KATHMANDU - Suspected Maoist rebels gunned down a royalist election candidate in broad daylight near his office in southeast Nepal while the death toll in two weekend clashes between rebels and soldiers reached 28, police said on Monday.
The candidate was shot Sunday in the town of Janakpur, 380 kilometres (240 miles) southeast of Kathmandu, a police official said. Two rebels shot at Bijaya Lal Das, president of the Nepal Sadhbhawana Party Dhanusha district, near his party office... Sunday afternoon and fled the scene, Janakpur police officer Dor Bahadur Khadka told AFP. Das was shot three times in the chest and died while being rushed to a nearby hospital.
Das had recently announced that he would run for mayor of the municipality.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2006
21:50 ||
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Scientists have for many years debated the cause of the Plague of Athens. Analysis carried out by Manolis Papagrigorakis and colleagues using DNA collected from teeth from an ancient Greek burial pit points to typhoid fever as the disease responsible for this devastating epidemic. The study appears on the online version of The International Journal of Infectious Diseases (IJID) published by Elsevier on behalf of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.
The plague that began in Ethiopia and passed through Egypt and Libya to Greece in 430-426 B.C. changed the balance of power between Athens and Sparta, ending the Golden Age of Pericles and Athenian dominance in the ancient world. It is thought that up to one third of the Athenians, including their charismatic leader, Pericles, perished in the epidemic.
Until now our understanding of this outbreak was based on the account by the fifth century B.C. Greek historian Thucydides, who himself was taken ill with the plague but recovered. Despite Thucydides detailed description, researchers have not managed to agree on the identity of the plague and several diseases, including bubonic plague, smallpox, anthrax and measles have been implicated in the emergence and spread of this epidemic.
A mass burial pit unearthed in the Kerameikos ancient cemetery of Athens and dated back to the time of the historical outbreak, provided the required skeletal material for the investigation of ancient microbial DNA. Aided by modern DNA recovery and amplification techniques, Papagigorakis et al used dental pulp to identify DNA sequences similar to those of the modern day Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, the organism that causes typhoid fever. The results of this study point to typhoid fever as the probable cause of the Plague of Athens.
Typhoid fever is transmitted by contaminated food or water, and nowadays the disease is most common in developing countries and in travellers returning from these countries.
Corresponding author Dr Manolis J Papagrigorakis of the University of Athens says: "Studying the historical aspects of infectious diseases can be a powerful tool for several disciplines to learn from. We believe this report to be of outstanding importance for many scientific fields, since it sheds light to one of the most debated enigmas in medical history." Plagues can bring down empires. An important lesson even today.
The port project at Gwadar in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province appears to be in trouble. Baloch insurgents battling Islamabad are opposed to the project and have been attacking people working on it. Besides, some differences appear to have cropped up between the Pakistan government and the project's main funder - China - over financial aspects of the project.
Gwadar is on Pakistan's Arabian Sea coast, just 72 kilometers from Iran. It is near the mouth of the Persian Gulf and is 400km from the Strait of Hormuz. The Pakistani government identified
Gwadar as a port site way back in the 1960s, but it was only in 2001-02 that concrete steps on the proposal were taken.
It was the arrival of US troops in Afghanistan - literally at China's doorstep - in the autumn of 2001 that spurred Beijing into action. China agreed to participate in funding, construction and development of a deepsea port and naval base in Gwadar and in March 2002 Chinese premier Wu Bangguo laid the foundation for the port. Its engineers are engaged in the port's design and construction.
China insists its interest in Gwadar is purely commercial. No doubt it is hoping that the port will transform the economy of its landlocked Xinjiang province.
However, Gwadar port has a far-larger significance in China's scheme of things. It is said to be the western-most pearl in China's "string of pearls" strategy (this is a strategy that envisages building strategic relations with several countries along sea lanes from the Middle East to the South China Sea to protect China's energy interests and other security objectives), the other "pearls" being naval facilities in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and the South China Sea.
China's interest in the Gwadar project stems from the port's proximity to the Strait of Hormuz. A base at Gwadar enables China to secure the flow of its oil - 60% of its energy supplies come from the Middle East - through the strait. More important, Gwadar is said to be a "listening post" for the Chinese, one that will enable Beijing to monitor movement of US and Indian ships in the region.
Pakistan is eyeing huge economic and strategic gains, with Gwadar poised to become a key shipping hub at the mouth of a strategic waterway. A port at Gwadar provides Pakistan with strategic depth vis-a-vis India. Gwadar is 725km to the west of Karachi port, making it that much less vulnerable than Karachi to an Indian naval blockade.
Not surprisingly, the construction of Gwadar port and Sino-Pakistan cooperation in the project are causing concern for India, the United States and Iran. The Chinese presence in the Arabian Sea heightens India's feeling of encirclement by China. Iran fears that the development of Gwadar port will undermine the value of its own ports as outlets to Central Asia's exports.
As for the US, it has been uncomfortable with Chinese presence at the mouth of a key waterway. And now in the run-up to a possible war with Iran, Washington appears to be eyeing Gwadar's naval facilities all the more. It appears that the US is pressuring Pakistan to reduce Chinese involvement in the project and to involve Washington instead.
The New Delhi-based online Public Affairs Magazine has reported that the US "could be [pressuring] Pakistan to outprice the Chinese from Gwadar to take over the entire facility". Citing diplomats, the report said: "Pakistan has now raised the cost of Chinese participation to US$3 billion in addition to the $1.5 billion yearly payment, which China has refused, saying it is steep, and in breach of the terms of the contract. China has said that it had already agreed to offset construction costs by giving Pakistan four frigates, but Pakistan is unmoved, and offered to return all the Chinese investment, if they would have it that way."
Dismissing such reports as "wishful thinking on the part of India", a Pakistani government official told Asia Times Online that the Gwadar project was "very much on track" and that "Sino-Pakistan cooperation in the venture remains strong".
But even if the reported differences between China and Pakistan in the Gwadar project were indeed "wishful thinking on the part of India", the project is under fire from Baloch insurgents.
Balochis are not opposed to the Gwadar port project or other megaprojects per se. What they are opposed to is the way these projects have been conceived and implemented. They resent the fact Balochis have been excluded from the benefits of these projects and that "outsiders" have grown rich by exploiting Baloch resources. Balochistan's Sui gas reserves, for instance, meet 38% of Pakistan's energy needs, but only 6% of Balochistan's 6 million people have access to it, and the royalties Balochistan receives for its gas are very low, especially when compared with what other provinces receive.
Likewise, the Gwadar project does not seem to be transforming Baloch lives for the better. Baloch nationalists see Gwadar as "a non-Baloch project", one that has been conceived and implemented without provincial approval or participation, in which "outsiders" have gained the most. They point out that land in Gwadar is being sold at throwaway prices to non-Baloch civil-military elites.
There is concern, too, that the Gwadar project would leave Balochis a minority in their homeland. As the Baloch leader, the Khan of Kalat, pointed out in an interview to the Pakistani daily Dawn, the entire project would need at least a million people, and with Gwadar being a town of 60,000, people from "Karachi, mostly Urdu-speaking", would be brought in.
Not surprisingly, then, the Gwadar project has been repeatedly targeted by Baloch insurgent groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the Baloch Liberation Front and the Baloch People's Liberation Army. Insurgents have struck repeatedly with bombs and rocket attacks. In 2004 for instance, Gwadar airport was the target of rocket attacks.
Several of the insurgent attacks in Gwadar have targeted Chinese working on this project. About 500 Chinese engineers are employed in Gwadar. On May 3, 2004, three Chinese engineers were killed and nine others injured in a bomb blast by the BLA. On May 14 last year, four bombs went off in Gwadar. Then in October, several Chinese engineers had a narrow escape when the vehicle in which they were traveling missed a landmine. The following month, insurgents launched a rocket attack on a Chinese construction company in the Tallar area of Gwadar district. The Chinese engineers and other staff escaped unhurt but several vehicles were damaged.
In total, according to official data, there were 187 bomb blasts, 275 rocket attacks, eight attacks on gas pipelines, 36 attacks on electricity-transmission lines and 19 explosions on railway lines in 2005. At least 182 civilians and 26 security force personnel died in the province during 2005.
An interesting aspect about Baloch nationalist insurgents, who are by and large secular, and the religious militants is that while both view China as an enemy, their opposition to Chinese involvement in the Gwadar project differs. Tarique Niazi, a specialist on resource-based conflict, said: "Baloch nationalists, for instance, are opposed to the Chinese government for advancing its strategic goals at the expense of their freedom and autonomy. But several religiously inspired groups are opposed to the Chinese government for its putative persecution of the Uighur Muslim minority in the autonomous region of Xinjiang."
The kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in October 2004 by members of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) is said to have been a response to Pakistan's killing of ETIM chief Hasan Mahsum, to whom it had provided shelter in South Waziristan, on Beijing's request.
While India, Iran and the US might be wary of the Sino-Pakistan cooperation in Gwadar, internal opposition to the bonding seems far greater, as indicated by the ferocity and frequency of attacks on the Gwadar project and Chinese employees there.
With the Baloch insurgency growing in intensity and the Pakistani government's military approach to the problem only fueling Baloch resentment and the insurgency further, it does seem that even if the Gwadar port project is, as officials claim, "on track", it will be near impossible to realize its full potential.
Notes
[1] In Bangladesh, China is building a container port facility at Chittagong and is "seeking much more extensive naval and commercial access", according to reports.
In Myanmar, China is building naval bases and has electronic intelligence-gathering facilities on islands in the Bay of Bengal and near the Strait of Malacca.
In Cambodia, China signed a military agreement in November 2003 to provide training and equipment.
In Thailand, Chinese navy ships took part in a joint search-and-rescue exercise with the Thai navy in the Gulf of Thailand December 13, 2005. The drill, the first between the two navies, was launched after a Chinese navy ships formation concluded a four-day visit.
In a wide-ranging defense of the National Security Agency's controversial surveillance program, the government's No. 2 intelligence official said Monday that the spy agency's operations are not a drift net over U.S. communities. Gen. Michael Hayden, the former NSA director, described the 4-year-old program as narrowly targeted, using the same tools and techniques employed to decide whether to drop a 500-pound bomb on a terrorist target.
Hayden now holds the second-ranking job in the Office of the National Intelligence Director, John Negroponte. "Had this program been in effect prior to 9/11, it is my professional judgment that we would have detected some of the al-Qaida operatives in the United States," Hayden said in an appearance at the National Press Club.
Hayden's comments came as the Bush administration kicked off three days of public events aimed at defending the highly classified surveillance program. First disclosed last month, the program approved by President Bush allowed the NSA to eavesdrop, without warrants, on communications of individuals within the continental United States, whose calls and e-mails were believed to have involved al-Qaida.
Ahead of the Saudi king's visit to India, a court in Saudi Arabia has pardoned an Indian national for partially blinding a Saudi national and spared him from having his eye gouged out as punishment. "The victim has pardoned Naushad. This has been authenticated by a Saudi court," Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed told reporters in New Delhi on Monday. The decision to pardon Naushad, currently held in a Saudi jail, was officially conveyed to Ahamed by Saudi Ambassador Saleh Mohammed Al-Ghamdi on Monday evening. "We are very grateful to the Saudi government for this generous act," Ahamed said. "This is just the right gesture that will boost goodwill between the two countries."
All my very good friends are very grateful to me when I don't gouge their eyes out, too. I think of it as a gesture of our deep and abiding friendship.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2006
17:16 ||
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#1
Somehow I don't think when an Indian is blinded, a Saudi has his eyes gouged out.
Posted by: ed ||
01/23/2006 17:49
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#2
What's an eye going for these days in "honour money"?
Server switch is complete. I had a problem with the Postgresql database accepting the records dumped from the old server, so we lost today's headlines and the O Club conversation since last last night, but all else seems to be working. I'm sure we'll run into lots of problems in the next few days, but I'll fix them as quickly as I can.
Sorry for the inconvenience. Wanted to get this done over the weekend.
Posted by: fred ||
01/23/2006
15:46 ||
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#1
Nice work. It's very quick.
Don't ever think you gotta apologize for anything about this site.
#7
It's the difference between the database versions. If you open them in the editor and save them the characters go back the way they're supposed to be. I'm not doing it for five years' worth of articles, though.
I'm just not that dedicated.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2006 17:32
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#8
Great speed Fred. I noticed a few items:
Article posting pages not found:
http://rantburg.com/eposter.php
http://rantburg.com/eposter.php?HL=Y
Paages 2,3,4 take forever to load: http://rantburg.com/index.php?HC=2&D=2006-01-23
http://rantburg.com/index.php?HC=3&D=2006-01-23
http://rantburg.com/index.php?HC=4&D=2006-01-23
Posted by: ed ||
01/23/2006 17:47
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#9
If I haven't said it lately, Fred, "thanks for all you do".
#14
That's the name the NSA has assigned to you. Please refer to it in all emails so as to facilitate warrantless snooping.
Posted by: ed ||
01/23/2006 18:01
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#15
fast!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/23/2006 18:41
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I had some problems earlier today - between 2:15 and 4:30, MST. Rantburg wouldn't load at all in Opera, and was slow in Firefox. I cound't get comments or individual articles to load at all - kept getting a time out. I had to reboot a few minutes ago because Rantburg locked up. After the reboot, everything seems to be working fine. Once again, Fred, you've proven that you're the expert! Thanks for all you do.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/23/2006 18:43
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#17
"Preview" of posts not working for me, getting 404 error.
#21
The poster should be fixed now. Preview worked for me, except for the stylesheet, which I'm now fixing.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2006 19:25
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Y'gotta use IE or Opera for the buttons to work. Sorry.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2006 19:26
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#23
Let me confirm that the buttons work with Opera on the Mac. They do not work with Safari (Fred has explained this to me, but it's like educating a Paleo about 'democracy'; don't ask me to regurgitate). They also do not work with Firefox on a Mac.
I haven't tried IE on the Mac, who would these days?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2006 19:30
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#24
But jumping jeebus, this sucker is fast now.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2006 19:31
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#50
Works for me, except it reverted back to my Imam handle of Al Aska Paul. Fixed that. Heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/23/2006 21:54
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#51
Through-out this process I have had no trouble with cookies.
Unless stated otherwise I have been running Firefox on top of Linux.
How many with the cookie problem are in IE.
Any in FireFox?
If so on what OS?
SOLDIERS DETAIN SUSPECTED TERRORISTS, FIND WEAPONS CACHE
BAGHDAD, Iraq â Multi-National Division Baghdad Soldiers detained three suspected terrorists and discovered a weapons cache south of Baghdad Jan. 22.
The Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, found the three suspects after an improvised explosive device they were building accidentally detonated, injuring all three men.
Soldiers also discovered other bomb-making materials including ten 125 mm rounds, 11 rockets, seven 82 mm mortar rounds, one 155 mm round, 500 blasting caps, one pressure plate and a box of fuses.
#1
How about rigging the cache, all of it, and chaining the three asshats, their fathers, and their imams to it - and detonating the lot - invite the press.
A series of bomb blasts rocked Baghdad on Monday as insurgents targeted a police checkpoint near the government compound, killing at least two people, fired mortar bombs into a park and attacked a U.S. patrol.
The attacks took place the day before the trial of Saddam Hussein was due to resume and as political parties prepared for talks on forming a coalition government the United States hopes will undermine support for a Sunni Arab insurgency.
The court trying Saddam named a new chief judge on Monday after the original presiding judge resigned and his replacement was accused of being a supporter of the former Iraqi president.
Despite increased security throughout Baghdad, a suicide car bomber struck a checkpoint into the Green Zone, close to the Iranian embassy, which staff said was not damaged in the blast. Television pictures showed a burnt-out police vehicle still smoldering and the twisted, blackened wreckage of the bomber's car. A foot lay among the blast debris scattered in the street.
Police said two people were killed and six wounded -- three civilians and three policemen.
Minutes later a roadside bomb exploded in the al-Waziriya area, wounding two people. Several mortar bombs fell short of the Green Zone into a park that also houses Baghdad Zoo and an amusement park. Police said no one was injured.
A car bomb blast hit a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in southern Baghdad, wounding two civilians, police said.
Iraq's Interior Ministry said a security clampdown in the capital was still in force amid fears that Sunni Arab rebels, angered by the results of a December 15 election that confirmed the dominance of Shi'ite Islamists, would launch more attacks.
"We are expecting a rise in attacks by gunmen because of the results of the election," a ministry official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
#1
"close to the Iranian embassy"
Are'nt they supposed to be attacking any country that reconizes the goverment? Then they should'nt get close, but go right at it.
Panamanian police said they were investigating the disappearance of two Spanish citizens in the Darien jungle. Information about the disappearance of the aid workers in the remote area has been sketchy, with some media outlets reporting that they were kidnapped by a group of armed men. "We don't have new information, but the search is continuing," a police spokesman told EFE.
Spanish ambassador to Panama Gerardo Zaldivar said authorities were trying to determine what happened last Friday to Jose Vicente Colastra and his son, Sergio Colastra. The two men were working on a construction project in the Darien for the Tierra Viva Foundation, which promotes sustainable development. Panamanian police are searching the area between the town of Jaque and the border with Colombia, some 300 kilometres (about 186 miles) east of Panama City. The two Spaniards were part of a team of 19 people who were working with refugees in Jaque, the La Prensa newspaper reported. Colombian paramilitaries, guerrillas, gun smugglers and drug traffickers operate in the Darien, which separates Panama from Colombia.
Migrants who want to come to the Netherlands will from March be obliged to take an inburgering (acclimatization) test in the country they are applying from.
A majority of the Tweede Kamer supported the plan of immigration minister Rita Verdonk when it was presented on Thursday, provided that candidates are not punished for any teething troubles with its implementation.
By setting out clear guidelines for would be migrants (joining families or coming for marriage, for instance), it is hoped the compulsory test will force migrants to be better prepared for life in Dutch society before they arrive.
Candidates must take the exam â in Dutch - at an embassy or consulate. It will test their knowledge of the language and culture and be taken over the phone, verbally, using a PC with speech recognition software.
There have been some doubts expressed as to the quality and reliability of the new technology (the âphonepass systemâ), but on advice from the government research institute TNO, Verdonk believes the trial can go ahead.
To prevent unmerited failure, the results of the first 500 candidates will be carefully checked by four examiners. Candidates experiencing technical trouble can re-do the test for free, and an independent commission will follow the whole process and examine the results.
#2
The doors are going shut all over Europe; we shall not see them open again in our lifetime.
Posted by: Edward Gray ||
01/23/2006 19:31
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Candidates must take the exam â in Dutch - at an embassy or consulate. It will test their knowledge of the language and culture and be taken over the phone, verbally, using a PC with speech recognition software.
I'm confused: do the candidates have to physically go to a Dutch consulate/embassy, or can they just call it in? How wil the computer know that the person talking to it is the same person who subsequently moves into that lovely flat overlooking the Princegracht in Amsterdam?
Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk favours the introduction of a code of conduct for the public to emphasise Dutch identity, including speaking Dutch in the street, non-discrimination and equality between men and women.
Verdonk outlined her ideas to a congress of JOVD, the youth wing of the Liberal Party (VVD) on Saturday. The leadership of the JOVD said afterwards the organisation absolutely rejected the idea.
The VVD minister has been inspired by the unveiling late last week of the Rotterdam Code, a charter for daily conduct consisting of seven points for residents of the port city.
The Rotterdam Code states Dutch should be spoken on the street and in the home as much as possible.
The charter is the response of Leefbaar Rotterdam (LR) party to a series of 'Islam debates' held in the city last year. The LR, the dominant member on the coalition ruling Rotterdam, felt suggestions drawn up by others were not far-reaching enough.
Minister Verdonk said on Saturday a similar code for integration and citizenship should be introduced nationwide. She plans to sit down with experts to see "what's important, what the Dutch identity is".
Allochtonen (the Dutch definition of residents of a non-Dutch background) are often not clear on what is expected of them when they settle in the Netherlands, Verdonk said. They should also be more pro-active and complain if faced with discrimination.
A Berlin school has banned its students from speaking languages other than German while on school grounds.
"The language of our school is German, the official language of the Federal Republic of Germany," reads the 'house rules' of the Herbert-Hoover Realschule, which every pupil is required to sign.
The rules go on to say that, "Every pupil is obliged to only communicate in this language [German] within the jurisdiction of the house rules." The rules' jurisdiction is defined as including not only the school itself and its grounds, but also school excursions.
Green politician Ãzcan Mutlu has protested to the school committee of Berlin's House of Representatives, calling the rule anti-constitutional and discriminatory.
"This kind of ban is okay in lessons," he told the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel. "But everything else is going too far."
Education senator Klaus Böger is defending the rule in the school committee. According to his speaker Jens Stiller, parents were supporting the rule. Some parents brought their children to school precisely because they hoped they would then learn better German, Stiller told the Tagesspiegel.
According to Mutlu, about 90 percent of the children at the school were of non-German origin. The school is located in Berlin's impoverished Wedding district which is home to many immigrant families.
France is refusing to pay a 100 million pound (EUR 145 million) bill which the British government is demanding in return for access to design work for its future aircaft-carrier programme, according to a report in the international journal Defense News to appear Monday.
The two countries are supposed to be cooperating on the development of three new aircraft-carriers two for Britain and one for France but Paris has balked at the price it is being asked to pay in order to see the British designs, the report said.
"Non, non! Certainement pas!"
The issue is expected to dominate a meeting Tuesday between defence ministers Michele Alliot-Marie and John Reid, where the French are expected to say they will agree to only half the sum, Defence News reported. According to the journal, Britain expects to spend about 450 million pounds on design and development before reaching a decision, probably early next year, on production of the two 65,000-metric-ton carriers.
French industry needs access to the British design data and the new studies to assess potential savings in a cooperative program, and the costs to adapt the British architecture to French navy needs.
Oui, certainment, we only wish to assess savings .....
President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Tony Blair are both politically committed to the cooperation programme and in the past have overridden difficulties arising from the two countries' rival naval traditions and industrial interests.
Bolton at the UN, Wolfowitz at the World Bank ....
Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank, has triggered a bitter conflict with the bankâs senior career staff by empowering a group of close political advisers to pursue aggressively what he sees as widespread corruption surrounding bank projects.
The dispute has come to a head with the appointment last week of Suzanne Rich Folsom, a counsellor to Mr Wolfowitz with close ties to the Republican party, as the new director of the Department of Institutional Integrity, the internal bank watchdog that investigates suspected fraud and staff misconduct.
Her appointment has raised objections that a person close to Mr Wolfowitz, and with a political background, has been put into a senior position at a unit that was seen as independent of the presidentâs office since it was set up in 2001.
Robert Hindle, previously the senior manager of the unit and a long-time World Bank employee, resigned in November largely as a result of what four current and former bank sources said was concern at the targeting of employees who had worked on projects that developed corruption problems, and pressure on two occasions from Ms Rich Folsom to bypass internal rules on investigating the e-mail records of a number of employees.
Ms Rich Folsom, who was brought into the bank by James Wolfensohn, Mr Wolfowitzâs predecessor, denies strongly any breach of internal rules. She insisted that in every case she followed proper procedures that require the bankâs general counsel and another senior manager to approve any investigation of staff e-mails. âI have never asked Robert Hindle to circumvent any procedures,â she told the Financial Times.
Mr Wolfowitz said those alleging violations of e-mail procedure âare trying to get me not to be tough on these issues. I just would like to say I donât intend to be intimidated. We are in a transition, but I think itâs extremely important that we be moving from talking about corruption to dealing with corruption,â he said in an interview.
The World Bank Staff Association has raised concerns over the process that led to Ms Rich Folsomâs appointment and has heard complaints about e-mail checks from a number of parties. Alison Cave, chair of the association, said: âTo clear up any questions, it would be a good idea to have an independent investigation or audit of the department.â
A number of senior bank staff and executive directors representing member countries, who asked not to be quoted, complain of a lack of consultation by Mr Wolfowitzâs advisers, and an atmosphere of suspicion.
