[An Nahar] Fistfights erupted in Somalia's parliament late Wednesday as politicians elected a new speaker in a move condemned by the troubled nation's president as "null and void".
Several supporters of Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan -- sacked as speaker in a controversial move last month by 280 MPS -- were maimed in the latest of several parliamentary brawls.
The MPs were beaten by colleagues during the rowdy vote but despite the violence a majority of 287 politicians chose Madobe Nunow from five other candidates.
"The politicians gave their majority votes to Madobe Nunow who replaces the former speaker, and from now on the new speaker will lead parliament," said Ahmed Dhimbil Roble, deputy speaker and chair of the session.
But the election was denounced by the national security committee, chaired by President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
"After reviewing the current security and political situation of the country and the chaos in the parliament, the National Security Committee decided that the session of today -- and others it followed -- has no legal foundation," a committee statement said.
"All of its outcomes are null and void."
The apparent inability of Somalia's transitional leadership to conduct even its own parliament peacefully offers a grim prospect for the war-torn nation, where elections are due August under a U.N.-backed deal.
The writ of the Western-backed government, which controls only Mogadishu with the capital defended from al-Qaeda linked Shebab rebels by a 10,000-strong African Union force, will then expire.
The MPs who sacked Adan in December were upset that he had not convened the 550-seat parliament for two months. His reasons for doing so remain unclear, and he has denounced the sessions as illegal.
Fistfights are common in Somalia's unruly parliament, where politicians have even pulled guns on each other.
Adan, who has difficult ties with the president, also held the speaker's chair between 2004 and 2007. He retook the post in 2010 after a political dispute forced his predecessor from office.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/06/2012 00:00 ||
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Yes, they should restrain themselves as we cut back our defense forces. Sure, that'll work...
Just weeks after North Korea announced the death of its leader, Kim Jong-il, diplomatic activity has resumed on how to engage Pyongyang. A high-level American diplomat is holding talks this week in Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo. And, South Korea's president is set to discuss North Korea during a state visit to China's capital next week.
Diplomats in Seoul acknowledge there is a dearth of information about what is really going on in Pyongyang, amid the leadership transition. During this time of uncertainty, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell says all elements of the U.S. government, including the military and national security advisors, are on the same page and in constant touch with Washington's allies in the region.
"We are continuously monitoring the situation, regularly sharing perspectives and assessments, consulting closely and actively coordinating our responses," said Campbell.
The United States is hoping China, considered the country most able to exert any influence on Pyongyang, will make clear to the new North Korean leadership what Campbell calls "the importance of restraint."
Among those Campbell met with Thursday was South Korean Foreign Minister, Kim Sung-hwan. Kim told reporters that Seoul is ready to resume one-on-one talks with Pyongyang, but it is up to North Korea to initiate such talks.
However, Kim says it is unclear after Kim Jong-il's death who is actually running North Korea. He notes that Pudgy Kim Jong-un, the third son of the deceased leader, has been bestowed a number of titles, such as supreme commander of the military and vice chairman of the country's only political party. But, the South Korean foreign minister adds it is not known whether Kim -- who is under 30 years of age -- is now also the actual head of government.
North Korea has given no early indication it is ready to re-engage with the South after announcing Kim Jong-il's death last month. Recent comments in the state-controlled newspapers have declared Pyongyang will never again deal with the administration of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, ostensibly because -- according to North Korea's media -- he did not properly express condolences for its leader's demise.
But on Thursday, South Korea's foreign minister brushed off such rhetoric and said it should be ignored. He says North Korea does not seem to have decided yet on its posture in dealing with the outside world.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/06/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
I initial read it is U.S. Calls for N. Korean Restaurant.
A new, more austere U.S. defense strategy unveiled Thursday gives up on fighting major wars overseas and reduces active-duty troops from 570,000 to 470,000. The aim is to cut more than US$450 billion in defense spending over the next decade.
The new strategy would make it virtually impossible for the U.S. military to fulfill a pledge to South Korea to deploy 690,000 troops on the Korean Peninsula in an emergency.
If that is how we're going to handle our defense, then we have to get out of the way and let the ROK defend itself. We need to let the ROK build or buy what it needs, train its forces, and let its officers run the show.
"Washington recently told us that the revision of its defense strategy will have no significant effect on South Korea," a government source said. "But there'll inevitably be a sea change in operational plans and troop augmentation in case of an emergency here."
