[Tolo News] Senior provincial officials said Tuesday that 5,000 additional forces would be dispatched to north to further increase the government control in the region.
At the same time the number of security forces begins to increase and they would be equipped by international community, military officials in the north said.
Gen. Dawood Dawood, Police commander in Pamir 303 Zone in the north, said Afghan forces will soon conduct house to house search in the region.
"Nearly 5,000 additional forces will be added up to our forces and the US forces along with other international forces here have pledged to provide the new forces with equipment," said Gen. Zalmai Weesa, a senior military commander in the north.
Military officials said there are still security threats in some parts in the north, but pledged military offensives will be conducted in the restive parts.
"We need to clear the routes. Insurgents' momentum has been reversed in most parts, but there are possibilities of attacks that should be controlled," Gen. Dawood said.
Among the troop contributing countries to Nato-led mission in Afghanistan, Germany the third biggest troop contributor after US and Britain, has its forces stationed most in the north.
German Military commander in the north, Gen. Hans Werner Fritz, highlighted that his country won't end its mission until Afghan cops find the potential to maintain security.
So it will be a while then. Danke schoen!
"Nearly 75 percent of the German parliament was in favour and pro the engagement, so we will continue our missions," said Gen. Hans Werner Fritz.
Wasn't that a concern for a while?
Afghan Officials have recently claimed that significant progress has been made to clear almost the entire north of krazed killers.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] In total 2,421 innocent Afghan non-combatants were killed nationwide in Taliban-led violence last year, a recent report by Afghan Rights Institution said.
Bulk of the civilian deaths happened at the hands of Death Eaters, the report found.
But as we all know, the Muslims killing Muslims are not real Muslims.
Violence in Afghanistan claimed the lives of seven civilians each day last year, it said.
Foreign forces were blamed for only one fifth of the entire civilian deaths, which signals a drop compared to 2009, it said.
Militant groups that were believed to have been responsible for majority of civilian deaths last year included the Taliban, al-Qaeda linked bad turbans, Haqqani network and many others.
Civilian deaths have repeatedly been criticised by senior Afghan officials.
Most often civilians, most of them with no exact image of what is really going on in the country, lose their lives in counterinsurgency combat that has continued for over nine years now.
In a recent terrorist attack in Kabul, a supermarket located in a diplomatic area was targeted, in which 8 civilians including 6 from one family bit the dust.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] A delegation of Hezb-e-Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar ... who used to be known as The Most Evil Man in the World but who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil... will soon visit Kabul to hold talks with High Peace Council, the Council says.
Oh, goody! The UAVs can track them home as a training exercise.
The Afghan High Peace Council says it is unclear when the visit will take place, but added that at a previous meeting with Hezb-e-Islami representatives, the Council has received a set of suggestions on peace talks.
"Surrender and send the foreigners home. That should do it."
Among the main conditions of Hezb-e-Islami are establishment of an interim administration, election-based participation in the government, withdrawal of foreign troops in 6 months, and simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections as well as provincial and district elections.
"In our meeting with Hezb-e-Islami representatives in Islamabad, they put forward a set of suggestions which we are working on, to see what common points of view we have with Hezb-e-Islami. Then we will tell them what is practical and what is not," Ghulam Farouq Wardak, a member of High Peace Council, told a news conference.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Isaf says while it considers Hezb-e-Islami as a dangerous network, it welcomes renunciation of violence and acceptance of Afghanistan's constitution by any group interested in the Afghan grinding of the peace processor.
Isaf Public Relations Officer, Admiral Gregory Smith, said: "They are very dangerous, dangerous organisation. Whether or not they actually have intent and a will as a group to sit down and talk about peace is unclear to me. But our pledge to the Afghan government is that we will do all we can to support their desire, the Afghan government's desire."
High Peace Council speaks of peace talks with anti-government groups especially Hezb-e-Islami at a time that human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... organisations expressed concern that the Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami have increased violence and even target civilians and public places.
In a latest incident, Hezb-e-Islami grabbed credit for targeting a supermarket in Kabul in which 8 civilians including all 6 members of a family bit the dust.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] A bigwig in Afghanistan's Central Bank Tuesday said that Kabul Bank was out of criminal hands and things in the bank have begun to go back to normal.
Afghanistan's Central Bank (DAB) called on justice institutions to sue all the people involved in Kabul Bank crisis.
A report recently published by the New York Times claimed that Kabul Bank had suffered $900 million loss and part of this money was paid to key Afghan officials as bribe.
But Head of DAB Abdul Qadir Fitrat dismissed the allegations.
He said the New York Times report was politically motivated.
"Currently Kabul Bank is in the hands of DAB not in the hands of criminals. We have handed in some law violators to law enforcement agencies," said Mr Fitrat.
Presently DAB holds control of Kabul Bank and around $40 million loans have been paid back, officials said.
Mahmoud Karzai, President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai's brother, who was also one of the main shareholders of Kabul Bank, told TOLOnews that he has paid all his loans to the bank. He said Kabul Bank has started to recover again.
"Despite being a shareholder of Kabul Bank, I am not aware of how investigations about Kabul Bank have been going; how can Washington Post and the New York Times know about it? What Mr Fitrat says about the Bank is right," said Mahmoud Karzai.
The US embassy in Kabul said in a statement that they are working together with Afghan officials to find a working way in a bid to end crisis in Kabul Bank.