Roberto Dañino, the bankâs general counsel and a former prime minister of Peru, this month also announced his resignation because, friends said, he was unhappy at the way the bank was being run by Mr Wolfowitz. Mr Hindle and Mr Dañino both declined comment.
Mr Wolfowitzâs appointment last year was greeted with apprehension by some long-time staff. Many Republicans believe the bank is plagued by corruption. Ms Rich Folsom was hired by Mr Wolfensohn with the task of improving the bankâs relations with Congressional Republicans.
#3
had the duty to work with Wolf on a few trips. He is arrogant, self-righteous, and generally an ass. That said he is the perfect guy to fix the inbred corruption at the work bank.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/23/2006 12:00
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There is no sight quite like an honest cop raiding a whorehouse. The bitter protestations from the whores and the madam that they have already paid their bribes, and are thus being unfairly persecuted is just music to the ears.
Police in Japan have raided vehicles firm Yamaha in an inquiry into possible illegal helicopter exports to China. Twenty offices and homes were targeted as part of a probe into whether the company exported pilot-less helicopters with possible military applications. Yamaha acknowledges selling nine of the aircraft to China, but says they could only be used for agricultural purposes.
Yamaha's shares tumbled on the news, losing more than 8% and helping to push Tokyo's main Nikkei 225 index lower.
China's increased economic and military might, coupled with its growing influence in Asia, have amplified tensions with Japan. The Ministry of Trade and Industry says Yamaha should have sought official permission before exporting the helicopter to China, which Japan views as a possible military threat. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said that the worry for the government was that the unmanned helicopters "could be diverted to weapons of mass destruction".
Yamaha expressed surprise over the investigation and denied any wrongdoing. The company says it first sold the helicopters to China five years ago and insists they were basic models that could have no military application. More than 200 investigators turned up at Yamaha's headquarters on Monday morning to take away documents and computer data that might point to any breaches of the law.
The helicopter at the centre of the storm is the R-MAX, which can be flown safely by a relatively untrained operator on the ground using a laptop computer. Around 1,600 of the helicopters are currently in use in Japan, primarily by farmers for crop-spraying. However, Yamaha promotes the R-MAX for its other potential uses as well, including surveillance - and that is what appears to have got the company into trouble, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Tokyo.
The problems facing Yamaha are the latest to hit Japanese industry. Last week, shares slumped after internet company Livedoor was accused of misleading investors. Livedoor has denied the charges, but that did little to appease investors and on Wednesday of last week, the Tokyo Stock Exchange had to close 20 minutes early for the first time in its history because of surging trading volumes.
When you read what our nation's leaders have been saying about Iran's continuing effort to develop nuclear weapons, you have to think there is a pretty good chance that our war in Iraq could soon shift east to Tehran.
Here is a sampling:
-"Launching some missile strikes into Iran is not the optimal position for us to be in. On the other hand, having a radical Muslim theocracy in possession of nuclear weapons is worse."
-"A nuclear-armed Iran is an unacceptable risk to us and our allies."
-"We cannot take any option off the table in sending a clear message to the current leadership of Iran that they will not be permitted to acquire nuclear weapons,"
-"The president always has the right and always has had the right for pre-emptive strike."
No one likes the prospect of another front in the war on terror, but Iran has thumbed its nose at the international community and insisted on the right to carry out its nuclear program without oversight, which means ensuring the opportunity to create enriched uranium for use in nuclear bombs.
And an Iran with the capacity to deliver nuclear bombs through either its missiles or its terrorist friends is enough to make even the most devout atheist wake up with visions of Armageddon dancing through his head.
So it's easy to see why President Bush might be considering a military option against Iran.
Nonetheless, in order to expand the war on terror to yet another country, the president would need a national consensus, wouldn't he? And getting the Democratic Party to support military action against Iran would be impossible, wouldn't it?
Maybe not.
You see, all those quotes at the beginning of this column are not from members of the Bush administration as you might have suspected, but from Democratic sources.
The attribution for the four quotes is as follows: Sen. Barack Obama, D.-Ill.; the national platform of the Democratic Party in 2004; Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.; and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the party's presidential candidate in 2004.
So it's obvious that there already is an emerging consensus about the necessity for action if Iran turns belligerent.
The problem, of course, will be maintaining national unity if such a war goes from theoretical to actual. We all saw what happened when President Bush took our country to war against Iraq. Almost everyone, including most Democratic leaders, was on the record supporting the invasion as an appropriate response to Saddam Hussein's stonewalling tactics as the world tried to find out about his weaponry programs.
But then a few days after we were in Baghdad, the united front collapsed and Democrats started looking for political opportunities in the chaos of battle. They even had the audacity to claim they were misled into war, even though Democrats like Kerry, Clinton (senator and ex-president both) and Sen. Joe Biden were among the biggest supporters of taking out Saddam.
Could that happen again?
Probably not, and here's why.
You probably recall many of President Bush's critics complaining that the war in Iraq was "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time." A lot of them went so far as to say that the war was just about oil, not about terrorism or security. Why, they asked, didn't we fight even more dangerous countries such as Iran and North Korea -- countries that already had or were developing nuclear technology?
The implication was that as long as there was a real threat to world peace and national security, such as a nuclear Iran, then Democrats would be happy to join the fight.
Well, Kerry, Clinton and the gang may just get their wish for a "just" war.
Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has taken the gloves off. No more Mr. Nice Iran! This guy went to the Osama bin Laden School of Charm and Bombmaking, and he is clearly looking for an invitation to be Saddam's dance partner the next time the band strikes up the "Paranoia Polka."
For instance, in October, Ahmadinejad declared that the state of Israel should be "wiped off the map." He later revised that statement somewhat to allow that he could support relocation of Israel to somewhere in Eastern Europe, where (by the way) he also doesn't think a Holocaust ever took place.
In addition, he has announced that, "The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny ... a historic war between the oppressor [Christians] and the world of Islam" and he has said that he is awaiting the return of the messianic Shiite "Twelfth Imam" to rescue the world from "terrible and unprecedented calamities and misfortunes" (remember Armageddon?) and to establish Islam throughout the world.
The fact that this man rules a large and powerful country is worrisome in itself, but not unique. We certainly can't fight wars with all the irrational loudmouths who run countries. But what makes the chance of war with Iran more likely is the combination of Ahmadinejad's inflammatory rhetoric with a nascent nuclear weapons program (remember the bombmaking school?) that has the capacity to not just inflame but to incinerate.
So as the war in Iraq winds down and the Iraqis go about their business of setting up a constitutional democracy, the war on terror may very well have to turn its sights to Iran. After all, a world where rogue nations possess atomic weapons is a world with no security at all.
Who knows? If such a "just" war becomes necessary, perhaps the United States could even count on support from its allies.
Surely, with Iran arming missiles to destroy Israel and concealing nuclear reactors in hardened bunkers, the civilized world would have to come together in one united front to demand that Ahmadinejad and his cleric cronies give up their bombs or become the victims of ours.
Don't believe it?
Well, we started with quotes from Democrats, so let's end with a quote from a Frenchman:
"Everyone recognizes that Iran ... [has] a right to peacefully use nuclear energy. But it is imperative for the international community to ensure that the commitments reached for everyone's security are respected. [The Iranians] would be committing a grave error if they do not grasp the hand that we are extending to them." --Jacques Chirac, president of France.
Considering the stakes, Germany, France, the Soviet Union and other countries may very well join with us and Great Britain to build an international coalition to prevent Iran from following through on its nuclear threats.
Heck, if the Democrats and Republicans can come together to agree to use America's military might in defense of our national security, then anything is possible, right?
#1
Don't count on REALISTIC foreign support: Chriac et. al. want a veto power over US military action, and thus have no incentive to act at the moment when the situation tilts in favor of a military victory: 5,000 american soldiers unnecessarily put into body bags doesn't mean a shit to them, while they mean a lot to Bush. A gambler will be content to making bad bets and losing time and again IF SOMEONE ELSE IS PROVIDING THE CASH AND PAYING THE DEBTS.
OUSTED Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein blasted "Iranian meddling" in Iraq during a five-hour jailhouse meeting with his lawyers, one of his defence lawyers said in statements published today. "President Saddam complained of being cut off from world news and told us 'I don't know what is happening on the outside'," the head of Jordan's Bar Association, Saleh al-Armuti, told the Al-Arab Al-Yawm newspaper. "We briefed him on major Iraqi, Arab and international affairs, led by the (Iraqi) resistance, the pressure on Syria and the Iranian nuclear crisis", during the Sunday meeting, Mr Armuti said.
Saddam, who is being held in a US-controlled prison in the Iraqi capital, then expressed his displeasure over "Iranian meddling in Iraqi affairs". "The Iranian danger continues to pressure Arab and Muslim nations because the Iranians have a long history of rancor, the worst in the world. How did the Arabs allow Iran to take part in Iraq's occupation?" Saddam said.
So, if Saddam is against Iranian influence in Iraq, will the MSM also be against it? Or will they just call him a tool of the American occupying forces?
He also described international pressure on Baathist-ruled Syria as "natural ... because of the nationalistic positions of President (Bashar) al-Assad," Mr Armuti said.
Saddam's trial resumes tomorrow in the Iraqi capital. He and seven co-defendants face death by hanging if convicted of mass killings of Shiite residents from the town of Dujail, where Saddam escaped a plot to kill him in 1982.
The Jordanian barrister said Saddam was in "high spirits" and revealed that Saddam had finished writing a new book in December. "He showed it to me. It is in three parts: poetry, short stories and literary texts," Mr Armuti said. Saddam told the lawyers that he spends his time reading the Koran, Islam's holy book, and writing and that he "has no spare time", Mr Armuti added.
Mr Armuti is among three Arab lawyers who have joined Saddam's defence team ahead of his trial. The other two are Issa Bou Rashid of Bahrain and Taysseer al-Mudather of Sudan. They will be assisting Saddam's lead Iraqi lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi, as well as former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, US lawyer Curtis Doebbler, former Qatari justice minister Najib al-Nuaimi and Jordanian lawyer Issam Ghazzawi.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/23/2006
09:55 ||
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#1
President Saddam complained of being cut off from world news and told us 'I don't know what is happening on the outside'
Suppose ole Saddam knew it all when down in the spider hole. Suppose he'll know more when in a grave.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/23/2006 18:38
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Why did French President Jacques Chirac last week threaten to use non-conventional - that is, nuclear - weapons against terrorist states? And why did Iran announce that it would shift foreign-exchange reserves out of European banks (although it has since retracted this warning)? The answer lies in the nature of Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Iran needs nuclear weapons, I believe, not to attack Israel, but to support imperial expansion by conventional military means.
Iran's oil exports will shrink to zero in 20 years, just at the demographic inflection point when the costs of maintaining an aged population will crush its state finances, as I reported in Demographics and Iran's imperial design (September 13, 2005). Just outside Iran's present frontiers lie the oil resources of Iraq, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, and not far away are the oil concentrations of eastern Saudi Arabia. Its neighbors are quite as alarmed as Washington about the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, and privately quite happy for Washington to wipe out this capability.
It is remarkable how quickly an international consensus has emerged for the eventual use of force against Iran. Chirac's indirect reference to the French nuclear capability was a warning to Tehran. Mohamed ElBaradei, whose Nobel Peace Prize last year was awarded to rap the knuckles of the United States, told Newsweek that in the extreme case, force might be required to stop Iran's acquiring a nuclear capability. German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag that the military option could not be abandoned, although diplomatic efforts should be tried first. Bild, Germany's largest-circulation daily, ran Iranian President Mahmud Ahmedinejad's picture next to Adolf Hitler's, with the headline, "Will Iran plunge the world into the abyss?"
The same Europeans who excoriated the United States for invading Iraq with insufficient proof of the presence of weapons of mass destruction already have signed on to a military campaign against Iran, in advance of Iran's gaining WMD. There are a number of reasons for this sudden lack of squeamishness, and all of them lead back to oil.
First, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have the most to lose from a nuclear-equipped Iran. No one can predict when the Saudi kingdom might become unstable, but whenever it does, Iran will stand ready to support its Shi'ite co-religionists, who make up a majority in the kingdom's oil-producing east.
At some point the United States will reduce or eliminate its presence in Iraq, and the result, I believe, will be civil war. Under conditions of chaos Iran will have a pretext to expand its already substantial presence on the ground in Iraq, perhaps even to intervene militarily on behalf of its Shi'ite co-religionists.
What now is Azerbaijan had been for centuries the northern provinces of the Persian Empire, and a nuclear-armed Iran could revive Persian claims on southern Azerbaijan. Iran continues to lay claim to a share of Caspian Sea energy resources under the Iranian-Soviet treaties of 1921 and 1940. [1] For the time being, Azerbaijani-Iranian relations are the most cordial in years, with Iran providing natural gas to pockets of Azerbaijani territory blockaded by Armenia, and Baku defending Iran's nuclear program. As Iran's oil production dwindles over the next two decades, though, its historic claims on the Caspian are likely to re-emerge.
Ahmedinejad's apocalyptic inclinations have inspired considerable comment from Western analysts, who note that he appears to believe in the early return of the Mahdi, the 12th Imam. I do not know whether Ahmedinejad is mad or sane, but even mad people may be sly and calculating. Iran's prospects are grim. Over a generation it faces demographic decay, economic collapse and cultural deracination. When reason fails to provide a solution to an inherently insoluble problem, irrationality well may take hold. Like Hitler, who also was mad but out-bluffed the West for years before overreaching, Ahmedinejad is pursuing a rational if loathsome imperial policy.
Given Israel's possession of a large arsenal of fission weapons as well as thermonuclear capability, it is extremely unlikely that Iran would attack the Jewish state unless pressed to the wall. Faced with encirclement and ruin, the Islamic Republic is fully capable of lashing out in a destructive and suicidal fashion, not only against Israel but against other antagonists. Whatever one may say about Chirac, he is not remotely stupid, and feels it prudent to warn Iran that pursuit of its imperial ambitions may lead to a French nuclear response. French intelligence evidently believes that Iran may express its frustrations through terrorist actions in the West.
By far the biggest loser in an Iranian confrontation with the West will be China, the fastest-growing among the world's large economies, but also the least efficient in energy use. Higher oil prices will harm China's economy more than any other, and Beijing's reluctance to back Western efforts to encircle Iran are understandable in this context. It is unclear how China will proceed if the rest of the international community confronts Iran; in the great scheme of things it really does not matter.
Washington will initiate military action against Iran only with extreme reluctance, but it will do so nonetheless, except in the extremely unlikely event that Ahmedinejad were to stand down. Rather than a legacy of prosperity and democracy in the Middle East, the administration of US President George W Bush will exit with an economy weakened by higher oil prices and chaos on the ground in Iraq and elsewhere. But it really has no other options, except to let a nuclear-armed spoiler loose in the oil corridor. We have begun the third act of the tragedy that started on September 11, 2001, and I see no way to prevent it from proceeding.
I am with you until your last paragraph. It is not a given that America will lead the third act-I don't think that strategy has been thoroughly thought through.
#3
That's Spengler-the-pseudonymous-columnist-for
-the-Asian-Times, and not the historian of the
same name.
Posted by: Phil ||
01/23/2006 15:50
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#4
OK, lets' say there is a strike against Iran's nuclear capability; US, and/or Israel, and/or France (yeah, right). What happens next?
Facts:
(1) Iran wants the Basra/Shi'ite part of Iraq (at a minimum).
(2) Before this latest media tempest, they were snarling at Britain.... which, by the way, is the country that has troops in Basra.
(?generating a little propaganda against the folks they think they'll be fighting next?)
(3) Mucky (Tater, not our dyslexic Mucky) has pledged his "legions" (AKA the "72 Virgins Dating Service") to support Iran in the event of an attack on that peace-loving Islamic country.
Hypothesis:
1) Mullahs assume:
(a) that a strike against Iran will isolate the US much as the Iraq war did, if not more. If Israel joins in, then that's just so much gravy as far as Muslim Street opinion goes.
(b) Britain is weak in terms of willingness to fight a major war; the fact that they are against taking military action against Iran means they won't be willing to fight a costly war whose causus belli is an attack on Iran by the US.
c) If they've been reading MSM and actually believe it, they would come to the conclusion that the US military is stressed and streched to the max.
2) It's possible they may actually want to be attacked to given them an excuse to send their army into the Southern Iraq oil fields, betting on:
a) UN/world opinion isolating the US with China and Russia doing all they can to twist the knife
b) A weak response or outright retreat by Britain caused by lack of support for the US actions, massive incursion by Iran and a major uprising by Tater's Tots.
(this would be # 4, wouldn't it, or #5, it's so hard to keep track of).... and
c) the US tied down in Afghanistan and the rest of Iraq by the dozens of terrorist groups the Mullahs are currently supporting.
d) the US will back off after it becomes evident that the Iraq war isn't ending, WWIV is just starting...
Who knows, if you actually believe Mo got the straight scoop from Allah, you might believe this crap, too
#5
The Left wants their MSM-verified, alleged world-safet, fail-safe "multipolar centres of power" but built or modernized at mostly American or Western or Capitalist expense. The Russian say war wid the USA and only the USA is likely and realistic circa 2018 or shortly after; ditto for the Chicoms 2014-2017 - for now, IRAN = NORTH KOREA, ETAL. utility is getting Amer to overstretch its volunteer armed forces ags an still over-centralized, matialized and militarized Russia-China and their conventional armies; and doing so whilst the US DemoLeft and MSM induce Amer's domestic anti-Unitarian Unitarian. Clintonian Fascist = Communist or Fascist = De-Regulated/Limited Communist NPE to take over and Socialize everything and anything, everyone and anyone, in the name of private, societal, and national-geopol Safety, Security and Protection. God and Religion are "fakes", Reality Shows > People can't be trusted for anything,and ..............................................., when o'when is the Fed going to review and improve Mine safety rules for the mining industry in West Virginia, and those unknown events still to occur. America must Must M-U-S-T-T-T PC wage war for global empire vv 9-11 while NOT being allowed to govern either itself nor its newly won Empire. Amers and only Amers must Must M-U-S-T-T-T pay the bulk iff not all of future Global Taxation in the name of a America = Amerika or Global Empire Amers are not allowed to govern or control in their own interest nor for their own benefit. Meanwhile, Failed and Failing anti-democratic Socialism in the rest of the world goes on in perpetuity wid out need for reform nor powersharing. AMERICAN AND GLOBAL HOLOCAUST IS GOOD FOR EVERYONE AND GLOBAL UTOPIA -SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL DEATH CAMP/SUICIDE STATION, D*** YOU, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GARRISON BROTHEL. GOOD CLINTONIANS DEMAND THEIR WOMEN SEXUALLY SERVE 100-1000 GLOBAL WAFFEN SOVIET PEOPLE'S ARMY = UNO PEACEKEEPERS EVERY DAY, YOU LUCKY OWG UTOPIAN, USSA = Amerikan USR YOU!?
Marines pride themselves on being able to lead Marines, no matter who it is - at any time another Marine can step up and take over without lacking in performance.
That theory was put to the test when Lance Cpl. Victor Perez checked in to his new duty station as a 3rd Recruit Training Battalion administrative clerk in April 2005.
read the rest at the link. This young Marine is pretty impressive, but so is the unit cooperation described there. Semper Fi!
#4
Sea---remember the rest:
"Is the unit that lost its drill seargent to an accident?"
"That's the fact, Jack!"
LMAO!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/23/2006 22:23
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#5
This really isn't that big a deal. I filled a Major's slot for 11 months in Germany as an E-5, and a Captain's position for over a year as an E-6. I know at least 30 other NCOs that have filled officer positions, including one E-7 that filled a full colonel's position for eight months during a deployment. The colonel was hospitalized with medical problems, and it was almost a year before he was medically retired and replaced. It's not easy, and it's not fun, but it's also not impossible.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/23/2006 22:26
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#2
Speaking of ship names, don't we have one named after jimma cartah ?
I can see it now;
The dhow fired warning shots at the Cartah, but the Jimma Cartah had already turned south away from a heard of swimming rabbits and was out of range.
#5
IIRC, the Jimmy Carter's primary role is intelligence. From this, I can only conclude the hull is composed of solid irony.
As for the pirate story, I love the fact that we have a Burke class destroyer named Winston Churchill. I love it! I love Churchill too, but in a manly sort of way, of course. If only our George W. had 1/256th of Winston's speechifying abilities.
#6
You cannot have Winston Churchill's ability to articulate and present his thoughts unless you drink Plymouth gin and smoke Punch brand cigars of high quality. Cannot be done. Basic laws of physics.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/23/2006 22:04
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First he shocked TV viewers and his colleagues by pretending to be a cat and lapping milk from Rula Lenska's hand. Now George Galloway is set to attract further derision after performing a dance routine on Celebrity Big Brother - in a tight-fitting, red leotard.
The Respect MP, already under fire for taking part in the show instead of representing his constituents, ad-libbed a dance routine for his latest stunt.
His dance partner was, of course, Pete Burns. The transvestite lead singer of 1980s band Dead or Alive wore a blue leotard, even though he insisted he would not run from a burning house in it. The pair were amusingly instructed to express 'the emotions of bewilderment when a small puppy won't come to you' through the medium of robotic dance. This was part of a task set for housemates to illustrate emotions through dance. Nice head shot at link. Full photo at Drudge
For some reason, the words "head shot" and "George Galloway" bring a smile to my face. Guess that's cuz I'm an evil American.
#4
I think the bigger item of this story is that Rula Lenska is in the news again. Hell, that woman is synonymous with correct television color for me. I didn't know who the hell she was but I knew that if I didn't see the colors she was calling out, I had to run out buy me a new RCA.
Abu Hamza al-Masri, an Egyptian-born Muslim cleric facing terrorism and race-hate charges, said on Friday that British security services sought to enlist his support in monitoring Islamic militants and averting terror attacks several years before his arrest in 2004.
Masri, who is 47 and a British citizen by marriage, is facing 15 counts, including incitement of racial hatred, soliciting other people to murder Jews and other non-Muslims and being in possession of material that could help a potential terrorist. He has denied all the charges.
On the second day of his defense testimony, Masri, who is also wanted in the US, was asked about a 10-volume work, the Encyclopedia of Afghani Jihad, that was removed from his home by the police. The encyclopedia was said to have suggested potential terrorist targets, including skyscrapers, Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower.
"The first time I was aware of it was in this court," he said, suggesting that the only people who were likely to have read it were the police officers who took it from his home.
Masri also spoke of meetings with officers from Britain's internal security services who told him they were asking Islamic clerics to "control hotheaded people and make sure everything is under control and there is no risk to anyone," according to excerpts from his testimony published by the Press Association news agency.
At another point, Masri said he asked officers from the security services in 1997, "My sermon, is it a problem?"
He quoted one unidentified officer as replying: "You have freedom of speech. You don't have anything to worry as long as we don't see blood on the streets."
But by 2000, he said, security services officers told him: "`We think you are walking on a tightrope.' They said there were some things that they don't like."
His defense lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, asked him for his views on suicide bombing.
"The term is being used and abused to scare people," Masri said.
"Bombing is a tactic of war if it is used for a good reason. If it is the only means to stop the enemies of Islam and you do not have any other means of resisting -- no women, no children, no harmless people are targeted -- then it is a tool of war, a tactic of war," he said.
"If it is targeting people or places where it is forbidden to target them, then it is immoral," he said.
"It is not a strategy, it is not an aim, it is a tool of war if there are no other means," he said.
Masri also denied that he had sought to persuade his listeners at sermons and speeches to hate Jews in Britain.
#1
"The first time I was aware of it was in this court," he said, suggesting that the only people who were likely to have read it were the police officers who took it from his home.
Of course he can't didn't read it. He just jerks off to the pictures. Kinda like Playboy.
Senator Hillary Clinton yesterday accused President George W. Bush of mishandling the threat from Iran while she's been accepting money from supporters of the renegade Iranian regime.
That's our girl
Wealthy businessmen Hassan Nemazee and Faraj Aalaei who are associated with the American Iranian Council, a pro-regime, anti-sanctions group, are vocal Clinton supporters and contributors. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Namazee has contributed $4,000 to Clinton's reelection while Aalaei contributed $1,000. Insight Magazine, published by the Washington Times, describes their lobby this way: "the American-Iranian Council [AIC], a pro-regime lobbying group [are] trying to get Congress and the Bush administration to lift the trade embargo on Iran."
