#9
Besoeker, you raised another issue in passing yesterday. You said something like, everyone below the level of colonel can see this. Why such differentiation at that level? I understand generals needing to be political; they have to negotiate on behalf of the organization with politicians, a very different skill set than running an action, kinetic or otherwise. But wasn't Mr. Yon a colonel -- Special Forces, as I recall? And we have colonels posting here at Rantburg, I know, and they seem to have their feet firmly planted on the ground. So what is it that changes things at that level in re: Afghanistan?
There is an old story told about the officer who upom being promoted to colonel, could not fall asleep the night of his promotion ceremony. Tossing and turning throughout the night, he finnally nudged his wife in the wee hours and said "you know baby, this means I could be a GENERAL someday!"
It has been my observation that things oftentimes have a tendency to become a bit political from that day forward.
#12
TW, Yon was special forces, but he wasn't a colonel or any commissioned officer rank so far as I can tell. WIkipedia says he was born in 1964, enlisted at age 19 (1983) and left the military in 1987 after only 4 years.
So while he was quite young as a Green Beret, he wasn't in long enough even to make a more senior NCO rank or to hold leadership positions IIUC.
#16
Apparently only a Muslim can intentionally deface the Koran/Quran, which by various MSM Artics has + is occurring often in mainstream Muslim life yet are NOT punished.
NON-MUSIMS = "DATS A BEHEADIN'"!, OR HAND-CHOPPING, OR BOTH.
* ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > NEW EXTREMIST ALLIANCE IN PAKISTAN | NEW PAKISTAN EXTREMIST ALLIANCE [PDC = Pakistan Defence Council] LEAVES GOVT. POWERLESS TO ACT AS IT CHANTS "DEATH TO AMERICA", oer Quran Burning.
ARTIC = Islamabad contained by limits of Pak Law + fear of Political, Popular Backlash, to includ backlash vee Pak Army whom supports the PDC.
The Taliban has claimed that one of its militants has infiltrated an international military base in eastern Afghanistan and poisoned food and drink being served at the facility.
A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, Sergeant Nicholas Conner, is quoted as saying that an investigation was launched after laboratory tests discovered traces of bleach in food at a NATO base in Nangarhar Province.
The spokesman dismissed claims by the Taliban that five U.S. soldiers had been killed in the alleged poisoning.
The incident was reported after days of sometimes deadly anti-U.S. protests in Afghanistan over the burning of Korans at a NATO military base near Kabul.
France and Germany on Sunday announced plans to pull their personnel from Afghan government ministries, a day after two US military advisers were killed in that country's Interior Ministry, dpa reported.
Germany's Development Ministry said the move would affect about 50 workers, who would be pulled back to German-run bases while the investigation into the death of the US advisers continues. Development Minister Dirk Niebel referred to the decision as a "purely precautionary measure."
France also labelled its move as precautionary, noting that the safety of its experts took top priority. It was not stated how many French personnel were affected by the decision.
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WASHINGTON: The United States should resist the urge to pull troops out of Afghanistan ahead of schedule due to the violence against Americans over the burning of the Quran at a US military base, US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker said on Sunday.
As we discussed yesterday here and here, we don't have a winning strategy for Afghanistan, and we don't have a political leadership class that will generate a winning strategy. Whether we leave completely or leave with a small force that hunts the bad boys, leaving seems to be a smart idea.
Tensions are running very high here. I think we need to let things calm down, return to a more normal atmosphere, and then get on with business, Crocker said in an interview from Kabul on CNNs State of the Union.
He added that a full investigation of the incident was underway at the Bagram airbase near Kabul.
This is not the time to decide that we are done here. We have got to redouble our efforts. Weve got to create a situation that Al-Qaeda is not coming back, Crocker said. If we decide were tired of it, Al-Qaeda and the Taleban certainly arent."
In a CNN interview from Rabat, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday others need to join Karzai in calling for an end to the violence. It is out of hand and it needs to stop.
Crocker noted that Karzai has called for calm almost since the beginning, and Afghan security forces were working to quell the demonstrations. They are very much in this fight trying to protect us, Crocker said.
A leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, on Sunday stepped up his criticism of Obama. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Romney said that for many Americans, considering the thousands of American deaths in Afghanistan, the apology sticks in their throats.
Pulling US forces and civilians out of Afghan ministry offices after two US officers were killed in the Interior Ministry in apparent retaliation for the Quran incident was, Romney said, an extraordinary admission of a failure.
His chief opponent, Republican Rick Santorum, said Karzai should apologize to the United States for the violent reaction to something that was clearly inadvertent.
I think the response needs to be apologized for by Karzai and the Afghan people - of attacking and killing our men and women in uniform, Santorum said on NBCs Meet the Press. Thats the real crime here, not what our soldiers did.
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I have a sinking feeling that the departure from Afghanistan will be like the departure from Vietnam. Followed shortly thereafter by a flood of Taliban and al Qaeda back into Afghanistan to overthrow the government.