South Korea would then have to take more responsibility for itself and shoulder a more substantial burden for its own defense, observers said. Washington is to hand over full operational control of South Korean troops to Seoul in December 2015.
Under a current operational plan for a full-scale war on the peninsula, the U.S. pledges to send about 690,000 reinforcement troops to the peninsula 90 days after a war breaks out. But under the troop reduction plan that much personnel will no longer be available.
The number of reinforcements could be cut to less than 200,000, some experts speculated. "It's highly likely that military strategies including [the operational plan] will be revised in a way that will cut the number of reinforcement troops," said Song Dae-sung, head of the Sejong Institute.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/06/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Looks like JAPAN + ROK may get their own nukes after all???
As per 1990's + pre, post-911 NET, its either that, or US Milfors based or deployed overseas seemingly standby + watch as US Enemies rampage wid little to no US interference or intervention.
#4
As proven in the past I believe the Japanese are more than able too handle their own military affairs especially since empire building is long gone. The koreans can buy whatever military equipment they need too defend themselves against the norks.
Posted by: chris ||
01/06/2012 11:05 Comments ||
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#5
Perhaps. But the timing is unfortunate, don't you think? I mean with Pudgy looking to assert control and all.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/06/2012 14:19 Comments ||
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#6
O is looking to decrease the mil budget to pay for his entitlement programs. The issue of skor aid is governed by treaty and needs to be changed by level heads and negotiation. Do we have the people in authority that can do this? I wonder.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/06/2012 14:34 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Defending South Korea was already a rough mission - almost a suicide mission there. It is obvious that someone does not know when to NOT draw down forces there.
#9
DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > CHINA WARNS US OVER NEW ASIA-PACIFIC STRATEGY.
CHINA = Its okay, USA, but no heavy-handed "militarism" = overflexing of muscles.
* SAME > NEW PENTAGON PLAN CHANGES GAME IN ASIA.
ARTIC = New US Strategy is
> CONTRACTIVE while also prioritizing Asia-Pacific Region for the US.
> Aimed or focuses on Iran [Middle East] + China as LT Strategic or Security Targets for USA.
> CHINA [for now] CAN ONLY USE ITS STRENGTHS = ENDOWMENTS TO MAKE FRIENDSHIP/PARTNERSHIP WID THE [still-superior] US.
* SAME > US STRATEGY COULD MEAN GREATER ROLE FOR AUSTRALIA IN ASIA-PACIFIC.
* SAME > [Old = 09/2011] US CRUISE MISSLE BASE IN GUAM [+ 8000 Marines, etc.] AS A MAJOR THREAT TO CHINA.
* SAME > US NAVY'S EXPEDITIONARY FORCE EVOLVING WID NEW MOBILE LANDING PLATFORM SHIPS. Reduces or replaces the need for offshore support bases for the USMC [+ Rapid Deployment-Reax Forces].
ON A PERSONAL NOTE, THE SHIPS' PROPOSED DESIGN SCHEMAS RESEMBLE US VESSELS [future time] FROM OLD DREAMS/VISIONS OF MINE FROM MANY YEARS,DECADES AGO.
* WORLD NEWS > CHINA IS "WEDDED TO STATUS QUO" ON KOREAN PENINSULA.
China's priority vee the DPRK + Korean Peninsula is NO COLLAPSE + NO WAR.
GOVT. REFORMS + ECON MODERNIZATION = not so much.
IMO the PRO-CHINA "STATUS QUO" - MORE GRASS-EATING + LESSER-N-LESSER OF "NORTH-KOREA-FOR-NORTH-KOREANS/KOREANS", is why the DPRK has a Nucprog to begin with.
IMo again, as per the above scope the ROK is NOT against the DPRK having a Nucprog asmuch as the DPRK using its Nukes-WMDS agz fellow South Koreans.
A DPRK NUCPROG "JUSTIFIES" A ROK-SPECIFIC NUCPROG, + by extension that also of JAPAN, OTHER ASEAN.
* SAME > RUMOURS OF NUCLEAR EXPLOSION IN NORTH KOREA SHAKE SEOUL BOURSE [ROK stock exchanges].
* CHINA DAILY FORUM > CHINA PUSHES FOR STABILITY IN NORTH KOREA. Beijing desires to prevent DPRK collapse, but not necessarily to foster in or support national improvements widin NOKOR per se.
