Four Virgin Atlantic employees at Gatwick airport were sacked after a video purportedly showing a member of the Taliban having sex with a donkey was emailed to the airline's entire IT department.
The vid, called "What the Taliban do when they are not making improvised bombs", according to the Sunday Mirror, was accidently distributed by "turnaround co-ordinator" David Armstrong.
Bosses sacked him and three others and warned them they "may have been in breach of the Obscene Publications Act".
Correction: the video most certainly was in breach of the Obscene Publications Act. No doubt the cognoscenti are sniggering as they wonder whether green Wellies were involved.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
A donkey? Must have been washing with Arab Spring.
[Tolo News] Foreign support of top government officials has restricted the Attorney General's ability to sue corrupt officials.
Amanullah Eman, a front man for Attorney General's Office said records of 25 top government officials are under the observation of this institution, but some foreign circles do not want us to bring these officials to justice.
"The corruption they are involved in has external roots. These roots have made several obstacles which prevent us to monitor the records properly. Obviously, those who are involved in corruption are brass hats who may try to show us their power, but we still try to overcome the challenges", said Mr Eman.
He also said that terrorist activities over the past one year have decreased 10 percent compared to the year before based on the records of the Attorney General.
Last year Attorney General's Office has investigated 27578 civilian cases, 5217 military cases, 2078 cases related to national security crimes, 472 drugs cases and 1507 military corruption cases. and the overall number of cases probed reaches 36861 cases.
Attorney General's Spokesman Amanullah Eman said low salaries and lack of suitable locations to set up provincial departments are the main challenges facing the Office.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Sudan has dismissed a request by the UN Security Council (UNSC) to pull its forces out of the oil-producing region of Abyei on the border between the South and the North.
"Sudan does not need to be asked to pull its army out of Abyei because this is a Sudanese territory," AFP quoted Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Ahmad Karti as saying on Sunday.
"The army's entering the area to handle the security situation there was necessitated by the continued security breaches committed by the other party," Karti added, referring to South Sudan troops.
The Sudanese top diplomat went on to say that their forces will remain in the region until an agreement is reached.
Karti's remarks come a day after the UNSC called on Khartoum to withdraw its forces from Abyei. The council claimed Sudan's military operations in Abyei are "serious violations" of the so-called 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
The 2005 deal ended more than two decades of civil war between the rival sides. In January, majority of southerners voted for secession from the North in accordance with the agreement.
The agreement had left the fate of Abyei to a later referendum by the residents of the region to choose whether to join the South or the North.
Sudanese Armed Forces seized control of the oil-producing region on May 21. The measure came after troops from the South fired shots at a convoy of northern forces and UN peacekeepers on May 19.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2011 00:00 ||
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The British government will overhaul counterterrorism policy, sanctioning cutting funding to Mohammedan groups who don't work to combat extremism. The funds will instead be used to identify threats in universities, prisons and the health service in a serious revamp of Labour's four year old Prevent program. Twenty Mohammedan groups have previously been identified as targets.
Scrutinizing Pakistani doctors, perhaps? One hopes this will make a difference, but at least it's clear Tory politicians are aware that this is an issue on which they will be judged by a significant percentage of voters.
#1
Just a start, but targeting illegals and bogus Social Security claims would determine who they have in the country. BTW, they don't have a clue who is there. Thanks France, thank you Brussels. Given the history, I should rejoice in what is happening to the UK, let them get some Mugabe style sharia law, but as I have origins there, it is only frustration, so no Schadenfreude here. Hope they don't mess around and do it properly, deporting whole tribes/clans......but I doubt it. It's a multi-cultural world, dont you know.
#2
Anyway, any of the above is irelevant if the law of the land doesn't apply. That has already been given away to Brussels and Sharia law, until this is fixed to be independantly determined by the British voter voting for UKIP, short of shooting these traitorous decision-makers will change anything. And, no, I don't advocate that. Lawfare and illegal immigration, it is, then, but crux is the law.