"The United States is working closely with the Afghan Government, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and other interested donors to ensure that proper steps are taken to ensure the long-term health of the Afghan financial system," the US embassy statement said.
"We are working with the Afghan authorities, the IMF, and other Afghan partners to identify a credible, effective resolution of the problems Kabul Bank is dealing with," the statement further said.
Two men identifying themselves as Kabul Bank employees submitted a briefcase containing two hundred thousand dollars in cash for Karzai's campaign spending, the New York Times quoted Omar Zakhilwal, Karzai's advisor, as saying.
US officials have said Zakhilwal is one of the ten Afghan officials that have received tens of millions of dollars as gift from Kabul Bank, the New York Times report said.
But Finance Ministry Spokesperson strongly rejected the report.
"If there is evident, they should present it and the minister has said he will leave his job the time the issue is proved with a document. If it's claimed that the money was spent in campaign, it was not from finance minister," Finance Ministry Spokesperson, Aziz Shams, told TOLOnews.
American officials have found that Kabul Bank's gifts included members of parliament and almost anyone whose silence would allow bank executives to do their business, the New York Times said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
I say, give them the best hospitality in South Korean jails that the SKors can. Let them write letters home, with pictures. And then hang their sorry a$$es after they are convicted and sentenced. Then send their after pictures home.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/02/2011 1:19 Comments ||
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#2
After Somalia, getting three squares a day, free clothes and lots of other comforts must seem heavenly.
Pirates have recently tied hostages upside down and dragged them in the sea, locked them in freezers, beaten them and used plastic ties around their genitals, Maj. Gen. Buster Howes, the top commander of the European Union Naval Force, told the AyPee.
"There have been regular manifestations of systematic torture," he said. If warships approached a pirated ship too closely, the pirates would drag hostages on deck and beat them in front of naval officers until the warship went away, Howes said. Perhaps we shouldn't be using big unmistakable warships for this function.
"A few years go, they were very constrained and much more respectful" to hostages, he said, but now "they've shown a willingness to use violence much more quickly and much more violence." Must be getting advice from Iran.
#1
If warships approached a pirated ship too closely, the pirates would drag hostages on deck and beat them in front of naval officers until the warship went away...
I don't give a rat's backside what the ROE's state...any naval officer who flees instead of taking action when hostages are being tortured in front of him deserves to get this treatment:
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
02/02/2011 1:57 Comments ||
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#2
"Snipers ready, XO?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then you may begin. Take the big, mouthy one first."
"Aye aye!"
[Asharq al-Aswat] The United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society' human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... chief said up to 300 people may have been killed in Egypt's unrest and called for calm during Tuesday's protests in Cairo.
Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged Egyptian authorities to ensure the police and army avoid any excessive use of force and work to protect civilians.
The former U.N. war crimes judge placed blame for the unprecedented protests squarely on the government of geriatric President Hosni Mubarak, saying it had committed serious abuses including widespread use of torture while maintaining an emergency law since 1981 despite the absence of major strife.
"Casualties have been mounting on a daily basis, with unconfirmed reports suggesting as many as 300 people may have been killed so far, more than 3,000 injured and hundreds nabbed," Pillay said in a statement.
Her front man Rupert Colville said the unconfirmed toll came from its network of non-governmental organisations in Egypt.
"It includes prisoners killed in at least two break-outs from prisons near Cairo," Colville told Rooters.
Mubarak's grip on Egypt looked increasingly tenuous after the army pledged not to confront protesters who converged in Cairo to demand an end to his 30-year rule.
At least one million Egyptians erupted into the streets on Tuesday in scenes never before seen in the Arab nation's modern history.
"Tuesday's march seems likely to be a pivotal moment in Egypt's transition to a freer, fairer and more democratic society," Pillay said.
"I urge both the army and the police to act with the utmost care and restraint," she said, stressing protesters should also avoid committing acts of violence.
Authorities should listen to "the demands of the Egyptian people for fundamental reforms to improve human rights and democracy," said Pillay, who made similar appeals in the days before the fall of Tunisian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
The emergency law had been abused by security forces and other state institutions, she said.
She urged the government to stop disrupting communications, Internet and transport, as well as media including Al Jizz. "People have a right to protest, and freedom of information is especially important at times like these," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2011 13:21 ||
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#1
Strongly worded letter(s) to follow.
Right after lunch.
Pinky Promise!
Really, we will..........now stop laughing.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/02/2011 14:12 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Ambassador Grossblunder speaks.
Now, where's Retief? We need him.
[Arab News] US Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey has spoken to Egyptian diplomat Mohamed El-Baradei, the State Department said on Tuesday in its first acknowledgment of any recent direct contact with the opposition figure.
"As part of our public outreach to convey support for an orderly transition in Egypt, Ambassador Scobey spoke today with Mohammed ElBaradei," State Department front man P.J. Crowley said in a message on Twitter.
El-Baradei, a former head of the UN nuclear watchdog, returned to Egypt last week and has offered to act as a transitional leader to prepare Egypt for democratic elections amid mounting protests against geriatric President Hosni Mubarak.
El-Baradei, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work at the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency, has participated in the recent protests but analysts say he has limited public appeal in the country due to his long absences overseas.
On Monday, Crowley suggested the United States had not had any recent dealings with the 68-year-old El-Baradei. "I don't believe that we've had any contact with Mr. El-Baradei in recent days," he said in his daily briefing.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
El-Baradei is an evil nightmare, who must be prevented from ever having political power, unless we want Egypt to get nukes from Pakistan.