IIUC, IOW CHINA WANTS CHINA-CENTRIC STABILITY ON THE KOREAN PENINUSLA.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/06/2012 8:40 Comments ||
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#2
Out of curiosity, how would Iran go about test-firing a nuke without us noticing? Anybody know? Because I would think the Testing of one would set off a world of hurt for them.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/06/2012 13:57 Comments ||
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#4
What the US Govt-DOD has labeled as covert "Franchising" of Miltechs + related proficiencies between countries, aka bvilateral or multilateral tech-sharing.
Again, unless US-Allied INTEL have clusterfucked on Iran's true mil arsenal + capabilities, in its present state the best Iran can do is ALLOW A US-LED ATTACK + GROUND INVASION TO OCCUR, ALL US = US-ALIED MILFORS TO PENETRATE INTO IRAN'S DEEP INTERIOR, + THEN WAGE ASYMMETRIC, VIETNAM-STYLE MILITARY-CIVILIAN "PEOPLE'S WAR" + GEOPOL BRINKMANSHIP = "GREAT POWERS" MILPOL CONFRONTATIONISM.
TIME FACTORS is prolly Iran's greatest single asset, i.e. TIME TO DEVELOP RELIABLE ADVANCED NUKE-WMD WEAPONS, AT LEAST AT THE TACTICAL/CONVENTIONAL LEVEL(S), WHICH WOULD MAKE ANY FOREIGN GROUND CAMPAIGN COST-PROHIBITIVE IN TERMS OF CASUALTIES + MEDIA, DIPLOMATIC HUMILIATION.
IOW, THE LONGER THE US-ALLIES PUT OFF A MILSTRIKE + GROUND CAMPAIGN, THE STRONGER IRAN WILL GET + HARDER IT WILL BE TO DEFEAT.
#6
TOPIX > [Supreme Cleric Ayatollah Khamenei]IRAN'S WARNINGS LAYS OUT TOUGHER MILITARY DOCTRINE, namely ...
> Iran will respond or answer any foreign threats, real or perceived, wid threats of its own.
> Maintain BOLD-IF-NOT-BOLDER DISPLAYS OF MILITARY = MILPOL POWER.
> BRINKMANSHIP-BASED DIPLOMATIC POSTURING.
> Keep the US + its ARab-Muslim Allies guessing.
> RAMP UP ANY + ALL INTERNATIONAL PRESSURES, ETC. AGZ ENEMIES, BUT NOT BE RECKLESS.
* SAME > A SECRET NUCLEAR TEST [drive = push for] COULD BE IRAN'S TRUMP CARD IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ STANDOFF.
Iran wants no repeat of the losses in mil assets + loss of international credibility it received during the late 1980's as per the Reagan-Bush Admins [KUWAITI TANKER REFLAGGING + ESCORT], HENCE IS PUSHING/DRIVING HARD TO DEV ITS NUCLEAR CAPABILITY ASAP AMAP.
* SAME > IRAN'S SECRET INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSLE [ICBM] PROGRAMME, as based on on-going indigenous modifications + improvs to SHAHAAB-III'S = NORTH KOREA-SUPPLIED LRBMS.
* SAME > US + PAKISTAN HEADING TO CONFRONTATION OVER ISRAEL.
Pakland's indirect threat to Israel vee PROLIFERATION OF PAK-DEV NUCLEAR, MIL TECHNOLOGY TO ANTI-ISRAELI MUSLIM GOVTS-STATES IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
Lest we fergit, LOSS OF PAKISTAN'S GOVT. TO PRO-ISLAMIST MILITARY ELEMENTS, OR TO MILITANTS VEE POLITICAL-LEGAL JIHAD [elections] is deemed a DISASTER FOR ISRAEL + US FOREIGN, GWOT POLICY, espec as Pak is the World's only Nuke-armed Muslim State.
* SAME > {PressTv.IR] JAPAN MULLS IGNORING US OIL BAN ON IRAN.
* PAKISTAN DEFENCE FORUM > ASIAN NATIONS WANT IRANIAN OIL, despite US-led Sanctions.