According to reports in Hillary Clinton's home state, she's also raising money from Gati Kashani, another figure linked with the Iranian Mullahs and who also supports the regime. On its website, the Iranian American Political Action Committee (PAC) noted, "On Friday, June 3rd [2005], Iranian-American friends of the Hillary Clinton Senate re-election campaign hosted a fundraising event in honor of Senator Clinton. The event took place at the home of Gita and Behzad Kashani in Los Altos Hills, California." The PAC favors relaxing or eliminating Visa rule for Iranians coming to the United States and believes that Clinton would be helpful in achieving their goals. The Federal Bureau of Investigation opposes such liberalization of the visa process for the terrorist state.
But in full pander mode, the Iranian PAC reported that Clinton attacked United States Visa policy. "Senator Clinton went on to address the audience on topics specifically relevant to the Iranian-American community. She discussed immigration and acknowledged the difficulties Iranian nationals have in obtaining visas to visit family members residing in America. She stated, 'Our visa policy is not only unfair but it's not good for America.'"
During her speech yesterday Senator Clinton attacked the Bush Administration, charging that the US government has wasted precious time in dealing with the looming Iranian nuclear threat. "I believe that we lost critical time in dealing with Iran because the White House chose to downplay the threats and to outsource the negotiations," Clinton said during a speech at Princeton University, referring to American willingness to allow European powers to handle talks with Teheran. "We cannot and should not -- must not -- permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons," Clinton added. "In order to prevent that from occurring, we must have more support vigorously and publicly expressed by China and Russia, and we must move as quickly as feasible for sanctions in the United Nations." This is the exact opposite of what she's said regarding the run up to the Iraq war. Democrat Party bigwigs accused Bush then of not working with our allies -- France, Germany, Russia -- and not allowing the United Nations more time to deal with the Saddam Hussein regime.
Yes, we remember, and have copies of those remarks on our hard drives.
According to critics, Senator Clinton's modus operandi is to tell audiences what she believes they wish to hear. Tell Americans to get tough on Iran so as to present herself as tough on national security, then tell Iranians she wants to help them. At least she did use the "plantation" word which I believe was calculated to bring about controversy as was her latest diatribes against Bush. The release of the Barrett Report brings up questions of her and her husband's own -- excuse the phrase -- culture of corruption.
She's done this before when she criticized the Bush Administration's lack of resolve to stop rampant illegal immigration and to increase border security. However, when a bill went to the senate that would increase funding for border patrol agents and additional detention facilities, she and the senior Senator from New York, Chuck Schumer, voted no. Then when speaking before a Latino group in California, Hillary told the audience that she would work to get them healthcare and education assistance.
John Spencer, the former Yonkers Mayor and Vietnam combat veteran who will challenge Senator Clinton in November, made the following statement, "Senator Clinton voted against the very munitions necessary to avoid a nuclear confrontation with Iran while at the same time accepting money from supporters of the Iranian Mullahs. Senator Clinton lacks the credibility to keep New York safe and she should return this tainted money."
Posted by: Steve ||
01/23/2006
09:14 ||
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#1
Moonbat columnist Molly Ivins already sez she won't vote for Mrs. Bill Clinton (heh) because she isn't 'honest' enough about the WoT.
January 23, 2006: The U.S. M-60 machine-gun was developed in the 1950s, for use by infantry and vehicle crews. It fired the full size 7.62mm round, and was long criticized for its week ammo feeding system, and poor mechanical design that led to ârunawayâ firing, or broken firing pins (or other components.) Changing an overheated barrel was clumsy and, well, the M-60 was not missed when it was replaced by the Belgian M-240 in the late 1990s. But now the M-60 manufacturer has come back with a new model that fixes all the old problems, and adds some startling new capabilities. The M-60E4 Barrel is good for 15,000 rounds (about 50 percent more than usual for such a weapon), and in an demonstration, 850 rounds (105 seconds worth) were fired in a single burst, without the barrel overheating. That was really outstanding. Moreover, the M-60E4 weighs only 22 pounds, making it easier to haul around, and fire from the hip. The manufacturer also sells conversion kits that will turn older model M60s (over 100,00 of them out there) into E4s. This is where the company expects to clean up, although many newly manufactured M-60E4s are being sold as well. In fact, the manufacturer has put a hold on any new orders until this Summer, in order to catch up with orders it already has.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/23/2006
09:12 ||
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They tried copying it during the war but the contractor didn't cut the parts right resulting in failed testing and a cancelled contract. With all the Brownings out there and in production the need to switch to an entire new system was not thought pressing. In the post war reexamination, the contractor problem was identified and the Americanized design adopted.
Posted by: ed ||
01/23/2006 11:03
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#5
I've never encountered any serious probs wid the M60 as described here. Remember that US Army or USDOD weapons of the period were designed and intended primarily to fight the WARSAW PACT- Soviet tank and motorized infantry armies in Europe. Considering the America-devastating ambitions or premises in Chicom defense white paper of Febr 2005, may I suggest the USDOD bring back Man-/JEEP = HUMMER-portable battlefield tac nukes - DETERRENCE AT ANY LEVEL, OR AGS ANYONE, IS STILL DETERRENCE.
Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday that the U.S. is prepared to deal with the Iranian nuclear crisis militarily - even if the war in Iraq continues to require a substantial American troop commitment. "We have the most powerful military in the history of the world," Lieberman told CBS's Face the Nation. "We are capable, if necessary, of continuing to pursue our aims militarily in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere and, if necessary, conduct a military attack on Iran."
Is he submitting his resignation from the Democrat Party? The seething after this interview will be legendary...
Lieberman said the he hoped an attack on Iran, if it should come, would be carried out "with the assistance of our coalition allies in Europe." But he noted that any assault on Iranian nuclear facilities "would be primarily an air attack. It's not going to involve massive use of ground forces." Asked about reports that the U.S. would let Israel take the lead in any attack against Iran, the Connecticut Democrat told CBS:
"The United States is a strong enough country that we never want to be in a position to have to essentially contract out protection of our national security, vis-a-vis Iran, to another country like Israel." He noted also the Israelis "don't have the same aircraft capacity that we do, capable of doing it." Lieberman said that while the military option remains a last resort for the U.S., "I want the people who lead Iran to understand that it is on the table. We deem their pursuit of nuclear weapons to be dead serious."
#1
An air attack that leaves the current regime in power could be counterproductive. I just don't see it because there would be a rally round the flag effect -- remember, even Democrats once supported the war on terror. This bluster is worse than saying nothing.
No, it is evidence that Lieberman is the only donk capable of being President. The practicality of any specific operation is not the point. He is showing that the MMs cannot assume there will be automatic objections to military action from the entire minority party. He is giving Bush the firmest ground he can to negotiate from.
He is proving he's got the balls to stand up to the wackos in his party and suffer the consequences. I suspect he is seeking to generate an outbreak of seething so that the donks can debate the issue and his side prevail. Almost looks presidential.
#3
Perhaps he's burnishing his resume (and aligning his rhetoric) for an eventual SecDef position in W's administration?
Posted by: Tibor ||
01/23/2006 18:44
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#4
where's tough-talk no-walk Hildabeast? Bitching and ankle-biting from the sidelines, but she'll NEVER support anything W does, even if she proposed it first. Joe L is the next Donk off the plantation and along with Zell, could give a helluva speech at the next convention. Any non- Jooooo Donks have the balls to stand up and be counted? Bayh? Warner? Kerry (er....his standing in whatever religion du jour makes him a cypher) ? Gore? Nope. Joe L's Joooo ties will be used to diminish his guts in standing up, and he'll be accused of doing Israel's work, as if that makes doing right, wrong
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/23/2006 19:16
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#5
No, it is evidence that Lieberman is the only donk capable of being President.
Capable, yes, but his Jewish background is probably a no-no to a fair amount of people. A shame, but that's just how things still are, unfortunately.
#10
The USA and USDOD must be prepared to mil deal wid IRAN, NORTH KOREA, andor NORTH KOREA-TAIWAN contingencies at once. In any case, the PACRIM must have priority because Amer's major allies in Asia are very close to the threat area in question, as is ALaska. while NATO-Europe is futher away from Iran proper, within the context of MLRF, MLC, and MilLog.
#11
WHen it comes to the 2008 and POTUS elex, as an alleged "Fascist" Dubya is a Hated Hitlerist; when it comes to dev SOCIALIST Global Empire at little to no cost to Leftism-Socialism, "Fascist" GOP-Conservatives are mere DE-REGULATED/LIMITED COMMUNISTS. Amer Hiroshima(s) will kill several bird wid one stone - PC wipe out Dubya & Admin + GOP and anti-Clinton Congress, "justify" Dem criticisms of Dubya and GOP policies, and espec "justify" ANTI-US ANTI-SOVEREIGNTY, OWG, and SOCIALIST DOMESTIC REGULATION IN SUPP OF SAME. ULTIMATELY, THE RADICAL LEFT THAT NOW CONTROLS THE DEMS WANTS A LEGALLY RECOGNIZED NATIONAL SOCIALIST AND COMMUNIST PARTY AND AMERICAN GOVT, ONE-PARTY NPE, AND A SUBORNED INTERNAT = GLOBAL SOVIET-STYLE SOVIETIZED SOCIALIST STATE REPUBLIC OF AMERIKA. The Commies win because O'REILLY's alleged future America-ruling "International Coalition of Nations/States", as a matter of geopol pragmatism/realism, must contain those large States capable of individually/separately challenging andor containing American power and ambition, and by extens Western power and ambition, espec vv military-nuke capabilities ala "ROUGH PARITY". ONCE AMERICA FALLS, SO GOES THE WEST, NATO, AND WESTERN DEMOCRATIC-CAPITALISM AND LIBERTARIANISM - OOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSS, Britney did it again.
#12
Well, Joe, the #11 comment was premigrane, but your #10 comment had a good point: if the US does something to Iran, others like the Norks and Chicoms may try some mischief at the same time. It is worth pondering while plans are made.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/23/2006 22:47
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#13
Even Eisenhower was 1/2 English background.
I am pretty sure his mistress when he was Supreme Allied Commander was 100% English lass....
Posted by: John L ||
01/23/2006 23:04
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January 23, 2006: Over the past few years, products began to appear, that were capable of detecting divers approaching ships or waterside facilities. Now there are underwater weapons that can disable the swimmers.
One of the more recent of the detection systems is the Cerberus360 swimmer detection system. This is a (large) refrigerator size device that is lowered to the ocean floor in the middle of the area you want to guard. Cerberus360 uses sonar to detect anything, large enough to be a threat, up to 800 meters out. Actually, during tests, it was able to detect an approaching underwater scuba swimmer at 900 meters. Cerberus360 works well in shallow water, and can be tweaked by the operator, once emplaced, to be even more accurate.
Al Qaeda groups are know to have bought scuba gear and trained for attacks like this, but none have been attempted yet. But last year, Raytheon Corporation got a patent for a sonar type device that can disable divers as well. The Raytheon "swimmer denial" uses sound waves that are tuned to cause severe gastric distress in humans. Makes you heave into your scuba mask. This makes further underwater operations difficult, if not impossible. However, Raytheon has not announced any timetable for the delivery of these systems. There may not be a large enough market to justify it. For all the talk about scuba equipped terrorists, there have been very few cases of this sort of thing actually happening. Most have been off Israel, where the Israelis have been able to deal with the problem without using an acoustic swimmer denial system.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/23/2006
08:40 ||
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#1
The Raytheon "swimmer denial" uses sound waves that are tuned to cause severe gastric distress in humans.
Hmmm, would the color of the noise depend on which end of the gastric system it distresses? We've already got the "brown noise" via South Park - although my wife thinks a low altitude supersonic B-1 pass would be a better candidate for a brown noise.
#5
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but the scuba masks we use only cover forehead to below the nose, not the mouth itself. I've seen full-face masks, but only on television, worn by the fearless something-or-other to explain what he and the camera man are looking at. With the kind of mask I use, throwing up is annoying, and attracts the wrong kind of fishy attention, but wouldn't fill the mask with ickyness.
#6
Not the mask gets filled, but the regulator. Then you rip it out of your mouth. Then you rolf. Then you inhale. I wouldn't want to try to rolf underwater or clean the regulator out afterward and get it back into my mouth without inhaling..
A "dictator" is a head of state who exercises arbitrary authority over the lives of his citizens and who cannot be removed from power through legal means. The worst commit terrible human-rights abuses. This present list draws in part on reports by global human-rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International. While the three worst from 2005 have retained their places, two on last year's list (Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya and Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan) have slipped out of the Top 10not because their conduct has improved but because other dictators have gotten worse.
1) Omar al-Bashir, Sudan. Age 62. In power since 1989. Last year's rank: 1 Since February 2003, Bashir's campaign of ethnic and religious persecution has killed at least 180,000 civilians in Darfur in western Sudan and driven 2 million people from their homes. The good news is that Bashir's army and the Janjaweed militia that he supports have all but stopped burning down villages in Darfur. The bad news is why they've stopped: There are few villages left to burn. The attacks now are aimed at refugee camps. While the media have called these actions "a humanitarian tragedy," Bashir himself has escaped major condemnation. In 2005, Bashir signed a peace agreement with the largest rebel group in non-Islamic southern Sudan and allowed its leader, John Garang, to become the nation's vice president. But Garang died in July in a helicopter crash, and Bashir's troops still occupy the south.
Duplicitous, brutal, and evil to the core, Omar is my choice for Number 3 worst dictator in the entire world. Sudan misses being cited as the classic failed state only because it is next door to Somalia. Omar will probably manage to split Sudan into its component parts, but the process will take a long time, and the end result may look more like Somalia than even we expect here.
2) Kim Jong-il, North Korea. Age 63. In power since 1994. Last year's rank: 2 While the outside world focuses on Kim Jong-il's nuclear weapons program, domestically he runs the world's most tightly controlled society. North Korea continues to rank last in the index of press freedom compiled by Reporters Without Borders, and for the 34th straight year it earned the worst possible score on political rights and civil liberties from Freedom House. An estimated 250,000 people are confined in "reeducation camps." Malnourishment is widespread: According to the United Nations World Food Program, the average 7-year-old boy in North Korea is almost 8 inches shorter than a South Korean boy the same age and more than 20 pounds lighter.
An hereditary dictator, Kimmie has no contact with the commons except for the occasional dancing girl. Rantburg rank: Numbah 2, but only because Bob Mugabe goes out of his way to be even worse.
3) Than Shwe, Burma (Myanmar). Age 72. In power since 1992. Last year's rank: 3 In November 2005, without warning, Than Shwe moved his entire government from Rangoon (Yangon), the capital for the last 120 years, to Pyinmana, a remote area 245 miles away. Civil servants were given two days' notice and are forbidden from resigning. Burma leads the world in the use of children as soldiers, and the regime is notorious for using forced labor on construction projects and as porters for the army in war zones. The long-standing house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize and Than Shwe's most feared opponent, recently was extended for six months. Just to drive near her heavily guarded home is to risk arrest.
An insignificant pipsqueak of a dictator. Doesn't even merit inclusion in the top ten. Just another general, one of many who've ruled Burma since, I believe, 1962, during which time the army's great victories have been against its own people.
4) Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe. Age 81. In power since 1980. Last year's rank: 9 Life in Zimbabwe has gone from bad to worse: It has the world's highest inflation rate, 80% unemployment and an HIV/AIDS rate of more than 20%. Life expectancy has declined since 1988 from 62 to 38 years. Farming has collapsed since 2000, when Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms, giving most of them to political allies with no background in agriculture. In 2005, Mugabe launched Operation Murambatsvina (Clean the Filth), the forcible eviction of some 700,000 people from their homes or businesses"to restore order and sanity," says the government. But locals say the reason was to forestall demonstrations as the economy deteriorates.
The prototypical "dictator's dictator." Brutal, rapacious, and corrupt, Bob has taken the former Breadbasket of Africa and made it into a begger state. His policies of plunder and disregard for the common folk place him at the top of my list. Rantburg rank: Numbah 1.
5) Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan. Age 67. In power since 1990. Last year's rank: 15 Until 2005, the worst excesses of Karimov's regime had taken place in the torture rooms of his prisons. But on May 13, he ordered a mass killing that could not be concealed. In the city of Andijan, 23 businessmen, held in prison and awaiting a verdict, were freed by their supporters, who then held an open meeting in the town square. An estimated 10,000 people gathered, expecting government officials to come and listen to their grievances. Instead, Karimov sent the army, which massacred hundreds of men, women and children. A 2003 law made Karimov and all members of his family immune from prosecution forever.
Karimov's harmless to the rest of the world. He's courteous enough to keep his atrocities within his own borders. Barely makes the "B" list.
6) Hu Jintao, China. Age 63. In power since 2002. Last year's rank: 4
Although some Chinese have taken advantage of economic liberalization to become rich, up to 150 million Chinese live on $1 a day or less in this nation with no minimum wage. Between 250,000 and 300,000 political dissidents are held in "reeducation-through-labor" camps without trial. Less than 5% of criminal trials include witnesses, and the conviction rate is 99.7%. There are no privately owned TV or radio stations. The government opens and censors mail and monitors phone calls, faxes, e-mails and text messages. In preparation for the 2008 Olympics, at least 400,000 residents of Beijing have been forcibly evicted from their homes.
Just another Emperor Chairman. Not a patch on Mao. 500 years from now he's just another name on a dynastic list.
7) King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia. Age 82. In power since 1995. Last year's rank: 5 Although Abdullah did not become king until 2005, he has ruled Saudi Arabia since his half-brother, Fahd, suffered a stroke 10 years earlier. In Saudi Arabia, phone calls are recorded and mobile phones with cameras are banned. It is illegal for public employees "to engage in dialogue with local and foreign media." By law, all Saudi citizens must be Muslims. According to Amnesty International, police in Saudi Arabia routinely use torture to extract "confessions." Saudi women may not appear in public with a man who isn't a relative, must cover their bodies and faces in public and may not drive. The strict suppression of women is not voluntary, and Saudi women who would like to live a freer life are not allowed to do so.
The Soddy elite aren't dictators, any more than Merwig and Chilperic were dictators, or Phillip the Fair was. Except for lopping people's heads off and gouging out an occasional eye they don't fit in the same category as Bob or Omar.
8) Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan. Age 65. In power since 1990. Last year's rank: 8 Niyazov has created the world's most pervasive personality cult, and criticism of any of his policies is considered treason. The latest examples of his government-by-whim include bans on car radios, lip-synching and playing recorded music on TV or at weddings. Niyazov also has closed all national parks and shut down rural libraries. He launched an attack on his nation's health-care system, firing 15,000 health-care workers and replacing most of them with untrained military conscripts. He announced the closing of all hospitals outside the capital and ordered Turkmenistan's physicians to give up the Hippocratic Oath and to swear allegiance to him instead.
A classical lunatic dictator with delusions of grandeur, Turmenbashi is my choice for Number 4 worst dictator in the entire world. He's got it all: 20 foot posters, a book everyone's required to read, and he named a month after his Mom. Destined to be one of the great laughingstocks of history, once the bodies have cooled.
9) Seyed Ali Khamenei, Iran. Age 66. In power since 1989. Last year's rank: 18 Over the past four years, the rulers of Iran have undone the reforms that were emerging in the nation. The hardliners completed this reversal by winning the parliamentary elections in 2004 after disqualifying 44% of the candidatesand with the presidential election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2005. Ultimately, however, the country is run by the 12-man Guardian Council, overseen by the Ayatollah Khamane'i, which has the right to veto any law that the elected government passes. Khamane'i has shut down the free press, tortured journalists and ordered the execution of homosexual males.
10) Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea. Age 63. In power since 1979. Last year's rank: 10 Obiang took power in this tiny West African nation by overthrowing his uncle more than 25 years ago. According to a United Nations inspector, torture "is the normal means of investigation" in Equatorial Guinea. There is no freedom of speech, and there are no bookstores or newsstands. The one private radio station is owned by Obiang's son. Since major oil reserves were discovered in Equatorial Guinea in 1995, Obiang has deposited more than $700 million into special accounts in U.S. banks. Meanwhile, most of his people live on less than $1 a day.
Merits inclusion only as a prototype African kleptocrat. Has the advantage of keeping the corpses mostly within his own borders.
Meet the Contenders: Dictators 11 to 20
11. Muammar al-Qaddafi, Libya Age 63. In power since 1969. Last year's rank: 6 Qaddafi has made his peace with the outside world by renouncing his quest for weapons of mass destruction and opening his oil fields to foreign companies. But domestically he continues to operate a brutal regime. According to the U.S. Department of State, at least 10% of the population is engaged in surveillance of the other 90%. Libyan law provides for collective punishment in which the relatives, friends and even neighbors of someone found guilty of a crime can also be punished. Criticizing Qaddafi is considered a crime punishable by death.
Another old favorite. Col. Qaddhafi took power in 1969 and hasn't managed to get promoted since. I'll give him the Number 7 position. Muammar's smart enough to realize when he's on the wrong side of history, as long as he has 20 or 30 years to figure which way to jump. He took all the money from his oil-rich kingdom and pissed it away on foreign adventurism while the common folk became impoverished. Gets the prize for the most self-awarded medals and for his comely corps of dancing girls body guards.
12. King Mswati III, Swaziland Age 37. In power since 1986. Last year's rank: 11 Africa's last remaining absolute monarch, Mswati III took power at the age of 18. Since then he has allowed his country to slide into extreme poverty, with 69% of the Swazi people living on less than $1 a day. Swaziland has the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the world: almost 40%. The country has operated without a constitution for 30 years. Mswati has agreed to implement a new one in 2006, however, it bans political parties, gives Mswati the right to reject any laws passed by the legislature and grants him immunity against all possible crimes.
Mswati is not a dictator. He is a clown. His chief characteristic is not cruelty, which a good dictator needs to be effective, but horniness. He is merely diddling while the country goes to pot. Doesn't even deserve a place on the list.
13. Isayas Afewerki, Eritrea Age 59. In power since 1993. Last year's rank: 17
A popular leader of Eritrea's 30-year war of liberation against Ethiopia, Afewerki became its first president in 1993. Since then he has cancelled all national elections. He also suspended the constitution, shut down all privately owned media and restricted the use of cell phones because, he says, they are a threat to national security. He recently expelled all American and European members of the United Nations peacekeeping force that is trying to stop the outbreak of a border war with neighboring Ethiopia.
14. Aleksandr Lukashenko, Belarus Age 51. In power since 1994. Last year's rank: 12 Europe's last dictator, Aleksandr Lukashenko was elected Belarus' first president after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Since then he has rewritten the constitution to allow him to appoint all 110 members of the upper house of the legislature, and he has harassed his opponents, sometimes having them arrested on live television. He also has mandated a return to Communist-style "mutual surveillance," encouraging workers to use "trouble telephones" to inform on one another. It is against the law to criticize him.
An idea whose time has gone. As a matter of fact, it was gone when he took power. The results show in the country's ecnomic performance. Maybe Number 8, but even that's stretching things.
15. Fidel Castro, Cuba Age 79. In power since 1959. Last year's rank: 13 Fidel Castro moved into his 47th year as the leader of Cuba, continuing his record as the longest-reigning dictator in the world. He seems to be telling his people that two generations have passed and no one in Cuba is worthy of taking his place. Cuba had one of the worst scores on Reporters Without Borders' international index of press freedom.
Fidel is everyone's favorite commie dictator, who's managed to take Cuba and make it into an economic and social backwater. His primary talents consist of the ability to give 12 hours speeches and make American leftists swoon. I'd put him at Number 5 on the list.
16. Bashar al-Assad, Syria Age 40. In power since 2000. Last year's rank: 14 A former ophthamology student, in 2000 Bashar inherited power from his father, who had ruled Syria for 29 years. Recently the Syrian government has received international condemnation for its presumed involvement in the assassination of the ex-prime minister of neighboring Lebanon. In Syria itself, "emergency rule" has been in effect since 1963. Amnesty International has documented 38 different types of torture that have been used in Syria in recent years.