#3
Only islamist threat in this country is from the Pakistani community.Stop funding these two faced creatues and offer them the choice of a free flight to a country with Sharia Law!
Its only the welfare state that keeps them here!
How many indian Muslims deny the chance to move to Pakistan says it all!
Posted by: Paul D ||
06/07/2011 15:46 Comments ||
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#4
I disagree, Paul D! You saying there are no Somali, no Saudies, no Albanians, Kosovans, Iraquia, Iranians, etc, including homegrown Muslim radicals, in the UK, or are they not dangerous if left to their own devices? With the latest call to individual jihad, I don't think individual profiling should be a problem, so let's just profile them all and not say anything, to be on the safe side. We know the Paks in the UK are the problem, they are a problem wherever they go, but someone else is pushing their button because, in reality, all they have is some goats.
The British government will be forced to say whether it supports the rights of Christians to wear the cross and opt out of diversity legislation as part of a landmark legal case.
Judges at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg have ordered ministers to make a formal statement on whether they believe Christians' rights have been infringed in British courts that have repeatedly dismissed their entitlement to dress and act according to their beliefs.
The court has selected the cases of four applicants it considers to be of such legal significance they should be examined further. Once ministers have responded the court will decide whether to have full hearings.
The cases could lead to a final legal answer on how religious beliefs must be balanced against equality laws designed to prohibit discrimination against minority religions and other groups such as homosexuals.
The applicants are: Nadia Eweida, a British Airways worker who was barred from wearing a cross; Lillian Ladele, a former registrar who objected to conducting homosexual civil partnership ceremonies because of her faith. This led to disciplinary action by the local council where she had worked for 17 years; Gary McFarlane, a Christian relationship counsellor who was sacked by Relate, a counselling service, for refusing to give sex therapy to homosexual couples; Shirley Chaplin, a former nurse who was barred from her job for wearing a cross.
The founder and director of the Christian Legal Centre, Andrea Minichiello Williams, which is supporting two of the applicants, said: ''These cases are massively significant on every front. There seems to be a disproportionate animosity towards the Christian faith and the workings of the courts in the UK has led to deep injustice.
''If we are successful in Strasbourg I hope the Equalities Act and other diversity legislation will be overhauled so that Christians are free to work and act in accordance with their conscience. David Cameron [the Prime Minister] now needs to put his money where his mouth is.''
Of Mrs Eweida and Mrs Chaplin, the European Court asked the British government: ''In each case, did the restriction on visibly wearing a cross or crucifix at work amount to an interference with the applicant's right to manifest her religion or belief, as protected by article 9 [the right to freedom of religion] of the [European] Convention [of Human Rights]?''
Earlier this year the court ruled that schools have a right to display a crucifix in classrooms, after an application brought by Catholics in Italy. The decision appeared to set European human rights law at odds with British courts, where all four applicants in the new round of cases have lost on appeal.
#2
I believe that an employer - public or private - should have the right to regulate things his employees do or wear when this interferes with your work duties.
IF he can prove that a little pendant does that, he should have the right to ban it. Good luck.
As much as I understand the refusal of "sex therapy for homosexual couples": If this is a legal and legit part of your job description you either comply or look for another job.
Next thing would be that a Muslim waiter refuses to serve pork and wine in a restaurant.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/07/2011 21:02 Comments ||
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An Islamic preacher told students that it was difficult to argue with Bin Laden's views and said "terrorism works" during a speech at a university in London.
Not one of the poor and ignorant claimed to populate the ranks of the jihadi organizations, then.
Certainly not Harry Paget Flashman either...
claimed that a "permanent state of war exists between the people of Islam and the people who opposed Islam," while addressing students at University College London (UCL). He gave the speech to the university's Islamic society while Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab, the Detroit bomber, was a student there in 2005.
Quite some time ago. Still, nice to know.