And about two years later Kabul will fall and Afghanistan will be returned to utter chaos and anarchy.
#4
That's about right moose. Just in time for the election and the Cindy Sheehan vote. Reputation of the US and well being of the troops are not in the equation.
#5
I don't think this will be another Vietnam (as much as the Democrats want to relive their glory days of old...). I think it may be a lot worse. Vietnam wasn't as 'tribal' and the government wasn't actively against us. Bumbles won't want to 'antagonize' the enemy by sending in choppers to pull the diplomats from the Embassy's roof. Or worse yet he'll order them in 'unarmed' - remember to him the Taliban are 'honorable'.
Damn fool is going to get a lot of good people killed.
CAIRO: The trial of 16 Americans and 27 others opens Sunday at a Cairo courthouse in what critics say is a politically charged case linked to a government crackdown on nonprofit groups that has touched off the deepest crisis in US-Egyptian relations in decades.
The case, which involves American employees of four US-based pro-democracy groups, has tested one of Washingtons most pivotal relationships in the Middle East, and prompted US officials to threaten to cut a $1.5 billion annual aid package to Egypt if the issue is not resolved. Egyptian authorities have responded by blasting what they call US meddling in Egypts legal affairs.
There are 43 defendants in the case 16 Americans, 16 Egyptians, as well as Germans, Palestinians, Serbs and Jordanians. They have been charged with the illegal use foreign funds to foment unrest and operating without a license. But the investigation fits into a broader campaign by Egypts rulers against alleged foreign influence since the ouster of longtime rule Hosni Mubarak last year.
Rights groups have sharply criticized the investigation into the pro-democracy groups and the charges, saying they are part of an orchestrated effort by Egyptian authorities to silence critics and cripple civil society groups critical of the militarys handling of the countrys transition to democracy. Egyptian officials counter by saying the trial has nothing to do with the government and is in the judiciarys hands.
As we discussed yesterday, the NGOs were indeed doing things to 'educate' various political parties and groups. We call it 'promoting democracy', the Egyptians call it 'interference in internal affairs'. Call it what you like, we're holding the short, dirty end of the stick this time, and it's not going to be pretty.
President Barack Obama has urged Egypts military rulers to drop the investigation, and high-level officials, including Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey and Republican Sen. John McCain, have flown in to Cairo to seek a solution.
A senior US official said that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had raised the matter twice in person with Egypts foreign minister once in London and once in Tunisia in the past three days and that other senior US officials are actively involved.
However, the US cannot be seen as pushing too hard against Egypts ruling military council, which is viewed as the best hope for a stable transition for a nation that is not just a regional heavyweight, but also the most populous in the Arab world and a lynchpin in Washingtons Middle East policy, largely because of its landmark peace treaty with Israel.
It will indeed be counter-productive as both the Muslim Brotherhood and the rubes on the street will see it as the leadership caving in once again to the imperialists. That won't help matters.
The US State Department says that seven of the 16 Americans facing trial have been barred from leaving Egypt by the countrys attorney general. Several Americans, including Sam LaHood, son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, have sought refuge in the US Embassy.
It is not clear whether the Americans and the rest of the defendants will appear in court Monday. They could not be immediately reached by telephone.
The Americans work for four US-based groups: the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, Freedom House and a group that trains journalists.
The dispute began in December when Egyptian security forces raided the offices of the pro-democracy groups, seizing documents and computers.
Earlier this month the NDI said in a statement that it denies the accusations and that it fulfilled all of the registration requirements for the past six years, including a number of updates provided in January.
Freedom House President David J. Kramer said this month that the charges against the NGOs indicates that freedom in Egypt has only gotten worse under Mubaraks appointed ruling generals who took power after the longtime authoritarian leader was toppled.
Let me state clearly that we do not view this situation as a legal matter involving rule of law, Kramer said. The charges are clearly political in nature and without foundation.
Problem is, both sides can point to the law and say they're right.
The state-run Al-Ahram daily on Sunday reported that 19 Americans, not 16, were facing trial. The newspaper, quoting leaked Egyptian intelligence reports, said that some of the computers seized in the raid had sensitive information affecting Egypts national security.
The newspaper, quoting the intelligence report, charged that LaHood, who heads the IRI office in Egypt, had advised his employees not to disclose their foreign nationalities under any circumstances. The charges against Lahood partly stem from the testimony of a woman named Dawlat Sweillam, who allegedly quit her job at IRI because of what she believed were activities that ran counter to Egyptian laws, according to the newspaper report.
While Mondays trial involves foreign-funded NGOs, hundreds of Egyptian non-governmental organizations have also come under investigation from the government since Mubaraks ouster.
Activists blame Mubarak-era laws that have been used to go after groups critical of state policies.
First you make an example of the foreigners, then you cow --and/or thump -- the domestics.
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Attagirl, Hilde, that should do it. Arabs loved being lectured by women...
SIDI BOU SAID, Tunisia: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Tunisians on Saturday to protect their newly-won freedoms and called on Islamist and secular parties to work together in the country that launched the Arab Spring.