I'll give Pencilneck the Number 6 position. He's not the man his father was, and in fact may not even be the man he used to be. An inept puppet, better suited for another line of work, he's busy presiding over the demise of his regime. Gone by 9-11-06.
17. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan Age 62. In power since 1999. Last year's rank: 7 General Pervez Musharraf seized power in a military coup that overthrew an elected government. He appointed himself president of Pakistan in 2001 and then attempted to legitimize his rule by staging an election in 2002. However, the election did not come close to meeting international standards. Musharraf agreed to step down as head of the military but then changed his mind, claiming that the nation needed to unify its political and military elements and that he could provide this unity. He justified his decision by stating, "I think the country is more important than democracy." Prior to September 11, 2001, Musharraf was an ardent supporter of Afghanistan's Taliban regime.
18. Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia Age 50. In power since 1995. Last year's rank: unranked
Following a disputed election in May 2005, Zenawi's forces shot to death several dozen unarmed demonstrators and detained more than 10,000 political opponents. Zenawi had agreed to a mediated solution to his border dispute with Eritrea. But when the United Nations boundary commission ruled against him, he refused to comply with its decision.
19. Boungnang Vorachith, Laos Age 68. In power since 2001. Last year's rank: 20
Laos is run by the communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party. Freedom of expression, assembly and religion are almost nonexistent. Three quarters of Laotians live on less than $2 a day.
20. Tran Duc Luong, Vietnam Age 68. In power since 1997. Last year's rank: 19
A geology technician, Luong oversees a classic communist regime that forbids public criticism of the Communist Party, strictly controls all media and heavily censors the Internet. Political trials are closed to the public and 29 different crimes are punishable by the death penaltyincluding fraud, corruption and drug trafficking. In November, 2005, the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report designated Vietnam as one of eight "countries of particular concern."
Contributing Editor David Wallechinsky has reported on world figures for PARADE, including an interview with Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. For more on the worst dictators, visit parade.com on the Web.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/23/2006
08:22 ||
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#1
Nice list for the future UN Human Rights comission!
#2
Naturally the Kosmonutz have filled the comments section with calls for Dubya's inclusion...though I did see Desert Blondie fighting the good fight.
#12
I guess this list is compilied based on a full year, time in position. Even so, Iran's Ahmadinejad should be added just based on potential. I see Khamenei made it and as they say the Guardian Council maintains control of the country.
President Ahmadinejad said Friday Palestine is the center of the final stages of the battle between Islam and arrogance, saying the Palestinian pogrom Intifada is progressing. The plots hatched by enemies against Palestine should not be overlooked even for a moment, Ahmadinejad noted in a meeting with leaders of the Palestinian resistance movements in Damascus, Syria.
Ahmadinejad arrived in Damascus on Thursday upon the official invitation of his Syrian counterpart -- soon to be former President Bashar al-Assad.
He spoke of the importance of the Palestinian cause and stressed the cause will not come be materialized if occupiers continue to occupy even a tiny part of dry land anywhere Palestine's territories. He stressed that unity, coordination and sympathy among terrorist resistance groups for the Palestinian cause is the only guarantee for Palestine's liberation.
The Islamic Republic of Iran supports the Palestinian cause of statehood and liberation of Islamic territories like Spain and Hungary from occupiers, he added. Elsewhere, he noted that one of the reasons westerners were lined up against Iran's undeniable right to gain peaceful nuclear weapons technology was because of Iran's uncompromising support for Palestine.
The visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Syria is considered another gesture of political support to Damascus and the Islamic Jihad resistance, said Hamas political leader Khaled Mishaal. The Hamas official extended his thanks to the Iranian president for his firm stance on the Palestinian issue, saying the terrorist resistance group, Hamas, considers terrorismresistance the only way to drive out the joooos resolve the Palestinians' rights and success of their avowed goals.
Unfortunately, the Pat Robertson solution won't really help. You'd have to kill the whole ruling oligarchy.
#1
tonight on tele, I saw the last bit of a US documentary/news report on the Palestinian elections from inside the Palestinian territories (don't know what it was called, switched on toolate, sorry).
In it the reporter is taken by a Palestinian Politics lecturer from Al Azhar uni in the Palestinian territories, to view the Gaza region the Israelis handed over to the Paleos.
The camera panned around the rubble and destruction.
With a completely straight face this Paleo turned to the US journo and said: "see what they've done? The Israelis destroyed everything".
I was gobsmacked.
There is TV footage and it is a matter of public record that the Israelis simply packed their stuff and left.
When the Palestinians moved in they looted every thing they could then destroyed the houses of their hated 'occupiers' even though the land was never theirs, Israel won it from Egypt in the 6 day war.
Worse: the US journo did not question simply acted like it was a great shame those terrible Israelis destroyed all their own houses like a scorched earth policy even though it wasn't even true!!
#2
Anon1, it was just another day at the office for the mythmakers--the media has worked hand-in-globe to *invent* the entire "crisis" that is the Paleo situation.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/23/2006 21:47
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#4
He's right about that "Palestine" is where the Terror Jihad methodology was developed and shown to be a winning approach: US won't cut PA ties if Hamas in cabinet
Russia's state security service, the FSB, has accused British diplomats of spying in Moscow. It backed claims made in a Russian TV report which showed footage of what it said was British agents retrieving data from a fake rock planted on a street. The programme also said a UK diplomat made regular payments to Russian non-governmental organisations. The UK Foreign Office said it was "concerned and surprised", and denied any improper conduct with Russian NGOs.
Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed FSB spokesman as saying that "everything that was shown [in the programme] was true and based on our information". The programme said four officials from the UK embassy and one Russian citizen, allegedly recruited by the British secret service, downloaded classified data from a transmitter in the rock onto palm-top computers.
Update of the old dead letter drop, a Wi-Fi enabled rock.
According to the programme, the Russian citizen was later arrested. Hidden camera footage appears to show individuals walking up to the rock. One man is caught on camera carrying it away.
Security officer taking it into evidence?
The programme contained a number of interviews with people claiming to be Russian intelligence officers, who made the allegations. An unnamed FSB spokesman told AFP news agency one of the accused diplomats was a 30-year-old archivist. A FSB officer told Rossiya television the hi-tech stone was "absolutely new spy technology".
No longer do you have to risk sticking a note under a park bench, you just walk or drive by the park and upload your data to the micro computer in the fake rock. Later, the pickup man can drive by and upload it to his PDA or phone. Be hard to spot.
The UK embassy in Moscow has refused to comment, but the UK Foreign Office in London issued a statement. "We are concerned and surprised at these allegations. We reject any allegation of improper conduct in our dealing with Russian NGOs," it said.
The Foreign Office said it was well known that the UK government had given financial support to projects implemented by Russian NGOs in the field of human rights and civil society. "All our assistance is given openly and aims to support the development of a healthy civil society in Russia," the statement said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin drew widespread criticism earlier this month when he signed a law giving authorities increased powers to monitor the activities and finances of NGOs. Critics said the measure was an attack on human rights and democracy.
Michael Evans, defence editor of the UK Times newspaper, told the BBC that Russia is still regarded as a centre of espionage. "People will be a little bit surprised at the bizarre nature of this episode. I've no idea whether it's true, but clearly there is a lot of intelligence gathering that goes on."
Posted by: Steve ||
01/23/2006
07:52 ||
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#6
What happened to the good old days when they planted mics inside Chia Pets™?
Posted by: Dar ||
01/23/2006 17:52
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#7
Espionage is an essential Russian national tradition, like overindulgence in vodka. Soviet communism may have collapsed, but the KGB didn't Notice who's running Russia now.
Note to tourists visiting Russia, don't surf the net near any suspicious items, you may be arrested.
The Kuwaiti cabinet has asked for a special parliamentary session on Tuesday to debate the removal of the new ailing emir from power, a Kuwaiti deputy says.
"Nurse! He's doing it again!"
The formal request deepens a dispute within the ruling family over whether Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, who took over on January 15 after the death of the emir, his cousin Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah. However critics argue that Sheikh Saad al-Sabah, 76, is too ill to be in charge of the emirate and corrspondents say a rift is widening within the powerful ruling family.
"More taste!"
"Less filling!"
Sheikh Saad has made it clear [he] wants the role, although in recent years he has played little part in public life. He appeared briefly at the late emir's funeral, in a wheel chair, without speaking.
Rumor has it he can't, at least not speak and make sense at the same time...
The cabinet and many ruling family members support the prime minister and de facto ruler, Sheikh Sabah al-Sabah. While also 76, he is in good health and has overseen the everyday running of the emirate as prime minister for some years. The al-Sabah family has ruled the tiny oil-rich emirate for decades and has never undergone a political crisis of this magnitude.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/23/2006
07:50 ||
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I don't remember hereditary monarchies having this public a debate over leadership... it it the gentle persuasion of Dubya and the call for democracy working its charm?
Beirut, 23 Jan. (AKI) - The son of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, arrives in Washington Monday for a five day visit to the United Sates which will include a meeting with President Geroge W. Bush. Saad ad-Din Hariri leads the anti-Syrian coalition that won Lebanon's June 2005 elections, the first to be held without a Syrian military presence in the country in almost 30 years. Accoriding to officials of Hariri's political movement "The Future" the purpose of the visit is to win US support for the creation of an international tribunal to try those accused of murdering his father in a 14 February 2005 bombing in Beirut.
A UN probe has implicated top Lebanese and Syrian security officials in the attack which killed 22 people.
Hariri is also scheduled to visit the UN headquarters in New York where he is expected to endorse a US-French proposal for a declaration urging the application of UN Security Council 1559 which calls for the disarming of all militias in Lebanon. The Lebanese politician will also meet World Bank president James Wolfensohn as well as US business leaders to try and secure economic aid and investments for the Lebanese economy. Hariri will be accompanied during the trip by the deputy speaker of the Lebanese parliament, Farid Makari.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/23/2006
07:45 ||
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Baghdad, 23 Jan. (AKI) - Six armed groups fighting against Iraq's transitional government and its US-led coaliton force backers have distanced themselves from Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda linked group. The groups in a statement posted on the Internet said they had severed all links with the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi, who is suspected of masterminding some of the bloodiest attacks in Iraq.
The groups including the Islamic Army, the 1920 Revolution Brigades, the Army of the Mujahadeen and the al-Ramadi Revolutionary Brigades, announced the creation of a new umbrella group, the "Cells of the People" which they say will concentrate its operations in the al-Anbar province. The statement condemned all "operations targeting innocent civilians."
"of course, our definition of innocent is flexible"
Posted by: Steve ||
01/23/2006
07:38 ||
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#1
I really believe these people would benefit from Midnight Basketball.
#5
Now isn't that interesting, there's another article I read earlier that says red-on-red in Anbar. They didn't like the police recruits being blown to gobs of goo, so, they held a meeting and if "distancing" is what they call it, who am I to argue.
A little noticed UN press release January 19th announced a decision by the Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee to remove Mohamed Mansour and his wife Zeinab Mansour-Fattouh from its consolidated list of designated al Qaeda members and associates. Mohamed and Zeinab Mansour had originally been designated by the US Treasury Department in November 2001, along with Youssef Nada and Ahmed Idris Nasreddin as key members of the al Taqwa banking network. Their UN designation followed shortly thereafter. According to the Treasury Department, âThe al Taqwa group⊠long acted as financial advisers to al Qaida, with offices in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and the CaribbeanâŠ.{and} provide(d) investment advice and cash transfer mechanisms for al Qaida and other radical Islamic groups.â (Full US Treasury Designation Fact Sheet here)
Mohamed and Zeinab were key shareholders and memberâs of Al Taqwaâs board of directors, along with Youssef Nada, Ahmed Idris Nasreddin, Albert Friedrich Armand Huber, and Ali Ghaleb Himmat. There removal from UN designation now comes with no explanation from the UN or the US Treasury Department. There is no indication that the couple have yet been removed from the Treasury (OFAC) designated list. The effect of their removal from the UN list means that their assets can be unfrozen by any jurisdiction and apparently that has already been done in the United Kingdom, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, where they are believed to have held accounts. The other al Taqwa board directors, Nada, Nasreddin, Huber and Himmat remain on the UN Consolidated List.
According to UN Guidelines the government of residence or citizenship and/or the government that originally requested the designation can apply to the UN Al Qaeda and Taliban Committee to have the designation removed. Committee consensus is required to grant removal. If consensus cannot be reached the matter may still be referred to the Security Council for resolution. Apparently, the United States concurred in lifting the UN designation on Mohamed and Zeinab Mansour. One must wonder whether and when they might take similar action to remove from the US OFAC list.
While the al Taqwa banking network was shut down shortly after 9/11, the US and its international partners have been singularly unsuccessful in putting those who ran al Taqwa out of business (see my series of earlier blogs on this topic. Action was taken to freeze some bank accounts associated with Youssef Nada, Ahmed Nasreddin, and the other al Taqwa board members. But, many of their business assets remain unfrozen. Nada, Nasreddin and the other al Taqwa board members also escaped any criminal prosecution for their involvement in financing al Qaeda and related groups. In fact the Government of Switzerlandâs Prosecutors office was ordered to re-imburse Youssef Nada for some of the expenses he entailed due to their criminal investigation against him. The failure to effectively sanction al Taqwaâs management can only send the wrong message when it comes to dissuading other terrorist financiers.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/23/2006
03:47 ||
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Shouldn't these people stand trial, or is there no evidence against them ? It looks like UN politics as usual. Pay as you go.
The bodies of 36 kidnapping victims who had applied to the Baghdad Police Academy have been found and identified, an official said Sunday.
Those bodies and 13 unidentified corpses have been found since Wednesday, killed by gunshots fired at a short distance, according to police.
A group of 50 men were abducted January 16 north of Baghdad after they had applied to the academy and were rejected for unknown reasons, said an official with the Salaheddin Joint Coordination Center.
They were abducted at an insurgent checkpoint, he said, about 31 miles (50 kilometers) north of Baghdad while on their way home to the town of Samarra.
Twenty-three of the bodies were found Sunday in Niba'i, the official said. Family members have identified 21 of them as having been among the 50.
Reports of the bodies began on Wednesday, when 13 were found in Niba'i. Family members identified nine of them as being from the group of rejected police.
On Friday, police said they had found seven additional bodies in Dujail. Those bodies have not been identified.
Sunday morning, Dujail police said they had found the bodies of six other applicants.
Meanwhile, there have been no reports since Tuesday on the fate of abducted U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, who has been missing since January 7. (Watch international pleas to spare abducted reporter's life -- 1:01)
Representatives from an American Muslim group are in Iraq to persuade kidnappers to free her. (Full story)
An Arabic-language television channel broadcast video Saturday of another kidnapping victim, a son of a former Iraqi government official.
Two separate attacks north of Baghdad killed nine people Sunday, including four children and four Iraqi police officers, police said.
In the first strike, two girls and two boys, age 6 to 11, died in a rocket attack on the home of an Iraqi police officer in Balad Ruz, about 15 miles east of Baquba, said an official with the police joint communications center.
The rockets also killed the police officer's brother and wounded the brother's wife, the official said. The police officer was not home at the time of the attack.
In the second attack, four police officers died after a roadside bomb targeting their patrol exploded about 3:50 a.m. in Tahrir Square in central Baquba, the official said. Nine police officers were wounded.
A military jury said a U.S. Army interrogator committed negligent homicide when he put a sleeping bag over an Iraqi general's head and sat on his chest as the man suffocated. (Full story)
Jurors convicted Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer Jr. on Saturday during his trial at Fort Carson, Colorado. The jury spared Welshofer a murder conviction which could have sent him to prison for life, the Army said. Jurors also convicted Welshofer of negligent dereliction of duty.
Welshofer, 43, was accused of putting a sleeping bag over the head of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush, sitting on his chest and covering Mowhoush's mouth with his hand while interrogating him in November 2003.
Mowhoush was a major general in the former Iraqi Army's Air Defense branch and linked to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
A surgeon initially said Mowhoush died of natural causes, but a death certificate released months later by the Pentagon called the death a homicide by asphyxia.
Jurors acquitted Welshofer of assault, the Army said.
He faces a dishonorable discharge and as long as three years and three months in prison. Sentencing was set for Monday.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/23/2006
03:43 ||
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I wonder if these 36 had insurgent tendencies and word had slipped out they were trying to infiltrate the police ranks.
The Global Islamic Media Front, an al-Qaeda mouthpiece, issued a 28:30 minute video today, January 22, 2006, titled: âJihad Academy,â depicting an amalgamation of clips of attacks executed by Iraqi insurgency groups including al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Mujahideen Army, and the Islamic Army in Iraq. The film, âdirectedâ by Mousslim Mouwaheed, carried an attached message indicating that the events portrayed in âJihad Academyâ are to show a âsingle day for those whom struggle in Allah's cause,â as attacks are shown in the dawn hours through the dark of night. Amongst these attacks are sniper operations, including those from the Islamic Army in Iraqâs âJuba â compilation, detonations of improvised explosive devices (IEDâs) on a variety of targets, rocket and mortar fire, and readings of martyrâs wills.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/23/2006
03:40 ||
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One of the issues that we're going to face here is that most Iranians like the idea of being respected globally and being a major or at least regional power, even if they aren't enamoured with the government taking them in that direction. The problem that they need to recognize is that the application of power depends greatly on whoever is wielding it and the mullahs have more than proven that they are not to be trusted.
Wearing a stocking cap and an air of indignation, Mohammad Ahmadi pointed to the wall in front of him. It bore a splendid frieze dating from early in the millennia-long span of Iran's existence -- as a nation, an empire or simply a group of people who speak the same language.
"These are Armenians," Ahmadi said of three figures carved in vivid profile, one leading a horse. "They were bringing gifts to the king of Iran 2,500 years ago. And now they have a nuclear power plant.
"Do you want to see the Indians?" he said, indicating a lower column. "They didn't have shoes. Now they have nine nuclear plants.
"I am not a political person. I only finished high school, and I do not have much knowledge. But if I think like this, imagine how the others think."
If any doubt remains that Iranians support their government in its quest to harness the atom, the answer comes quickly and emphatically in Persepolis, the magnificent ruins that symbolize the ancient pride and fading glory bound up with the nuclear issue here.
Ordinary Iranians overwhelmingly favor their country's nuclear ambitions, interviews and surveys show. The support runs deep in the population of 68 million, cutting across differences of education, age and, most significantly, attitudes toward the fundamentalist government that the Bush administration says is intent on using an energy program as a cover for developing atomic weapons.
"Look at all this civilization!" said Mehrdad Khanban, 23, the sweep of his arm taking in the towering pillars and regal staircases of the stone city founded by Darius the Great in about 518 B.C. in the southern corner of Iran first known as Persia. "What has George Bush got? And he's telling Iranians what to do?"
Interviews with Iranians touring the ruins on a holiday weekend here suggest the breadth of the challenge facing Western powers determined to freeze Iran's recently reactivated nuclear program. The Tehran government this month ended a two-year moratorium on nuclear research by removing seals placed on uranium enrichment equipment by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. watchdog on nuclear power. In the diplomatic flurry that followed, European and U.S. officials began maneuvering toward referring Tehran to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions.
The threat has had no visible effect here.
"We will cope," Khanban said with a shrug. A soccer coach from the city of Karaj, near Tehran, he said he was no fan of Iran's ruling clerics or its hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose fiery rhetoric against Israel has alarmed many outside the country. But Khanban separated Iran's government from its aspiration to produce nuclear power -- bad news for Western diplomats who hope to cleave Iran's government from its people on the nuclear issue, perhaps through so-called smart sanctions such as restrictions on official travel abroad.
"There are so many people who don't like our government, who do not like it at all," Khanban said. "But they do not want this country to be ruled by foreigners. Like Iraq, for example."
"Everyone is united on this," said Rahimeh Goodarzi, 52, clutching her enveloping black chador to her chin at an exhibit of artifacts. "We love our country."
Many Iranians also emphasized that their enthusiasm was for nuclear power, not weapons.
"We really want it. Every country should have it. But I don't think it should be used for military purposes," said Parisa, 28, who was visiting from nearby Shiraz. Enjoying the sun on a stone slab, she declined to provide her surname after criticizing the government. "Everybody I know says they want it, but they want it for peaceful purposes."
Iran's copious oil and gas reserves will eventually run out, Parisa said, and in any case petroleum has brought little good to the people. "It's black magic," she said. Per capita statistics show ordinary Iranians are less well off than they were 30 years ago, and many see investment in technology, including nuclear research, as a revival of development that had slowed in Iran in recent decades.
"If you look at this place, you realize that 2,500 years ago Iranians were very advanced, more than other people," said Abolghasem Fotoohi, 32, an engineer from the eastern city of Mashhad. "Any Iranian would like his country to improve, and then we would not need other countries. We could stand by ourselves."
Arta Menhadji, who studied metallurgy but works as a soccer coach, found an example in the museum tucked in the center of the ruins, guarded by huge sculptures of a beast with the body of a bull, the wings of a bird and the head of a bearded man. One exhibit showed a bowl used for melting metal in ancient times.
"At the moment, we haven't got much to talk about in metallurgy, especially compared to America. A nuclear industry would involve some things related to that," he said.
"Yes, it's obvious," Khanban said. "I mean, look at this place. At the time it was built, there was no America. See where we were then and where we are now. And see where they were then and where they are now."
Inside the museum, Aboozar Ghalenoi, 24, pointed out a framed declaration. Translated from cuneiform, it was attributed to Xerxes, the son of Darius who ushered Persepolis to a glory that survived only until the city was sacked by Alexander the Great in 330 B.C.
"I am not hot-tempered," the text declared. "What things develop my anger, I hold firmly under control by my thinking power. I am firmly ruling over my impulses."
"Did you read that and know that Iranians are not after nuclear weapons?" Ghalenoi asked. "All the great people of Iran have always spoken about peace. We need nuclear power for electricity and for medical uses.
"But countries like Israel, that's not what they want," he went on. "They want to use it against people. Unfortunately, the Americans support them."
The shift from civilian to military came easily, at least in conversation.
"You see, Israel has got so many of them," said Mohsen Seddighi, carrying his daughter on his shoulders. "And even Jacques Chirac is saying: If any country attacks us, we're going to use it. So why shouldn't we have it?"
At the company he works for, a domestic airline, "99 percent, even 100 percent of people are together on this," Seddighi said. "For civilian use."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/23/2006
03:36 ||
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The WaPo can't be believed about much. Are there any of you in the 'Burg who follow Iranian blogs? If so, are they showing any signs of awareness that serious people in the West are talking about turning their country into a radioactive glass parking lot rather than let the mad mullahs get their hands on nuclear weapons? I can't help but think that if the average Iranian knew just how dangerous the situation is for them personally due to the irresponsible and vicious threats made by their government, they would be tearing the mullahs to bloody bits with their bare hands.
Posted by: mac ||
01/23/2006 6:28
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No one is really rejecting the idea of nuclear power generation for Iran. It's the setting up of a system where fisile materials can be diverted and missused that are being objected to.
""Look at all this civilization!" said Mehrdad Khanban, 23, the sweep of his arm taking in the towering pillars and regal staircases of the stone city founded by Darius the Great in about 518 B.C. in the southern corner of Iran first known as Persia. "What has George Bush got? And he's telling Iranians what to do?"
These buggers are trapped in dreams of ancient glory. They don't get anywhere cause they're constantly walking backwards. Maybe someone should remind them of what happend when the Mongols arrived.
Iraq's biggest Sunni political bloc committed itself on Sunday to talks with Shi'ites and Kurds to form a government of national unity, but said its key demands, including changes to the constitution, must be met.
The United States, keen to drive the political process toward a stable consensus, wants the Kurds and majority Shi'ites, who dominated last month's elections, to form a government that includes minority Sunnis. It hopes an inclusive coalition will undermine the raging Sunni Arab insurgency.