2009 report, backup for the Gaffney article also posted here today. Excerpt from the Executive summary
Serious risks to the global economic system were exposed by the crisis of 2008,raising legitimate questions regarding the cause of the turmoil. An estimated $50trillion of global wealth evaporated in the crisis with more than a quarter of thatloss suffered by the United States and her citizens. A number of potential causative factors exist, including sub-prime real estate loans, a housing bubble, excessive leverage, and a failed regulatory system. Beyond these, however, the risks of financial terrorism and/or economic warfare also must be considered. The stakes are simply too high for these potential triggers to be ignored.
The Obama administration's recent call for greater financial regulation stipulates to thefacts that hedge fund activity has been virtually unregulated and that dark-pool trading,Credit Default Swaps, and naked short selling provide tremendous vulnerabilities in thesystem. This report concurs with these concerns as recently outlined by the heads of the SEC, US Treasury, and Federal Reserve and provides supporting data.
The hypothesis under consideration is that a three-phased attack is underway with two of those phases completed to date.
- The first phase was a speculative run-up in oil prices that appears to have begun in 2007 and lasted through through June 2008.
- The second phase appears to have begun in 2008 with a series of bear raids targeting U.S. financial services firms that appeared to be systemically significant.
- The risk of a Phase Three has quickly emerged, suggesting a potential direct economic attack on the U.S. Treasury and U.S. dollar.
Beyond that, this report exposes the fact that these vulnerabilities are subject to exploitation not only by greedy capitalists seeking profit but also by financial terrorists, intent on destroying the American financial system. From a historical perspective, there are numerous examples of financial attacks onspecific companies and industries both for economic and non-economic reasons. Inaddition, there are other examples of financial attacks conducted against individual nations both for economic and non-economic reasons. Based on this awareness, the economic collapse of 2008 must be critically examined to determine the possibility that afinancial attack took place as well as an assessment of future risks.
The purpose of this report is to consider the implications of financial terrorism and/or economic warfare and to identify and realistically list prospective threats toU.S. economic security from a means, motive, and opportunity perspective. The preliminary conclusions of the research suggest that, without question, there were actors who had the motive to harm the U.S. economy. These motives can be categorized as both economic and non-economic. In addition, these same actors have clearly demonstrated the means to carry out such an attack. Finally, the opportunity was clearly present given the existing economic condition and regulatory framework in operation.
The hypothesis under consideration is that a three-phased attack is underway with two of those phases completed to date.
- The first phase was a speculative run-up in oil prices that generated as muchas $2 trillion of excess wealth for oil-producing nations, filling the coffers of Sovereign Wealth Funds, especially those that follow Shariah Compliant Finance.This phase appears to have begun in 2007 and lasted through June 2008.
- The second phase appears to have begun in 2008 with a series of bear raids targeting U.S. financial services firms that appeared to be systemically significant.
- The risk of a Phase Three has quickly emerged, suggesting a potential direct economic attack on the U.S. Treasury and U.S. dollar.
[Dawn] RAWALPINDI - An anti-terrorism court here on Wednesday allowed transfer of record and court documents related to Mumbai attack case to the presiding officer of the judicial commission in Mumbai which has been formed to record the statements of Indian prosecution witnesses.
The ATC Judge, Shahid Rafique also assigned a court clerk the task to look after the court record during the proceeding of the commission and bring them back.
Senior prosecutor of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, who had filed a petition for temporary transfer of the record to the Mumbai commission, told Dawn that the government of Pakistain has completed all the necessary requirements for the commission and now the ball was in the Indian government`s court. He said the Pak authorities had also requested the Indian government to notify the date on which the commission would start its proceedings.
The 10-member Pak panel will comprise defence counsel Khwaja Sultan, Asam bin Haris, Fakhar Hayat, Riaz Cheema and Ihsan Satti who will represent the suspects -- Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hammad Amin Saddiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed and Younus Anjum. Besides, FIA additional director Azad Khan, special prosecutors Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, Azhar Chaudhry, a bigwig of the foreign ministry, and court clerk Hameed Afzal are also included in the panel.
The defence counsel would cross-examine Indian woman magistrate R.V. Sawant Waghule who had recorded the confessional statement of Ajmal Kasab, the surviving alleged terrorist, and Ramesh Mahale, the investigation officer, besides two doctors who carried out post-mortem on the bodies of the faceless myrmidons killed during the attacks.
After recording statements of the witnesses, the commission would hand over these to the Pak prosecution agency (FIA) for further proceedings in the ATC.
