it gets closer..
In dozens of tanks and armored vehicles, Syrian troops stormed rebellious areas near the capital Sunday, shelling neighborhoods that have fallen under the control of army dissidents and clashing with fighters. At least 62 people were killed in violence nationwide, activists and residents said. what's a Sunday without indiscriminate killing in Islam?
The widescale offensive near the capital suggested the regime is worried that military defectors could close in on Damascus, which has remained relatively quiet while most other Syrian cities descended into chaos after the uprising began in March. time for the wives and kiddies to take that "early-early-summer-vacation" in France?
The rising bloodshed added urgency to Arab and Western diplomatic efforts to end the 10-month conflict.
The violence has gradually approached the capital. In the past two weeks, army dissidents have become more visible, seizing several suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus and setting up checkpoints where masked men wearing military attire and wielding assault rifles stop motorists and protect anti-regime protests.
Their presence so close to the capital is astonishing in tightly controlled Syria and suggests 1) the Assad regime may either be losing control or 2) setting up a trap for the fighters before going on the offensive. betting on option #2
Residents of Damascus reported hearing clashes in the nearby suburbs, particularly at night, shattering the city's calm.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/29/2012
18:19 ||
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#1
should've had a question mark on "betting on option 2"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/29/2012 18:25
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what's a Sunday without indiscriminate killing in Islam?
Given that Alawites aren't actually Muslims, I think it's more a case of infidels selectively killing Muslims. From Wikipedia:
In 1970, then-Air Force General Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite, took power and instigated a "Correctionist Movement" in the Ba'ath Party.[30] His coming to power has been compared to "an untouchable becoming maharajah in India or a Jew becoming tsar in Russiaan unprecedented development shocking to the majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries."[27]
In 1971 al-Assad became president of Syria, a function that the Constitution allows only a Sunni Muslim to hold. In 1973 a new constitution was published that omitted the old requirement that the religion of the state is Islam and replaced it with the statement that the religion of the republic's president is Islam. Protests erupted when the statement was altered,[31] and to satisfy this requirement in 1974, Musa Sadr, a leader of the Twelvers of Lebanon and founder of the Amal Movement who had earlier sought to unite Lebanese Alawis and Shias under the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council without success,[3] issued a fatwa stating that Alawis were a community of Twelver Shia Muslims.[32][33] Under the authoritarian but secular Assad government, religious minorities were tolerated, political dissent was not.
Pan Arabism has been a fig leaf behind which the Syrian Alawite minority wielded power against the Sunni majority. The reason it did so was because the French refused to establish Latakia, homeland of the Alawites, as an independent country, despite the desperate entreaties of Hafez Assad's father. This is the real problem with the dissolution of the European empires - to make lives simpler for their foreign offices (and perhaps to avoid the expense of multiple embassies), they grouped large numbers of mutually incompatible peoples together in sprawling countries several times the size of the average EU member, paving the way for the persecution and large scale massacres of ethnic or religious minorities who were the traditional prey for their historical blood enemies. It's the equivalent of putting a rapist and his victim in the same home after his release from prison.
#3
Geez, Zhang, that's kind of harsh. It's like saying they can't help themselves or something. Like the time the Israelis left one of the zoo doors open and some Christians massacred some Muslims. The fault is with the zookeepers, right?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/29/2012 22:05
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HT to Weasel Zippers. Especially for the schadenfreudy-good note of the day
While a sale of the company is not likely, Bloomberg has a dark bottom line amid some optimism about the digital future and reduced debt: "The company has lost more than 80 percent of its market value from a high of about $8.5 billion in 1999 to its current value of $1.18 billion. It has not paid dividends to shareholders for the past three years."
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/29/2012
15:58 ||
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#2
2big2fail? Certainly true as long as Carlos Slim is around...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2012 17:59
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#3
And remember: their public class A shares have no voting rights. The company is controlled by the owners of the class B shares, and Pinchy (and family) own all those.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2012 18:00
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#4
yep - but that "investment" is like owning a boat. No returns, and depreciating at a climbing rate. I would personally like to see Pinch and his family whoring on the streets of NY. It's not like that's new to them
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/29/2012 18:13
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#5
"I would personally like to see Pinch and his family whoring on the streets of NY."
I thought they already were.
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/29/2012 18:45
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#6
There is the real 1 percent and it isn't even registered as a Trunk or Tea Party.
There is no doubt that incomes are unequal in the United States -- far more so than in most European nations. This fact is part of the impulse behind the Occupy Wall Street movement, whose members claim to represent the 99 percent of us against the wealthiest 1 percent. It has also sparked a major debate in the Republican presidential race, where former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has come under fire for his tax rates and his career as the head of a private-equity firm. No one complained about how much he gave away, or compared it to the other candidates, including Mr. Golf-and-a-Vacation.
And economic disparity was the recurring theme of President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday. "We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by," the president warned, "or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share." Two choices. I get to select the choices, but there are only two!
But the mere existence of income inequality tells us little about what, if anything, should be done about it. First, we must answer some key questions. Who constitutes the prosperous and the poor? Why has inequality increased? Does an unequal income distribution deny poor people the chance to buy what they want? And perhaps most important: How do Americans feel about inequality? To answer these questions, it is not enough to take a snapshot of our incomes; we must instead have a motion picture of them and of how people move in and out of various income groups over time. Some rich get richer, true, but some seem to get poorer. Some of the poor manage to hoist themselves out of the dregs of society. What happened?