[Arab News] It could have been a historic occasion. Mohamed El-Baradei, the Nobel laureate who had just been anointed leader of the coalition trying to bring down Egypt's government, arrived on Sunday night to address thousands of demonstrators at the epicenter of the rebellion, Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Surrounded by news cameras, he began speaking. "Change is coming in the next few days. You have taken back your rights and what we have begun cannot go back," he said as crowds chanted "Down with Mubarak." But with no stage to speak from and no public address system, El-Baradei was quickly overwhelmed by the chaos around him. He quickly cut short his remarks and left.
As mass protests across Egypt enter their second week, El-Baradei has been tapped by Egyptian opposition groups including the Mohammedan Brotherhood to negotiate with geriatric President Hosni Mubarak, casting him as much as anyone in the otherwise disorganized opposition as leader. El-Baradei has made clear he welcomes the role and sees bigger things ahead for himself if the Mubarak government is brought down, as protestors are hoping.
"If (the people) want me to lead the transition, I will not let them down," El-Baradei said last week after he arrived in Cairo from Europe.
El-Baradei, 69, is favored by Western media as a voice of moderation, democracy and secularism -- a candidate acceptable even to the Mohammedan Brotherhood, which has been playing an increasingly large role in the protests. But among ordinary Egyptians, few see him as the person destined to lead the country.
"I don't see El-Baradei as a leader at all. He wasn't there when the protests began, and took no risk," Dalia Ziada, a social activist, blogger and head of the North Africa bureau of the American Islamic Congress based in Cairo, told The Media Line. "He never participated in politics; he was only a United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society employee."
The protests in Egypt until now have been mostly a spontaneous affair, sparked the by success of the Tunisian street in forcing President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali into exile earlier this month. The absence of a single leader has done little to deter demonstrators from defying the police and army, with Tahrir Square drawing hundreds of thousands on Tuesday for the declared "million man march."
But if the opposition gets its wish and Mubarak opens negotiations or steps down, someone will have to play leader. The monopoly Mubarak and his National Democratic Party has had over political life in Egypt for three decades leaves few people naturally positioned for the talks.
El-Baradei comes with some excellent credentials. In his 12 years as director-general of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Vienna-based watchdog monitoring nuclear proliferation, he publicly clashed with the U.S. over how hard to come down on suspected Iranian violations and on the American-led invasion of Iraq. He was also tough on Israel, publicly accusing the Jewish state of violating international law in its alleged attack of a Syrian nuclear facility. After stepping down from the IAEA in 2009, he positioned himself as a stern opponent of the Mubarak regime.
"He spent most of his life in UN organizations," Ephraim Asculai, who worked at the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and was in charge of external relations during El-Baradei's term at IAEA, told Israel's Ynet news site on Monday. "He's a very impressive person, no doubt about it. I wouldn't say he was a great friend of Israel. He isn't extreme, but he certainly didn't relate to us particularly warmly over the years."
But El-Baradei's career works against him as well. He has been outside Egypt most of his adult life, working as a diplomat and global bureaucrat whose life is far removed from the experience of ordinary Egyptians.
Born in Cairo in 1942 to a well-connected family, his father was president of the Egyptian Bar Association. He began his career in the Egyptian foreign service in 1964. In 1980, he left to join the UN, becoming a senior fellow in charge of the international law program at the UN Institute for Training and Research and later served as an adjunct professor of international law at the New York University. He became director of the IAEA in 1997.
"He's not particularly a unifying force among the opposition and protesters," Maye Kassem, associate professor of political science at American University of Cairo, said. "He's very attractive to a small group of intellectuals, but on the whole he's certainly not a unifying force. There's really no leader who is unifying force right now."
After his return to Egypt in 2009, he came under criticism from many Egyptians for spending more time outside the country on official visits and failed to exploit the opportunity of last November's parliamentary elections to unite the opposition parties. When El-Baradei arrived last week at Cairo airport from Vienna, he was greeted by a crowd of journalists rather than throngs of supporters.
Kassem said more promising candidates to lead the opposition include Ayman Abd Al-Aziz Nour, who served time in prison in 2005 after he was stripped of his parliamentary immunity and charged with fraud. As head of the Tomorrow Party, later that year he mounted a quixotic challenge to Mubarak in the rigged presidential elections.
People know he's been in prison and he competed in the presidential elections. He's a self-made man who people can relate to," Kassem said. "The more neutral an individual is the more stable the country will be -- this will be acceptable to everybody -- not just to the Western-orientated, not to Islam-orientated and not to the nationalist-orientated."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
He wants an ummah armed with nuclear weapons, and has been crafty enough to let Iran get them, so far. But if he is in charge of Egypt, they will get nuclear weapons overnight.
The Egyptian intelligence official told WND his government has information of a meeting that took place yesterday between Issam El-Erian, a senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Frank Wisner, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt.
The Obama administration dispatched Wisner to Egypt this past weekend to report to the State Department and White House a general sense of the situation in the embattled country.
The Egyptian intelligence official speaking to WND said the meeting took place inside the American embassy in Cairo
The U.S. State Department would neither confirm nor deny the report.
The Muslim Brotherhood seeks to spread Islam around the world, in large part using nonviolent means. Hamas and al-Qaida are violent Brotherhood offshoots.
The latest information is not the first charge by the Egyptian government that the Obama administration has been working with or encouraging the opposition to Mubarak.