Speaking to a group of about 200 students, Clinton also urged young people to use social media and other technologies that enabled popular revolts across the region last year to hold their new rulers to account.
"After a revolution, history shows it can go one of two ways. It can move in the direction you are now headed, building a strong, democratic country, or it can derail ... into autocracy, into new absolutism," Clinton said in a meeting a Andalusian-style seaside villa.
"The victors of revolutions can become their victims," she added. "You must be the guardians of your democracy."
In Tunisia, a popular revolt forced autocratic leader Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country on Jan. 14, 2011 and the country has become a model for democratic change in the Middle East, inspiring revolutions that toppled autocratic rulers in Egypt and Libya.
The North African country has since calmly elected its own government, defying predictions it would descend into chaos, while Ben Ali's secret police have been disbanded and the news media enjoy unprecedented freedoms.
For all its progress, however, Tunisia has acute problems of poverty and unemployment and its society is split over the rise to power of Islamists who were banned from public life for years under Ben Ali. The moderate Islamist Ennahda party which dominates the new government has said it is will try to represent all Tunisians, including secularists who say Islam and the state should be kept separate.
But the country's political scene has quickly grown polarized, with secularist parties and the Islamists accusing each other of betraying the principles of the revolution.
"There are those here in Tunisia and elsewhere who question whether Islamist (politics) can really be compatible with democracy," Clinton said. "Tunisia has the chance to answer that question in the affirmative and to demonstrate there is no contradiction ... and that means not just talking about tolerance and pluralism, but living it."
Clinton stressed the importance of reforming the country's economy to create more jobs, and of young people using technology such as social media "to expose corruption (and to) encourage transparency and good governance."
She also exhorted Islamist and secular parties to work together, including in the assembly which will draft a new constitution.
"To write a constitution, the governing party, Ennahda, will have to work with other parties, including secular parties, and persuade voters across the political spectrum to respect fundamental principles" such as freedom of speech, religion and association as well as the rule of law, she said.
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TUNISIA ...
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA CALLS US CRITIQUE [SecState Hillary] ON SYRIA "SUPER-ARROGANT", as per Hillary's rant agz Russia + China for shooting down UN Resolution agz Baby Assad.
After losing to violence three members of Javier Sicilia's Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity since last October, a fourth member has voluntarily severed his relationship, according to Mexican news accounts.
Julian LeBaron, a resident of Galeana municipality in Chihuahua state and a fundamentalist Mormon leader, announced in an open letter that Javier Sicilia's peace movement had formed a relationship with governments, a nexus which he compared in the letter to repairing a car with a saw.
According to the open letter, published in whole in Proceso leftist news weekly's website Saturday, Julian LeBaron's beef with Sicilia's group has been the dialogue Sicilia established with "highest authorities of the Mexican state", and how some members of the movement have come to embrace electoral politics as a means of bringing peace to Mexican society.
Senor LeBaron probably refers to two meetings Sicilia had with Mexican president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa as well as a meeting last fall with top federal cabinet officials, legislators and senators from Mexico City.
In a Sunday morning explication of LeBaron's decision, another Proceso report had him comparing Calderon's method of dealing with gang and drug violence with having heart surgery with chain saws. Le Baron also has a problem with what he has seen as weak accommodations the federal government has taken with the peace movement's concerns.
Chief amongst those are legislation recently signed by President Calderon that made high school for all Mexican youth compulsory, an increase in secondary education spending and the creation of an Office for Victims of Violence.
A co-founder in Sicilia's peace movement, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) professor Emilio Alvarez Icaza Longoria has taken exception to Le Baron's assessment of the strategy in Sicilia's movement. He said initiatives such as the violence against victim's office will need many "adjustments", his term. He also said the dialogue with government officials has "changed the narrative" with regard to violence.
The peace movement by Sicilia has had a number of problems since the fall of 2011.
The violent deaths of three top members of the peace group has emerged as one. Those deaths include:
Leiva Pedro Dominguez, who was shot to death in Aquila municipality in Michoacan state by unidentified armed suspects in August, 2011. To read the Rantburg report on the murder of Leiva Pedro Dominguez, click here.
Nepomuceno Moreno Nunez, who was shot to death last November by armed suspects in Hermosillo, Sonora. To read the Rantburg report on the murder of Nepomuceno Moreno Nunez, click here.
J. Trinidad de la Cruz Crisoforo, who was shot to death in Santa Maria Ostula in Aquila municipality in Michoacan state last December. To read the Rantburg report on the murder of J. Trinidad de la Cruz Crisoforo, click here.
All of these violent deaths were unrelated to Felipe Calderon's war on the cartels, two of them related to local ongoing disputes over land. One was said to be related to Moreno's Nunez's alleged former involvement with a local violent gang.
Unlike with his own son Francisco, Sicilia could not point to those three deaths as emblematic of Calderon's efforts to deal with drug cartels, tragic as they were, but they do point to a problem Sicilia has with his allies.