Referring to Osama in his 2005 UCL speech, Green, who says he is not an extremist, said that it was difficult to argue with his views. Green said, "His rational [sic] is, we are going to keep on killing your women and children until you stop killing our women and children. How do you argue with that? The other thing is that it seems that terrorism works. We certainly have precedent."
Did he mean the 9/11 attacks? I'm not sure that in the end that's worked well for the group organizing the attack...
This disclosure follows a statement by Theresa May, the Home Secretary, in which she said there had been "complacency" by universities about Islamism.
Qasim Rafiq, a spokesman for the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, invited Green to speak at UCL along with two speakers from Hizb ut-Tahrir and another who has supported the Taliban. Since then, Green has been invited to give lectures at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies, Queen Mary and Bart's and at UCL.
Has the government considered either jailing such speakers for incitement or something, or expelling them from the country for un-British activities? Defenestration works as a concept, too.
#1
It works to generate donations to the preachers who claim to support it, thereby letting them live in the style to which they have become accustomed. This is why imams in the West live lives of luxury, whereas the holy warriors are having to carry out kidnappings and bank robberies to support themselves.
Hassan Diab may be sent from Canada to La Belle France to face murder charges for 1980 kaboom at Copernic Street Synagogue; he claims innocence.
The extradition order for Hassan Diab, the Lebanese-born Canadian professor accused of a deadly 1980 bombing outside of a synagogue in Gay Paree, was approved on Monday.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger signed the order, which makes it possible for Diab to be transferred to La Belle France and tried for murder. The judge cited Canda's extradition treaty with La Belle France, but also noted that La Belle France has a "weak case" against the 57-year-old and the chances of conviction are low.
Diab has always proclaimed his innocence and sworn that the bombing is a case of mistaken identity. Stamps in his passport, his lawyers assert, prove that he was not in La Belle France at the time of the deadly kaboom, which killed people on the eve of Succot outside of Gay Paree's Copernic Street Synagogue. Investigators claim that his handwriting appears on a hotel registration card, but his defense team have vigorously denied this fact.
The bomb at Copernic Street Synagogue detonated just before the building was set to fill with worshippers. Had it went kaboom! thirty minutes later, it would likely have been a massacre.
Way to go, DHS.
Although they had already been given advance clearance for multiple entries to the country during their trip, all 2,000 passengers were made to go through full security checks in a process which took seven hours to complete.
The fingerprints of both hands were taken as well as retina scans and a detailed check of the passport as well as questioning as to their background.
Passengers claim that the extra checks were carried out in “revenge” for what had been a minor spat over allegedly overzealous security.
They complain that they were “herded like animals” and made to stand for hours in temperatures up to 80F with no food or water or access to lavatories.
Some are said to have passed out in the heat while others were left confused and bewildered.
When one lady asked in desperation whether she could use a bathroom, one immigration official is said to have replied: “Do it over the side, we won’t mind.” I'd rather deal with terrorists. They would cause less grief in the end.
#1
US defense sales to India began only a decade ago, at a value of less than $200 million for radar equipment. We have come a long way since then," Somers said noting "US-India defense sales today have now crossed the $9 billion mark and continue to grow."
Don't nobody tell the Pakistanis. Or Obumble!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/07/2011 8:00 Comments ||
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Despite the ongoing military operation since March 2010, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) still maintains its hold on their bases in Mamozai area of the upper Orakzai Agency, ... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers... which has been hampering the repatriation of internally displaced persons.
The extra troops, which were sent into the area to enforce the government's writ by the end of 2010, have now decided to review their strategy to win the war.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde... according to reports the TTP had managed to regain 11 per cent area in Orakzai, which was earlier said to have been cleared by the security forces during the operation to flush out bad boys. The political administration and army officials in the area had told journalists in September 2010 that 94 per cent area had been secured and all the IDPs would return to their homes by mid June 2011.
