[DAWN] I REMEMBER the day when the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team happened. I remember watching the live coverage as the events unfolded, and then the channels cut to Raiwind where Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ...Pak dynastic politician, brother of PM Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab... was getting ready to hold a pre-planned news conference. Everybody waited to see what he had to say about the event which was still unfolding on the streets of Lahore.
But when he started to speak, it was all about the judges and the restoration of the judiciary and what a huge crime it would be for the country if we did not right this wrong immediately. His tone was indignant and angry. The channels cut to a split screen, with one window showing him talking about the judges while the other showed the attack under way on the streets of Lahore.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
I would've been a lot more sympathetic, if Pakistan wasn't one of principal state sponsors of terrorism.
#2
Pakistan policy has not and will not be changed. Only the "bad" terrorists will be targeted. The "good" terrorists will be sheltered, trained and funded
Posted by: John Frum ||
12/18/2014 7:18 Comments ||
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#3
I might consider some sympathy, if it wasn't for the fact that the Taliban is a Pakistani/ISI creation. They planted the seeds, nurtured the crop now let them enjoy the toxic fruits of their labor.
[DAWN] A DAY after the deadliest terror attack in the country's history, the politicianship gathered in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. to focus on the krazed killer threat and, crucially, to develop a unified response.
That Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... , PTI chief Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... , former PPP prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and sundry other national leaders, including from religious parties, chose to address the media together suggests that at long last the politicianship understands the need for unity in the face of the krazed killer threat. Whatever the complexities of crafting a meaningful and effective anti-militancy plan, no strategy can have any possibility of success if the country's mainstream politicianship does not own it and fully support it. For too long, despite several multi-party conferences before, fighting militancy has been seen as the sole responsibility of the party in power, with other political parties either doing little more than paying lip service or, often enough, scuttling the possibility of clarity and unanimity with doublespeak. Now, seemingly stirred by the monstrousness of what happened on Tuesday in Peshawar, meaningful unanimity appears to have been achieved.
Political consensus alone, however, will not create a meaningful strategy. Prime Minister Sharif yesterday announced that a committee under the leadership of Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan will devise a policy in seven days to fight militancy. Perhaps the politicianship meant to sound serious and purposeful, but it is not clear what really can be achieved in seven days that could not be done yesterday at the conference. After all, the government already has a nearly year-old National Internal Security Policy in place. Then, four different parties are running the provincial governments in the country and each of them is intensely familiar with various facets of the krazed killer threat. Finally, the mainstream political parties of the country have attended APCs before on the krazed killer threat and also been briefed in parliament by the military leadership. So why not announce immediate steps and wait seven days?
With the hard decisions deferred, it will be even more difficult to maintain a consensus in a week's time, given that there are fundamental differences among the various sections of the political spectrum on how to define terrorism, let alone how to defeat it. If there is already reason to doubt that a meaningful anti-militancy strategy will emerge in a week's time, perhaps it can be hoped that the sheer savagery of the Peshawar attack will not allow the usual style of politics to reassert itself so quickly. There was also another important development yesterday: the military leadership's dash to Kabul for urgent talks. That is key because the country's leadership has a choice: either develop a full-spectrum, civilian and military response now or allow the military-led response to militancy to continue. As Peshawar so tragically demonstrated, a military-only response to terrorism is not an adequate strategy.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/18/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] IS it children we are killing now? My God, what are we? Savages?"
Can any lines be more apt to the slaughter of over 130 innocents in a school at Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. than these? They were written not today by a Pak but more than 150 years ago by a Frenchie -- Victor Hugo.
They were written not simply to remonstrate against the death of a seven-year-old boy who was shot in the head as he played in a Gay Paree street. They were written because they expressed "thoughts that lie too deep for tears". They were written to articulate the anguish every adult -- of any age, in every age, in every community, in every country -- feels at having to "stitch shut the shrouds of seven-year-olds".
Grief like death itself is unique. It cannot be shared. But to the extent that a 180 million people can carry part of the burden being endured by over 130 sets of mourning parents, they do so with feeling and with sincerity. The nation condoles with them -- and with itself, for the murder of these innocent juveniles is also in part the demise of Pakistain's future.
To say that the horror at the Army Public School at Peshawar has seeped like moist blood into the home of every Pak household may seem like hyperbole, yet chilling was the heart-searing coverage of the tragedy at Peshawar by the television channels. It will be difficult for anyone to erase from their minds the images they transmitted of distraught mothers, running between the Safa of one police barrier to the Marwah of another, in a desperate attempt to slake their thirst for information about their children.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
My God, what are we? Savages?"
Got it in one dude. Take comfort from knowing that you're not alone in that.