Senor LeBaron has himself lost relatives to organized crime violence, when a brother in law, Benjamin LeBaron and his brother in law, Luis Carlos Widmar Stubbs, were kidnapped and murdered in 2009. LeBaron was impressed enough with Sicilia's grief over the loss of his own son, that he moved to Cuernavaca, Morelos to aid Sicilia in his then nascent movement.
Other problems have emerged as well. For example, it was discovered by Mexican press that Sicilia had an armed federal security detail accompanying him since his first meeting with Calderon in the spring of 2011. That detail nearly ran afoul of Guatemalan authorities when they entered Guatamala armed.
Presence of the detail assigned to Sicilia could well have been a major reason why Commandante Marcos of the Marxist Ejercito Zapatista Libercaion National (EZLN) refused to meet with Sicilia when he decided to pay a visit. He was personally turned away by EZLN operatives.
The same issue could well haunt Sicilia when he comes to the US in August to make a scheduled tour of the US-Mexico border. Security arrangements for Sicilia have yet to be announced, if they will be, but it is unlikely US local law enforcement will allow armed Mexican security personnel to accompany him in his tour. If not, Sicilia may well be forced to rely on other means of personal protection.
Sicilia may not be a target of cartels, but cartel and gang violence is apparently so pervasive his security detail invoked a security protocol last fall while touring through Veracruz state. Agents had spotted armed suspects on the road, and forced Sicilia's entourage off the road. Agents then dismounted weapons at the ready into a defensive laager before allowing the entourage to continue. To read the Rantburg report on the September, 2011 security incident involving Javier Sicilia, click here.
The most likely final straw for LeBaron was the inclusion of several unidentified members of the peace movement in political candidate slots of the mainstream leftist Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD) to run in the general election July 1st.
Sicilia himself was asked to join as a candidate for PRD, but he refused.
The PRD, with Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as its flag bearer is an obvious natural next step for a peace movement seeking political power, and the change that comes with it.
Lopez Obrador has long been advocating ordering Mexican military units off the streets and to the barrack, almost word for word what Sicilia has been demanding since April 2011, when he first started his movement.
Sicilia's reluctance to join PRD in imposing a disarmament solution in the face of extreme and wanton violence is understandable. Sicilia is in general agreement with Le Baron that the peace movement must focus on people and their suffering, not political power in advancing its goals.
But the movement is fracturing from the apparently growing nexus with the Mexican national political establishment.
Perhaps LeBaron wants some distance from the institutions he sees as at least as responsible for organized crime violence as the cartels. How he would personally proceed to advance his own goals is now anyone's guess.
SEOUL, Feb. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has doled out medals and state commendations to its people in recent weeks in what could be an attempt to win their loyalty following a transition of power.
The North held a ceremony of awarding state commendation to more than 300 officials and workers in the field of public service at the People's Palace of Culture on Sunday, according to the country's official Korean Central News Agency. Award recipients include barbers, a tailor and a teacher in training. The North also conferred Order of National Flag and Order of Labor on 305 people, the KCNA said in a dispatch on Sunday.
"They were awarded commendation in recognition of their contributions to promoting the convenience of people's life through years of faithful public services in the spirit of devoted service to the people," the dispatch said.
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North Korea has doled out medals and state commendations to its people in recent weeks in what could be an attempt to win their loyalty following a transition of power.
Medals and state commendations produce no long-term dependency. I recommend food stamps.
Hundreds of North Korean defectors were awaiting repatriation as of last Friday after being arrested in various parts of China, rights activists say.
"Some 220 defectors have been interrogated by regional security departments in China and are being held at about 10 detention centers near the North Korea-China border," said Kim Hoe-tae of Solidarity for North Korean Human Rights. "They'll be sent back to the North one by one."
Other defector groups and activists say there are even more, counting those who are still on the way to detention centers after their arrests, bringing the total to anywhere between 300 and 400.
According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China sent between 4,800 and 8,900 defectors back to the North every year between 1998 and 2006, Kim added.
Former unification deputy minister Kim Suk-woo agreed. "China has repatriated about 5,000 defectors to the North every year under an agreement on the extradition of fugitives and criminals it concluded with the North in the 1960s," he said.
Different groups give different estimates on the number of defectors who have been arrested in Shenyang, Yanji, and Changchun this month, ranging from 24 to 40. "We're certain of the number of defectors arrested in China for whom we've worked through our brokers," a member of a defector group said. "But it's hard for us to find out the total number."
But most activists believe the numbers reported in the press are just the tip of the iceberg. It is estimated that somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 North Koreans are currently roaming China, including North Korean women who were sold to Chinese men, people who crossed the border in search of food, and families who are trying to get to South Korea.
Those who are looking for food often find work at factories or lumber camps in China as undocumented immigrant workers. But those who wish to defect to the South move to designated gathering points, from where they are taken to safe houses provided by Christian missions and cross the border through the southwestern province of Yunnan into Laos or Burma. They then make their way to Thailand, where they spend three or four weeks in immigration detention centers before they are deported to South Korea.