When contacted for his comments on the current situation, Orakzai Agency Political Agent Riaz Mehsud told this correspondent on phone from Hangu that the last three phases of repatriation were still pending.
Asked about the time period for securing the Mamozai area, he said: "For retrieving the Mamozai, Chappar Mishti, Dabori and Kasha the army is planning to launch simultaneous offensive both from Orakzai and central Kurram Agency. ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended... The decision about the offensive has not been finalised and it is up to the federal government and military to implement this strategy."
Earlier, the officials had said that the Mamozai pocket would be freed from gunnies very soon, but after five-month-long operation during which the rustics and the security forces had suffered casualties no headway had been made so far.
The interior ministry too issued orders for the deployment of extra troops and launching of operation in the Kurram Agency for making the Hangu-Parachinar highway safe for travel.
Mr Mehsud said that the political administration and army took guidance from each other as far as the Orakzai Agency was concerned and development schemes were continuing in the safe areas.
He said that in the first three of six phases, 2,200 IDP families comprising 140,000 people had been shifted to their homes and given six months food ration and tents by the WFP. The rustics had returned to Kalaya, Karghan, Mishti, Tirah and Skeikhan areas. However, The emphatic However... the rustics hailing from the troubled areas were staying in IDP camps in Hangu and other parts of the country.
He said that the situation in the lower Orakzai Agency, particularly in the areas of Shia community, was peaceful and female teachers daily came there from Kohat without any fear.
Dawn has learnt that many rustics who returned to their homes in Storikhel, Utmankhel, Ferozekhel and Bezote are living in damaged homes and tents.
An official said that these people had been accommodated by their fellow rustics for the time being. However, The well-oiled However... he said that the returning rustics were happy that their nightmare of living in camps in Hangu and rented houses in other cities as IDPs was over.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2011 00:00 ||
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A United Nations report said Friday that disconnecting people from the internet is a human rights violation and against international law.
Reality calling the UN. UN to the white courtesy phone, please.
The report railed against France and the United Kingdom, which have passed laws to remove accused copyright scofflaws from the internet. It also protested blocking internet access to quell political unrest.
While blocking and filtering measures deny users access to specific content on the Internet, states have also taken measures to cut off access to the Internet entirely. The Special Rapporteur considers cutting off users from internet access, regardless of the justification provided, including on the grounds of violating intellectual property rights law, to be disproportionate and thus a violation of article 19, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The report continues:
The Special Rapporteur calls upon all states to ensure that Internet access is maintained at all times, including during times of political unrest. In particular, the Special Rapporteur urges States to repeal or amend existing intellectual copyright laws which permit users to be disconnected from Internet access, and to refrain from adopting such laws.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
United Nations report said that internet access is a human right
along with unlimited texting and p0rn.
#2
They confuse the media with the message. An internet that is controlled by the UN, a government or any other entity hardly will be one of the free flow of information. It is the free flow of information that should be a human right.
#3
Fine, I declare sketchy Japanese cartoons a "human right", too. And Woodchuck cider. And maybe cheddarwurst.
Or maybe "human rights" aren't synonymous with "stuff I'd like more of", ja?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/07/2011 9:57 Comments ||
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#4
You can be sure the natural next step will be to enact laws to protect individuals against "discrimination" on the bases of high-speed access vs. dial up.
Sunday Times reports Israeli commandos on the ships may have conducted reconnaissance missions against Iran's nuclear sites.
Ships owned by the Ofer brothers that docked in Iran may have carried Israel Air Force Blackhawk helicopters, which were used by commando units, the Sunday Times reported. The paper claimed in the Sunday report that the helicopters were concealed in special containers for infiltration into Iran. The Times reported that the commando teams may have conducted reconnaissance missions against Iran's secret nuclear sites, enabling the Israelis to reach Iran without arousing suspicion.