According to FIA prosecutors, Kasab in his confessional statements recorded before the magistrate had admitted the involvement of the seven suspects who are under trial in Adiala Jail. The four Indian witnesses are also the prosecution witnesses of the FIA. Initially, they were asked to appear before the ATC in Rawalpindi but due to law and order situation in Pakistain the Indian government refused to send them to Rawalpindi.
As a result, the FIA requested the ATC to allow a judicial commission to visit India and record their statements. The ATC has already delegated its judicial power to the Indian magistrate for recording of the witnesses` statements.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/06/2012 00:00 ||
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State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland says America received private assurances from the Islamist party contradicting its public statements that it would break ties with Israel. Yes Victoria, there is a Santa Claus.
#3
interestingly, the good islamist, bad islamist game works against the US State Dept. just as well as good cop, bad cop works against a high school dropout teenage junkie.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/06/2012 9:00 Comments ||
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#8
The Muslim Brotherhood is lying to its people or it is lying to the U.S. State Department. How many State Department employees really believe the Muslim Brotherhood?
[An Nahar] Gazoo's Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said support for Paleostine should be a "religious and nationalist commitment" as he arrived in Tunis Thursday to a welcome from Tunisia's new leaders.
"Paleostine is not a banner that we brandish like nobody's business, it's a religious and nationalist commitment," said Haniya after a meeting with Tunisia's moderate Islamist Prime Minister, Hamadi Jebali.
"We have suffered from an economic and political blockade, and former governments have neglected us but Tunisia has given justice to Gazoo" through this invitation, said Haniya.
The Hamas leader is in Tunisia as part of a six-country tour. He is to meet with the north African state's new president Moncef Marzouki and the president of the constitutional parliament Mustapha Ben Jaafar.
Asked for his reaction to the resumption of Israeli-Paleostinian peace talks in Amman, Haniya said that it was "a punch in the wind."
The six-country tour marked his first travel abroad since Hamas took power in Gazoo in 2007, and according to his office is aimed at raising funds to rebuild Gazoo City, devastated by an Israeli offensive three years ago.
The Paleostinian leader, accompanied by some 20 aides, was greeted on arrival by Jebali and the leader of the dominant moderate Islamist Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi.
A crowd of mainly Ennahda supporters waved Paleostinian and Tunisian flags and shouted for "the liberation of Paleostine."
Haniya has already visited Egypt, Sudan and Turkey, with Bahrain and Qatar also on his itinerary.
The tour was also expected to focus on Paleostinian reconciliation.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/06/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Hopefully, Holy Land abandoners like Ron Paul, won't steal high office. Judeo-Christians were there first. The muz horde seized our lands.
#2
Judeo-Christians were there first. The muz horde seized our lands.
Actually, the Canaanites were there first, Elmaimp the Batty1777, followed by the Jews. There were no Christians for the better part of two millenia later, and only the ones who were Romans could rightfully lay claim to ownership, although interestingly not by right of conquest -- the Romans were invited in...and the Byzantines were Romans in medieval costume. The Crusader kingdoms were there so briefly nobody makes a claim based on them. The Arab claim to ownership by right of conquest is as legitimate as any of the previus conquerors, which makes the Jewish right of ownership by reconquest equally legitimate. After all, the Muslims couldn't keep them from doing so -- separate from the historic tie of the Jews to the land.
But there is no "Judeo-Christian" claim. Christendom, like the Ummah, is a concept of brotherhood, not a governing entity.
#3
The Arab claim to ownership by right of conquest is as legitimate as any of the previus conquerors, which makes the Jewish right of ownership by reconquest equally legitimate.
JERUSALEM: Israel is rethinking its policy on prisoner swaps to avoid the kind of lopsided deals that saw Israel recently trade more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for a lone Israeli soldier.
A government-appointed panel submitted its recommendations in a secret report Thursday and details were not divulged. But Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel has no choice but to overhaul the rules now that Sgt. Gilad Shalit has been freed after five years in captivity in Gaza.
Barak told Israel Radio, We have to get off the slippery slope we ventured on 25 years ago.
Over the past three decades, Israel has carried out a series of wildly uneven prisoner swap deals. In manymostalmost all some cases, the freed prisoners returned to violence against Israel.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/06/2012 00:00 ||
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#2
I don't know....I'd swap the prisoners. Of course, each one would fit into a nice box 6 inches on a side for easy transport. They would be heavy due to the mixed in pig grease.