Some 2,500 to 3,000 defectors have reached South Korea annually over the past five years, 2,737 last year.
The fate of defectors who are arrested in China and repatriated depends on what motivated them to flee in the first place. Those who fled hunger are normally categorized as ordinary criminals and held in prisons or labor camps managed by the Ministry of People's Security. They suffer forced labor and beatings but are released after a certain period.
But those who are found to have attempted to escape to South Korea, contacted South Koreans or foreigners, or visited churches, are treated as political criminals and held in political concentration camps supervised by the State Security Department. Some are executed, depending on the extent of their crimes or the prevailing mood in the regime.
"Defectors can escape the most severe punishment if they insist that they were merely trying to find food in China, even if they really wanted to go to South Korea," a defector said. "But if media reports confirm that they were trying to get to the South, as we've seen recently, they face the worst kind of punishment."
Meanwhile, the North Korean propaganda website Uriminzokkiri accused South Korea of "making a bigger fuss about the issue of 'defectors' than ever before."
It was the first response from the North since conflict between South Korea and China over the issue started making headlines.
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One report of a repatriation even freaked out the Chinese border guards. They turned over a woman to the North Koreans, and without hesitation they put two steel hooks through her collarbones. The hooks were connected to a chain by which they could then lead her around with minimal resistance.
#2
As South Korea has become a Christian country, so too will China. And in the future, those Christian Chinese souls will regret this time and their shortfalls.
May God help those afflicted by North Korea, and to the extent possible forgive those who enabled that affliction.
In a DW interview, former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski issues a stark warning about the consequences of an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and urges Europeans to speak out on the issue.
#2
I can't tell if Zbig is merely a buffoon or disingeniously evil (I'm leaning toward the latter). His two main points are:
* Sanctions are good - unless they make the target feel they are being forced to choose between strangulation and capitulation. Uhhh... sanctions are supposed to be painful with the choice being exactly that: capitulate or be strangled.
* The United States can prevent war by providing security guarantees. Yes, it could, and this is what got us all through the Cold War. However, no country currently trusts the US to do this. Some, like the Philippines may hope so, but the Japanese don't seem to and the Israelis certainly do not.
Lastly, his snark about how can a country with nukes decide another cannot have them ignores the fact that the Iranians have explicitly declared their intent to destroy Israel once they have nuclear weapons. You can debate whether this is mere Persian bloviation or whether they actually mean it, but the Israelis cannot afford to guess wrong. There is the crux of the problem.
#3
Brzezinski belongs to every SPECTRE-like organization that will have him. Carter foolishly went along with his insanely bad judgment in foreign policy, resulting in the loss of five allies, giving away the Panama canal, trying to convince the Soviet Union to send even more military to Afghanistan, and every other foul up he could have possibly made.
His last big boffo was to convince Carter to make the hasty Iran rescue, followed by total inaction.
It's important to note that by then, many in the US Navy were convinced that Carter was a Jonah, and were frightened when he would come aboard, as disaster would follow.
Tehran: Iran has refused to give Greece a shipment of 500,000 barrels of crude oil in a retaliatory measure against European Union sanctions on the Islamic states lifeblood, oil, the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday.
Oil tankers that had come to transfer 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil to a refinery in Greece had to go back empty-handed after Iran refused to give the shipment, Fars reported, without giving a source. Oil Ministry officials were not available to comment.
Perhaps the Greeks should look closer to home. I hear there's a developing oil and NG field just off the coasts of Israel and Cyprus.
Iran stopped selling crude to British and French companies last week after Irans oil minister said on Feb. 4 that the Islamic state would cut its oil exports to some European countries.
The European Commission has said that the bloc would not be short of oil if Iran stopped crude exports, as they have enough in stock to meet their needs for around 120 days.
Fars said the tankers were destined to the Greek refiner Hellenic.
Traders told Reuters on February 24 that Swiss-based Totsa, the trading arm of French oil major Total, and trading house Mercuria were in separate negotiations with Greek refiner Hellenic Petroleum to help it replace Iranian crude. Glencore, a leading Swiss-based commodities trader and one of the few that conducted business with Greece during the debt crisis, may also boost supplies, trading sources have said.
Hellenic would pay back the traders with refined products, which could then be sold in Greece or abroad.
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Iran replenishing strategic oil reserves or protecting domestic demand from higher prices? Oh WAIT !
#3
Too bad. Seems like it was a pretty nice house by Pakistani standards. Couldn't they have sold it off to benefit a charity for the poor or something?
#4
Courtyard, facade, and front door... all numbered, shipped, and readied for reassembly at the 2012 Democratic convention. POTUS to arrived via black UH-60. Soundtrack includes Keith Urbans For You which sets the tone with follow-ons by Trace Adkins If the Sun Comes Up. If the sun comes up without me tomorrow / Youll be fine (in Spanish).
#6
Neither funny nor strange. Yours was a duplicate. We generally don't post duplicates. We look at the time the posts came in and also the reliability of the news source.