Last week, a senior Egyptian diplomat stated the Egyptian government suspects elements of the current uprising there, particularly political aspects, are being coordinated with the U.S. State Department and Obama administration.
The senior Egyptian diplomat told WND the Mubarak regime suspects the U.S. has been aiding protest planning by Mohamed ElBaradei, who is seen as one of the main opposition leaders in Cairo.
ElBaradei, former International Atomic Energy Agency chief, has reinvented himself as a campaigner for "reform" in Egypt. He is a candidate for this year's scheduled presidential elections.
ElBaradei arrived in Cairo just after last week's protests began and is reportedly being confined to his home by Egyptian security forces.
He is seen as an ally of the Muslim Brotherhood.
This past weekend, the London Telegraph reported the U.S. embassy in Cairo in 2008 helped a young dissident attend a U.S.-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police.
The Telegraph would not identify the dissident, but said he was involved in helping to stir the current protests. The report claimed the dissident told the U.S. embassy in Cairo that an alliance of opposition groups had a plan to topple Mubarak'sgovernment.
#1
NEWSMAX > OBAMA'S EGYPT STRATEGY COULD PLACE THE US AT RISK. Regional consequences.
versus
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [Greater Asia] COLD WAR REVERSAL IN US-CHINA TIES.
ARTIC = REAL SIGNIFICANCE/MEANING OF CHINA'S NEW STEALTHY J20 IS NOT THAT THE US F-35 VARIANT = US MILTECHS IS STILL [slightly?]SUPERIOR, BUT THAT THE US NO LONGER HAS THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC STRENGTH ANYMORE VIA SPENDING OF EXORBITANT $$$ SUMS ON ADVANCED = "CUTTING-EDGE" WEAPONS PROGRAMS TO ACHIEVE PAR OR ABSOLUTE, UN-OPPOSED LT MIL SUPERIORITY OR DOMINANCE.
"Back to the Future" > the Obama USA = 1980's USSR getting ready to implode. Its 1981 again + "BAMBOO/PANDA DAWN" MORNING SUN HAS JUST ROSE IN AMERICA.
and
* WAFF > A FUTURE DOMINATED BY GERMANY AND CHINIA? | {Asia Times] GERMANY, CHINA HAVE THE WILL TO [attain] POWER. Ditto iffy-iffy for JAPAN.
ARTIC SUMMARY on the possible attributes of a FUTURE WORLD WIDOUT THE US AS [sole = unchallenged] LEADER, as per Dominant Nations other than the USA.
(CNN) -- Yemen's President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up.
To be fair, there was the whole uniting the two Yemens thingie in the '90s, which led to an entirely different set of now-internecine violence.
will not seek re-election once his current term ends in 2013, he said Wednesday, after more than three decades in office. But recall that he said he wasn't going to seek reelection the last time, too, and was "drafted" by his party... So he was obligated, obligated to take on a thankless job one more term. And then one more. What a selfless hero he is...
He won't install his son to replace him, he said. I'm not even sure the rest of the world was aware he has a son...
He also has asked his political opponents "to re-engage in dialogue in hopes of reaching a sustainable and reconcilable political agreement," the Yemeni government said. Kinda late for that, I'm guessing...
Saleh made the announcement as unprecedented protests sweep across North Africa and the Middle East. The demonstrations have forced Tunisia's president from office, and they prompted Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak to say Tuesday he would not run for re-election this year. ... since there's a real good chance he'll be living in Riyadh, or Gay Paree, or Olde London Towne...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2011 10:52 ||
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[Yemen Post] Informed sources told the Yemen Post that Yemeni authorities released Yemeni journalist and Al-Qaeda expert Abdul Elah Haidar, after a presidential order was issued for his release.
Haidar was sentenced to five years in prison last month, and put under police surveillance for two years after his release.
The prosecution claims that Haidar over the last three years participated in an armed illegal gang and is working for Al-Qaeda.
The prosecutor also said that Haidar used to publish false statements through numerous media outlets in order to promote Al-Qaeda. They claim that he is damaging public interest and harming public peace.
Haidar in all of his previous sessions denied the charges against him, demanding to try his kidnappers, as he said, who took him forcedly from his house.
Security forces had raided the neighborhood of the journalist Haidar broke into his house on the evening of Monday, August 16, 2010 , nabbed him and took him to an unknown destination which is likely to be the headquarter of the national security.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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DOHA - Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera said its signal was being jammed in parts of the Middle East on Tuesday, days after Egypt shut the network's operations in the country and an Egyptian satellite cut its broadcast signal.
Strange times indeed when I have significant sympathy for Al-Jizz...
I heard somebody dismissing al-Jizz on the teevee last night as a propaganda machine. It is, but since it was the first of several Arab news outlets it performs a valuable function. In 2001 that was all there was. Today there's also al-Arabiya, al-Iraqiya, al-Hayat, an-Nahar, and a half dozen others that I'm not aware of because they don't have English-language pages. I'm not always happy with the way al-Jizz weights its coverage, but they're usually factual. Compare them to Iran Press TV or to Syria's al-Thawra, or Saddam's old uruk.net and they shine like a beacon on the hill. Let not the perfect be the enemy of the good.
"Signals on the Nilesat platform were cut, and frequencies on the Arabsat and Hotbird platforms were disrupted continually forcing millions of viewers across the Arab world to change satellite frequencies throughout the day," Al Jazeera said in a statement, referring to a few of the geostationary satellites broadcasting across the region.