Last month, the US State Department imposed sanctions on Tanker Pacific Ltd., owned by the Ofer brothers, for selling a tanker to an Iranian company in breach of sanctions, and thus indirectly assisting that country's nuclear power program.
The affair caused the Ofer family great embarrassment in Israel and there have also been revelations that ships owned by the family occasionally docked in Iran. This did not contravene international sanctions but undermined Israeli efforts to isolate Iran.
Or not, if there really were smuggled helicopters doing reconnaissance missions.
#2
GU7993, my first glib response would have been a 9mm brain aneurism, but the articles I read just left it up to the reader to assume he died of old age.
One of the dirty secrets about Western trade with enemy states like Iran is that the Western companies trading with them may also wittingly or unwittingly serve as espionage assets for their home country or for other Western countries...
#5
"Is Obama Deliberately Harming Israeli Covert Ops in Iran?"
Does a bear sleep in the woods, Willy? >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/07/2011 15:41 Comments ||
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#6
Meanwhile, ala FREEREPUBLIC > [Arutz Sheva = Israel NN] IRAN SAYS ITS SUBMARINES [two] ARE IN THE RED SEA, along wid other Surface Warships, etc. of the Iranian 14th Fleet on anti-Piracy mission. The Subs are repor taking count of foreign nations' naval = combat vessels.
[Al Jazeera] A prominent Indonesian holy man facing life in prison on terrorism charges has rejected the trial as outside Islamic law.
Abu Bakar Bashir ... Leader of the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council and proprietor of the al-Mukmin madrassah in Ngruki. The spriritual head of Jemaah Islamiya, which he denies exists. Bashir was jugged and then released in the wake of the 2002 Bali bombings, which he blamed on a conspiracy among the U.S., Israel, and Australia ... , who is accused of helping set up and fund a "terror" training camp in Indonesia's Aceh province, claimed his innocence on Monday in a final court appearance before the announcement of the verdict.
Bashir, 72, denies involvement with the training camp but has repeatedly defended it as legal under Islam.
The holy man told a Jakarta court that the case against him was fabricated and witnesses that testified by teleconference were doing so under pressure and so their testimonies could not be trusted.
Citing verses from the Koran, Bashir said he rejected the trial as counter to Islam.
Prosecutors have sought a life sentence for Bashir, who co-founded the Jemaah Islamiyah network, which is blamed for some of the country's deadliest suicide kabooms.
The group allegedly planned a string of attacks on foreigners and liquidations of moderate Mohammedan leaders, including Susilo Bambang, the country's former president.
Prosecutors say testimony from dozens of witnesses at Bashir's trial proved he not only incited others but also played an active role in terrorist activities.
A panel of five judges is to announce Bashir's verdict on June 16. The maximum penalty for the terror charges is death.
Indonesia, a secular nation of 237 million with more Mohammedans than any other in the world, has made strides in fighting terrorism since the first Jemaah Islamiyah-linked attack in Bali in 2002, which killed more than 200 people - mostly Western tourists.
But the country still has pockets of Mohammedan fighters who have carried out violent attacks in recent months on minorities and police.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
This egomaniac sees himself as the OBL of South East Asia!
The events on Israel's Syrian border on "Naksa Day" are just the beginning, according to an article in the Syrian newspaper Tishreen.
According to the article, Israel should be ready for more than 600,000 refugees to march across the border, ostensibly to return to their homes in the Golan. "The Paleostinian refugees who gathered at the border were part of a mass march of progress for the right of return," the article said.
Big talk. At a post-Naksa funeral in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus the Palestinians attacked those who sent their sons to the border to be killed -- the early report has 14 dead and 43 injured thus far in the fracas.
Tishreen is state-run and affiliated with the regime of Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... . Israel has accused Syria of orchestrating the protests on Sunday, where Syria claims more than 20 people were killed after they attempted once again to breach the border fence between the Golan Heights and the Syrian town of Majdal Shams. Netanyahu called the events an attempt by Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... to "divert international attention" from the massive anti-government protests sweeping Syria and the violent, bloody crackdowns on protesters that have occurred.