Heck, Israel could go round up a few thousand extra prisoners every attack and offer to trade them back.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Halliburton Lost Drill Bit Division ||
01/06/2012 22:37 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Two leading Syrian opposition groups voiced their desire Thursday to resolve a rift and unite against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's The Scourge of Hama... regime, Belgium's foreign minister said after talks with the two.
Saying divisions were "playing in the hands of the Syrian regime," Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders called for a "unified opposition platform," his office said in a statement.
Reynders held separate talks with the leader of the Syrian National Council (SNC), Burhan Ghalioun, who is based in La Belle France, and a representative of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria (NCB), Haythem Manna.
"Due to the serious situation in Syria, the two groups said they were willing to continue their dialogue in order to reach a common position," the statement said.
The SNC and NCB signed a political agreement in Cairo on Friday outlining a "transitional period" should Assad's regime be toppled by a pro-democracy uprising that first erupted in March.
But the deal appeared in tatters after the SNC said in a Facebook posting on Tuesday that the "document conflicts with the SNC's political program and with the demands of the Syrian revolution."
The SNC is widely regarded as the most inclusive of Syria's opposition alliances, with representation from both the Moslem Brüderbund and parties drawn from the Christian and Kurdish minorities.
The NCB is an umbrella group of Arab and Kurdish nationalists, Marxists and independents.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/06/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Iraq and Iran are aiding the Syrian regime financially in its crackdown on protests, a former official in Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Light of the Alawites... regime alleged Thursday in a report on al-Jazeera's website.
Mahmoud Suleiman Haj Hamad made the allegations at a presser in Cairo after announcing his defection from the regime, according to the satellite network's Arabic-language website.
"The Syrian regime receives financial support from Iraq and Iran," said Hamad, without providing details.
Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... has spent some two billion Syrian pounds ($40 million, 31 million euros) on payments to local militias to suppress the anti-government protests that the U.N. says has left more than 5,000 people dead since March, he added.
In a separate statement to the al-Arabiya satellite channel, Hamad said many Syrian officials want to defect but "they are too afraid."
"Everyone wants to defect but they're too worried about their families," he said.
"Syrian government officials live in a kind of prison ... No one can go anywhere without being accompanied by a member of the security services," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/06/2012 00:00 ||
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LONDON: Britain's defense secretary warned Iran Thursday that any attempt to block the key global oil passageway the Strait of Hormuz would be illegal and unsuccessful -- hinting at a robust international response.
Yessir, Senator, the International Criminal Court and the Arab League will be on them like Charlie Sheen all over a cheap date...
During his first visit to the Pentagon for talks with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Philip Hammond told the Atlantic Council in Washington that the presence of British and American naval ships in the Persian Gulf would ensure the route is kept open for trade.
But having Britain and the US take action is not 'international' enough: at least, that's what Democrats said in 2003...
Iran has threatened to close the route in possible retaliation to new US and European economic sanctions, a tactic the US already has said it would not tolerate.
"Disruption to the flow of oil through Strait of Hormuz would threaten regional and global economic growth. Any attempt by Iran to do this would be illegal and unsuccessful," said Hammond, who was appointed as Britain's top defense minister in October.
Though Hammond did not specifically threaten a military response if Iran blocks the movement of oil tankers, he warned Tehran that both British and US forces would be close at hand.
"It is in all our interests that the arteries of global trade are kept free, opening and running," Hammond said. "For example, our joint naval presence in the Arabian Gulf, something our regional partners appreciate, is key to keeping the Strait of Hormuz open for international trade."
US officials have said the Navys Fifth Fleet, based in nearby Bahrain, is prepared to defend the shipping route.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/06/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Iff the US can give the UK any or all of its CVNS scrapped from the USDOD budget, the Brits + NATO could use the ex-US CVNS to support any required MilOps agz Iran, as per both NavAir + Royal Marines.
* ION WAFF > [SPaceWar] IRAN WORKING "FLAT OUT" ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS: BRITISH MINISTER [DM Hammond].
ARTIC > DM HAMMOND = IHO IRAN IS WORKING AS FAST IT CAN, to dev NucWeaps capability + proficiency.
* NEWSMAX > LIGNET CHIEF ANALYST: NO ROOM FOR MISCALCULATION ON IRAN.
As supported by ...
* VARIOUS MILBLOGGERS > opined that
> In any US conflict agz Iran, THE COMMITTAL OF GROUND TROOPS WILL BE NECESSARY.
