[DAWN] Afghanistan's presidential election is set for a second-round vote, preliminary results showed Saturday, as former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani both failed to secure a decisive victory. We guessed that.
The vote will choose a successor to outgoing President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... in Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power.
The eventual winner will have to oversee the fight against a resilient Taliban insurgency as 51,000 US-led troops depart this year, as well as strengthen an economy that relies on declining aid money.
"Based on our results, it appears that the election goes to the second round," Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani, head of the Independent Election Commission, told a presser in Kabul.
Abdullah secured 44.9 per cent of the April 5 vote, with his main rival Ghani on 31.5 per cent, according to the preliminary results.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] An Afghan fact-finding committee says it has uncovered secret jails in southern Afghanistan run by US-led foreign forces.
The commission, appointed by Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... to probe jails run by US and British forces in the country, made the revelation on Saturday.
"We have conducted a thorough investigation and search of Kandahar Airfield and Camp Bastion and found several illegal and unlawful detention facilities run and operated by foreign military forces," said Abdul Shakur Dadras, the head of the committee.
Dadras also noted that the committee members were sent to Kandahar and Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... provinces to review the jails on two foreign forces' bases, Kandahar Airfield, controlled by the US forces, and Camp Bastion that is run by the UK military.
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement later in the day that it was aware of "their investigative team looking into the detention facilities in Kandahar and Helmand and we are cooperating fully with the investigation on this matter."
The issue is considered as the latest dispute over the detention of Afghans by US-led foreign forces.
Earlier this year, Afghan government freed dozens of detainees held in the US-run Bagram prison.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Gauging from the headline it ain't secret no more.
Posted by: Gleaque de Medici ||
04/27/2014 13:00 Comments ||
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Ethiopian border patrol officers arrested the security chief of the Guriceel district and key members of his administration before throwing him into jail.
The chief and his employees were caught attempting to flee the Somalia border trying to get to Ethiopia, although they didnât mention the reason of their sudden travel.
Krugerrands in the hidden compartment in the luggage?
An official from Ahlusunna Waljamaaca reported to Shabelle that they the pro-government militia is currently arranging talks with Ethiopian forces to discuss release of the security chief and his staff.
Ethiopian soldiers have not given a comment regarding the detention of Guricelâs security chief.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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[Egypt Independent] The Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis ...Supporters of Jerusalem, the current pen name of al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula... group on Friday threatened to attack Pepsi Cola for allegedly allowing the Interior Ministry to use their company vans to transport detainees.
"You know who we are and what we can do," the group addressed the company on Twitter. "This is the last warning and you will only blame yourselves. By God, we will not tolerate working with the police whatever the client, the amount and status."
A picture circulated Twitter last month of a detainee transport van from the Interior Ministry, painted red with the Coca-Cola company logo on the side, as if it were a official company supply truck. It is not clear if the incident is related to the recent threat from Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, as the two are separate companies. It also remains unclear the reason for the Interior Ministry to seemingly disguise the transport vans.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
I'd like to teach the world to scream and kick it in the nuts;
Bomb apple trees and kill the bees and run it thru the ruff;
An Egyptian court sentenced 13 supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi Saturday to prison terms ranging from five to 88 years for rioting, a judicial source said.
They were accused of "rioting, sabotage and public order offences" in the southern towns of Samalut and Minya during protests against a bloody crackdown in Cairo on August 14 when hundreds of people were killed, the source said.
They are able to appeal the verdicts.
On March 24, 529 Morsi supporters were sentenced to death on the second day of their trial in Minya province in the largest mass death sentencing in Egypt's modern history.
The sentences caused an international outcry.
On Monday, the same court is due to pass sentence on Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohamed Badie and 700 other Morsi supporters.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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[DailyBeast] A camp on the Libyan coastline meant to train terror-hunters has instead become a haven for snuffies and al Qaeda.
A key jihadist leader and longtime member of al Qaeda has taken control of a secretive training facility set up by U.S. special operations forces on the Libyan coastline to help hunt down Islamic Death Eaters, according to local media reports, Jihadist web forums, and U.S. officials.
In the summer of 2012, American Green Berets began refurbishing a Libyan military base 27 kilometers west of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... in order to hone the skills of Libya's first Western-trained special operations counter-terrorism fighters. Less than two years later, that training camp is now being used by groups with direct links to al Qaeda to foment chaos in post-Qadaffy Libya.