Another article in the same paper claimed that Israel should know that mass marches are approaching, and does not have grounds for deterrence. "Israel can not even use the pretext of self-defense, for what it calls its borders," the article says.
[An Nahar] Dozens of Paleostinian youths erupted into the streets of two refugee camps in southern Leb on Monday to denounce the weekend killing of protesters along the Israeli border with Syria.
Golly. Are the school kids on vacation already?
The youths carried Paleostinian and black flags as they marched in the Ain al-Helweh and Mieh Mieh camps where a general strike was observed, with schools and businesses closed.
"To Jerusalem we will return, martyred by the millions," they chanted as they burned tires and rubbish in anger at those killed on Sunday during "Naksa Day" protests marking the anniversary of the 1967 Six-Day War.
Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said 23 people were killed and 350 maimed when Israeli troops shot up protesters in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The Israeli military, however, put the corpse count at 10.
Pro-Paleostinian protests had also been planned for Sunday along Leb's border with Israel, but were cancelled for fear of an escalation similar to that which left six people dead last month.
On May 15, festivities between protesters and Israeli soldiers left six dead on the Lebanese border and four more in the Golan.
The weekend protests in Syria were organized by Paleostinian groups
With the help of the Syrian government at $1000 per person.
to mark 44 years since Israel seized the West Bank and Gazoo Strip in the Six-Day War, an event known in Arabic as the "Naksa" or "setback."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday that Syrian President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... may be encouraging unrest on the Israel-Syria frontier in a futile effort to save his regime.
"We have no choice, we have to defend our border and Assad, in my opinion will fall in the end," said Barak a day after hundreds of protesters from Syria tried to cross into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
"It may be something that the Syrians are encouraging, it may be that they are pleased with it, they may think it distracts attention," Barak told Israel public radio.
Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said 23 people were killed and some 350 maimed by Israeli gunfire, with all of the casualties falling on the Syrian side of a no-man's land.
But the Israeli army said there were 10 dead, all of whom were killed when a number of Syrian landmines went kaboom! in Quneitra after being set off by Molotov cocktails hurled by the protesters.
Barak said Israel would continue to defend its borders and that Assad would not be able to use the confrontations to avoid the consequences of massive popular uprisings rocking Syria.
"I think he will fall, he's lost his legitimacy, he may be able to stabilize for another six or nine months, he will be very weakened."
Rights groups say more than 1,100 civilians have been killed and at least 10,000 placed in durance vile in Syria since protests erupted in mid-March.
Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... insists that the unrest is the work of "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Islamists and foreign agitators.
"If he stops the use of force today he will be seen as weak and will be brought down; if he continues, the killing will increase and cracks will start to appear, including within the army," Barak said.
"His fate is already determined. I think the same about Saleh in Yemen and Qadaffy in Libya," he said of Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower... and Libyan leader Moammar Qadaffy.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Just one Mossad agent and one bullet. Its a chance to change history without any time paradoxes.
[An Nahar] Ruling conservatives in Iran kept up their criticism of President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad's inner circle on Monday, despite a plea for calm by all-powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Wasn't the Mahdi supposed to show up Monday?
In the latest broadside, Hojatoleslam Mojtaba Zolnour, Khamenei's deputy representative to the elite Revolutionary Guards, accused Ahmadinejad's entourage of seeking to weaken the foundations of the Islamic republic.
"The current of deviation seeks to weaken the foundations of the Islamic establishment... I believe this movement is the gravest danger in the history of Shiite Islam," Mehr news agency quoted Zolnour as saying.
"Current of deviation" is a term coined by Ahmadinejad opponents to define an ideological movement they believe to be too liberal, nationalist and not nearly religious enough to coexist with the ruling conservatives in Iran.