Thanks for asking.
AoS
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So were the ex-wives and daughters still living there when the bulldozer moved in?
#10
huh. that's even more odd, as I posted my story @yesterday@ with a time of 00:01, and this one is clearly labeled as 7am. How could it be a dupe? If anything, @this@ story was the dupe.
reliability of the news source? in what bizarro world is epoch times credible? they're nutso anti-chinese, they report all sorts of stuff that isn't true, when the truth is unflattering enough. rantburg might as well link to animal rights press releases.
#11
gromky, you have other stories here. I know, because I published some of them, and was very pleased to do so. Others I have dumped because I did not think they fit what we are doing here at Rantburg, just as I have to every other poster since I was tapped to be a moderator. For that matter, even yet not every article I put into the hopper gets published, and I'm a bloody moderator, with electronic life and death at my fingertip.
Life is imperfect and unfair, and the teacher did not always call on you when you put up your hand, back when you were the smartest kid in the class. I know this is so, because my teacher did not always call on me. Go take a walk in the sunshine, and come back calmed down.
#12
gromky, you have other stories here. I know, because I published some of them, and was very pleased to do so. Others I have dumped because I did not think they fit what we are doing here at Rantburg, just as I have to every other poster since I was tapped to be a moderator. For that matter, even yet not every article I put into the hopper gets published, and I'm a bloody moderator, with electronic life and death at my fingertip.
Life is imperfect and unfair, and the teacher did not always call on you when you put up your hand, back when you were the smartest kid in the class. I know this is so, because my teacher did not always call on me. Go take a walk in the sunshine, and come back calmed down.
QUETTA: Baloch and Pashtun nationalists have declined the invitation of the Difa-e-Pakistan Council to participate in the All-Parties Conference (APC) on Balochistan, scheduled to be held in Quetta today (Monday).
They still don't trust Rehman Malik. Wonder why...
Major political parties, including the Balochistan National Party (BNP), National Party (NP), Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) have reportedly received the formal invitation for the APC. It will be useless if stakeholders concerned like BNP, NP and JWP are not taking part in this conference.
The Baloch National Front, an alliance of several hardliner nationalist parties and students organisations, had already boycotted the APC. On the other hand, the DFCs contact committee is busy in persuading political and nationalist parties for the past four days to ensure their participation, but Balochistan PPP former president Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani, JWP President Nawabzada Talal Akbar Bugti and PML-N leader General (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch have announced their boycott of the APC. Arrangements have been finalised for the APC, which would be chaired by DFC Chairman Samiul Haq. All leaders of the council, including Maulana Samiul Haq, JI Secretary General Liaquat Baloch, Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, former ISI chief General (r) Hameed Gul, Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat leader Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, Ulema Pakistan Council leader Tahir Ashrafi and PML-Zia President Ejazul Haq have reached to attend the APC.
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#1
A lot of cost, asset and failure risk to destroy the facility. Less to disable access(entrances, power, logistics) to use of the facility.
Strategically more viable to disable the much softer targets of Operational Command and Control.
Strafe the busses carrying technicians to the site(s). Soon nobody will ride the busses.
#2
Compare wid TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > VARIOUS > [WashTimes] ATTACKING IRAN NUKES MAY ONLY SLOW PROGRESS, EXPERTS UNCERTAIN OF LOCATION, POSSIBILITY OF RETALIATION.
ARTIC = In reality, [short of War + Invasion] neither the US or Israel can stop Iran from dev or repoducing Nuclear Weapons.
ONCE AGAIN, IOW US + ISRAEL = CAN SLOW, BUT ARE UNLIKELY TO STOP IRAN FROM DEV NUCWEAPS.
Moreso given ...
* TOPIX > PUTIN: IRAN HAS RIGHT TO CIVILIAN NUCLEAR ENERGY PROGRAM.
IRAN = being a good SCALPEL LAWYER = POSSESSING THE ABILITY TO QUICKLY PRODUCE NUCWEAPS IS N-O-T THE SAME AS ACTUALLY POSSESSING NUCWEAPS, ERGO NEITHER THE US-ALLIES NOR THE UNO HAVE BASIS TO SANCTION MILACTION AGZ IRAN.
"NO WMDS IN IRAN"!
and
* TEHRAN TIMES > REGIONAL BALANCE OF BALANCE SHIFTING IN FAVOR OF RESISTANCE [agz Israel + Zionism]: JALILI, wid kudos to Lebanon's role in the anti-Zionist + Paleo struggles.
DOHA, Qatar: Qatars ruler says the Arab identity in Jerusalem is threatened by Israeli expansion around the city claimed as capital by both Israel and Palestinians.
Yup, that's what happens when you lose four wars and two intifadas. The winner eventually comes to the conclusion that you losers aren't serious about behaving yourselves, and decides to take matters into their own hands.