"We have been working round the clock to make sure we are broadcasting on alternative frequencies. Clearly there are powers that do not want our important images pushing for democracy and reform to be seen by the public," a Jazeera spokesman said in an emailed statement.
Al Jazeera's coverage of political unrest in Egypt has been widely watched in the region, and the channel said on Tuesday a dozen smaller Arab networks had interrupted their own programmes to carry its signal.
"Over the past week the network has faced multiple attempts to disrupt their coverage from Egypt, with signals being interfered with on a continual basis, and journalists being banned and detained," Al Jazeera said.
The news channel, which says it can reach 220 million households in more than 100 countries, had asked viewers to switch to Arabsat and Hotbird satellites after saying Egypt's satellite Nilesat had cut off its signal.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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Tajikistan's Supreme Court has sentenced the imam of the Nurabad District to five years after finding him guilty of inciting religious hatred.
"Zainalobiddin Manonov was found guilty of inciting ethnic hatred, membership in the prohibited Salafi movement and calling for jihad," a court spokesman said.
The most important dates for North Koreans born since the 1970s are the birthdays of former leader Kim Il-sung on April 15 and present leader Kim Jong-il on Feb. 16. North Koreans may forget their parents' birthdays but they always remember the leaders', because that is when gifts of food and other daily necessities are doled out and a festive mood prevails throughout the country.
But now, due to international sanctions and the spread of grassroots capitalism, the traditional "gift politics" may be coming to an end as the regime can no longer afford to dole out grace and favor.
The candy and cakes that were doled out on Kim Il-sung's birthday were traditionally much better quality than those available in ordinary shops. Nylon and tetron fabric were also distributed, much more highly prized than the normally available synthetic cotton, mixed-spun or vinalon fabrics that shrink in the wash. Parents who can barely afford to clothe their children have no choice but to be grateful to Kim Il-sung.
On the two birthdays, a bottle of liquor, five eggs, two day's supply of milled rice, 1-2 kg of meat, and cigarettes are distributed to every household. These are precious commodities not normally available to everyone. Thanks to these gift packages, the birthdays of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il have long become established as major holidays.
The elite of the Workers Party are given luxurious houses, luxury cars like Mercedes and Swiss-made Omega gold watches. Quality wristwatches are given to ordinary people who have distinguished themselves meritorious and are preserved as heirlooms.
But amid a food shortage and international sanctions, the regime is having to rethink the practice. And markets are booming there now despite the regimes attempt to suppress them, so North Koreans can buy Chinese-made candies and cakes and other necessities without much difficulties. This makes the leaders' birthday gifts look not so special any more.
The quality of gifts is also falling year by year. Senior officials, unable to live on gifts and official supplies alone, enrich themselves through corruption. An increasing number of officials secretly hoard hundreds of thousands of dollars, and it is therefore natural that the leader's gifts lose their luster.
January 8 was the birthday of Kim Jong-il's son and heir Jong-un. Although there had been rumors that the regime would designate Kim junior's birthday as a national holiday and hold lavish celebrations, it passed quietly.
The North designated Kim Jong-il's birthday as a national holiday quite a few years after he made an official debut in 1974. It was also only when his power base was cemented that he began to dole out gifts to celebrate his birthday. While Kim Il-sung was alive, he gave gifts only to close associates as a gesture of courtesy to his father. So long as Kim Jong-il is alive, therefore, chances are that there will be no gifts to the public or nationwide celebrations on Jong-un's birthday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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President Lee Myung-bak suggests a summit could be held with North Korea depending on Pyongyang's attitude. In a televised discussion program Tuesday, Lee indicated that proposed military talks with North Korea could open the way for a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Bad idea. Let the North stew in its juices. You have a country to run and a military to prepare in case the worst happens. Let the Chinese take care of their lapdog, and make sure the Chinese know it.
Lee says a summit could be held, if needed, but Pyongyang needs to seize the existing good opportunity to engage in dialogue with Seoul. And, he reiterates, South Korea has been insisting that North Korea take responsibility for last year's provocative acts.
The Defense Ministry here on Tuesday said the two Koreas have agreed to hold preliminary military talks on Feb. 8. Colonel-level officers will meet to prepare for a gathering of more senior officers later. The South also asked for discussions about the North's nuclear weapons programs. Pyongyang has yet to respond to that request.
There have only been two summits between the leaders of North and South Korea. The first came in 2000. The second was held in 2007.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
ION PEOPLES DAILY FORUM > UN REPORT: NORTH KOREA MAY HAVE MORE SECRET NUCLEAR SITES.
* SAME > UNDERGROUND WORLD [urban residential] HINTS AT CHINA'S COMING CRISIS.
ARTIC = in BEIJING, China's capital city wid a population of nearly 20.0Milyuhn Persons, it costs up to L200,00 to buy an good Aartment - however, the City's AVERAGE MONTHLY SALARY IS Y4000. IT WILL TAKE 50 YEARS FOR A BEIJING'ER MAKING Y4000 A MONTH TO BUT SAID APARTMENT, HENCE MANY RESORT TO LIVING UNDERGROUND WHERE SPACES COSTS AS LITTLE AS Y300 A MONTH.
* SAME > JAPAN'S "NEGATIVE POSITION" ON KURILS INVESTMENT MEETING MAY CAUSE RUSSIA TO INVITE IN NEW STATE PARTNER.