Four policemen were killed and nine wounded by a roadside bomb in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad. Thirteen other people were killed in attacks across Iraq, including a policeman's four nephews who died when a rocket hit his home.
The Iraqi Accordance Front, which comprises three mainly Islamist Sunni Arab groups, said it would appeal against the results of an election it believes was rigged but would still take part in talks on a new coalition government.
"It will be active in talks with other political blocs to form a unity government," said Tareq al-Hashemi, whose moderate Iraqi Islamic Party is the biggest member of the Front.
Hashemi said the election results did "not reflect the political and population weight" of the Front, which believes it should have won 11 more seats. The Sunni coalition would seek key ministries in the new government as compensation, he said.
The Front also intends to hold Shi'ites and Kurds to a promise, extracted under U.S. pressure, of reviewing the constitution approved in a referendum last October.
Many Sunnis fear the constitution's provisions for regional autonomy will give Kurds and Shi'ites control over Iraq's vast oil reserves and eventually break the country apart.
"We ask the blocs not to put obstacles in the way of making some changes to the constitution," Hashemi told a news briefing.
After boycotting parliament last year, Sunni leaders had hoped a big turnout in the December 15 election would put them in a strong position to press for amendments, particularly on a new federal state structure, which they fear could give control of oil to Kurdish and Shi'ite regions in the north and south.
They had also hoped that other Shi'ite and secular groups opposed to decentralization would undermine the dominance of the main Shi'ite bloc, the Islamist Alliance, whose most powerful leaders are strongly in favor of federal autonomy.
But the success of the Alliance in coming close to retaining its majority may dampen Sunni hopes of securing amendments with the help of anti-federalist Shi'ites in parliament.
A Western diplomat closely involved in Iraq's political process said Sunni ambitions may have to focus now more on influencing legislation to be enacted that will spell out exactly how autonomous regions can be established and operate.
As U.S. and Iraqi forces hunted for kidnapped American reporter Jill Carroll, Iraq's Justice Ministry said six women prisoners held by U.S. forces would be released within a week.
Carroll's abductors threatened to kill her if all women prisoners in Iraq were not freed.
A joint Iraqi-U.S. review board approved the release of the women on January 17, before the kidnappers made their demand, but U.S. officials then apparently delayed freeing them so that it did not look like they were giving in to the hostage-takers.
"They delayed their release because of the connection with the kidnapping of the American journalist," a Justice Ministry spokesman said.
Iraqi military officials said they had intelligence indicating Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the militant leader behind some of the bloodiest attacks, is in Diyala province near Baghdad.
It is not the first time Iraqi officials have said they have closed in on the elusive Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
Army posts have been notified of Zarqawi's presence in Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, where there has been a surge in violence in the past few months, the officials said. It was not known exactly where in the province he was, one official said.
Saddam Hussein may be confronted from the witness stand by former associates when his trial resumes this week but defense counsel will call for a halt after the chief judge resigned complaining of government interference.
"There will be former regime members" among witnesses appearing on several days of hearings starting on Tuesday and lasting up to three weeks, a Western diplomat closely involved in the U.S.-sponsored trial told reporters on Sunday.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/23/2006
03:33 ||
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Thanks, Dan, I'm sure the alphabet channels won't be coverin' this.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/23/2006 18:41
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Top MI5 and other security agency sleuths knew a year before the July 7 London bomb attacks that the ringleader of the suicide bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, was planning to fight for Al Qaeda.
The disclosure, highly embarrassing for MI5, has once again triggered the demand for a full public inquiry into the July 7 attacks.
It is said that MI5 bugged Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, another of the bombers, for two months in 2004 as they talked about Khan's desire to fight an "Islamic war". He also talked about retuning to Pakistan, where he had attended a camp for British Muslim terrorists. The two also talked about engaging in crimes to raise funds.
But after all this, MI5 and police decided that the two men were not an "imminent risk". As a result their surveillance was discontinued.
The error in judgement has been discovered following a trawl by agencies of MI5 and police files on all the intelligence about the four suicide bombers.
It has also been calculated that the entire plot and execution of the July 7 attack cost around £10,000.
Officials have traced the origins of the July 7 plot back to 2003 when Khan visited a terrorist camp in northern Pakistan. The camp was set up by Al Qaeda soon after British troops went into Iraq.
Victims of the July 7 attacks have also now demanded a full inquiry to establish where and why intelligence failed, costing the lives of 52 people.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/23/2006
03:32 ||
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Thanks, lads. </sarcasm> Now get out of the pub and start rounding them up. Time for a British Gitmo.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
01/23/2006 3:48
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I wouldn't be too hard on Mi5 in this case, there are proably, quite literally, thousands of British Muslim Jihadis who have fought in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kashmir, Chechnya and elsewhere; or attended training camps in those places.
What the victims and their families should be doing is demanding an inquiry into government failure to deal with these people throughout the 90's.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/23/2006 6:23
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demanding an inquiry into government failure to deal with these people throughout the 90's.
That would be pointless and unfair. Just like in the States, the public and the politicians were in denial about the riskiness of the situation, and so would not accept any strong measures. Just as now, when we know what must be done about Iran's nuclear development program, but not only the noisy half of the American people, politicians and media refuse to accept any movement at all, but the leaders of the countries within missile range (except Israel, of course) insist on working to further Iran's goals. The intelligence agencies can only inform -- hard action must await permission from the political class, who won't move until the peepul are pursuaded.
#4
I fail to see why we havent started wiping out these training camp . Bullets , snatch and grab missions , not missiles though , because of the diplomatic fallout from missiles
The spin on using bullets would be , musta been a rival group of fruitcakes .. Hell , use AK's and russian/china equipment on the job .
In my experience , face to face action has more of the desired effect than anything else .
We know where the camps are , Mi5 / CIA aint dumb , birds in the air aswell as some camps are already infiltrated .
And yes Howard , UK gitmo would be nice ... although most call it Rampton :p
#5
People who armchair quarterback attacks are fools. If you go back and look at the intel before any attack you will find the indicators of the attack. What they need is to go back and research how they missed it and how they could do better. A public inquiry will do nothing.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/23/2006 8:17
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Considering the comabt ability of these "fighters" even a few second tier special forces should be able to wipe out the camps with "lethal predjudice".
#7
What they need is to go back and research how they missed it and how they could do better
But you're never going to stop all of them, so there's no point holding a witch hunt unless there's been real incompetence. We even survived Tenet staying on board.
#8
I don't think they need to be or should be witch hunts. But I think they do need to go back and do an honest review. It is a standard pattern in these attacks that the security services are monitoring the very individuals that will attack and then stop monitoring them before the attack occurs. They need to find out why that happens, because it may very well be that terrorists have gotten their number. They need to know why they stopped monitoring so they don't do it or fall for it again.
Lawmakers who have been briefed by U.S. intelligence officials warned yesterday that the threats against America made by Osama bin Laden in his latest audiotape should be taken very seriously and might be the precursor to a new attack by his al Qaeda network inside the United States.
"When Osama bin Laden says he's going to attack the United States, and he's focused on attacking us in the homeland, we should take him very, very seriously," said Rep. Peter Hoekstra, Michigan Republican and chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, in an appearance on ABC's "This Week."
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Pat Roberts, Kansas Republican, said he knew of "no specific threat that is tied to" bin Laden at the moment, but he added that he thought the message was "important."
"If you take that line that he said, 'We are preparing every minute and every minute, and when we're ready, we're going to attack you in your homeland,' I think we have to take that very seriously," Mr. Roberts told CBS' "Face the Nation."
In the tape, portions of which were broadcast Thursday, bin Laden said that the reason there had been no attack in the United States since September 11, 2001, was "not because of [trouble] getting through your security."
"Operations are being prepared, and you will see them when they are ready, God willing," bin Laden said in the message, which the CIA confirmed was authentic and recorded since November.
Mr. Hoekstra said the message fit into a pattern.
"During the 1990s, [bin Laden] made these same kinds of threats, and he actually attacked the United States, and we ignored it and we paid the price on September 11. We need to make sure that we don't make that same mistake again," he said.
Some analysts said the release of the tape might portend an imminent attack, but others were skeptical.
"Warning your enemy before you attack him is very much a tradition in Islam," former CIA bin Laden unit chief Michael Scheuer told Fox News last week.
Counterterrorism consultant Ben Venzke said on his Web site, intelcenter.com, that the tape "is part of a warning cycle for Americans and is closely matching the pattern seen in the run-up to the July 2005 London bombings."
But author Peter Bergen, who has recently published a biography of the al Qaeda leader, said it was impossible to try to divine the timing or pattern of forthcoming attacks from the messages.
"Before September 11, bin Laden issued relatively few statements, and it is true that they often presaged attacks," he said. "But since then, the number [of statements] has increased dramatically.
"There have been 19 tapes of bin Laden alone," since the September 11 attacks, Mr. Bergen said, as well as 16 other messages from bin Laden deputy Ayman al-Zawahri. "That's one every six weeks, almost. There haven't been that many attacks."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/23/2006
03:30 ||
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Security forces arrested 12 people in a crackdown in North Waziristan, on a day when the political administration cut off power supply and imposed economic penalties as part of sanctions on several tribes in the Mir Ali area.
Three vehicles were also confiscated in the crackdown, a local official told NNI on Sunday. He said that a major crackdown against Hassokhil, Moski, Aisotri, Khadi, Khoshali and Torikhil tribes was underway.
Assistant Political Agent Muhammad Fida Khan said that these tribes had been given a list of wanted men hiding in the area, but had not handed them over in spite of several notices. The raids are being conducted in the area under the command of Frontier Corps political staff, he said. There were also reports of an exchange of rocket-fire between militants and government forces in the outskirts of Miranshah.
Staff Report adds: Meanwhile, the political administration of Bajaur Agency arrested two men believed to be close relatives of wanted local militant Maulana Faqir Muhammad on Sunday morning, but an administrative official denied they had any connection to the militant. âWe have arrested two people, one in connection with laying landmines in Mamond area and the other in connection with damaging shops in a bazaar during a demonstration,â Tehsildar Javedullah told reporters.
However, another government official said that one of the men had links with Al Qaeda operatives, AP reported. The official said that a jirga will assemble to discuss âthe responsibility of sheltering foreigners and to set the punishment for the offenceâ, AP reported.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/23/2006
03:29 ||
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Congressional Democrats have spent the past couple of years accusing Pentagon aides of concocting misleading intelligence in the run-up to the war against Iraq.
Now one of those Pentagon aides wants to become a congressional Democrat.
Following the September 11 attacks, Christopher Carney, along with his friend and fellow Navy reservist, David Wurmser, scoured intelligence reporting on the links between state sponsors of terror and Al Qaeda for a small office in the Pentagon known as the Counterterrorism Evaluation Group. Now Mr. Carney is running for Congress as a Democrat in Pennsylvania's 10th congressional district, which is in the Keystone State's northeast corner.
In an election year that promises to feature a lively debate between the parties on national security and the Iraq war, Mr. Carney's candidacy stands out. He stands by his intelligence work before the war, though he won't go into detail because much of it is still classified.
"Based on the intelligence I saw, there was definitely a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda," Mr. Carney said in an interview. He said he was "surprised by the surprise" this conclusion prompted. "I mean, Saddam had links to almost every terrorist group in the Middle East. Why would people think he wouldn't have one with Al Qaeda?" he said.
If elected, he could tell that to the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean or Senator Kennedy, a Democrat from Massachusetts, who rarely let a week pass without blistering the Bush administration for leading America to war under false pretenses. Mr. Carney, currently a political science professor at Penn State University, said that if he wins his seat he hopes to "persuade my colleagues."
"They are speaking from a position of imperfect knowledge," he said. "My opinions are backed up by the intelligence."
Mr. Carney describes himself as something his party has not seen in a long time: a Scoop Jackson Democrat, in the tradition of the late Washington State senator, Henry "Scoop" Jackson, who opposed Richard Nixon on detente with the Soviet Union and was the author of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, making favorable trade status for the Soviet Union contingent on Moscow's loosening its restrictions on emigration. "I definitely consider myself of the same ilk as Scoop Jackson," Mr. Carney said. " I am strong on defense."
Jackson's office in the 1970s was a home for many who became officials in the Reagan and Bush administrations, including Elliott Abrams, Richard Perle, James Roche, and Douglas Feith. Mr. Perle, who was Mr. Jackson's national security adviser, said he would support Mr. Carney's candidacy. "I think he is a very smart, capable guy," he said. "It is a good thing that people are willing to take a shot at this who have not been politicians all their lives. I hope he makes it. It's a long shot, but Chris is not the sort of person who tries once."
Mr. Perle said he does not see Mr. Carney's candidacy in the congressional race as a sign that the Democratic Party will become more hawkish. "I am afraid the Jackson wing of the party is all but obliterated. You see that now in the response of the Democrats on almost everything the president is saying." Mr. Perle added, "It's not as if there are several people like Chris emerging this year. There was no real Democratic interest in the seat. The party has not made an investment in the seat. If Chris started to catch on, it would be interesting to see if the party would support him."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/23/2006
03:26 ||
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Now this is very interesting. A Scoop Jackson Democrat? If he wins by a significant margin, that will encourage others of similar mind to take back their party. How proud I would be if Rantburg's own liberalhawk were to run -- he would bring a strain of historical knowledge and intellectual rigour such as hasn't been seen in his party for the better part of a generation!
#4
The only problem I have with guys like LH and Carney winning is that by increasing the percentage of Reps that are Democrats, they increase the power of the socialists and partisans like Kennedy and Pelosi and even Dean.
Maybe they should be true independents and align with whichever party is right on the particular issue.
#5
I can't imagine our liberalhawk ever voting straight party line without having put plenty of thought into it. I may not always agree with him (I do not like Hillary Clinton, f'r instance), but his opinions are always reasoned.
Two Indonesians arrested this month, including a close aide to the country's most wanted militant, were named suspects on Monday for involvement in last year's restaurant bombings on Bali, a police spokesman said.
Police last week declared four other men suspects in the same case on charges of helping hide accused militant mastermind Noordin M. Top during and after the bombings that killed 20 people at three eateries on the famed resort island.
"The other day we named four. Today, it has become six suspects," National Police spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam told reporters.
Anton said the two were named suspects for assisting in the attacks.
Police have been conducting a nationwide manhunt for Noordin, a senior member of Jemaah Islamiah, a shadowy militant group seen as the Southeast Asian arm of al Qaeda.
Noordin is blamed for helping mastermind a series of bombings in Indonesia in recent years, including the 2005 Bali attacks that were carried out by three suicide bombers with backpacks.
Anton said one of the two latest suspects, Subur Sugiarto, was a close associate of Noordin.
Sugiarto videotaped messages from Top, in which the Malaysian threatened the West with more attacks, Alam said. He also videotaped farewell messages from the three suicide bombers before the Oct. 1 bombings on Bali, he added.
Noordin worked closely in Indonesia with fellow Malaysian Azahari bin Husin, who was killed in a police raid on his East Java hideout in November.
Noordin eluded capture at the time but officers found the videos at a separate hideout.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/23/2006
03:25 ||
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There is no evidence of al-Qaeda presence in the village where about 18 people died after a US missile strike, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Sunday.
Aziz also told CNN's Late Edition programme that US authorities had not informed his government in advance of the January 13 CIA Predator drone attack on the remote Pakistani village of Damadola in the Bajur tribal region near the Afghan border.
Aziz said at least 13 civilians died in the attack, in which the United States reportedly targeted a meeting it believed would include Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second highest leader of al-Qaeda.
"There is no evidence ... that there were any other people there," Aziz said.
"We have not found one body, or one shred of evidence that these people were there."
"These people don't get together for dinner," Aziz said, speaking of al-Qaeda. "We don't know who was there."
The attack sparked thousands of Pakistanis to join protests last week against the US violation of Pakistani sovereignty and the Pakistan government's alleged support for such attacks.
But Aziz, who was in Washington for meetings with US leaders, denied that his government backed the strike.
"No, this was not co-ordinated", Aziz said, criticizing the United States' failure to inform his government in advance. "We had no idea that this would take place."
Aziz meanwhile said that no one knows the whereabouts of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whom many US officials have said they believe is hiding out in the rugged, remote tribal areas of northern and western Pakistan adjacent to Afghanistan.
"We and the rest of the world have no clue where he or his associates are," Aziz said.
"He could be anywhere in the region or even outside the region."
"If anybody knew where he is, or where he moves around, we would all go after him," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/23/2006
03:23 ||
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#1
"If anybody knew where he is, or where he moves around, we would all go after him," he said.
He must have industrial strength lip bond. Must be standard issue with the job.
We've noted here on Rantburg, possibly alone, that there are a lot of places like Damadola in Pakistan that are under de facto al-Qaeda rule. The fact that 8,000 of the locals rallied to fight under Mullah Omar would seem to indicate that many of the villagers are far from innocent as to this whole situation.
Sympathy for al Qaeda has surged after a U.S. airstrike devastated this remote mountain hamlet in a region sometimes as hostile towards the Pakistani government as it is to the United States. A week after the attack, villagers insist no members of the terror network were anywhere near the border village when it was hit. But thousands of protesters flooded a nearby town chanting, "Long live Osama bin Laden!" Pakistan's army, in charge of hunting militants, was nowhere to be seen.
The rally was the latest in a series of demonstrations across Pakistan against the January 13 attack, which apparently targeted but missed al Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The military still mans numerous checkpoints in the area, but it appears to be keeping a low profile so it will not inflame villagers still seething over the deaths of 13 civilians, including women and children, in the attack. "This attack has increased our hatred for Americans because they are killing innocent women and children," said Zakir Ullah, one of 5,000 demonstrators in Inayat Qala, a market town about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Damadola. "We support jihad (holy war). Jihad is the duty of every Muslim," he said.
"As my local holy man and his armed, um...acolytes keep reminding me."
The assault has caused friction between Islamabad and Washington and widespread outrage in this Islamic nation of 150 million, but few are as angry as the people who live in the tribal region that borders Afghanistan. The area is a hotbed of Taliban and al Qaeda sympathizers -- and a possible sanctuary for bin Laden himself. Damadola residents deny any links to the militants. "We don't have anything to do with al Qaeda, and it was a cruel act of the Americans to attack my house without reason," said Bacha Khan, a flour mill worker whose house was among the three destroyed.
A relative of Faqir Mohammed, a pro-Taliban cleric who intelligence officials believe hid the bodies of the four suspected al Qaeda militants killed in the attack to prevent their identification, was arrested Sunday in Damadola, a security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. Pakistani authorities say they are looking for fighters who might have survived the attack, but they have not visibly stepped up maneuvers in the area. While the military has about 70,000 soldiers along the border with Afghanistan, an Associated Press reporter who has visited Damadola three times since the attack has not seen a single uniformed soldier there.
The soldiers know better than to tangle with the Lions of Islam.
Army spokesman Brigadier Shahjehan Ali Khan said there has been no change in the military's policy of fighting terrorism. "Whenever we get a tip-off, we always conduct operations," he said.
Everyone's happy to fight the -ism, but never the -ists. Someone could get hurt.
Khan could not estimate how many militants were hiding among the border region's 3.2 million residents. Officials in the past have said hundreds of Arab, Central Asian and Afghan fighters are among them. Back then, a local cleric in Bajur, the region surrounding Damadola, rallied 8,000 villagers to fight with the Taliban against U.S.-led forces. Bajur and Afghanistan's neighboring Kunar region have since served as hideouts because of their rugged mountains -- and the sympathies of residents. Many are Pashtuns, the same ethnic group as the Taliban. In a show of solidarity, the opposition Jamaat Islami, or Islamic Party, marshaled 50 volunteers Sunday to help the village rebuild. Taliban-style radicals were gaining strength along Pakistan's border partly because they intimidated anyone who disagreed, said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general. The military often relied on tribal justice to turn people over and avoided large-scale operations that could cause civilian casualties, he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/23/2006
03:20 ||
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#1
"... 5,000 demonstrators in Inayat Qala..." meets the definition of a 'target-righ environmnent.
#3
You're absolutely wrong, Dan. Ev'rybody knows there were *no* al-Qaeda and *no* extremists anywhere that happy quaint village until the CIA sent the drones and the Zionist death rays in. You could look it up.
JMB Chief held in India? - UPDATE from Reuters
DHAKA, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The head of a Bangladeshi Islamist group blamed for a wave of bomb attacks has been arrested in a neighbouring Indian state, newspapers said on Monday. Shayek Abdur Rahman, supreme leader of the outlawed Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen group, was picked up from a hideout in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal on Sunday, The New Age and Amar Desh newspapers said, citing intelligence sources. There was no official confirmation of the reports, and Bangladeshi interior ministry officials could not be reached for comment.
Security forces last week launched a massive hunt on Bangladesh's western borders after an intelligence tip-off that Rahman was in the area, along with Siddikul Islam Bangla Bhai, chief of another Islamic group, Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh. Both have been missing since nearly 500 small bombs exploded simultaneously across the country on Aug. 17 last year. Authorities have blamed the bombings and subsequent suicide attacks on the two groups, which are campaigning for the introduction of sharia law in Bangladesh, a mainly-Muslim democracy. Newspapers said Indian authorities had taken Rahman, who was picked up from the district of 24 Parganas in West Bengal state, to New Delhi for interrogation. There has been no official comment from the Indian side. Bangladesh and India share a 4,000-km (2,500-mile) border, which is regarded as one of the world's most porous frontiers. And this:
New Age Report, Monday, January 23, 2006 JMB Chief held in India?
The fugitive supremo of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, was reportedly arrested by the Indian Police in West Bengal on Sunday, said home ministry sources in Dhaka early this morning. The West Bengal police nabbed the Mujahideen leader, an extremist, from a hideout at Barasat, 24 Parganas of West Bengal, a neighboring Indian state, a source close to the state minister for home affairs, Lutfuzzaman Babar, told New Age.
Shaikh Rahman is said to be responsible for a series of suicide attacks in public places in Dhaka and elsewhere in Bangladesh. Meanwhile, a source in Kolkata of West Bengal, told New Age over telephone that Indian police has implicated Shaikh Rahman in a murder case. More than 400 bombings took place on August 17 and a series of subsequent bombings, including several suicide attacks followed. Twenty-eight people, including four suicide bombers, died in such incidents.
According to the source, the West Bengal police arrested the member of the outfit, Mohsin, from 24 Parganas on Saturday. Following extensive interrogation, the Indian police came to know from Mohsin that Shaikh Rahman was also hiding in the area. Subsequently the police raided the area and nabbed Rahman the next day. Shaikh was sent to the Indian capital, new Delhi, immediately after his arrest, the source said. The state minister for home affairs told New Age at 12:30 a.m this morning that he had first come to know of the arrest from the midnight media reports.
âNeither the Indian government, nor our High Commission in India has so far officially told us anything about Shaikh Rahmanâs reported arrestâ the minister said. âWe expect the government of Delhi will officially inform us on the arrest, if the wanted JMB leader is nabbed in India. Besides we shall take necessary steps about it, through a diplomatic channel, as soon as Dhaka and Delhi wake up tomorrow [Monday] morningâ. In this regard, the minister said the Bangladesh government had earlier sought cooperation of Interpol operating in different part of the world including India, in arresting the JMB leader.
Shaikh Rahman formed an Islamist militant outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, which was banned by the government in October 17th ,2 005. On October 28, 2005 the government announced a bounty of Taka 50 lakh each on capture of Shaikh Rahman and Bangla Bhai.
Swiss banking giant UBS AG stops doing business with Iran . A similar policy implemented against Syria
January 22, 2006, 2:50 PM (GMT+02:00)
UBS AG spokesman Serge Steiner announced Sunday, Jan. 22, that all existing business with customers in Iran will be cancelled, except for Iranians in exile.
DEBKAfileâs financial sources reveal that, under the threat of sanctions over Iranâs nuclear program, the ayatollahs and corporate heads as well as the government have begun transferring vast private fortunes out of secret accounts in Europe.
The money is being spread out among dozens of banks around the world, including the oil emirates, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia.