Last week, the Libyan press reported that the camp (named "27" for the kilometer marker on the road between Tripoli and Tunis) was now under the command of Ibrahim Ali Abu Bakr Tantoush, a veteran associate of the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now sometimes referred to as Mister Bones... who was first designated as part of al Qaeda's support network in 2002 by the United States and the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... . The report said he was heading a group of Salifist fighters from the former Libyan base.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
These programs are designed to produce combat-ready special operators to join U.S. SEALs and Delta Force teams on missions. This means in practice that these guys were expected to conduct missions with our guys, the U.S. defense official said. But of course that never happened.
#2
Yeah, that's the idea. Just like training Los Zetas in Mexico "Some of the original members, who had come from the GAFE unit, had during the 1990s reportedly received training in commando and urban warfare from Israeli Special Forces Units and American Special Forces units, which included training in rapid deployment, marksmanship, ambushes, counter-surveillance and intimidation" - wiki
#3
Well since we know where that base is, it would a simple matter to program the lat/long into a cruise missile's Tom-Tom and punch the 'Go' button. We aren't using that base anymore, so what difference would it make?
#4
Don't know who trained whom, but after the incident at the US consulate, somebody sure get's a 'GO' in the their Job Book in reference to 60mm mortar fire.
[Ynet] Story of father and son 'deaders' from working class neighborhood Cairo offers rare glimpse into turban threat facing Egypt, dramatically increasing since Morsi's ouster.
Fahmy Abdel Raouf and his 13-year old son had been missing for months when their family got word they had been killed in a shootout with security forces and hailed as "deaders" by the most dangerous turban group in Egypt.
"If his intention was jihad, I hope God accepts his deed," said Abdel Raouf's wife, dressed head-to-toe in black with only her eyes visible behind a conservative Islamic face veil as she spoke at their family home in Cairo.
The story of the father and son from a working class neighborhood of Cairo offers a glimpse into the turban threat facing Egypt, which has increased dramatically since the army overthrew Moslem Brüderbund President Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... last year.
The pair were members of the group spearheading Islamist attacks in Egypt, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis ...Supporters of Jerusalem, the current pen name of al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula... , according to both the authorities and a statement from the organization.
Abdel Raouf, 38, had fought alongside Islamists in the Syrian civil war. His son, radicalized by the state's bloody crackdown on Islamists that followed Morsi's overthrow last year, was a much newer convert.
They symbolize the growing complexity of a problem that will face Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who became Egypt's de facto leader when he deposed Morsi. Sisi is expected to win a presidential election in May.
Armed groups are drawing in both established turbans, such as Abdel Raouf, and the recently radicalized, such as his son.
Their reach has extended well beyond the Sinai Peninsula - birthplace of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis - to the capital. At least four members of the cell targeted on March 19 came from the same Cairo neighborhood.
"You are not talking about long-standing or known organizations," said Khalil al-Anani, an expert on Islamist movements at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
"We are talking about the third generation of radical jihadists that emerged from the Arab Spring," he said. "This is a generation that nobody has control over."
From student to martyr
Abdel Raouf and his son died on March 19 when the security forces stormed their bomb-making factory in Qalyoubia
province, just north of Cairo, killing a total of six turbans. Two army officers also died in the five-hour long operation.
The authorities say it was a major blow to Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, the group behind some of the biggest attacks of the last nine months, including a failed attempt Curses! Foiled again! to kill the interior minister and large kabooms on cop shoppes.
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, or Supporters of Jerusalem, issued a statement naming the "deaders" killed that day. They included Abdel Raouf, an oil industry technician, and his son, the similarly named Abdel Raouf Fahmy Abdel Raouf.
The boy had vanished in January after sitting his end-of-term exams.
"I was surprised and shocked," said the wife and mother, a woman in her thirties who declined to give her full name during an interview at the modest family home in the al-Matariya district of northeast Cairo. She heard of their deaths on TV.
Both the authorities and Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis said the elder Abdel Raouf had fought in Syria, along with another member of his cell from the same Cairo neighborhood in the city's northeast.