[DAWN] THE atrocity in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. on Tuesday underscores the particular vulnerability of schoolchildren and educational institutions in Pakistain. In essence, schools and the young learners within them are perhaps the most vulnerable of all the 'soft' targets on the krazed killers' hit list. For long, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... and Fata have witnessed krazed killer violence targeting schools. For example, as per an International Crisis Group report, in the period from 2009 to 2012, between 800 to 900 schools were attacked in KP and the tribal areas. In most of these incidents the turbans chose to strike empty schools, in a symbolic gesture, without causing many casualties.
But perhaps out of frustration, the krazed killer camp has shed any inhibitions about targeting schoolchildren and now has no qualms about slaughtering students, as the Peshawar tragedy shows. Girls' education has been a particular thorn in the obscurantists' side. The conflict in the tribal belt has also upset the education of local children in other ways, as thousands of families have fled the region for safer climes. Fata and KP are not the only areas where education has come under attack. A school principal was killed in an incident in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... carried out by suspected snuffies last year, while also in 2013 a terrorist assault on a university bus in Quetta killed a number of female students. This year, too, began on a bloody note, when a jacket wallah targeted a school in Hangu. Were it not for the selfless heroism and sacrifice of young Aitzaz Hasan, a student who confronted the bomber and tackled him, greater carnage could have resulted in the schoolhouse packed with students. Unfortunately, this time around there was no Aitzaz to confront the monsters who stormed the Army Public School.
The snuffies have declared war on education, and by extension on society. Perhaps only Nigeria's dreaded Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... outfit has a more ferocious anti-education agenda in the murky global krazed killer spectrum. There, of course, needs to be greater security of schools, especially in vulnerable areas. But more than posting a policeman or paramilitary trooper outside every threatened school, a more long-term solution is required. For too long, violent obscurantists have been allowed to publicly spew venom on modern education in Pakistain with barely any reaction from the state. It is time these avowed opponents of learning were taken to task and uprooted in order to allow the youth of this country to build a brighter, literate future.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/18/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
obscurantists?
That sounds like a Kim Jong Un zinger!
Hitler was a righteous person; ice is heat source, and the Earth is square. Such “truths” have just been added another; the EU’s Supreme Court ruling accepting Hamas’s appeal against the decision to designate it as a terrorist organization.
#5
Sorry, but the Court's decision has been completely distorted.
They did NOT say that Hamas was not a terrorist organization (and very much stressed the point that this decision should not be construed to mean that).
What they held is that rhe EU decision had been based not on an examination of Hamas' actions, but on "factual imputations derived from the press and the internet".
The court said the move was technical and was not a reassessment of Hamas' classification as a terrorist group.
It said a funding freeze on the group would continue for the time being.
It was probably a correct court decision.
EU decisions to freeze must be based on elements which have been concretely examined and confirmed in decisions of national competent authorities within the meaning of the Common Position.
What they basically said is this: "If you want to label an organization as terrorist and freeze their funds, do it properly and follow your own rules."
Which of course will happen now. The EU will now go ahead and classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, but based on proper findings.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
12/18/2014 9:15 Comments ||
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EC. What you said about the reasons forn the court decision is right. What I fear is the EU will "lack time" for reclassifying Hamas and that in 20 years the issue will still be pending.
That is a classic bureaucratic tecnique nfor not doing what you don't want to do but not telling it openly.
[Ynet] Terrorists in suits are threatening Israel with a UN bid, but history shows that Security Council resolutions are futile.
Everyone knows that we benefit from the "security cooperation," but for the establishment in Ramallah it's a life insurance. Yet halting it has been described as a threat to Israel, not to the Paleostinians. Why?
Taking criminal measures against us in the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... (ICC) in The Hague for "war crimes" is another empty Paleostinian threat. Why who are we being threatened by? A terrorist organization!
Granted, we did dress Fatah in a civil suit in the Oslo Agreements, but it continues its murderous terror under the brand "the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades." It has one leader, the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... (also known as "Abu Mazen"), whose government incites to terror, pays salaries and hands out rewards to living terrorists, commemorates dead murderous Moslems and educates the youth about their way.
So who is the war criminal here? Israel, which requires legal advice for every single tweet, which judges and investigates itself endlessly, or the licensed terrorists?
And in general, would anyone think of blackmailing America into making diplomatic concessions in exchange for outrageous acts of the CIA, based on Ramallah's childish and ridiculous threat: "A Paleostinian state or The Hague"? They could have only reached such a distorted idea due to our paranoia.
We are mainly being terrorized by the Paleostinian threat to turn to the United Nations ...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense... Security Council.
Here's a little history: The Security Council condemned Israel in 1955 for invading Gazoo, and then for the Samu and Karameh operations. It called on Israel not to hold a march in Jerusalem and then expressed "deep regret" over the decision to hold it, condemned Jerusalem's unification and demanded an end to settlement construction, rebuked Israel over the bombing of the nuclear reactor in Iraq, announced that the annexation of the Golan Heights was cancelled, slammed the killing of the arch-terrorist Abu Jihad as a "blatant violation" of the UN Charter, and since 2002 has been calling for the "two-state solution."