DEBKAfile has learned that Iranâs spiritual ruler Ayatollah Ali Khameini has transferred his personal fortune of $1.2 bn from the Swiss UBS AG to banks in Singapore and Malaysia. Former president Hashemi Rafsanjani has ordered the removal of two large sums in Canadian dollars â 856 m and 1,425 bn â from Canadian banks to establishments in Beirut, Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Our financial experts estimate that in the last ten days, some $7.5bn dollars have been drained from private Iranian accounts in Germany, Switzerland, France, Britain and Italy and concealed in Southeast Asian banks. That is in addition to the estimated $23bn in governing holdings that Iran has taken out of European banks and deposited in the Bahamas, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Dubai and Singapore.
Rumors began circulating at the end of last week that the two European banking giants, LNB in Italy and UBS AG, were about to freeze Iranian assets. DEBKAfileâs financial experts calculate the holdings in the two banks as totaling $17bn of oil revenues. The Swiss bank appears to have acted on a tip from Washington and pre-empted Tehranâs massive withdrawals which would created havoc on the world currency markets. The UBS AG took advantage of the bank being closed on a Sunday for this maneuver.
#1
Last week Iran announced it had moved its cash out of Europe. Note that UBS is ceasing to do business with Iran only after Iran ceased to do business with it.
IRAN would resume industrial-scale uranium enrichment if it were referred to the UN Security Council over its nuclear standoff with the West, a senior Iranian official was quoted today as saying.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani urged the European Union to reopen talks which stalled after Tehran broke UN seals on uranium enrichment equipment. "If the negotiating route is open, we prefer to reach a conclusion through talks," Mr Larijani told the newspaper. "But if this route is closed, we are obliged to follow up our other scenario. Everything depends on the way we are treated."
Asked if there was a timescale for uranium enrichment on an industrial scale, he said: "Yes. We have a plan for resumption. "If we are referred to the Security Council, the government is obliged ... to lift all voluntary measures."
Last month, Moscow proposed setting up a joint venture with Iran that would enrich uranium on Russian soil for Iran's planned nuclear reactors. Mr Larijani said no decision had been made on the Russian proposal. "It is one we can study," he told the FT in a report on its website. "This proposal, however, has to be completed. There are some points which should be reconsidered in a more comprehensive plan."
#2
The picture is bleak. Any way you look at it people are bound to die. The choice is how many and what religion or ideology with they subscribe too? Talking isn't going to save a single soul. The Political/Religious leadership of Iran is intractable.
#6
This thing is gonna get ugly. The worst thing about Iran's preasident Whatsisname, is he's a short weasel. Short men who gain power are often lunatics with abundant hatred pent up inside their viscious personalities. Gonna get ugly.
#7
Iran is active in its efforts to destroy Israel. They are the father of Hamas and support Hezbullah. The money and training they provide are witnessed every day in Israel in the form of bombings and other attacks. This ass has been at war with US and Israel since 1979, his fights have gone from an embassy take down with hostages to active support for terrorist actions. The nuclear threat is just the next phase of his desire to destroy the US and Israel. If anyone thinks he wonât use nukes as soon as he thinks he can is very mistaken. Just as soon as he feels he can strike and not be destroyed in the process he will. My bet is he wonât wait until he has a functioning nuke, he will be satisfied with a dirty bomb in order to make the land uninhabitable for ever.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/23/2006 8:11
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A little suprised Israel did'nt take out Iran's president when he was in Damascus. Could of killed two birds with one stone.
#9
"Just as soon as he feels he can strike and not be destroyed in the process he will."
There is no possible âovert-strikeâ scenario that wouldnât result in an immediate and overwhelming retaliation? Even Ahmadinejadsâ most twisted logic canât refute that certainty. If Teheran strikes it will be covert, by proxies, or justified by way of the "Twelfth Imam" bullshit.
#11
Your right DG, a covert attack would be the most likely attack. But it would take us months to identify who sent it. If they used black market materials it could be months before we could run it down to show it was sent by Iran giving him time to be the Islamic hero and rally for the big jihad.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/23/2006 11:54
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President Ahmageddonouddahere (ht Steyn) says, "We're ramping up our separation program, and if you refer us to the UNSC, we're gonna ramp up our separation program."
OTTAWA - Canada’s opposition Conservatives are still leading the ruling Liberals ahead of Monday’s federal election but the gap is shrinking, according to a new poll released late on Sunday. The SES Research daily tracking poll for the CPAC television network showed the Conservatives at 36 percent, down one point from the previous day. The Liberals were at 30 percent, up two points.
The poll suggest the Conservatives will win the election, ending 12 years of Liberal rule, but will not gain a majority of the 308 seats in Parliament. The left-leaning New Democrats, who backed the Liberal government for much of 2005, were down a point at 17 percent.
The poll of 1,200 people was carried out between Jan. 19-21 and is considered to be accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
As I said yesterday, if the Tories aren't ahead by 10 points Election morning, they're going to lose. Grits will make sure of that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2006
00:26 ||
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GAZA CITY - Campaigners working on behalf of women are looking to Wednesday’s Palestinian election with trepidation, fearing that if elected, Hamas will enforce Islamist values.
The five-year-old Palestinian uprising has caused countless deprivations and clocked the rising power of Hamas, whose armed opposition was considered instrumental in Israel’s withdrawal of all troops and settlers from Gaza last year. Its charity network has supported victims of violence, supplying money and opportunities to some of the Palestinian territories’ most impoverished residents.
Blatent Latent in its mission was a heady brand of Islamist fundamentalism piped out from Hamas mosques which has more recently found a new outlet in the radical group’s decision to join the political mainstream and run for the legislature.
So it shouldn't exactly be a surprise that they'll treat the women like cattle.
With polls putting Hamas neck-and-neck with the moderate ruling Fatah party, many women fear the Islamist movement could be in a position to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, marginalise their rights and make the headscarf compulsory. “To be frank, we are really worried about the future we will have after 25 January,” says Naila Ayesh, director of the foreign-funded Women’s Affairs Center that promotes women’s rights and electoral participation.
She was jailed twice by the Israelis, once as a student activist when she suffered a miscarriage in prison, and secondly for campaigning on behalf of Palestinians deported from Gaza during the first intifada. She refuses to wear the headscarf. People have thrown stones at her when taking her child to nursery. Today, Ayesh fears that the advantages Palestinian women have over some of their sisters in the Arab world are under threat.
Not that this would cause you to make peace or anything.
“Socially and politically we’ll have problems. Hamas will ask for Islamic, Sharia law to be the main issue and of course this is not what we want.”
Even if Fatah remains in power, this mother-of-two worries the party may give ground to Hamas on issues such as family law, by facilitating polygamy, and discriminating against women in divorce cases and custody rights.
Which is, after all, what Saint Pancake was fighting for, right?
Elsewhere in Gaza City, 35-year-old hairdresser Hossam Abu Mohammed fears his livelihood and thriving ladies’ salon could be at stake if Hamas performs well in Wednesday’s election. “Maybe they won’t allow males to work for ladies. We don’t know. Maybe they will close us down. Then what’ll I do? This is my work for 15 years,” he says, dressed in tight denim, a scarf flung louchely round his neck.
I think Mo' is a little light in his loafers, which means he's going to have other problems with Hamas ...
“Already we’re dying. There are no coffee shops. There’s no normal life. We can’t go to parties, we can’t go out to drink, there is no social life. There’s no McDonalds,” he says, jabbing the air with his cigarette for emphasis.
Maybe you could move to Detroit. Your cousin has a gas station there, you could set up a beauty salon next door. Ah, Detroit ...
He has four children and supports his parents on the proceeds of what he and his five to six employees make with haircuts, pedicures, manicures, tattoos, waxing and hair extensions. Pictures of sultry beauties with luscious locks and a flash of cleavage expose the gulf between him and Hamas.
“Religion should be a personal choice and not something imposed on people,” says Miriam Daqqa, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine which, like Hamas, is fielding its first parliamentary candidates. “We expect to have problems with Hamas if it gets a good position and certainly if it tries to pass laws that can affect the status of women,” she says. “But we will work to strengthen democracy and equality.”
I think Miriam's on the list to be stoned.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2006
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I sure hope they don't expect to get any help from Western women's groups. That would mean they would have to say there is something wrong with what passes for culture in Palestine, and that's not very "inclusive" of "multiculturalism", is it?
#1
Argh!
I fat fingered this!
It's a month old but we all missed it.
The French Department of Culture (SNEP and SCPP) has told Free Software authors: "You will be required to change your licenses." SACEM add: "You shall stop publishing free software," and warn they are ready "to sue free software authors who will keep on publishing source code"
It appears that publishing Free Software giving access to culture is about to become a counterfeiting criminal offence.
Unrest in Nigeria, problems in Venezuela, pipelines blown in Georgia, continued problems in Iraq -- gee, if I didn't know better I'd say it's almost like someone's trying to strangle the world's energy supplies.
GAUHATI, India - Separatist rebels were suspected of killing at least two people, wounding eight others and blowing up three natural gas pipelines in India’s northeastern Assam state in stepped-up violence ahead of this week’s Republican Day holiday. The wave of attacks on Sunday targeted security forces and pipelines belonging to state-owned Assam Gas Co. Ltd.
Security has been tightened across India’s northeast, where a collection of insurgent groups, many based among minority ethnic groups, have been fighting Indian security forces for years. The violence often spikes in the days ahead of Republic Day, Thursday’s anniversary of the 1950 signing of India’s constitution.
United Liberation Front of Asom, which has been fighting for an independent homeland since 1979, is among three rebel groups in northeastern India that have ordered a Republic Day boycott.
The first killing Sunday occurred when militants lobbed a hand grenade at a security checkpoint in the state capital of Gauhati, killing a civilian passer-by and injuring three security officers, state Inspector General of Police Dilip Bora said. In a separate incident, a state police officer was killed when he was ambushed by militants near the town of Borpathar, 300 kilometers (180 miles) east of Gauhati.
Two other grenade attacks occurred Sunday near one of Gauhati’s police stations, injuring two police officers and three civilians, Bora said. No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, but officials suspected that ULFA militants were responsible, Bora said.
All of the pipelines attacked were in the state’s eastern region, Assam Gas managing director B.C. Sharma said. One of them supplied fuel to a regional electricity plant, but it was not immediately clear whether any areas had lost power as a result of the attacks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2006
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I was wondering when the terrorists would figure out the natural gas supply vulnerability. I posted a map a few months back that showed France's entire natural gas supply could be cut off at just 3 locations.
#3
I wouldn't blame some shadowy conspiracy behind the attacks on different oil supplies, it's a fact that most oil suppliers tend to be more unstable and having no economice diversity.
In the case of India, you have a ethnic Socialist movement lead by Hindus which want to kick out the non-Assamese and make their own Socialist republic.
In Georgia you are apparently seeing moves by Russia to punish her former satellite states who are moving towards the west, and as for Nigeria, oil has been a curse for that country ever since it was discovered.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/23/2006 6:27
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Is the ULFA even socialist anymore, or Hindu or Assamese nationalist?
Their tacit support for illegal Bandladeshi muslim immigration suggests that they follow their paymasters' wishes now.
They're little more than ISI proxies now...
Posted by: john ||
01/23/2006 20:36
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KATMANDU - Nepal’s monarchist government lifted house arrest imposed on three top dissidents to deter weekend anti-government rallies. Troops guarding the homes of former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, president of the Nepali Congress party, Khadga Prasad Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal and Narayan Man Bijuchche of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party ended their weekend lockdown aimed at thwarting demonstrations against King Gyanendra’s nearly yearlong absolute rule. “The policemen left this evening and now I think I am free to move out,” Oli said by telephone.
The three opposition leaders were among five put under house arrest on Friday when the government imposed a curfew and took other steps to block rallies in Katmandu.
A planned mass rally on Friday never came off, but police arrested hundreds of activists who rallied in the streets on Saturday. About 50 people were injured in clashes between demonstrators and police.
Close aides of Koirala and Bijuchche also confirmed their release Sunday. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to fears that they would be targeted for arrest. Two of Oli’s party colleagues, Madhav Nepal and Bharat Mohan Adhikari, remained under house arrest.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/23/2006
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Ah, but we don't see Hamas saying anything about Hamas recognizing Israel as anything but a bloodstain-to-be on the Gaza beachline, do we?
And we certainly don't hear them saying it in Arabic ...
Egypt thinks the Palestinian group Hamas recognises the existence of Israel and will go along with negotiations with the Jewish state, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in an interview published on Saturday. Aboul Gheit, whose government has had close contacts with Hamas and other Palestinian militants over the past year, also said that joining the political process would lead to fundamental changes in the thinking of Hamas.
Hamas, which advocates replacing Israel with an Islamic state throughout historical Palestine, is taking part in Palestinian parliamentary elections for the first time on Jan 25. It poses a strong challenge to the ruling Fatah movement.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2006
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#1
Egypt thinks the Palestinian group Hamas recognises the existence of Israel and..
Nobody cares what Egypt thinks. Hamas has to handle matters on its own.
Security agents unearthed two caches of bomb-making materials in a northern Bangladesh town after interrogating two suspected members of a banned Islamic group blamed for a series of deadly blasts, an official statement said on Saturday. The members of Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh – which aims to replace the Muslim-majority nation’s secular laws with religious rule – led agents to the caches Friday in Bogra, 176 kilometres north of the capital, Dhaka.
The caches included one kilogram of gunpowder, 6.5 kilograms of gel explosives, electric wire, iron balls, electric switches and other material, according to the statement from the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite security force that fights major crimes such as terrorism. They were discovered following the interrogation of suspected militants Ashraful Islam and Abdul Pramanik, who were arrested on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
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This is allegedly a straight news story but there's so much spin I nearly had to move it to the Opinion page...
Canadians voting Monday for a new leader and House of Commons will choose between 13 years of Liberal Party rule or a new government that could shift the country toward a conservative right seeking to cut social programs funded by high taxes.
Run for your lives! But not south! You might end up in George Bush's gulag!
It's a tough call for the nation's 22.7 million registered voters. Many support the social and economic policies of the Liberals and worry that Conservative leader Stephen Harper may be too extreme in his views on abortion and gay marriage, but Canadians also have grown weary of the broken promises and corruption scandals that have plagued the ruling party.
"Change is an issue for a lot of people," said Nelson Wiseman, a political scientist at the University of Toronto. "This is the Liberals seeking their fifth consecutive term, so a lot of people believe that it's healthy to have a periodic alteration of parties, like the Americans, so that dynamic is out there."
Paul Martin, 67, has trumpeted the eight consecutive budget surpluses under Liberal Party rule and sought to paint Harper as a right-winger posing as a moderate to woo mainstream voters. He claims Harper supported the U.S.-led war in Iraq, which was opposed by many but not all Canadians, and would try to outlaw abortions and overturn Canada's marriage rights for gays and lesbians â all of which Harper denies. "People will have to choose between the ultraconservative, extreme right-wing agenda of Stephen Harper and the progressive, ambitious plan we're offering Canadians," Martin told a campaign rally Saturday.Martin accused the Tories of muzzling their candidates in recent weeks to avoid alienating voters with contentious remarks about gay marriage and abortion, as they had during the last election.
"Just a heartbeat away from Jesusland..."
The Liberal campaign appears to have worked with Joanna Lundy, a mental health worker in Vancouver, British Columbia. She will reluctantly vote Liberal in an effort to block Harper from becoming prime minister. "He's not open to diversity," she said. "I think he'll put us in the dark ages on women's issues, abortion issues, gay issues."
Harper, the youngest candidate at 46, has toned down the rightist rhetoric that cost him the last election in June 2004 and has painted the Liberals as a party that takes taxpayers for granted and is top-heavy on scandal. He has pledged to establish a federal accountability commission to review government spending, to contribute $1,041 to Canadians with young children for day care and to cut the widely unpopular national sales tax from 7 percent to 5 percent within five years. "If you want your taxes to go down, you have to vote for it. If you want a government that actually does something about crime, you have to vote for it. If you want to fix health care, you have to vote for it. If you want choice in child care, you have to vote for it. And the only way to get that is to vote for a new Conservative government," Harper said Sunday at a campaign rally.
Martin's government and the 308-member House of Commons were dissolved in November after New Democrats defected from the governing coalition to support the Conservatives in a no-confidence vote.
Thanks, Captain Ed!
The opposition said the Liberals no longer had the moral authority to govern, pointing to a party debacle in which several members were accused of misspending millions of dollars from a national unity fund, prompting a federal inquiry and several indictments. Even after losing the vote and being forced to dissolve Parliament, Martin remained ahead in the polls and relatively popular with Canadians, who applauded his moves to legalize gay marriage nationwide, push through a national child-care program and stand up to Washington on security and trade issues.
But the Liberals' numbers began slipping after a teenage girl was killed by a stray bullet in downtown Toronto while shopping on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. Harper quickly responded with a platform that was tough on crime and promised stricter measures to keep illegal guns from being smuggled across the U.S. border. The Liberals' popularity slipped even more in early January when it was revealed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were investigating a possible leak by Liberal government officials that appeared to have influenced the stock market. Though no one has been implicated of wrongdoing, Conservatives seized on the report to add to their campaign momentum. At one point last week, the Conservatives led in one poll by double digits, although their edge had dropped to 7-8 percentage points by Friday.
Postal worker Tim Armstrong is among the many Canadians tired of the scandals plaguing the Liberal government. "I think they lack credibility and integrity," he said. "Every time you turn around, there's another scandal. It just goes on and on and on."
#3
Dunno about the stats - seems a little top heavy of the Conservative outcome. TO land seems to have been sliding back Liberal in the last 3-4 days.
We'll see tonight. Can only hope.
And seafrious, there is no American translation. Nothing as stupid as re-electing criminals who overtax, dump that into their freinds pockets, and call it "balanced buget" defies translation.
I can give it to ya in Quebecois - "Foutes-moi, il y a de la change dans l'air, Marcel? Tu sens ca?"
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced Sunday that a smugglers' boat carrying some 120 Ethiopians and Somalis capsized off the coast of Yemen, leaving at least 22 people dead and 28 others missing, according to survivors, Yemeni authorities and the UN refugee agency. According to the refugee agency this is the second tragic incident in the Gulf of Aden in a week. The boat capsized about 15:00 hrs local time Saturday off the Yemeni coast between Bir Ali and Mayfa'a Hajar. According to survivors, the boat had sailed from the northeastern Somalia village of Shimbirale, near the town of Bossaso, carrying approximately 110 Ethiopians, 10 Somalis and five crew members. Bossaso is a major port of departure for smugglers crossing the Gulf of Aden. Yemeni authorities detained 43 Ethiopians -- who do not get automatic refuggee status -- from the vessel. But survivors said another 22 Ethiopians had managed to escape. Two of the boat's crew members were arrested by police, while three escaped.
While reports came in today of the arrival of yet another group of desperate boat people who said they had been forced overboard off the coast of Yemen. Initial reports indicated more casualties were likely.
Thousands of Somalis, Ethiopians and others arrive in Yemen every year after making the perilous voyage in smugglers' boats across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia.
It's like getting on a rickety boat from Haiti to .. Cuba.
On January 16, a boat carrying 65 people reached Yemen after drifting for six days in the gulf with little food or water. Survivors said 20 people died, 16 Somalis and four Ethiopians. Smugglers frequently beat their passengers or force them overboard while still far from shore. According to the refugee agency there are currently more than 80,000 registered refugees in Yemen, including 75,000 Somalis.
Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Operations Amir Zulfiqar referred to the two Lashkar-e-Jhangvi activists arrested on Friday as ‘kidnappers’, while talking to reporters on Saturday. He said they planned to kidnap people from Lahore’s three rich families. However, law enforcement agencies’ sources told Daily Times that the two high profile terrorists were activists of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ), a banned militant organisation, and were also involved in abductions for ransom and the police was hiding facts about them deliberately.
The SSP said Shahid from Narowal, also known as Hammad and Billi, was involved in several dacoities, murders and abductions, and his accomplice Shahbaz had committed three murders in Sialkot, Pasroor and Mandi Bahauddin and had taken Rs 20 million in ransom for various abductions. Shahid was arrested from Chungh/Raiwind and Shahbaz was caught from Mozang.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
They are terrorists. Why are posters using words like "insurgents," "extremists," "militants" etc? I thought Rantburgers were higher beings.
http://static.flickr.com/36/89610889_1f49967fe2.jpg
#2
Attention CaziFarkus: Please note this was posted by Fred, the site's owner and our host. Please rein in your attitude; this site does not advocate the "nuke 'em all and let god sort 'em out" philosophy. Consider this a warning.
Articles are often posted with the original headlines. We have a pretty good idea what the bad guyz are. In this case they are extremists, terrs, and kidnappers.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2006 9:53
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CaziFarkus point is a good one about the weasel words themselves.
RBs often just post the article from the mainstream media. But the mainstream media is definitely guilty of using weasel words.
They do this because Islamist lobby groups ring up the newsrooms and complain. They write letters. They lobby.
I work in a newspaper. When a story crosses my desk about 'militants' blowing up a market place or kidnapping nuns or beheading schoolgirls I immediately change the word to 'terrorist'. Unfortunately there aren't many like me and I have more arguments at work than you care to think about. Plus half the time my work gets changed by lefties.
The definition of a terrorist is one who attacks random civilians to make a political point. They do this by the terror and grief their actions cause and use this to hold the government to ransom. Do what we say or your civilians get it!
But a militant can be just a plain old law-abiding citizen who simply holds strong views. A militant feminist would not attack people but men might find her a prickly character.
An extremist holds intense views but while anti-social doesn't have to be violent. You might find a left-wing extremist who insists on living in a commune with his friends and won't pay taxes or walk on roads and only eats grains he grows himself. We can even tolerate a few of them, if they don't harm the broader society. They simply hold extreme views.
An insurgent is a member of a rebel military force fighting a war against a dominant ruling power. But to qualify, they attack infrastructure, military and police targets not civilians.
A true terrorist tries to win the war through psychology, public relations and fear by hurting, blowing up, kidnapping and otherwise murdering civilians: schoolgirls in beslan, old people, people at a market, people at a bustop, holidaymakers in bali, options traders in the world trade centre.
They are terrorists pure and simple and the world's mainstream media needs to grow a backbone and call them by their true name.
#5
And to add one more thing: Public thanks to Fred for hosting this site.
He's doing a very important job especially with his archives. He is keeping freedom of speech free.
the lobby groups can shut down main stream media much more effectively but it is so important that there is a place online you can get a collection of the real stories and a different viewpoint: and a searchable database.
best of all, the lobby groups will have a hard time shutting Fred down.
He'll just tell them to get lost.
Thank you Fred, for the amazing work you've done and the resource you've provided.
#6
You do your bit, too, anon1. For what you do at your desk, and for your very informative posts in this thread, thank you. If more of your colleagues had your understanding, the world would be a better and happier place.
Not that they had to clear up which side they're on...
Top opposition leaders will visit Bajaur Agency tomorrow (Monday) to express solidarity with the hard boyz residents of Damadola village. The village was the site of US air strike which targeted Al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri, but killed 18 civilians instead. MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, General Secretary Maulana Fazlur Rehman, ARD Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, PML-N central Chaudhry Nisar and Tehrik-e-Insaaf President Imran Khan are scheduled to visit the area, a JI tribal leader said.
However, the political administration of Bajaur Agency said that it would stop the planned visit. “We will move against the opposition leaders’ visit according to (federal) government directives,” said a senior administration official in Khar, the Bajaur Agency regional headquarters. Last week, the administration turned away Awami National Party provincial leader Bashir Bilour when he tried to visit Damadola. Addressing a joint press conference on Saturday, opposition leaders said that they had united against “the American bombing of civilians”. They expressed indignation over the government’s attitude, saying it has “failed to protect the life, property and sanctity” of the citizens by “allowing the US to violate Pakistan’s sovereignty with impunity”.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
time for a reenactment bombing?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/23/2006 22:38
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In which the Pope fondly remembers the Church Muscular:
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI thanked the Swiss Guards on Sunday for their 500 years of service protecting the popes, as the Vatican opened its official commemorations of the anniversary of the first mercenaries' arrival from Switzerland.