According to officials, Abdel Raouf had also undergone training in the Gazoo Strip. His role in Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis had included reconnoitering police facilities, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... because they were not permitted to talk to the media.
His wife described her husband as a God-fearing man who spoke little of politics and travelled a lot for work.
Asked about his links to the Syrian war and Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, she challenged the government to prove his involvement, although she did not deny the claims.
She had taken note of the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis statement announcing the deaths, memorising a reference to her son as "a cub of that lion who had insisted on waging holy struggle with his father".
One of her three surviving children, an infant daughter, sat beside her as she candidly set out her view of events. "The war is a war on religion," she said.
The police had been hunting her husband for months.
When Abdel Raouf's wife and sister visited his mother in hospital in February, security agents forced them to remove their face veils in case he had come in disguise, they said.
'He never liked the Brotherhood'
Abdel Raouf appeared to have been on the police radar for years. He was tortured in deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... 's era, his family said. His mother recalled a time he returned home unable to hold a cup of tea. He said his tormentors had shocked him with electrodes on his tongue.
After Mubarak was toppled by a popular uprising in 2011 and the Islamist Morsi elected the following year, the police left Abdel Raouf alone. But he found no satisfaction in Moslem Brüderbund rule. He viewed the mainstream group as too soft on Islam and said they were promoting "half religion".
"He never liked them," his wife said.
When the military removed Morsi after a year in office following mass protests against his rule, Abdel Raouf told his family to avoid protest camps set up by Brotherhood supporters demanding his reinstatement, his family said.
Nevertheless, one of Abdel Raouf's brothers was among the hundreds of people killed on Aug. 14 when security forces used overwhelming force to destroy those camps.
The authorities say Abdel Raouf's brother was shot in festivities with the security forces that day. His family say he was killed while collecting his family from across town.
It was after burying his brother two days later that Abdel Raouf disappeared. His wife recalled his last words as: "God will give the people the ruler they deserve."
The day of his brother's funeral, Aug. 16, saw violent mass protests in which a further 120 people were killed, including two coppers. The authorities say Abdel Raouf participated in attacks on the security forces. His family says he wasn't there.
It was also a turning point for Abdel Raouf's son. After his uncle's death, the 13-year old began taking part in protests against the government for the first time.
"He would say: 'This is utter injustice,'" his mother said.
Locals tell a similar story about another of the hard boyz from Matariya killed on March 19. Outside the house where he lived, a banner honours him as "the martyr" Mohammed Sayid.
Neighbours say he too became radicalised in the demonstrations that followed the storming of the camps, having never before shown signs of extremism or political affiliations.
"He was just like us. He'd go to weddings, smoke cigarettes and was not religious or anything like that," said one youth, part of a group standing nearby.
Another, referring to Ramses Square where the Aug. 16 protests took place, said: "What caused all of this was that he went out in the protest at the time of Ramses. One of his friends died, and that was that."
'Loose coordination'
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis emerged in North Sinai in 2011, taking root in the security vacuum that emerged after Mubarak's downfall. Its initial target was Israel. The group blew up a pipeline for exporting gas to Israel and fired rockets at the southern Israeli resort of Eilat.
But since last summer, its focus has switched to the Egyptian state. The group has grabbed credit for attacks that have contributed to a corpse count of more than 500, mostly police and soldiers. In January, it shot down an army helicopter in Sinai, where the military is trying to crush the turbans.
"It looks to a great extent like individual cells crop up and there may be some very loose coordination with other elements of 'the organization', or communication with figures outside - whether, it's al Qaeda, or some of the bad boy organizations in Libya, for example," said a Western diplomat.
The United States has designated Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis a terrorist group, citing attacks including one that killed three South Korean tourists in Sinai in February.
Egypt also accuses the Brotherhood of a role in the violence and declared it a terrorist group after a suicide kaboom on a cop shoppe claimed by Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis. However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... Western countries say they are unconvinced by Cairo's assertions that the mainstream Brotherhood is tied to the turbans.
"We continue to see no data supporting the claim of organizational links between ABM and the Moslem Brüderbund," said the diplomat, using an acronym for Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis.
The Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest party until last summer, has denounced the violence. But by banning the Brotherhood, the government risks pushing more people deeper underground and into the arms of those who embrace the shedding of blood.
