran] AS "EQUALS".
IIRC the Brits believe Iran may collect as much as 20 tonnes of HEU by Year 2014, ENOUGH FOR ROUGHLY 20 NUCLEAR WARHEADS iff Iran can convert to WEAPONS-GRADE HEU???
[An Nahar] Naharnet has learned that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... who's been on every side in Leb at least four times... has informed concerned officials in the Mustqbal movement that he is being subject to great pressures against naming Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri as the premier of a new government, knowing that he had previously informed Hariri that he would be naming him.
Jumblat did not elaborate on the reasons for his new position.
However, The infamous However... he did inform his circles that the policy of insisting on Hariri as the new prime minister will lead to "catastrophic consequences" on the security field, on him personally, PSP members, and the Druze in the Shouf, Alley, Hasbaya, and the western Bekaa.
Jumblat added that matters "have become greater than him and his ability to maintain the middle ground in a harsh battle in which Hariri's regional and international backers only resort to statements, while his opponents turn to all manners of military and popular pressure."
The MP revealed that he has now been forced to name former PM Omar Karami as the new prime minister and that he will place the PSP MPs before their responsibilities, adding that he has not given them a choice to name a prime minister and everyone should be held accountable for their actions should they not take his advice.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
IIUC, HEZBOLLAH believes SAAD HARIRI is a US-NATO/WESTERN "AGENT" [also read, ISRAELI]whom will attempt to turn Lebanon from righteous Radical Islamism + Islamist Statehood towards anti-Islamic Zionism + Crusader-ism [US-West]???
Pragmatically, HEZBOLLAH believes they finally have ISRAEL'S BUTT IN THEIR GUNSIGHTS, + aren't about to put their perceived defeat-iff-not-final-destruction per se of Israel at risk for anything or anyone.
E.g. PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > EGYPT, JORDAN PROMOTE THEIR NUCLEAR PROGRAMS.
In the view of Radical Islam, ISRAEL > WILL ONE DAY IN NEAR? FUTURE WILL FIND ITSELF SURROUNDED BY NUCLEAR-ARMED ISLAMIST STATES + MILTERR GROUPS [Nuc Jihad-Militants-Terrorists], + THE US EITHER CAN'T BE THERE, OR WON'T BE THERE, ANYMORE TO COVER ISRAEL'S SIX???
"Look upon my vapors, ye mighty, and tremble!"
[An Nahar] Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit has stressed that Leb will not be able to "turn the page on political liquidations forever without achieving justice," noting that stability in Leb was "everyone's essential demand."
"Any party that wants to mess with it (stability) will have to confront several foes -- Lebanese, Arabs and others," Abul Gheit said an interview with Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai to be published Friday.
"Egypt is in contact with the Lebanese parties, as well as with Arab and international parties, and we're using these contacts to stress the elements of the Egyptian stance and help achieve the difficult equation: preserving stability in Leb together with adhering to achieving justice," he added.
Asked about what caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri was required to do during this period, Abul Gheit said: "We believe that Sheikh Saad Hariri has taken constructive and positive stances for the sake of his country throughout the past months, and it will be unfair that he be asked to endorse stances that go beyond what he has already voiced."
"Egypt totally sympathizes with Saad Hariri's position and appreciates his stances, and we believe that his vision for Leb can bring together the biggest number of his country's parties, and it is a vision that is supported by Egypt," the Egyptian minister stressed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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U.N. Special Coordinator for Leb Michael Williams said Thursday that he believed it was possible to form a new government "provided that there is a good will and cooperation of all political parties in working for justice as well as stability."
In other words, it'll never happen.
Following talks with Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri at Center House, Williams lauded Hariri "for what he has tried to do over the past thirteen months or so in his work as head of government."
"Leb is not an easy country to govern, and we know that the neighborhood also has many problems, and I believe that the prime minister has done his best to steer the country on a wise course during this period," he said.
Williams told news hounds that he received assurances from Hariri that there would be calm and order in the coming period despite differences among bickering parties.
When asked if he thought the U.N. was threatened, the diplomat said: "No, the difficulties are within the Lebanese political parties themselves and the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society contributes a great deal to Leb, not least its third largest peacekeeping mission in the world, UNIFIL, in a very small country."
"This underlines our commitment to ensuring the stability for Leb within such a difficult region," he said.
Before holding talks with Hariri, Williams met with Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... in Rabiyeh.
He hoped the crisis would be resolved peacefully and urged Lebanese officials to engage in dialogue to solve the deadlock.
"The current crisis should be resolved in a peaceful and lawful manner," Williams said in Rabiyeh.
"Despite the divisions, I underlined in my meeting with Gen. Aoun that dialogue amongst the Lebanese leaders is the only possible means for helping the country out of its present crisis.
"The efforts of Leb's regional and international friends are encouraging but they also need to be coupled with internal Lebanese efforts to safeguard the country's stability and to reach a solution," Williams said.
"The Lebanese people have the right to stability and to justice," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The March 14 general-secretariat on Wednesday described the resignation of March 8 ministers as an "escape from their national responsibilities," and accused Hizbullah and its allies of seeking to turn Lebanon into an Iranian base.
In a statement following an extraordinary meeting, the general-secretariat said the resignations were proof that the opposition wasn't seeking for the success of the Syrian-Saudi initiative aimed at helping Lebanon contain the repercussions of the indictment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
The conferees accused March 8 of "blackmailing the state" and seeking to make gains at the expense of the truth and justice in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination case.
On the other hand, "the March 14 forces made all sacrifices possible. They even gave up some of their democratic rights to support the state and preserve its national unity," they said.
Among the sacrifices was their consent to share power with the minority and their support for the president in his openness to Syria.
The general-secretariat said that "differences with the other team were on the nature of the state and not on how to govern the state." Consequently, it vowed to continue to defend Lebanon against "the coup that aims at turning it into an Iranian base on the Mediterranean shores."
The March 14 coalition also told its supporters that it will remain committed to the tribunal and coexistence.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/21/2011 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Tolo News] A special committee has been formed to probe into acid attack on a leading Afghan journalist, officials at National Directorate of Security (NDS) said on Thursday.
George Galloway has demanded that Tony Blair and his former press secretary, Alistair Campbell, should be tried for war crimes.
The National Archives buckled to pressure and canceled the event as threats of protest grew. The building was ultimately shutdown when two suspicious packages were found.
[Arab News] The head of 
Michèle Alliot-Marie, the Foreign Minister of France, was mobbed by Paleo protesters in Gaza on Friday. They threw shoes at the motorcade carrying her into the Gaza Strip.