An honor corps of Swiss Guards, in their full blue- and-yellow bloomered dress uniforms and red-plumed helmets, stood at attention in St. Peter's Square as Benedict addressed them from his studio window. He recalled how Pope Julius II had summoned the mercenaries to protect him and the Vatican. They arrived Jan. 22, 1506.
"Thank you for your service of 500 years!" Benedict told the guards in a special blessing, to applause from tourists and the faithful also gathered for his traditional Sunday greeting. Earlier in the day, Benedict's No. 2, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, celebrated an intimate Mass in the Sistine Chapel for members of the current corps and their families â the official start of the Vatican's commemorations for the half-millennium the Swiss have been protecting popes.
The Swiss Guards, known for their traditional halberds, have since protected 42 popes. Some are armed with guns. Over the next six months, Vatican and Swiss authorities will host ceremonies, concerts, exhibits and commemorations that will culminate with a symbolic re-enactment of the march from Switzerland to Rome of the first 150 Swiss mercenaries.
#3
These are all young men of above average size, who have completed their Swiss Army service. They also have received training from various "friendly" services, to include the US Secret Service and one of the Brit's MI numbers. It would not surprise me to learn that members had been through Bragg or Quantico or the Brit equivalent.
Hundreds of Afghans staged a protest on Saturday to denounce a wave of suicide bomb attacks, with many of the protesters blaming Pakistan for the violence. "We condemn these suicide attacks," protesters shouted outside the provincial governor's offices in the city of Ghazni. There have been 13 suicide blasts since November, the worst last Monday when 23 people were killed in the town of Spin Boldak, on the border with Pakistan. The government blames foreign al Qaeda and Taliban supporters for the violence. "The UN should stop Pakistan from interfering in Afghanistan," Qari Baba, a former governor of Ghazni province, told the crowd.
Meanwhile, the governor of Afghanistan's troubled southern province of Kandahar once again accused Pakistan on Saturday of involvement in the Spin Boldak explosion, claiming âterrorists are being trained in the neighbouring country'.
Kandahar governor told a Pakistani private TV on phone from Kandahar that the enemies of Afghanistan's sovereignty, territorial integrity and stability were freely roaming around in Pakistan. "In the Frontier and Balochistan provinces, Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants have been allowed to take up residence. They are being trained at terrorist camps in these provinces with a view to disturbing peace in Afghanistan," he alleged. The governor reiterated the suicide attackers, who killed dozens of people in Kandahar, were Pakistani citizens. Condolences for the bombers were offered in Pakistan, asserted the governor, who hastened to point to his desire for good neighbourly relations with Pakistan. He argued Kabul had exercised a lot of patience and restraint so far just because of its yearning for warm ties with Islamabad. "We have conveyed our concerns to Pakistan formally and through diplomatic channels," he maintained.
Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed rejected allegations by Kandahar governor that Pakistan had hands in a recent bomb blast in the Afghan border town of Spinboldak. "Pakistan never backed the militant outfits," Rashid said when his attention was drawn towards allegations by Asadullah Khalid.
Rashid added Pakistan desirous of peace in Afghanistan, saying Pakistan has stationed 70,000 troops along the common border to curb the movement of militants. "We are obliged to answer only those queries or allegations the government of Afghanistan formally addresses to Pakistan. But no such accusations have reached us from Afghanistan - formally or through diplomatic channels," Rashid continued.
And of course, I had to read the Peshawar Defender-Scimitar to find this news; the MSM is busy wringing its hands over a possible conservative win in Canada...
Here we have another sterling example of the high regard for history and the origins of Islam evinced by its Wahhab overseers...
MADINAH, 23 January 2006 The cave where Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) took rest during the Battle of Uhud has become the subject of debate among scholars, some arguing for its destruction.
Madinah Governor Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Majed told Asharq Al-Awsat, the sister publication of Arab News, that he rejected the idea of destroying the site. A committee was formed recently to discuss the matter after years of complaints over visitors that come to the cave to worship.
Some scholars have suggested simply fencing off the two-meter-wide entrance to the cave located about a kilometer from the ridge where archers were positioned during battles between followers of Islam and pagans. During the Battle of Uhud, the Prophet, who was wounded in the skirmish, took rest in this cave. Pilgrims have been coming to this cave in increasing numbers, seeking blessings and taking photos.
Talal Al-Raddadi, a local resident, said that the question of what to do about the unsanctioned visits was raised more than six years ago. "They ask for blessings from that place and commit acts that are not related to Islam. Many people asked to destroy the site. I say to those that want to destroy it that destroying the site is not an option. We should raise awareness and tell visitors that this is not a true place of worship. We should place awareness boards. I wish that they would not create problems by destroying the mountain. I think destroying it will do more harm than leaving it alone," said Al-Raddadi.
"Turkish pilgrims do not miss visiting the site when visiting Madinah. It is the site where the Prophet lost one of his front teeth," said Muhammad Yelmaz from Turkey. He said that they come to visit the cave and ask for forgiveness. They kiss the rocks believing that the Prophet sat on them when he was inside the cave.
Anwar Bakri, professor at Tayba University in Madinah, warns against extremist movements that want to destroy all monuments in Madinah. He said that destroying the cave would only increase anger and not solve the problem and will damage the image of Islam. "Mistakes will happen whether intentionally or unintentionally," said Asem Hamdan, another professor. "Destroying the site is neither a logical nor a final solution. When Muslims entered other countries and found non-Islamic monuments, they did not destroy them. We can read history to prove that. I call on the tourism authority to step in and protect the site."
Al-Jarbu, a teacher at Madinah Islamic University, believes that destroying the site is the only solution. He said that there is no point in placing fences around the site because people will still go over the fence to the cave. "The only solution in my mind is to destroy it because there are some locals who are benefiting from it," Jarbu said. "Destroying it will solve the problem for good."
The governor of Madinah said that the cave would be fenced and not destroyed. He said that the main idea is to stop the non-Islamic behavior by protecting the site.
can you immagine going Sod-land and becoming a "Wahab scholar".
LOL... call dr. Kevorkian
have become passe
to destroy all their history as it will allow them a when they realize they too .
Posted by: Karl ||
01/23/2006 1:22
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The Wahabbis are dead set to destroy every tangible bit of ancient Islam, and have destroyed much that is in Arabia already.
Whenever they move into an area and take over its mosque, the first thing they do is destroy all artwork, decoration and anything not plain. Then they whitewash the walls.
They reject it much like the Calvanists rejected the trappings of the Catholic Church. Except the Calvanists were never a large movement, nor took over and destroyed many Catholic churches.
#4
'Moose, I believe the very first thing the Salafists do is plow under all the gravestones in the cemeteries, and 'quarry' the rock to build new mosque buildings. *Then* they bring out the whitewash.
#5
Mohammed went to the mountain. So the mountain must be destroyed.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/23/2006 11:08
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They destroy the ancient artifacts so other Muslims will not realize that the Wahabis are reinventing Islam much like Hitler reinvented German history.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
01/23/2006 17:18
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#7
For the record, Uhud was the only battlefield defeat suffered by Muhammed the fake prophet and real pedophile. After the setback, Muhammed concocted more fictitious after-life rewards for "martyrs." The tantalizing fictions drew the stupid into his gang of thieves, and he soon had the numbers to do real damage.
From the cult's unscrupulous founder to the clerical parasites who lead the army of imbeciles, Muslims have proven that you can trust them as far as you can spit against a hurricane. The West needs to occupy their pig-pens, and crush the jihad pork out of those animals.
#8
CZ, you're right up against the redaction / deletion line again. There are ways to make your point without deliberately being quite that hateful in your language.
#9
"When Muslims entered other countries and found non-Islamic monuments, they did not destroy them. We can read history to prove that."
Well, not exactly. Remember those giant Bhudda statues in Afghanistan? I don't know what history he's reading. In the cases they did not destroy them, it's because they were already in ruins. They just built on top of them. On top of cemeteries, on top of Jewish temples, on top of Hindu temples, on top of Christian churches... Not that Islam has a monopoly on this sort of behavior, but they've certainly done their share of damage.
The leader of Lebanon's Shia group Hezbollah has warned that no one should conspire with the United States against his organisation.
"Nope. Don't even think of it..."
Shaikh Hasan Nasrallah's comments on Sunday came amid tension between his group and anti-Syrian politicians, some of whom are calling for disarming Hezbollah. "Whoever dreams about getting rid of Hizb Allah in any position is mistaken," Nasr Allah said in a speech at a graduation ceremony for 1300 Hizb Allah members and supporters.
Sounds like they've got to be careful starting their cars...
Nasr Allah criticised US ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman and Assistant US Secretary of State David Welch, who have been accused by Hizb Allah of interfering in Lebanese affairs. Welch told Lebanon's LBC Television on Thursday that Hizb Allah should not be in the government and that the United States does not consider it a militia but a terrorist organisation. "Whoever wants to work to get rid of Hizb Allah will repent it and will be mistaken," Nasr Allah said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Unknown miscreants Saturday fired at least 50 rockets at Frontier Core (FC) Fort in Southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan, critically wounding two FC personnel. Miscreants fired rockets on FC fort in Dera Bugti area, triggering exchange of heavy fire between the security forces and miscreants, said District Police officer (DPO), Abdul Samad Lasi. He said 20 rockets missed their target and 30 others hit the forte, FC vehicle, dispensary, civil colony, destroying them completely and critically wounding two FC personnel on duty. He said FC has taken its position and launched operation against miscreants.
At least one man has been killed and two wounded in an explosion east of Gaza City. The Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees accused Israel of trying to kill its fighters in a strike on their car on Sunday. The Israeli army said it carried out an air strike on three armed men several metres from a fence near the Karni border crossing in northern Gaza, believing that they were trying to penetrate the fence. They army said it hit one fighter.
Palestinian witnesses said there was a small crater and what looked like pieces of a missile near the car. They said Israeli helicopters were hovering over the area - near to where the army acknowledged opening fire. The Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees said its fighters had been travelling in the car but escaped the explosion. A spokesman for the group said a bystander was killed. Dr Moaiya Hassanain, a Palestinian hospital official, identified the dead man as a Mohammed Abdel-Al, 22, of Gaza City.
The Popular Resistance Committees vowed retaliation. "The Popular Resistance Committee has the right to respond to the crime of assassination," said Abu Yousef, a spokesman for the group.
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Wait a minute! The jews arent supposed to fight back, they are just supposed to die!
Algeria intends to reveal details of a security and judicial agreement with Britain concerning the deportation of Algerian fundamentalists which the British Government considers a danger to British security. Algerian Justice Minister Tayeb Belaiz told correspondents in parliament the day before yesterday that the "results we have reached during the preparation of the agreement are very, very conclusive." Faced by the correspondents' insistence to give them more details of the agreement over which there was much talk during the past eight months, the minister said only: "We are about to undertake a considerable action and you will see the purport of this action soon. It is a matter of time." The minister did not identify the British side that the Algerians negotiated with to reach an agreement that would allow the Algerian Government to receive persons residing in Britain who were given jail sentences by the Algerian judiciary on charges of terrorism or are wanted for questioning in terror-related cases.
Judicial sources told "Asharq al-Awsat" that the British "laid down very strict conditions in return for agreeing in principle to deport any person wanted by Algeria. The most important is a pledge not to torture, execute, or even humiliate him." The same sources pointed out that the British security delegation that came to Algiers last September for the purpose of discussing the arrangements for the agreement "asserted to us that the authorities were facing great difficulties in persuading the judiciary to extradite any person to another country, especially if that person holds British citizenship. British courts demand strict and substantive guarantees that prove irrevocably that the concerned person poses a danger to internal security before agreeing to his deportation."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2006
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Fire up the blow torch...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
01/23/2006 3:50
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Nothin' but love for the Soddies, everywhere they go...
BEIJING â Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah arrived here yesterday morning to a warm welcome by high-ranking Chinese officials. The Chinese said they were honored by the royal visit, the first by a Saudi king to Beijing since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1990. The two leaders are also expected to discuss major regional and international issues, including Iraq, Iran and Palestine in addition to the global fight against terrorism. King Abdullah earlier met with members of the Saudi civil society delegation currently visiting China and praised their efforts in strengthening relations between the two countries. He urged the delegation to continue its endeavors to educate the Chinese people on various aspects of Saudi life and culture.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said bilateral trade rose by 39 percent to $14 billion between January and November 2005. He said China had imported 20.1 million tons of oil from Saudi Arabia during that period. Beijing imports about 450,000 barrels of Saudi oil daily which is about 14 percent of its total oil requirements.
Saudi Arabia has already offered investment projects worth $624 billion to foreign investors in the vital sectors of petrochemicals, gas, electric power generation, telecommunications, desalination and railways. It has also softened regulations in an attempt to attract foreign investment. Chinese firms won bids for construction contracts valued at several billion dollars in the Kingdom last year. The contracts were for projects including cement production, telecommunications, infrastructure and others. Saudi Aramco joined ExxonMobil and Chinaâs top refiner, Sinopec, in signing a $3.5 billion deal to expand a refinery in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian. The Saudi firm is also in talks with Sinopec about investing in a plant in the northern city of Qingdao, the semi-official China News Service said. The agency quoted unidentified industry officials as saying China wanted to increase Saudi crude oil imports under fixed-term deals to limit the impact of price volatility.
Saudi ambassador to China, Saleh Al-Hujeilan, underlined the importance of the royal visit, adding that it would become a significant milestone in developing friendly relations between the two countries. As two important nations, China and Saudi Arabia will open new areas of cooperation and continue to strengthen exchanges in diplomacy, economy and trade, the ambassador said. âCloser contacts and cooperation between the two countries will surely exert a great influence on the Americans international society,â he added.
#3
Wouldn't it be a shame if he caught the dreaded "bird flu" and died in China? Wow, would that ever cause the Chinese a bit of lost face. Not to mention infuriating a half-billion muzzies. Of course, it'll never happen. . .
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/23/2006 19:03
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Sudanese authorities have detained around 50 delegates from local and international human rights groups as they met on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Khartoum. Rights activists, being detained in a building where the meeting was being held, said Sunday's crackdown called into question Sudan's right to host the AU summit. Osman Hummaida, from the Sudanese Organisation Against Torture (SOAT), said: "Towards the end of the meeting a group of security men came and demanded to see the agenda, the list of participants and our recommendations.
"Everyone is being detained and we have been asked not to talk on the phone. We have not been told why we are being held," he said. The meeting was to discuss closer co-operation with the AU on human rights issues. Representatives of Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International and the International Bar Association were among those being held, Hummaida said. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, a Sudanese human rights activist who has previously been arrested by the government, said: "They are harassing people and trying to get all the laptops from them. They cannot be hosting a summit while they have this kind of conflict and they cannot be the chairperson of the African Union."
Posted by: Fred ||
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UN peacekeepers killed four Congolese rebel soldiers yesterday as they drove the fighters out of a town that had been overrun during the dissident's four-day offensive, which has forced 50,000 people from their homes, said UN officials. Troops loyal to Laurent Nkunda, a renegade former army commander who rejected a peace process designed to end the Democratic Republic of Congo's five-year war, began an offensive in the east of the country on Thursday and have briefly occupied a number of towns and villages in cat-and-mouse fighting with the army.
Yesterday, the fighters attacked 80 Indian UN peacekeepers who were heading to the town of Rwindi, near the border with Rwanda, after government troops were overrun there on Saturday. "Four insurgents were killed and three others were captured during the fighting today. They will be questioned so we will know more later," said Lieutenant Colonel Mayank Awasthi, a UN military spokesman for the North Kivu brigade. UN peacekeepers were left in control of Rwindi after the battle with about 40 fighters, who used mortars and automatic weapons. Col Awasthi said there were no injuries on the UN side.
#2
These beasts from the Indian Air Force will teach them some lessons
Posted by: john ||
01/23/2006 20:54
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There are Nepalese, Indian, Pakistani and Bangldeshi UN troops fighting the rebels.
First time since the days of the Raj that troops from the entire Indian subcontinent have been in action
Posted by: john ||
01/23/2006 20:56
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#4
There are Nepalese, Indian, Pakistani and Bangldeshi UN troops fighting the rebels.
First time since the days of the Raj that troops from the entire Indian subcontinent have been in action
Iraqi authorities have recovered the bodies of 23 missing police volunteers who had been murdered after being kidnapped by insurgents a week ago as they travelled home by bus. The bodies were found on Sunday near Nibaie, a few miles north of the capital Baghdad. Their hands were bound and they had been shot, a security official said. They were part of a group of 35 police volunteers who went missing on Monday evening after being kidnapped by insurgents.
The men had gone from Samarra, 125km north of the capital, to Baghdad to join the police force, but had been turned down and were heading back home. "Eight cars and minibuses loaded with dozens of gunmen held up the bus and took the men into the desert," according to security officials quoting one man who was shot and injured as he escaped and who arrived home on Wednesday.
US military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Wellman said the men decided to return home by commercial bus, adding that the bus was diverted off the main highway because of roadblocks put up on Monday around Mishahda after a US Apache attack helicopter was shot down with the loss of its two-man crew. "They were then stopped by insurgents who boarded the bus and discovered some were would-be police recruits," Wellman said. Other passengers were taken off the bus and the insurgents then drove away with the police volunteers in the bus, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A powerful explosion ripped through a bazaar of remote Pakistani tribal town, bordering Afghanistan, damaging several music and video shops and internet cafes, said security officials on Sunday. Suspected Islamic militants had planted explosive material near a music shop in the center of the bazaar in Tanak district of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) late on Saturday night, the officials told KUNA. The explosion damaged several music and video CDs shops and also destroyed two internet cafes, the officials said. They said the explosion did not cause any human loss as it occurred late in the night. Explosions targeting music shops are frequently reported in the tribal belt, still influenced by Taliban-time ban on music and movies. Supporters of Taliban, few in numbers, also from time to time distribute pamphlets warning shopkeepers of stop playing music and movies or a stiff action would be taken against them.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is hosting one of the world's largest anti-globalization, anti-war events starting Tuesday - and the timing couldn't be better. Leftist leaders are increasingly popular across Latin America, while Chavez's own "revolution" for the poor has become an inspiration for like-minded activists everywhere from Canada to Chile. Organizers predict as many as 100,000 people will attend the World Social Forum this week in Caracas, including campaigners against US-style free trade, environmentalists, Indian leaders and human rights activists. Their views span a wide spectrum, but most participants appear united by strong opposition to the US government and the war in Iraq. The forum will begin with an "anti-imperialist" march Tuesday through the streets of Caracas, with protesters likely to aim their chants against US President George W. Bush.
"Venezuela has become an epicenter of change on the world level," Chavez said Friday, mentioning the event in a speech. "That's why (US) imperialism wants to sweep us away, of course ... because they say we are a bad example, but they haven't swept us away and they won't."
The World Social Forum was first held in Brazil in 2001 and coincides each year with the market-friendly World Economic Forum of national leaders in Davos, Switzerland. Those at the social forum, in contrast, traditionally criticize free trade and the evils of capitalism - stances that closely mirror Chavez's socialist views.
"The US government, especially under the Bush administration, has been trying to force its own economic polices on developing countries, and I think all of us here agree that must stop," said Jeff Monahan, a 32-year-old organic farmer from Battle Creek, Michigan. "I'm sure there will be plenty of Bush-bashing when this gets underway," said Monahan, who arrived early and was helping put up canopies in a city park where thousands will camp out in tents.
Some 2,000 events - including seminars, speeches, concerts and craft fairs - will be held across Caracas during this week's forum.
Others expected to attend include Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, Argentine Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel and American anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004 and who set up a protest camp near Bush's ranch in Texas last year. It remained unclear whether other leftist leaders from Latin America would come. Some activists said they hoped to see Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia or Fidel Castro of Cuba. Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva initially was expected, but then said he would not come.
Posted by: Karl ||
01/23/2006 0:55
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#2
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#3
Don;t the Dems send someone to this whackofest? If so, Karl should play it up during the next year. Also does howling Howard have a speaking time at this forum?
#5
If the US "forces" economic policies on developing countries it's because it has, through the UN, been FINANCiNG those developing countries for years, only to see the dollars disappear down the corruption void.
If developing countries want economic independence then that comes with being self-sufficient. So cut off the aid, the donations and the interest-free loans. And the IMF and World Bank loans that then become the target of protests and are never repaid anyway.
If they hate the US and free trade, simple: cut them off!
hasta la vista baybee enjoy your begging. Come back when you *want* to change into a prosperous society.
#6
Great, a bunch of hippies bitching about Bush.
At least they are doing it in Caracas instead of san diego. As usual they will all stand around and pontificate about how wrong our policies are. And at the end of their pedantic diatribe, not a single suggestion will have been given as to how to correct these horrible imperialistic doctrines. Have fun boys! Don't drink the water.
#7
I never understood how these people could without fail find their way back to the capitalistic, exploitive, blood sucking AMerikkka. You would think that a least a few would find Shangri-La in Venezuela, Cuba, and Zimbabwe.
Posted by: ed ||
01/23/2006 10:59
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Chavez hosts World Social Forum as leftist movements unite against Bush
#9
I think Ed is onto something here. Instead of poo-pooing this socialists wankfest, why not promote it? Tell all the Mexicans and Central/South Americans that it seems that Venezuela has it right and we have it wrong. Also we want to help all the illegals here move to that socialist parasite paradise.
If you're taking a list of who hates the USA, you can't do better than this conference. By "[forcing US] economic polices on developing countries" I imagine that guy is referring to our discouraging drug traffiking.
#14
Fall editions of the prestigious publications, Foreign Affairs and National Affairs, both focused on the legitimation of terrorism, through US facilitation of the cynically, strategic participation of Islamofascist groups in sham elections.
Ask Fred to affirm or deny this: Islamic doctrine prohibits real democracy and facilitates Shura-dictatorship, because popular sovereignty is said to usurp the sovereignty of the Arab tribal deity "allah." Unless the US subsidized creation of a Hizbollah Corridor from Teheran to Tel Aviv in the name of some Orwellian peversity of "freedom" is halted, the reach of the genocidal Islamofascist juggernaut will be further extended. The enemy must have partied when Bush aligned with hitherto boycotted Pakistan, and the inherently aggressive Saud terrorist entity? The Leftists took cause to join in the bloodletting of the power-retracted' "wounded American animal," as Rafsanjani described Bush's turkey-shoot proffer of America's finest troops.
I don't want Islamofascists to vote; I want them to die by the tens of millions. Democraticization worked with Communist Atheists, Hindus, Buddhists, African tribal faiths, but cannot work with mortal enemy Muslims. Let the slaughter begin with the Khomenazis:
http://static.flickr.com/36/89610889_1f49967fe2.jpg
There are still a few good guys in Hollywood -- not many, but a few. Gary Sinise is one of them; along with Chuck Heston, Cheryl Ladd, James Woods, Tom Selleck and others. While some simply give a check or a few minutes of their time at a mindless award show, Mr. Sinise has traveled to Iraq not once, not twice but three times in support of USO efforts.
#1
I refuse to see movies with the others in them. I know it does not have much monitary effect, but I sure feel better, and is that not what movies are for?
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/23/2006 7:59
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#7
Duvall makes it and I don't? Whothehell made/directed Open Range?
Posted by: Kevin Costner ||
01/23/2006 20:02
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#8
Ann Margret -- Not surprised at all. Met her in 1979. Dove into her eyes and happily drowned. Perfect situation, good wine, perfect weather, a quiet evening on the veranda, no interruptions - and we talked for over an hour. Very Classy Human. My funeral is still on hold, but I shuffled off to heaven more than 26 yrs ago.
Don't feel bad, Kevin! "The Postman" was overly long, but basically, it was a story about standing up to tyranny and bringing hope to oppressed people. Yeah!
#10
Saw a couple of articles on Lucianne.com the other day, but I kept timing out here, so didn't post them. Anyway, ticket sales are down, which means the studios aren't earning as much. Two consequences: 1) Even the big name actors are taking significant up-front pay cuts, and 2) the studios plan to make significantly fewer films over the next few years. Apparently there is a real cost to being totally out of touch with the American zeitgeist. Heh.