Thta sound you hear is "WARM-WATER PORTS" HAPPY RISING CHINA LICKING ITS LIPS IN EAGER ANTICIPATION OF MOSCOW'S INVITATION TO HELP DEV THE FORMER JAPANESE KURILS.
[1970's HUNT'S KETCHUP "ANTICIPATION" FAMOUS TV COMMERCIAL here].
D *** NG IT, MORIARITY, "ANTICIPATION" SONG > ITS MAKING ME WAIT ....KEEPING ME WA-A-A-A-ITING!
Wall Street firms have received briefings from US officials about a possible threat after a cover story in the most recent Inspire Magazine advocated that jihadis target banks and other institutional wealth centers.
The cover story, by Al-Awlaki, is "The Ruling on Dispossessing the Disbelievers wealth in Dar al-harb." It not only justifies taking the wealth of infidel Westerners, it says that taking wealth is better than earning it. Moreover, it says that when a jihadi steals their money, it can be distributed in the same way that wealth taken by force is.
Al-Awaki's concludes that Muslims should evade taxes and should avoid stealing from citizens if public opinion is "supportive of some Muslim causes." He says they should target government owned property, banks, global corporations, and wealth belonging to infidels. In the case of America, the wealth of private citizens is fair game because we vote for "war mongering governments."
A Pennsylvania woman who called herself "Jihad Jane" online pleaded guilty Tuesday to her role in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who had offended Muslims.
Colleen LaRose, 47, helped foreign terror suspects intent on starting a holy war in Europe and South Asia, prosecutors said. LaRose, who also was accused of using the online screen name "Fatima LaRose," has been in custody since October 2009 and faced a possible life sentence under charges in a four-count indictment. She and co-defendant Jamie Paulin-Ramirez of Leadville, Colo., are the rare U.S. women charged with terrorism. Paulin-Ramirez has pleaded not guilty since she was arrested in Ireland with other terror suspects.
The March 2010 indictment charged LaRose with conspiring with jihadist fighters and pledging to commit murder in the name of a Muslim holy war, or jihad. The indictment was announced hours after authorities arrested seven suspected terrorists in Ireland
allegedly linked to LaRose.
With American troops scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of the year, the ambassador to Iraq will become a de facto general of a huge, for-hire army one larger than a U.S. Army heavy combat brigade.
A report that the committee released yesterday by the senate Foreign Relations Committee explained why: the State Department plans to field 5,500 private security contractors to protect up to 17,000 civilians working for the American government in Iraq.
A force of 3,650 private security guards will be stationed at the huge Baghdad embassy. (The security firm SOC Inc. has a contract for protecting that embassy worth as much as $974 million.) Itll be supplemented with mercenaries at four satellite installations: 600 in the Kurdish capitol of Irbil; 575 in Basra; and 335 each at Mosul and Kirkuk.
Roughly four thousand of these will be third-country nationals serving as static perimeter security for the various installations, the report states. In the past, private companies have hired non-westerners as guards, as they work cheaper than westerners.
The Senate report anticipates 17,000 individuals working for the Baghdad embassy. Only 650 of them will actually be diplomats, with hundreds of U.S. officials from the Treasury, Justice and Agriculture departments.
Most will be foreign employees, who do the laundry, cook the food, and cleaning and janitorial services.
And aside from the static security stationed at those five State Department installations, theyll be operating at the 15 different sites that State plans on operating, including 3 air hubs, 3 police training centers, and 5 Office of Security Cooperation sites.
#1
As per DER SPIEGEL + OTHER, many German + a number of major International Carriers are hiring PRIVATE SEA SECURITY = "SEA GUARDS" for their MV's plying thru or near the HORN OF AFRICA, vee SOMALI PIRATES. They also are repor interested in procuring SURPLUS = ADVANCED MIL WEAPONS for Same + Crew elements in order to match the variable firepower of the Somali Boyz.
BAGHDAD - If Middle East unrest does not scuttle its plans, Iraq will host its first Arab League summit in two decades in March, giving its Shia-led government a chance to reintegrate the country into a sceptical Arab world. The meeting of Arab leaders also offers an enticing target for Sunni Islamist insurgents or Shia militia trying to undermine Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and will become a major test of Iraq's readiness to defend itself after US forces withdraw this year.
"I would not call this a gamble, but it is a challenge more than anything," Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters in an interview. "We both need this summit. It is important and challenging for Iraq, but it is important for Arabs too."
Maliki's main aim with the summit will be to reassure neighbouring countries, where many Sunni Arab-dominated governments view the rise of Iraq's Shia majority with suspicion and fear the growing influence of Shia power Iran.
More than security, the summit may be disrupted by an uprising in Tunisia and protests in Egypt that are testing the region with its worst crisis in decades.
"The unrest is still going on in these countries and may affect the date or even change the agenda of the summit. So far no one knows," said Shakir Kattab, a member of Iraq's Sunni-backed Iraqiya political bloc.
The stakes are high -- a successful summit would help Iraq to reassert itself as a major Arab nation and could also lead to reduced tacit support in some Arab countries for the insurgency. A disastrous strike by suicide bombers or militants firing rockets and mortars, however, could set back by years Iraq's efforts to prove it is on a path to improved stability.
Despite the threat, the government has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to rehabilitating six big hotels in Baghdad that were targeted by insurgents in the past. It is renovating villas and palaces to accommodate delegates from 21 countries invited to the summit, repaving the main road from Baghdad airport and planting flowers and trees to try to prettify a city left in a shambles by years of war.