> AIR + LR TLCM STRIKES is likely NOT ENUFF to STOP IRAN'S NUCPROGS.
> A MASSIVE, PROTRACTIVE GROUND WAR [10-years?] between the US + Iran will be good for the interests of RISING CHINA + RUSSIA + RADICAL ISLAM [MilTerr Groups = Regional, Global Jihad].
> CHAOTIC OIL PRICE FLUXES/INSTABILITY = help Iran by inducing further bankruptcy on the already econ, debt-troubled US-NATO/EU.
> IT WILL BE HARDER FOR THE US TO FIGHT THE GWOT WID A VOLUNTEER ARMY - WID US TROOPS COMMITTED TO THE SECURITY OF AFPAK + IRAQ, A US MIL CONFLICT AGZ IRAN [North Korea? = two/multifront war?] MAY STALL OR DELAY THE ISLAMIST JIHAD, BUT LIKELY WON'T DEFEAT IT.
-------------
Once again, 'tis the Story of ...
> A Soldier-King named Francis.
> A Valley + Battlefield called the Little Big Horn.
> An Asteroid the size of Texas.
> A Sword called EXCALIBUR [Nostradamus = Sword of Heaven + Hell].
NOSTRADAMUS = "...Until the SEVEN/SEVENTH holds the Line".
#2
FREEREPUBLIC > ROYAL NAVY SENDS ITS MIGHTIEST SHIP [HMS Daring = Anti-Air Destroyer]TO TAKE ON THE IRANIAN SHOW OF FORCE IN THE GULF.
Its a competent + complex ship, but its by itself, + UK = US = ONE SHIP, ALBEIT A GOOD ONE, DOTH NOT SUPPORT ROYAL MARINES-ARMY-SAS GROUND FORCE MAKETH???
And that not counting CHRISTINA + MERCUSOR BLOC + FALKLANDS???
DAMASCUS: The Arab League has turned to the United Nations for help after admitting "mistakes" in its Syria monitoring mission, which has come in for withering criticism for its failure to stem bloodletting.
The head of the rebel AllianceFree Syrian Army, meanwhile, called on the Arab League to withdraw its observers from Syria, dubbing the bloc's monitoring mission a failure. "We hope they will announce that their mission was a failure and that they will be withdrawn," Col. Riyadh Al-Asaad, who is based in Turkey, said by telephone.
"And they're getting in our way," he added softly...
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani, who heads an Arab League task force on Syria, on Wednesday discussed the deadly protest crackdown with UN leader Ban Ki-moon in New York, Kuwait's KUNA news agency reported.
"We are coming here for technical help and to see the experience the UN has, because this is the first time the Arab League is involved in sending monitors, and there are some mistakes," said Sheikh Hamad, quoted by KUNA.
And nobody knows more about ineffectual monitoring than the U.N. You came to the right place, boys...
A UN spokesman said only that Ban and Sheikh Hamad "discussed practical measures by which the United Nations could support the observer mission of the Arab League in Syria."
"We can get them a great deal on white Land Cruisers."
Sheikh Hamad would not say what mistakes had been made. Syrian opposition groups say the monitors have been kept under too tight a rein in the country and that hundreds of people have been killed despite the presence of the observers.
The Arab League, however, will not withdraw the monitors from Syria until their month-long mission in the country ends, a representative of an Arab state at the regional body said Thursday. The League's special committee on Syria is due to meet in Cairo on Sunday to debate the initial findings of the mission, which was set up to monitor a peace plan brokered by the League.
"It is impossible for the Arab League to withdraw its monitors, regardless of the content of any of (the mission's) reports," the Arab government representative said on condition of anonymity.
Syrian opposition activists say the mission is failing. Syrian rights groups have reported continued deaths in clashes and protesters taking to the streets to show the observers the scale of their anger. They complain that the observers rely on the government for transportation and logistics.
Some officials at the Arab League said countries such as Sudan, Jordan, Egypt and Algeria were wary of ending the mission early, fearing that declaring it a failure might provoke Western military intervention in Syria.
Oh, I don't think you have to worry about that...
Another Arab government representative said the committee was likely to discuss possible measures to help the monitors, such as providing them with white Land Cruisers vehicles so they can travel around the country without the assistance of Syrian authorities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/06/2012 00:00 ||
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I told 'em they shoulda gone to the Avengers or the X-Men instead.
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.
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