Anani of Johns Hopkins University said: "Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has growing appeal among disenchanted Islamists."
#1
"If his intention was jihad, I hope God accepts his deed," said Abdel Raouf's wife, dressed head-to-toe in black with only her eyes visible behind a conservative Islamic face veil as she spoke at their family home in Cairo.
Good. Don't wear white before Memorial Day
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2014 10:43 Comments ||
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#2
I thought that was shoes Frank. I miss a lot tho. Likely wrong. Or is it Easter? In north Florida it is okay to forget the entire mess and don woodlands cammo on September 1.
[Iran Press TV] Moslem residents of the Central African Republic (CAR) have advocated calls for the establishment of a new state to be located in the north of the country.
Many in the CAR Moslem community have stated that partition is the best and simplest solution to the threat of violence from Christian forces of Evil in the country's south.
Young Moslems in the town of Bambari said they are using their mobile phones to circulate a design for a national flag of what they call the Republic of Northern Central Africa.
"The partition itself has already been done. Now there only remains the declaration of independence," said Abdel Nasser Mahamat Youssouf, member of a youth group lobbying for the secession of the north.
The Central African Republic plunged into a sectarian war following a coup last year.
The violence has left thousands of people dead and over a million displaced.
The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... has described the displacement of the Moslems of the CAR as ethnic-religious cleansing.
Human rights organizations have also warned of religious cleansing of Moslems in the Central African Republic.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Does this mean they have given up on killing all the non-Muslims in the south?
This would be a terrible mistake. Go with the obvious and save big bucks by not having to change flags and stationery later: Central African Islamic Republic.
[DAWN] Senior journalist Hamid Mir, who is currently being treated after escaping an attack on his life 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... last week, blamed 'ISI within ISI' for orchestrating the attack in an interview with BBC Urdu on Saturday.
Speaking during his first interaction with the media after the attack, Geo TV's senior anchorperson said that he has been threatened again to leave the country by same elements who he alleged were behind the attack.
He said he has been told to leave Karachi and Pakistain as "it will be a long fight."
"People visit me in guise of friends but leave after conveying threatening messages of the foes," said the senior journalist answering a question about source of the recent threats.
"They say you better leave Pakistain...it's not safe for you anymore. Only yesterday a highly responsible person came to visit me and told me that I will be attacked again."
Mir said the people who were threatening had always been a part of the country's strong military establishment and they were conveying messages of differing nature to him.
He said those who keep an eye on journalists' movement and tape their telephone calls were behind the attack.
"Only these people may know what flight Hamid Mir will take to reach Karachi. Which car will pick him up at the airport and at what time he will come out from the airport. They knew where to attack the car and chose a corner where CCTV camera wasn't functioning," he added.
The journalist said he was pointing towards 'ISI within IS,' adding that a person namely "Major Wajahat" called him during a live show and despite giving the authorities all the details nothing has been done as yet.
"The most worrisome fact is that Jihadist outfits attached to Taliban, which have been banned by the government, are protesting in favour of ISI," he said.
"These banned jihadist groups which are protesting against me and in favour of ISI, aren't these ISI within ISI?" he questioned.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Maulana Yousuf Shah, coordinator of the Taliban-nominated committee to mediate peace talks with the government, said Saturday that contact had been established with the Taliban and a meeting was expected to take place with its political shura in two days' time, DawnNews reported.
Speaking to DawnNews, Maulana Yousuf said the Taliban Shura had asked for two days' time to determine a location for the meeting to take place.
He said extension of ceasefire, exchange of prisoners and other issues would be taken up in the meeting, adding that the deadlock in peace talks would end.
Another member of the Taliban-nominated committee Professor Ibrahim complained that the government had still not provided the list of prisoners which it had released.
He said it was not clear as to who held custody of former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's former prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics could be awe-inspiring ... 's son Ali Haider Gilani, adding that if the latter was in the Taliban's captivity, then a demand should be made for his release.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Iraq's dwindling Christian community faces "disaster," and if no action is taken they will number just a few thousand in a decade, the country's most senior church leader told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako said the daily migration of Christians from Iraq was "terrifying" and blamed a range of factors, including generally poor security in the country and worsening religious extremism.