Good for them. Let them show the world what democratically self-ruling Arabs are capable of.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Senior Paleostinian officials on Tuesday called for holding general elections in Paleostinian territories to pave the way to overcome the internal split.
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad suggested holding general elections in West Bank and Gazoo Strip "as soon as possible to reunify the two parts of homeland and its institutions."
It is a lovely dream. Choose between the old, corrupt, ineffectively violent secularists who hope to outbreed the juices and the younger, corrupt, viciously violent allies of Iran and Hizb'allah who eagerly await the order to shoot off the missiles they've got piled up at Israeli schools. It'll be fun!
Fayyad added in an interview with the Paleostinian television that "the date of holding local and general elections will be fixed this year."
He added that the Paleostinians are on the verge of creating their independent state. Fayyad stressed, "The creation of the state requires the reunification of West Bank and Gazoo Strip and the institution of Paleostinian people."
On Oct. 24, 2009, Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree calling on the Paleostinians to head to the ballots on Jan. 25, 2010. However, The infamous However... the Central Elections Committee (CEC) informed Abbas later that it is impossible to hold the elections on time after Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, rulers of the Gazoo Strip refused to let its teams work freely.
Hamas, which sized control over Gazoo in 2007, said it will not allow holding the elections in the coastal enclave until a reconciliation agreement is reached.
For his part, member of Fatah Central Committee Azzam Al-Ahmad also suggested holding presidential and parliamentary elections to overcome the split.
Al-Ahmed urged representatives of the Paleostinian factions to agree to hold elections "because we cannot remain hostages of Hamas movement and its relations with regional and international powers."
He added that it is still early to talk about dates for the elections. "But the Paleostinians are capable of finding out ways to overcome the split," the Fatah official said.
Representatives of the two parties met in the Syrian capital of Damascus on mid-November in yet another attempt to solve the crisis, but failed to reach agreement over the main sticking point: Security.
In late September, the two movements reached a paper of "understandings" in a meeting held in Damascus related to the restructure of Paleostine Liberation Organization (PLO) and general elections.
Hamas officials had earlier announced that they were looking for forming a highest security committee to be in charge of reforming the security forces of the PA.
However, The infamous However... Abbas had announced earlier that the issue of security can never be shared between Hamas and Fatah, and it must be independent and has one leadership.
In October 2009, Egypt presented a draft of reconciliation to the Paleostinian factions, mainly rivals Fatah and Hamas. Fatah accepted the reconciliation draft while Hamas refused to sign and said it had some reservations that should be reconsidered.
Egypt, which hosted five rounds of Paleostinian national dialogue, rejected Hamas demands and said that signing on the pact should be first, and observations, reservations and notes would be added after the signing in a special appendix. Since then, the ties between the Cairo and Hamas deteriorated.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... parliamentary bloc on Tuesday noted that the list of demands it had submitted to Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati last week deals with "a number of political, national and ethical constants."
In a statement issued after its weekly meeting under ex-PM Fouad Saniora, the bloc said it was waiting for a "clear stance" by the PM-designate.
It reminisced that "Miqati was allied with the Mustaqbal Movement in the last parliamentary elections (in 2009) according to a clear electoral platform through which he had won voters' confidence," calling on the PM-designate to honor the promises made to electors that year.
The bloc stressed that the upcoming government should remain faithful to the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Leb.
It noted that "some parties' remarks -- about their desire to halt further (Lebanese) financing (of the STL), withdraw Lebanese judges and annul bilateral MOUs -- are aimed at renouncing the consensus reached around the national dialogue table and in the ministerial policy statements of the successive governments."
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02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... stressed on Tuesday that a new government will be formed in a few days, adding that the movement has not yet discussed with Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati the distribution of cabinet portfolios it seeks to head.
He said after the movement's weekly meeting: "Whoever wants to take part in the new Cabinet should accept the new reality and the opinion of the majority."
Furthermore, he noted that Miqati didn't pledge to any matter that caused the collapse of the previous government.
"No one can continue on accepting the Special Tribunal for Leb after becoming part of a new government ... The STL is an assault against our illusory sovereignty and it will be tackled based on Lebanese and international law," he continued.
"No one is immune" and all files will be opened, which will be handled by the judiciary, he added.
"The problem isn't sectarianism, but corruption," the MP stressed.
Addressing the January 25 violent protests against Miqati's appointment, Aoun stated: "Had we been attacked, we would not have retaliated and we prevented the eruption of strife."
Asked if the opposition would be granted a blocking minority in a new Cabinet, he responded: "Is the blocking minority aimed at paralyzing the country once again? When we were part of the blocking minority, we didn't present anything positive, but we thwarted several issues that were against the country's interest."
Commenting on the protests in Egypt, Aoun said that the solution to the crisis lies in changing its regime.
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02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... said Tuesday that he conveyed to PM-designate Najib Miqati March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... alliance's fears of the new majority that he dubbed as Syria and Hizbullah.
Geagea told news hounds in Maarab that he informed Miqati during a meeting they held at the PM-designate's residence in Verdun on Monday that the March 14 forces had no problem with him as a person.
"The new majority will be behind the formation of the new government. I honestly told him that this majority according to us is Syria, Hizbullah and the era of hegemony," the LF leader said.
The March 14 forces had tasked Geagea with negotiating with Miqati. The LF leader said that the PM-designate didn't make a real proposal on the structure of the future government.