Israel annexed Jerusalem around 1968. The world doesn't accept, the world doesn't like it, and you Arabs in particular have been real unhappy about it. But facts are stubborn things, and the fact is, Israel possesses Jerusalem. Israel is working now, more than ever, to integrate Jerusalem into its country, and you Arabs have a choice: you can try another war (sure, go ahead Sparky), or you can negotiate and offer Israel something that would cause them to give East Jerusalem back to you. But alternately blustering, whining and issuing threats of Dire Revenge haven't worked, and don't look to do so in the near future.
Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani urged a UN-backed investigation into Israeli settlements as well as Israeli actions in predominantly Arab districts in Jerusalem and surrounding areas captured by the Jewish state in 1967.
His remarks Sunday opened a conference in the Gulf emirates capital Doha on Jerusalem.
The emir also pledged support for Palestinian reconciliation between rivals Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Qatar hosted talks earlier this month that led to a Palestinian unity accord.
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A recently formed jihadist group known as the Al Nusrah Front claimed credit for a suicide attack in the Syrian city of Homs. The Al Nusrah Front is one of two Islamist terror groups in Homs to have announced their existence in the past month to battle President Bashir al Assad's regime.
The Al Nusrah Front to Protect the Levant released a 45-minute-long videotape today on the al Qaeda-linked Shumukh al Islam web forum. The video was translated by the SITE Intelligence group.
In the video, Al Nusrah said the "martyrdom-seeking operation" was executed "in revenge for our mother Umm Abdullah - from the city of Homs- against whom the criminals of the regime violated her dignity and threatened to slaughter her son," SITE reported. The suicide bomber was identified as Abu al Bara'a al Shami, who is seen on the tape giving a martyrdom statement.
The video also shows "an excerpt of allegiances, operations, and training of the al-Nusra Front" as well as a fighter "amongst the masses in a public demonstration, advising them to do their prayers and adhere to the rituals of Islam."
A well known Saudi Islamic scholar Sheikh Ayedh Al Qarni issued a fatwa on Sunday to kill Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
Al Qarni stressed in his fatwa that killing Bashar Al Assad is more important than killing Israelis, reported 'Al Bayan'.
Meanwhile, Saudi-based 'Sabq' reported that Al Qarni, in an interview on Al Arabia Channel, urged Syrian people to take up arms against Bashar Al Assad's regime.
In his fatwa, Al Qarni said that minorities and all other communities in Syria must enjoy freedom and security after Assad era.
"Bashar is illegitimate and he is a murderer because his hands are blood stained. He killed hundreds of children, destroyed mosques...he is a rogue...," he said.
He called on Syrian army to split and disobey President Bashar Al Assad. "It is not permissible for Syrian army to obey the tyrant...this is disobedience to the Creator," added Al Qarni.
#1
It would be amusing if Assad put out a contract on this "scholar" and had him gunned down. The general rule is that the insolence of Muslim clerics bears an inverse relationship to the risk of bodily harm, despite their loud (and false) assertions to the contrary.
The Pentagon is readying for the possibility of intervention in Syria, aiming to halt Syrian President Bashsar Assad's violent crackdown on protesters, the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Saturday, citing a US military offical.
Who if he's smart will really remain someone who spoke 'on condition of anonymity'...
According to the official, the intervention scenario calls for the establishment of a buffer zone on the Turkish border, in order to receive Syrian refugees. The Red Thingy Cross would then provide the civilians humanitarian aid, before NATO crews would arrive from Turkey and join the efforts.
The measure would pave the way for the US to declare an aerial blockade on Syria.
The intercession is to be modeled after NATO's efforts in Kosovo, which brought an end to the Serbian control of the region. NATO's plan of action included prolonged aerial shelling.
According to Asharq Al-Awsat, the Pentagon does not anticipate a change of heart on the part of China or Russia, who have opposed foreign intervention or sanctions against Syria. But the US expects the two nations to join the humanitarian aid efforts, support a ceasefire between the Syrian regime and rebels and send special UN envoys to investigate the developments in the country.
Not one chance in the world of that happening. Iran, Russia and China simply will not allow Syria to slip away from them.
The next step in the reported US Department of Defense plan would be to appoint a team of UN observers to monitor the humanitarian aid, and enter Syria. They would need aerial protection, which would eventually lead to an aerial blockade.
The military official said in the interview that the plan is a cautious one, and takes into account the Syrian air force's advanced capabilities.
'Advanced capabilities' is a relative term -- ask the Israeli Air Force.
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I assume aerial blockade is Gramscian newspeak for no-fly zone.
Azerbaijan, Baku -- Starting early next year, Iran's electricity network will get up to 1,000 megawatts (MW) of power generated by nuclear energy, Fars news agency reported the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization as saying.
Iran is already getting 700 MW of electricity from its nuclear plant. After testing is finished at 75 percent capacity, 1,000 will be sent to the country's electricity grid, said Fereydoun Abbasi.
"Message to Mahmoud the Weasel: Operation Lemony Snickett has another set of targets for you..."
The U.S and EU have worked to impose increasingly tougher sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear program. The West's measures are part of an effort to make Iran answer questions about its nuclear work which it says is peaceful and civilian in nature while the U.S. and its allies contend it is not.