The conservatives accuse Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a close Ahmadinejad relative, confidant and chief of staff, of leading the movement.
"The head of this new sedition should be removed if the government wants to be clean... We hope this problem will be resolved, but it seems very unlikely such a thing will happen in the near future," Zolnour was quoted as saying.
On Saturday, on the 22nd anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's death, Ayatollah Khamenei called on the ruling conservatives to end the crisis, urging respect for diversity of political opinion within the regime.
"One has committed an immoral act if he insults his brothers... who disagree with his political view but we know are loyal to the Islamic system and Islam," Khamenei told hundreds of thousands of supporters at Khomeini's mausoleum.
Ayatollah Ahmad Alamolhoda, another conservative, said with this approach Khamenei was trying to manage the crisis while also preventing the fall of the government "because the price of its fall would be heavier."
But Alamolhoda, quoted by the ISNA news agency, also said the people must be told that "the current of deviation has latched onto the executive branch like a virus."
For several months, conservative figures have repeatedly demanded the sacking of Mashaie, who despite the heavy criticism has so far enjoyed Ahmadinejad's unwavering support.
On Sunday, parliament speaker Ali Larijani also weighed into Mashaie for advocating an "Iranian Islam" school of thought, an idea which has infuriated conservative holy mans.
"The (executive) officials should avoid making theories (on religious issues). This is a task for religious schools," Larijani said in remarks reported by ISNA.
On Monday, a top Ahmadinejad adviser responded to the ongoing criticism by urging ultra-conservatives to heed the supreme leader's call for calm.
"For more than a month, a special political group... has used all political tools and propaganda to launch baseless accusations against officials and figures" in the government, Ali Akbar Javanfekr said.
"Their intention has been to weaken the government and president in the eyes of the people," Javanfekr, Ahmadinejad's media adviser, wrote in an editorial in the government-run Iran newspaper.
Javanfekr suggested that the best way to resolve the crisis was for the conservatives to "acknowledge the strategic mistake" they had committed.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] A senior Iranian politician says the reports published by ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about Iran's nuclear activities serve Washington's interests.
There currently exists "an atmosphere of mistrust" between the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran and the IAEA; and the UN nuclear agency is acting in favor of US political interests, ISNA quoted Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a member of the Foreign Policy and National Security Commission of Iran's Parliament (Majlis), as saying on Monday.
He added that the IAEA had formerly adopted an ambiguous approach toward Iran but is now clearly trying to meet Washington's demands.
Falahatpisheh also termed the recent stances against Iran's civilian nuclear program as unprecedented in the history of inspections ever carried out by the IAEA.
The remarks come as IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano claimed on Monday that the agency "has received further information related to possible past or current undisclosed nuclear-related activities that seem to point to the existence of possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear program."
Similarly in a May 24 report, Amano alleged that the agency had received new unspecific information indicating that Iran may not be merely developing nuclear energy for civilian purposes.
Iran's Ambassador to IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh said on Sunday, "If the IAEA announces the modality issue to be closed, Iran would be willing to address all ambiguities that may rise after the modality [plan]; however, this will not be possible as long as the agency fails to fulfill its commitments."
In a statement last week, Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Fereydoun Abbasi rejected the allegations leveled against the Islamic Theocratic Republic in a response letter, and said that on the basis of the modality plan agreed between Iran and the IAEA in 2007, the agency should announce Iran's nuclear issue closed.
The United States, Israel and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program.
As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, Iran maintains that it has the right to develop and acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
The IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence indicating that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/07/2011 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
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.
The British government will be forced to say whether it supports the rights of Christians to wear the cross and opt out of diversity legislation as part of a landmark legal case.
Orakzai Agency,
Kurram Agency.
Abu Bakar Bashir
[An Nahar] Dozens of Paleostinian youths 
President-for-Life Bashir 
Ahamdinejad's inner circle on Monday, despite a plea for calm by all-powerful supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