He reiterated that the March 14's participation in the cabinet should be collective. "If our demands are not met, we won't participate in the government."
"There should be a clear vision on how to get rid of illegitimate weapons," he told news hounds. "Even if the arms are in depots, they are affecting political life and spoiling it."
The March 14 alliance had conditioned its participation on Miqati's commitment to the Special Tribunal for Leb and the disarmament of all parties, in reference to Hizbullah and Paleostinian arms.
Geagea said he would give Miqati some time to think over the proposals made by him and by Phalange Party The Kataeb (Phalange) party was founded by Pierre Gemayel in 1936, who modeled the party after Spanish and Italian Fascist parties he had observed as an Olympic athlete during the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, then Nazi Germany. The movement's uniforms originally included brown shirts and members used the Nazi salute. Despite the party's uniform, its strong sense of nationalism and dedication to a single charismatic leader, the Lebanese Kataeb was not and never became a fascist party nor did it espouse a totalitarian ideology. leader Amin Gemayel, another March 14 official, who has held at least two meetings with the prime minister-designate in the past three days.
An Nahar daily said Tuesday that the Geagea-Miqati meeting on Monday lasted two hours and the LF leader stayed over for dinner.
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02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
See also DAILY TIMES.PK > SYRIA AGAIN HOLDS STRINGS IN LEBANON.
OTOH BABY ASSAD = SYRIAN GOVT. believe thet their Country can effec withstand or resist the "JASMINE" CHAOSES which have befallen Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, + Jordan???
[Arab News] An Iraqi government official says Iran has handed over the remains of 38 Iraqi soldiers killed during the 1980s war between the two nations.
Iraqi Human Rights Ministry officer Hussein Eidi Hassan said on Tuesday that only five of the soldiers have been identified so far and their remains have been handed over to their families.
DNA samples will be taken from the other remains before the soldiers are buried in a temporary grave in the southern city of Basra.
The two nations signed an agreement in October 2008 to find tens of thousands of soldiers still missing after the eight-year war.
Hassan says the remains of at least 2,139 Iraqi and 1,453 Iranian soldiers have been returned since 1996.
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02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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VIENNA - The UN atomic watchdog does not rule out using its "special inspections" powers if Syria refuses to grant inspectors access to the remains of a suspected nuclear site, the head of the Vienna-based agency said on Tuesday.
The comments by Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), underlined growing frustration at Damascus' continued stonewalling of the United Nations body's investigation into the issue.
You can tell they're frustrated, they delayed lunch a full hour...
"On the Dair Alzour site, we haven't had progress after I became director general (in late 2009)," Amano told Reuters in an interview. "We cannot wait forever, of course."
But another few years, why not? Look at the Hamiri report in Lebanon.
For more than two years Syria has blocked IAEA follow-up access to the desert site that U.S. intelligence reports say was a nascent North Korean-designed nuclear reactor intended to produce bomb fuel. The site, known as either al-Kibar or Dair Alzour, was bombed to rubble by Israel in 2007. Syria, an ally of Iran, denies ever having an atom bomb programme.
Ev'rybody knows the evil Juice just bomb baby-milk factories...
Amano said he had not yet received a response to a letter he wrote to Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem on Nov. 18, the first time the IAEA chief has appealed to Syrian authorities directly, rather than just through his regular reports.
Perhaps the letter was lost in the ministry mail room?
In the letter, he asked the government to provide prompt IAEA access to relevant information and locations related to Dair Alzour and to cooperate with the agency in general.
Asked if he could consider this in the case of Syria, Amano said it was one of the tools at the agency's disposal. "It is not ruled out. It is not decided to call for a special inspection either."
The agency last resorted to special inspection powers in 1993 in North Korea, which still withheld access and later developed a nuclear bomb capacity in secret.
That worked well, too.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the IAEA may soon issue a critical report on Syria's nuclear programme if it did not cooperate with the agency's investigation.
"Nothing has been decided. There are various ways to address this issue," Amano said.
I vote for a stiff note on the special paper.
Syria has dismissed calls to grant U.N. nuclear inspectors prompt access to Dair Alzour, saying they should focus their investigation on Israel instead. Damascus has suggested the uranium traces came with Israeli munitions used in the attack. In a further sign of defiance, President Bashar al-Assad said in a Wall Street Journal interview this week Syria will not grant IAEA inspectors unrestricted access to possible nuclear sites because it would offend the national dignity amount to a violation of sovereignty.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
ION FREEREPUBLIC > SOURCE:AL-QAEDA ON BRINK OF USING NUCLEAR BOMB. LEADING ATOMIC REGULATOR WARNS WORLD STANDING ON PRECIPICE OF "NUCLEAR 9-11".
#2
The UN atomic watchdog chihuahua does not rule out using its "special inspections" powers if Syria refuses to grant inspectors access to the remains of a suspected nuclear site, the head of the Vienna-based agency said on Tuesday.
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.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
Hamid 
[Asharq al-Aswat] The 
[Arab News] US Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey has spoken to Egyptian diplomat Mohamed El-Baradei, the State Department said on Tuesday in its first acknowledgment of any recent direct contact with the opposition figure.
(CNN) -- Yemen's 
DOHA - Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera said its signal was being jammed in parts of the Middle East on Tuesday, days after Egypt shut the network's operations in the country and an Egyptian satellite cut its broadcast signal.
Wall Street firms have received briefings from US officials about a possible threat after a cover story in the most recent 
Michel Aoun