The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant was officially launched on September 12 and started by generating electricity at 40 percent of its capacity. The 1,000-megawatt plant, located southeast of the city of Bushehr along the Persian Gulf, had been already connected to the country's national power grid with the power of 60 MW on September 3, 2011.
It reached the capacity of 190 MW on September 27, and a day later it improved its capacity to 300 MW. The plant gained 50 percent of its nominal power on October 7 as it reached the capacity of 420 MW.
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I hear nuclear electricity can make you sterile. Probably a plot by you-know-whooooo...
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, commenting on the international conference on Syria held in Tunis last week, has said the international community debated all possible courses of action for ending the ongoing violence in the neighboring country, including the possibility of a military intervention, Today's Zaman reported.
Wrapping up talks after the first meeting of the Friends of Syria in Tunisia on Friday, Davutoglu said Turkey would take part in international initiatives against the Syrian regime. He added, "All possible scenarios, including military intervention, have been discussed by a number of countries as a solution [to ending the bloodshed] in Syria."
"Even though Turkey does not want to see Syria in a situation similar to the Libyan civil war [following the NATO intervention in 2011], the upcoming period in Syria poses many risks for the region," Davutoglu continued, adding that Turkey should be prepared for any possible decisions made by the international community.
"The international community should not hold back from taking initiatives to alleviate the humanitarian situation in Syria, even though the UN Security Council has been blocked from providing a solution due to Russia and China's vetoes," Davutoglu said. The Feb. 4 decision by Russia and China to veto a UN resolution calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside angered the international community.
Davutoglu highlighted that Turkey has started to strongly voice its opinions on diplomatic issues over the last decade after taking a back seat on regional and global issues in the past, including the Minsk process, an Azerbaijani-Armenian reconciliation process over Nagorno-Karabakh; the Dayton peace process, reconciling Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and talks on the future of Iraq in the post-Saddam Hussein period. "Turkey has started pulling its diplomatic weight in the international arena. Turkey will have a say in regional and global issues, including Somalia and Syria."
Davutoglu also said the second Friends of Syria meeting will take place in Turkey, while a third is planned to take place in France. Turkey, along with Tunisia and France, chaired Friday's meeting on Syria's political and humanitarian crisis.
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OTOH IIRC DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TURKISH AIR FORCE IS UNABLE TO [operationally] SUPPORT A UN NO-FLY ZONE OVER SYRIA.
D *** NG IT, ANKARA rly Rly ... REALLY RRRREEEELLLYYY WANTS TO, BUT DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH WARBIRDS TO COVER SYRIA + IRAN THREAT + ISRAEL [Cyprus] + MOST ESPEC DEM WILY DASTARDLY,
"HELEN" + ISLAND(S)-STEALING GREEKS.
Less so wid the "Islamic Union" happy yet waffling-as-usual Arab League.
Military drama "Act of Valor" claimed the No. 1 spot on movie box office charts, beating expectations with an estimated $24.7 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales during another busy weekend at theaters.
"Act of Valor" stars real-life, active-duty U.S. Navy SEALs alongside professional actors in a fictional story about a mission to rescue a kidnapped CIA agent. Some scenes used live fire rather than visual effects. Audiences liked the movie, awarding an "A" grade in polling by survey firm CinemaScore and providing high marks in studio exit polls, said Kyle Davies, president of worldwide theatrical distribution for Relativity Media, the independent studio that released the film. "You don't get a consistent reaction like that unless the movie delivers," he said.
The movie attracted a 71 percent male audience, and 60 percent of filmgoers were older than age 25, Relativity said. The studio acquired the film for $13 million and had projected opening weekend sales of up to $17 million.
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#1
The "actuals" weekend b.o. come out on Monday afternoon, and judging from SRO reports from around the country, this is a certified hit.
Almost comically, lefty critics abhor it, with a 31% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but the public reviews are 85% favorable with glowing reviews.
Some viewers have noted that the violence is very graphic, and is too much for some. Also that unlike Hollywood movies, this does not disparage or look for flaws in the SEALs, nor does it try to undermine their heroism in any way.
#3
...but we were assured by the Hollyweird types that after a series of (anti-)war movies that the public wasn't interested in this sort of stuff. Ah, yes, someone in finally remembered the old adage - if you want to send a message, use Western Union.
As for the critics, it's a self identifying posting that they are indeed above the mob and truly live in a alternate world elite.
#4
I plan on seeing this. My money goes towards good movies where I don't get preached at. Captain America was the first movie I went to see in the theater in 4 years.
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 Pentagon is readying for the possibility of intervention in Syria, aiming to halt Syrian President Bashsar Assad's violent crackdown on protesters, the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported Saturday, citing a US military offical.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, commenting on the international conference on Syria held in Tunis last week, has said the international community debated all possible courses of action for ending the ongoing violence in the neighboring country, including the possibility of a military intervention, Today's Zaman reported.