We persisted, and miraculously stayed alive. And so, with everything collapsing around us, we are still defending ourselves from the Golan and from Judea and Samaria and from united Jerusalem, which we have managed to populate with hundreds of thousands of Jews.
From 1967 to 1998, the Security Council adopted 131 anti-Israel resolutions. And what about the Turks in Cyprus, the Indians in MoslemKashmire, the Italians in South Tyrol? Why is it that in every place in the world the status quo has been frozen for decades, and the only thing that troubles the world is the status quo of the Jew in his land?
A useful example can be found in Western Sahara. It has a territory which is about 10 times bigger than Israel and only 513,000 residents. It was a Spanish colony until 1975, and was then divided between Morocco and Mauritania. The local Sahrawis created an underground, the Polisario Front, and launched a war. Mauritania withdrew and Polisario declared the independence of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which today controls about 20% of the territory and had been recognized by several countries. The rest was annexed by Morocco.
The ICC rejected Morocco's territorial claim and recognized the Sahrawis' right to independence. In response, King Hassan II led hundreds of thousands into the area as part of The Green March, expelled 200,000 of the original residents and replaced them with 100,000 settlers.
The fighting ended in 1991 with a ceasefire, which has lasted till this very day. Morocco built a defensive wall along 2,700 kilometers and is keeping an army of 120,000 soldiers there.
The UN approved the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination. There was a "grinding of the peace processor," which led nowhere. Our acquaintances James Baker, Condoleezza Rice and the UN secretary-general got involved – and failed. Nothing came out of the Security Council resolutions.
Occasionally, riots break out. Nonetheless, the status quo has been maintained for decades. The Security Council calmed down and the world is indifferent. After all, it has much more urgent things to deal with. Like Israel, for example.
They really, really hate us. George Orwell wrote a morning “Two Minutes Hate” session into the daily life of his dystopia in 1984. One blogger notes that 2,000 of Rachel Maddow’s facebook fans wished that Ted Cruz would fall into an open elevator shaft. What would he have made of the hyperventilating hatred that liberals display against conservatives? Over at National Review, Katherine Timpf reports on a hate manifesto published by the chair of University of Michigan’s Department of Communications. Republicans “crafted a political identity that rests on a complete repudiation of the idea that the opposing party and its followers have any legitimacy at all,” wrote Prof. Susan Douglas, ““So now we hate them back,” she explains. “And with good reason.”
In fact, they have their reasons to hate us. They are being silly. We know they are being silly, and they know we know, and they can’t stand it. It isn’t quite how we repudiate the idea that the opposing party has any legitimacy at all. But we can’t stop giggling.
#2
Susan J. Douglas boldly declares in the opening of the piece. “I can’t stand the thought of having to spend the next two years watching Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Ted Cruz, Darrell Issa Obama or any of the legions of other blowhards and prevaricators denying promoting climate change junkscience, thwarting pushing unwanted illegal immigration down the throats of the majority reform or championing fetal ‘personhood.’” or killing babies.
See how easy it is Susan? Just wake up some morning and spin your head around and come out of your pampering elitist cocoon; in other words, take your head out of your arse and quit spouting your BS and bullying your students by forcing your tripe on them.
#8
They hate us because we can do things without government "hep". We don't need a government nanny.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/18/2014 15:15 Comments ||
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#9
It's really getting to the point where it's hard to distinguish the left from the Islamists. Only the ideology is different -- they both demand the same loyalty, and they both want the same type of outcome. Maybe we need to begin TREATING them like the Islamists, as well.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/18/2014 15:38 Comments ||
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#10
Post something like that on Rantburg and you'll get Smoky the Bear leaning into your car's window and asking you to leave the Internet.
Because that's just playground-grade taunting. We hold ourselves to a higher standard of insult and mockery. Plus, despite our various obsessions, we're not totally insane.
#12
"A man is best defined by those who hate him. Make a practice of cultivating enemies worth having."
An immortal thought I read, no kidding, on a friend's refrigerator door.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/18/2014 16:55 Comments ||
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#13
Advanced age has a remarkable capability to reduce and even eliminate one's enemies. Most people simply dismiss you as a seemingly friendly, harmless old man with a gravy stained shirt. I have ARRIVED !
#14
Missed the point completely. Fascism has taken over the party. Its ok to disagree, but the hate is pure fascism. Welcome to the Nazi party and get your liberal brown shirt on!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/18/2014 21:48 Comments ||
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#15
I have ARRIVED
We've been waiting for you....I think.; although I can't really remember why.
Oh, right. Did you find my keys?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/18/2014 22:42 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Hitler was a righteous person; ice is heat source, and the Earth is square. Such “truths” have just been added another; the EU’s Supreme Court ruling accepting Hamas’s appeal against the decision to designate it as a terrorist organization.
International Criminal Court