Iraq's Christian community is a shadow of what it used to be -- once numbering more than a million nationwide, with upwards of 600,000 in Storied Baghdad alone, there are now fewer than 400,000 across the country.
"The daily migration of Christians from Iraq is terrifying and very worrying," Sako told AFP from the ethnically-mixed northern city of Kirkuk on Friday evening.
"The church is facing a disaster, and if the situation continues along this course, our numbers in the coming 10 years will be not more than a few thousand."
Sako blamed worsening security and religious extremism, and cited death threats against Christians and the forcible seizure of their property by armed gangs purporting to be members of powerful militias.
He also reiterated criticism of "Western countries who encourage migration of Christians."
The church leader spoke after visiting Christian communities nationwide.
Though not explicitly targeted as they were in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Christians are among those suffering from the recent upsurge in violence across Iraq.
In addition to the bloodshed, they are vulnerable to pressure from gangs, with local NGOs reporting several homes belonging to Christians having been forcibly seized.
Though others have suffered similar fates, Christian have been disproportionately targeted for reasons to do with tribal politics and because of the high number who have fled.
Because Christians do not retain tribal affiliations in the way Moslem Arabs do, they have little recourse for resolving disputes outside the Iraqi legal system, which is often criticized for corruption and subject to manipulation.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Acting Paleostinian Authority (PA) chief the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... says Paleostinians will never recognize Israel as a "Jewish state."
Abbas made the remarks at the meeting of the Central Council of the Paleostinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put the recognition of a Jewish state as a precondition for any talks on a Paleostinian state.
On Thursday, the Israeli regime canceled the so-called peace talks with the Paleostinian Authority, after the Paleostinian resistance movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and PLO signed a deal on Wednesday to form a joint government.
Tel Aviv pledged to take retaliatory measures against the agreement, saying that it will not deal with any Paleostinian government which includes Hamas.
Netanyahu also said the deal was a "blow to Israel" and is "killing" the talks between Tel Aviv and the Paleostinian Authority.
Abbas has said the deal does not contradict the negotiations the Paleostinian Authority is pursuing with Israel.
The talks between the Paleostinian Authority and the Israeli regime reached a deadlock last month when Tel Aviv refused to free the last group of 104 Paleostinian prisoners in late March as part of a deal for the resumption of the US-sponsored negotiations.
Since the resumption of the direct talks in July 2013, Paleostinians have objected to a number of issues, including the Israeli regime's illegal settlement expansion in the occupied Paleostinian territories.
According to the Paleostinian sources, the issue of the settlement activities in the occupied Paleostinian territories remains as the main obstacle to the peace in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
so much for Jahn's Nobel Peace Prize
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2014 10:46 Comments ||
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#2
so much for Jahn's Nobel Peace Prize
I wouldn't be too sure. The accomplishment bar was set pretty low back in 2009.
[An Nahar] Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... said Saturday the new unity government he is set to head with the backing of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, would reject violence and recognize Israel and existing agreements.
Israel, however, slammed his speech to the Paleostine Liberation Organization's Central Council as a "coup de grace" to the grinding of the peace processor.
The PLO body had convened to chart a course of action after Israel suspended U.S.-brokered peace talks in response to a reconciliation deal with the Islamist Hamas movement.
The agreement between the rival Paleostinian factions came as the United States and Israel had hoped to extend the faltering peace talks beyond their April 29 deadline.
Israel said it would not negotiate with a government backed by Hamas, the armed Islamist movement ruling the Gazoo Strip, which is pledged to the destruction of the Jewish state and has always rejected peace talks.
"The upcoming government will obey my policy," Abbas told the PLO council.
"I recognize Israel and reject violence and terrorism, and recognize international commitments."
He stressed that the new government itself would not be charged with negotiations, but rather the PLO which "represents the entire Paleostinian people".
Efforts to extend hitherto fruitless talks hit a wall last month when Israel refused to release a final batch of Paleostinian prisoners.
The Paleostinians retaliated by applying to adhere to 15 international treaties as Abbas listed conditions for extending the talks beyond the deadline.
He reiterated these conditions on Saturday, saying Israel must freeze settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem, free the prisoners and begin discussing the borders of a promised Paleostinian state.
Israel, which had already dismissed these same conditions, slammed his speech as tantamount to a "coup de grace to the grinding of the peace processor".