From the Dept. of I Hate It When That Happens:
Rune Gjeldnes found out that as he heads into the tough finish of his 4400 kilometer (2734 mile) trek over Antarctica that he has lost one of his skis. As he prepared for the last leg of his solo trek across Antarctica, Rune Gjeldnes discovered he had lost one of his mountain skis. After nearly 80 days in Antarctica, Gjeldnes made the discovery at an altitude of over 2000 meters (6562 feet). Gjeldnes, 34, is trying to become the first man to make the long trek over the South Pole region without being resupplied. On Tuesday Gjeldnes noticed that one of his mountain skis had fallen off the sled, and he decided against the possible two-day retreat trip to look for it. "This isn't possible, I thought. On the world's longest ski trip, you should at least know where your skis are," Gjeldnes said by phone.
He is now left with one ski and a pair of kite skis, the latter fairly useless on the final leg across a glacier and down to Terra Nova Bay. Gjeldnes, who has crossed the North Pole alone without resupplies, paddled the Rio Merevari in Venezuela, crossed Baffin Island in northern Canada and scaled Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, faces other problems as well. A spell of nasty weather has forced him to hold position for several days, and good visibility is essential in order to make the hazardous trip down the glacier.
"If I don't manage to come down the glacier, there is an alternative, going back and across the mountains and down to Terra Nova Bay. It is not an ideal route, but one way or another I'll make it," Gjeldnes said. He has a month left to reach the bay. If he arrives late for the scheduled boat departure the Norwegian will have to spend the spring and summer on Antarctica. "But I am still ahead of schedule, so I have some room to spare," Gjeldnes said.
I thought I felt the Earth wobble on its axis this morning...
YANBU, 23 January 2006 A 19-year-old daughter saved her father by driving more than 25 kilometers in the desert, the Al-Madinah daily reported. The father was camping in the desert when he began suffering from heart pain. He called home for help. His daughter took her father in the car and drove at high speed for emergency treatment, saving his life by breaking the law against women driving not to mention speeding.
Gas supplies from Russia to Armenia and Georgia have been halted by two explosions on a pipeline that Georgia blames on Russian sabotage. At a time when freezing winter temperatures are gripping all three countries, the explosions occurred on the main branch and a reserve branch of the Mozdok-Tbilisi pipeline close to the border with Georgia in the early hours of Sunday morning. According to a spokesman for Russia's deputy prosecutor, general investigators at the site in the Russian province of North Ossetia, are treating the incident as sabotage, but not terrorism.
Sergei Prokopov, the spokesman, said: "An expert group is working at the site. According to preliminary information they have already found the remains of improvised explosive devices. If this explanation is confirmed then we are talking about sabotage." Other officials said it could take up to four days to repair the damage due to the difficult mountain conditions. Mikhail Saakashvili, the president of Georgia, accused Russia of being behind the blasts, which Georgia said could leave households without gas as soon as Sunday evening.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2006
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Saudi religious figure, Dr Aaeed Al-Qarni announced Friday his return to preaching and the withdrawal of his decision to end his religious preaching and writing. Al-Qarni told Asharq Al-Awsat that his return comes after the call of Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz, governor of Riyadh, who had urged the cleric to resume his religious role. He said that the prince, who met Al-Qarni recently upon his return from the Haj pilgrimage, had addressed the religious figure as "son of the state."
Al-Qarni praised the rulers of Saudi Arabia, mostly Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz for "his interest in my affairs and his care since the publishing of my first poem. I asked the Prince to give me a month to consider my situation and I have now decided to return to my role in the religious field." He continued to say that he would recite a poem on Saturday, at the King Khaled Mosque in Umm Al-Hammam in Riyadh. The poem would carry a message for the Saudi leadership, scholars, media, extremists, women, dialogue, youth, fathers, those who denounce others as infidels and those who criticize the invariable principles. With reference to reports of alleged attempts to keep the media spotlight focused upon him, Al-Qarni said, "I do not need fame or for people to know me to put myself in this kind of situation."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2006
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#1
The best way to screw the Saudis is to wean yourself off Saudi Black Skag (oil).
Your car does not have to run solely on petrol any more. You can get a modified engine to run on 85% ethanol and only 15% petrol. that's a lot less dollars for those who are trying to kill us.
And diesel engines can run straight on ethanol, no modifying required.
----
Bio-ethanol has been available in the US since the late '90s as a fuel additive commonly sold as 'E10', a blend of 90% petrol and 10% ethanol. While some vehicles have been modified to accept blends of E85, bio-ethanol remains overwhelmingly a fuel additive, rather than a replacement.
Although biodiesel is commonly blended with regular diesel, diesel engines can also run using only biodiesel, or B100, without any vehicle modifications. In fact, when Rudolf Diesel's first engine came to life in 1893, it was fuelled entirely by peanut oil.
So biodiesel can replace petrofuel at no additional cost to immediately achieve improved environmental performance.
---
From Transport Industry Net news (registration required)
#6
it does not take two tonnes of oil for every tonne of methanol you produce, if that were true it would be too expensive to produce it in the first place and these companies wouldn't be in business.
And I don't know WHY you'd want to bring nuke power up, unless you think you can fit a mini nuke reactor to your car. Most power plants burn coal, not oil and therefore do not purchase it from the Saudis who are trying to kill us.
Forget him, imagine the power available from the alcohol-soaked fat of Ted Kennedy!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/23/2006 11:06
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This link sheds a little light on the ethanol EROEI issue:
Those who extol ethanol fail to look at the energy costs of production, what certain energy analysts call the EROEI (Energy Return on Energy Invested).
Simply put, it takes more energy to produce ethanol than is produced by the combustion of ethanol. According to Cornell professor David Pimentel, an acre of corn ultimately yields 328 gallons of ethanol. This quantity of corn requires 1,000 gallons of fossil fuels to plant, grow and harvest, and costs $347 per acre. This means the corn feedstock costs $1.05 per gallon of ethanol before it is even converted into ethanol. Additional energy costs accrue in distilling the ethanol. Adding it all up, 131,000 BTUs are needed to make 1 gallon of ethanol, with an energy value of only 77,000 BTUs. This results in an EROEI of roughly 59 percent. That is a 41 percent loss of energy, according the UniSci science daily news website.
The reason companies can make money on ethanol production despite the negative EROEI is that it is heavily subsidized by the government.
#10
This quantity of corn requires 1,000 gallons of fossil fuels to plant, grow and harvest,
That's a flat lie, I've had gardens before, and for 10 acres I used less than 50 gallons of gasoline per year total
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/23/2006 12:26
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#11
Gardens and "induatrial-size" fields are two very different things. Gardening is more labor-intensive and uses less mecahnization/energy/fertilizers. But gardening doesn't scale. Oh, and you don't transport the products of your garden thousands of miles away, who is quite costly in energy.
#12
The 1000 gallons is way out of line. A 1995 ethanol study had 13.5 gallons of liquid fuels and twice that amount of natural gas (fertilizer synthesis) per acre of corn. Google for details. In the meantime, farm yields go up, driving down ethanol prices. But it's not only fuel inputs, but labor and capital equipment that must be factored in.
Posted by: ed ||
01/23/2006 17:38
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#13
Bet Ed is right, but the US is not well placed for efficient ethanol production.... um.... Cuba?
#14
All said so far completely ignores that the "Mash" remaining is a highly nutritious cattle feed, (They love it) and is sold for more than the initial corn costs.
Plus the inclusion of "Costs" not directly related to farming (Transport both ways) leads me to believe that the article is worthless, it's heavily slanted to make alcohol look as bad as possible.
Example if I include the "Costs" of all the copper wires, all the towers, maintenance and all the generators I could make the same argument that it costs $10,000 per lightbulb purchased for 2 bucks at the store. (God, how do they stay in business with a loss like that?)
Bugti tribesmen said on Saturday that at least 19 people have been killed in two days of fighting with security forces. Zulfiqar, a resident of Dera Bugti, said that he could name 19 people killed in heavy shelling by the security forces. He said that clashes between government forces and the tribesmen started in the morning, while heavy shelling began late in the afternoon. He said that the shelling had destroyed seven shops and killed several animals.
Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) General Secretary Agha Shahid Bugti said in a press conference that at least 65 people had been killed in military action in Dera Bugti between December 30 and January 20. He said that about 214 people had been injured. The government has not mentioned any casualties in the province. He accused the security forces of “playing havoc” in the area, saying that the death toll would have been more than 100 if all local residents had been in the area. Bugti said that the security forces were using “all kinds of weapons” in the clashes.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/23/2006
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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.
KATHMANDU - Suspected Maoist rebels gunned down a royalist election candidate in broad daylight near his office in southeast Nepal while the death toll in two weekend clashes between rebels and soldiers reached 28, police said on Monday.
Panamanian police said they were investigating the disappearance of two Spanish citizens in the Darien jungle. Information about the disappearance of the aid workers in the remote area has been sketchy, with some media outlets reporting that they were kidnapped by a group of armed men. "We don't have new information, but the search is continuing," a police spokesman told EFE.
Since February 2003, Bashir's campaign of ethnic and religious persecution has killed at least 180,000 civilians in Darfur in western Sudan and driven 2 million people from their homes. The good news is that Bashir's army and the Janjaweed militia that he supports have all but stopped burning down villages in Darfur. The bad news is why they've stopped: There are few villages left to burn. The attacks now are aimed at refugee camps. While the media have called these actions "a humanitarian tragedy," Bashir himself has escaped major condemnation. In 2005, Bashir signed a peace agreement with the largest rebel group in non-Islamic southern Sudan and allowed its leader, John Garang, to become the nation's vice president. But Garang died in July in a helicopter crash, and Bashir's troops still occupy the south.
While the outside world focuses on Kim Jong-il's nuclear weapons program, domestically he runs the world's most tightly controlled society. North Korea continues to rank last in the index of press freedom compiled by Reporters Without Borders, and for the 34th straight year it earned the worst possible score on political rights and civil liberties from Freedom House. An estimated 250,000 people are confined in "reeducation camps." Malnourishment is widespread: According to the United Nations World Food Program, the average 7-year-old boy in North Korea is almost 8 inches shorter than a South Korean boy the same age and more than 20 pounds lighter. 
In November 2005, without warning, Than Shwe moved his entire government from Rangoon (Yangon), the capital for the last 120 years, to Pyinmana, a remote area 245 miles away. Civil servants were given two days' notice and are forbidden from resigning. Burma leads the world in the use of children as soldiers, and the regime is notorious for using forced labor on construction projects and as porters for the army in war zones. The long-standing house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize and Than Shwe's most feared opponent, recently was extended for six months. Just to drive near her heavily guarded home is to risk arrest.
Life in Zimbabwe has gone from bad to worse: It has the world's highest inflation rate, 80% unemployment and an HIV/AIDS rate of more than 20%. Life expectancy has declined since 1988 from 62 to 38 years. Farming has collapsed since 2000, when Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms, giving most of them to political allies with no background in agriculture. In 2005, Mugabe launched Operation Murambatsvina (Clean the Filth), the forcible eviction of some 700,000 people from their homes or businesses"to restore order and sanity," says the government. But locals say the reason was to forestall demonstrations as the economy deteriorates. 
Until 2005, the worst excesses of Karimov's regime had taken place in the torture rooms of his prisons. But on May 13, he ordered a mass killing that could not be concealed. In the city of Andijan, 23 businessmen, held in prison and awaiting a verdict, were freed by their supporters, who then held an open meeting in the town square. An estimated 10,000 people gathered, expecting government officials to come and listen to their grievances. Instead, Karimov sent the army, which massacred hundreds of men, women and children. A 2003 law made Karimov and all members of his family immune from prosecution forever.
Although Abdullah did not become king until 2005, he has ruled Saudi Arabia since his half-brother, Fahd, suffered a stroke 10 years earlier. In Saudi Arabia, phone calls are recorded and mobile phones with cameras are banned. It is illegal for public employees "to engage in dialogue with local and foreign media." By law, all Saudi citizens must be Muslims. According to Amnesty International, police in Saudi Arabia routinely use torture to extract "confessions." Saudi women may not appear in public with a man who isn't a relative, must cover their bodies and faces in public and may not drive. The strict suppression of women is not voluntary, and Saudi women who would like to live a freer life are not allowed to do so.
Niyazov has created the world's most pervasive personality cult, and criticism of any of his policies is considered treason. The latest examples of his government-by-whim include bans on car radios, lip-synching and playing recorded music on TV or at weddings. Niyazov also has closed all national parks and shut down rural libraries. He launched an attack on his nation's health-care system, firing 15,000 health-care workers and replacing most of them with untrained military conscripts. He announced the closing of all hospitals outside the capital and ordered Turkmenistan's physicians to give up the Hippocratic Oath and to swear allegiance to him instead.
Over the past four years, the rulers of Iran have undone the reforms that were emerging in the nation. The hardliners completed this reversal by winning the parliamentary elections in 2004 after disqualifying 44% of the candidatesand with the presidential election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2005. Ultimately, however, the country is run by the 12-man Guardian Council, overseen by the Ayatollah Khamane'i, which has the right to veto any law that the elected government passes. Khamane'i has shut down the free press, tortured journalists and ordered the execution of homosexual males.
Obiang took power in this tiny West African nation by overthrowing his uncle more than 25 years ago. According to a United Nations inspector, torture "is the normal means of investigation" in Equatorial Guinea. There is no freedom of speech, and there are no bookstores or newsstands. The one private radio station is owned by Obiang's son. Since major oil reserves were discovered in Equatorial Guinea in 1995, Obiang has deposited more than $700 million into special accounts in U.S. banks. Meanwhile, most of his people live on less than $1 a day.
Qaddafi has made his peace with the outside world by renouncing his quest for weapons of mass destruction and opening his oil fields to foreign companies. But domestically he continues to operate a brutal regime. According to the U.S. Department of State, at least 10% of the population is engaged in surveillance of the other 90%. Libyan law provides for collective punishment in which the relatives, friends and even neighbors of someone found guilty of a crime can also be punished. Criticizing Qaddafi is considered a crime punishable by death.
Africa's last remaining absolute monarch, Mswati III took power at the age of 18. Since then he has allowed his country to slide into extreme poverty, with 69% of the Swazi people living on less than $1 a day. Swaziland has the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the world: almost 40%. The country has operated without a constitution for 30 years. Mswati has agreed to implement a new one in 2006, however, it bans political parties, gives Mswati the right to reject any laws passed by the legislature and grants him immunity against all possible crimes.
Europe's last dictator, Aleksandr Lukashenko was elected Belarus' first president after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Since then he has rewritten the constitution to allow him to appoint all 110 members of the upper house of the legislature, and he has harassed his opponents, sometimes having them arrested on live television. He also has mandated a return to Communist-style "mutual surveillance," encouraging workers to use "trouble telephones" to inform on one another. It is against the law to criticize him.
Fidel Castro moved into his 47th year as the leader of Cuba, continuing his record as the longest-reigning dictator in the world. He seems to be telling his people that two generations have passed and no one in Cuba is worthy of taking his place. Cuba had one of the worst scores on Reporters Without Borders' international index of press freedom.
A former ophthamology student, in 2000 Bashar inherited power from his father, who had ruled Syria for 29 years. Recently the Syrian government has received international condemnation for its presumed involvement in the assassination of the ex-prime minister of neighboring Lebanon. In Syria itself, "emergency rule" has been in effect since 1963. Amnesty International has documented 38 different types of torture that have been used in Syria in recent years. 
General Pervez Musharraf seized power in a military coup that overthrew an elected government. He appointed himself president of Pakistan in 2001 and then attempted to legitimize his rule by staging an election in 2002. However, the election did not come close to meeting international standards. Musharraf agreed to step down as head of the military but then changed his mind, claiming that the nation needed to unify its political and military elements and that he could provide this unity. He justified his decision by stating, "I think the country is more important than democracy." Prior to September 11, 2001, Musharraf was an ardent supporter of Afghanistan's Taliban regime.
President Ahmadinejad said Friday Palestine is the center of the final stages of the battle between Islam and arrogance, saying the Palestinian 
Russia's state security service, the FSB, has accused British diplomats of spying in Moscow. It backed claims made in a Russian TV report which showed footage of what it said was British agents retrieving data from a fake rock planted on a street. The programme also said a UK diplomat made regular payments to Russian non-governmental organisations. The UK Foreign Office said it was "concerned and surprised", and denied any improper conduct with Russian NGOs. 
The Kuwaiti cabinet has asked for a special parliamentary session on Tuesday to debate the removal of the new ailing emir from power, a Kuwaiti deputy says.
Khan could not estimate how many militants were hiding among the border region's 3.2 million residents. Officials in the past have said hundreds of Arab, Central Asian and Afghan fighters are among them. Back then, a local cleric in Bajur, the region surrounding Damadola, rallied 8,000 villagers to fight with the Taliban against U.S.-led forces. Bajur and Afghanistan's neighboring Kunar region have since served as hideouts because of their rugged mountains -- and the sympathies of residents. Many are Pashtuns, the same ethnic group as the Taliban. In a show of solidarity, the opposition Jamaat Islami, or Islamic Party, marshaled 50 volunteers Sunday to help the village rebuild. Taliban-style radicals were gaining strength along Pakistan's border partly because they intimidated anyone who disagreed, said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general. The military often relied on tribal justice to turn people over and avoided large-scale operations that could cause civilian casualties, he said.
JMB Chief held in India? - UPDATE from Reuters 
The fugitive supremo of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, was reportedly arrested by the Indian Police in West Bengal on Sunday, said home ministry sources in Dhaka early this morning. The West Bengal police nabbed the Mujahideen leader, an extremist, from a hideout at Barasat, 24 Parganas of West Bengal, a neighboring Indian state, a source close to the state minister for home affairs, Lutfuzzaman Babar, told New Age.
According to the source, the West Bengal police arrested the member of the outfit, Mohsin, from 24 Parganas on Saturday. Following extensive interrogation, the Indian police came to know from Mohsin that Shaikh Rahman was also hiding in the area. Subsequently the police raided the area and nabbed Rahman the next day. Shaikh was sent to the Indian capital, new Delhi, immediately after his arrest, the source said. The state minister for home affairs told New Age at 12:30 a.m this morning that he had first come to know of the arrest from the midnight media reports. 
IRAN would resume industrial-scale uranium enrichment if it were referred to the UN Security Council over its nuclear standoff with the West, a senior Iranian official was quoted today as saying.
OTTAWA - Canada’s opposition Conservatives are still leading the ruling Liberals ahead of Monday’s federal election but the gap is shrinking, according to a new poll released late on Sunday. The SES Research daily tracking poll for the CPAC television network showed the Conservatives at 36 percent, down one point from the previous day. The Liberals were at 30 percent, up two points.
GAZA CITY - Campaigners working on behalf of women are looking to Wednesday’s Palestinian election with trepidation, fearing that if elected, Hamas will enforce Islamist values.
KATMANDU - Nepal’s monarchist government lifted house arrest imposed on three top dissidents to deter weekend anti-government rallies. Troops guarding the homes of former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, president of the Nepali Congress party, Khadga Prasad Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal and Narayan Man Bijuchche of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party ended their weekend lockdown aimed at thwarting demonstrations against King Gyanendra’s nearly yearlong absolute rule. “The policemen left this evening and now I think I am free to move out,” Oli said by telephone.
Security agents unearthed two caches of bomb-making materials in a northern Bangladesh town after interrogating two suspected members of a banned Islamic group blamed for a series of deadly blasts, an official statement said on Saturday. The members of Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh – which aims to replace the Muslim-majority nation’s secular laws with religious rule – led agents to the caches Friday in Bogra, 176 kilometres north of the capital, Dhaka. 
Paul Martin, 67, has trumpeted the eight consecutive budget surpluses under Liberal Party rule and sought to paint Harper as a right-winger posing as a moderate to woo mainstream voters. He claims Harper supported the U.S.-led war in Iraq, which was opposed by many 
Hundreds of Afghans staged a protest on Saturday to denounce a wave of suicide bomb attacks, with many of the protesters blaming Pakistan for the violence. "We condemn these suicide attacks," protesters shouted outside the provincial governor's offices in the city of Ghazni. There have been 13 suicide blasts since November, the worst last Monday when 23 people were killed in the town of Spin Boldak, on the border with Pakistan. The government blames foreign al Qaeda and Taliban supporters for the violence. "The UN should stop Pakistan from interfering in Afghanistan," Qari Baba, a former governor of Ghazni province, told the crowd.
MADINAH, 23 January 2006 The cave where Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) took rest during the Battle of Uhud has become the subject of debate among scholars, some arguing for its destruction.
The leader of Lebanon's Shia group Hezbollah has warned that no one should conspire with the United States against his organisation.
At least one man has been killed and two wounded in an explosion east of Gaza City. The Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees accused Israel of trying to kill its fighters in a strike on their car on Sunday. The Israeli army said it carried out an air strike on three armed men several metres from a fence near the Karni border crossing in northern Gaza, believing that they were trying to penetrate the fence. They army said it hit one fighter.
Algeria intends to reveal details of a security and judicial agreement with Britain concerning the deportation of Algerian fundamentalists which the British Government considers a danger to British security. Algerian Justice Minister Tayeb Belaiz told correspondents in parliament the day before yesterday that the "results we have reached during the preparation of the agreement are very, very conclusive." Faced by the correspondents' insistence to give them more details of the agreement over which there was much talk during the past eight months, the minister said only: "We are about to undertake a considerable action and you will see the purport of this action soon. It is a matter of time." The minister did not identify the British side that the Algerians negotiated with to reach an agreement that would allow the Algerian Government to receive persons residing in Britain who were given jail sentences by the Algerian judiciary on charges of terrorism or are wanted for questioning in terror-related cases. 
UN peacekeepers killed four Congolese rebel soldiers yesterday as they drove the fighters out of a town that had been overrun during the dissident's four-day offensive, which has forced 50,000 people from their homes, said UN officials. Troops loyal to Laurent Nkunda, a renegade former army commander who rejected a peace process designed to end the Democratic Republic of Congo's five-year war, began an offensive in the east of the country on Thursday and have briefly occupied a number of towns and villages in cat-and-mouse fighting with the army. 
Iraqi authorities have recovered the bodies of 23 missing police volunteers who had been murdered after being kidnapped by insurgents a week ago as they travelled home by bus. The bodies were found on Sunday near Nibaie, a few miles north of the capital Baghdad. Their hands were bound and they had been shot, a security official said. They were part of a group of 35 police volunteers who went missing on Monday evening after being kidnapped by insurgents. 
A powerful explosion ripped through a bazaar of remote Pakistani tribal town, bordering Afghanistan, damaging several music and video shops and internet cafes, said security officials on Sunday. Suspected Islamic militants had planted explosive material near a music shop in the center of the bazaar in Tanak district of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) late on Saturday night, the officials told KUNA. The explosion damaged several music and video CDs shops and also destroyed two internet cafes, the officials said. They said the explosion did not cause any human loss as it occurred late in the night. Explosions targeting music shops are frequently reported in the tribal belt, still influenced by Taliban-time ban on music and movies. Supporters of Taliban, few in numbers, also from time to time distribute pamphlets warning shopkeepers of stop playing music and movies or a stiff action would be taken against them.
Gas supplies from Russia to Armenia and Georgia have been halted by two explosions on a pipeline that Georgia blames on Russian sabotage. At a time when freezing winter temperatures are gripping all three countries, the explosions occurred on the main branch and a reserve branch of the Mozdok-Tbilisi pipeline close to the border with Georgia in the early hours of Sunday morning. According to a spokesman for Russia's deputy prosecutor, general investigators at the site in the Russian province of North Ossetia, are treating the incident as sabotage, but not terrorism. 
Saudi religious figure, Dr 
Bugti tribesmen said on Saturday that at least 19 people have been killed in two days of fighting with security forces. Zulfiqar, a resident of Dera Bugti, said that he could name 19 people killed in heavy shelling by the security forces. He said that clashes between government forces and the tribesmen started in the morning, while heavy shelling began late in the afternoon. He said that the shelling had destroyed seven shops and killed several animals.