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
see: "Rogue Elements"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/27/2014 10:46 Comments ||
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#2
Either somebody's Swiss bank account requires replenishing or somebody else is new to the gang and needs to start one.
[An Nahar] Iran's judiciary banned reformist newspaper Ebtekar on Saturday for "spreading lies", ISNA news agency reported, making it the third such publication to be shut down by authorities in recent months.
"I received a note from media court which said a ban has been imposed on the daily for spreading lies," Mohammad Ali Vakili, managing director of the daily, told ISNA.
ISNA said the ban was imposed because of a headline in Thursday's edition for a story about the replacement of the country's prisons chief over reports of violence against political prisoners.
"The headline of one of the Ebtekar columns read prisons chief was dismissed, while he has been appointed to another post and not dismissed," ISNA said.
According to opposition websites, several inmates in the notorious Section 350 of Evin prison were beaten after scuffles broke out at a cell block, with some of them seriously maimed and taken to hospital.
After the incident prisons chief Gholam Hossein Ismaili, was replaced by Asghar Jahangir and appointed to a senior post as head of the justice department in the capital.
A judiciary front man said Ismaili's reassignment "had nothing to with what happened in Section 350".
Iran's judiciary system is controlled by conservatives who frequently clash with the government over policies they deem to be too liberal.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syria said Saturday it aimed for a "free and transparent" presidential election, responding to opposition and Western criticism that the June 3 poll will be a parody of democracy.
So far, a businessman who studied in the United States and an independent MP and former communist are the only two hopefuls to register their candidacy.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... , whose family has controlled the country for four decades, has yet to announce his own candidacy.
However, the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach... he told Agence La Belle France Presse in January there were strong chances he would stand, and there is no doubt that he will win if he does.
"The Syrian presidency... maintains an equal distance from all candidates in order that Syrians can choose their... president freely and transparently," a statement said.
And it saluted the "democratic atmosphere" in which the two existing candidates had stepped forward.
Would-be candidates must win the support of at least 35 of Syria's 250 MPs to do so.
Of those, a full 160 are members of the Baath party, which has ruled Syria with an iron fist for nearly 50 years.
Under a new constitution adopted in 2012, the year after the country's civil war erupted, those who have not lived in Syria continuously for the past 10 years are barred from standing.
That effectively excludes most of the opposition.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Transparent, ehhh? Taking lessons from the 'bamster.
Just a trifle ironic if the Syrians turn out to mean it.
Deputy Commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base General Shahrokh Shahram said that the country's military experts have adapted Sayyad 3 missile, an updated version of Sayyad 2, to be launched from S-200 air defence system, Iranian ISNA news agency reported on April 26.
The S-200 is the one that's only two generations behind...
The new achievement will strengthen S-200 air defence system, the commander said, adding that the system will be capable to fire Sayyad 3 missiles towards targets within a medium-altitude range.
Iran's S-200 system is a very long range, medium-to-high altitude surface-to-air missile (SAM) system designed to defend large areas from bomber attack or other strategic aircrafts.
Each S-200 battalion has 6 single-rail missile launchers and one fire control radar. It can be linked to other, longer-range radar systems.
In November 2013, Iran's Defence Ministry inaugurated the production line of Sayyad 2, the earlier version of the missile. It is equipped with a solid fuel engine with a combined guiding system and high operational capabilities, according to the Iranian officials.
Iran said in August 2013 that it used the home-made Sayyad 2 missile in its S-200 anti-aircraft system. Sayyad 2 is a missile for mid-range and high-altitude air defence systems, designed based on the state-of-the-art technologies which can destroy different types of helicopters, drones and targets with small radar cross-section and high speed and manoeuvrability within its operational range.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/27/2014 00:00 ||
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Snowy here. I am screwing around with browsers again, but I just had to keep the nick for this comment.
Anyway, what are the chances they're just doing final assembly and all the original parts, up to and including the solid fueled rocket, are coming from Russia?
Posted by: Clirt Smiter of the Hemps ||
04/27/2014 16:07 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
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Deputy Commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base General Shahrokh Shahram said that the country's military experts have adapted Sayyad 3 missile, an updated version of Sayyad 2, to be launched from S-200 air defence system, Iranian ISNA news agency reported on April 26.