The real income problem in this country is not a question of who is rich, but rather of who is poor. Among the bottom fifth of income earners, many people, especially men, stay there their whole lives. Low education and unwed motherhood only exacerbate poverty, which is particularly acute among racial minorities. Brookings Institution economist Scott Winship has argued that two-thirds of black children in America experience a level of poverty that only 6 percent of white children will ever see, calling it a "national tragedy." I suppose we only have two choices here, as well - Hell or Obama.
Making the poor more economically mobile has nothing to do with taxing the rich and everything to do with finding and implementing ways to encourage parental marriage, teach the poor marketable skills and induce them to join the legitimate workforce. It is easy to suppose that raising taxes on the rich would provide more money to help the poor. But the problem facing the poor is not too little money, but too few skills and opportunities to advance themselves. Seems like we've heard this story before!
Poverty in America is certainly a serious problem, but the plight of the poor has been moderated by advances in the economy. Between 1970 and 2010, the net worth of American households more than doubled, as did the number of television sets and air-conditioning units per home. In his book "The Poverty of the Poverty Rate," Nicholas Eberstadt shows that over the past 30 or so years, the percentage of low-income children in the United States who are underweight has gone down, the share of low-income households lacking complete plumbing facilities has declined, and the area of their homes adequately heated has gone up. The fraction of poor households with a telephone, a television set and a clothes dryer has risen sharply. Not to mention microwave ovens and cell phones. And Nikes...
In other words, the country has become more prosperous, as measured not by income but by consumption: In constant dollars, consumption by people in the lowest quintile rose by more than 40 percent over the past four decades. Reagan was right? Income as measured by the federal government is not a reliable indicator of well-being, but consumption is. Though poverty is a problem, it has become less of one.
Income inequality has increased in this country and in practically every European nation in recent decades. The best measure of that change is the Gini index, named after the Italian statistician Corrado Gini, who designed it in 1912. The index values vary between zero, when everyone has exactly the same income, and 1, when one person has all of the income and everybody else has none. In mid-1970s America, the index was 0.316, but it had reached 0.378 by the late 2000s. One of the few nations to see its Gini value fall was Greece, which went from 0.413 in the 1970s to 0.307 in the late 2000s. So Greece seems to be reducing income inequality -- but with little to buy, riots in the streets and economic opportunity largely limited to those partaking in corruption, the nation is hardly a model for anyone's economy. No one talks about Zimbabwe anymore. How's their economy doing?
Historically, Americans have had an unusual attitude toward income inequality. In 1985, political scientists Sidney Verba and Gary Orren published a book that compared how liberals in Sweden and in the United States viewed such inequality. By four or five to one, the Swedish liberals were more likely than the American ones to believe that it was important to give workers equal pay. The Swedes were three times more likely than the Americans to favor putting a top limit on incomes. (The Swedes get a lot of what they want: Their Gini index is 0.259, much lower than America's.)
Sweden has maintained a low Gini index in part by having more progressive tax rates. If Americans wanted to follow the Swedish example, they could. But what is the morally fair way to determine tax rates -- other than taxing everyone at the same rate? The case for progressive tax rates is far from settled; just read Kip Hagopian's recent essay in Policy Review, which makes a powerful argument against progressive taxation because it fails to take into account aptitude and work effort.
One new strategy for helping the poor improve their condition is known as the "social impact bond," which is being tested in Britain and has been endorsed by the Obama administration. Under this approach, private investors, including foundations, put up money to pay for a program or initiative to help low-income people get jobs, stay out of prison or remain in school, for example. A government agency evaluates the results. If the program is succeeding, the agency reimburses the investors; if not, they get no government money.
As Harvard economist Jeffrey Liebman has pointed out, for this system to work there must be careful measures of success and a reasonable chance for investors to make a profit. Massachusetts is ready to try such an effort. It may not be easy for the social impact bond model to work consistently, but it offers one big benefit: Instead of carping about who is rich, we would be trying to help people who are poor.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/29/2012
12:37 ||
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#1
This whole topic is ludicrous. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE POOR PEOPLE.
The question is "How poor is poor?"
As mentioned "poor" people today have a living standard that was decidedly middle class not that long ago.
The problems of the "poor" are caused not by a lack of money, but by a lack of effort, morals, models and education. In short a lack of a culture of success.
Israel's current coalition government is one of its most stable in decades, and the next scheduled national poll is nearly two years off. Yet election fever has gripped the country and some believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is quietly preparing to call for an early vote, perhaps in the middle of this year.
The two biggest political parties - Netanyahu's conservative Likud and its main rival, the centrist Kadima - recently announced that they would hold primaries to select leaders whose names would be on the next election ballot.
The left-leaning Labor Party held a leadership convention in September. And this month, popular TV news anchor Yair Lapid promised to shake up the status quo, saying he would compete for prime minister as head of a new party.
In a country where the prime minister's average term in recent decades has been shorter than three years and most governments collapse prematurely, some believe that Netanyahu, who took office in 2009, will seek to capitalize on his improving popularity by securing another term before the U.S. presidential election in November.
Netanyahu and President Barack Obama have had several high-profile clashes over Israel's continued settlement construction on land it seized during the 1967 Middle East War. In recent months, the White House has scaled back pressure, probably out of concern that such moves might anger Jewish and evangelical Christian voters in the United States and provide Obama's Republican challengers with ammunition.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/29/2012 13:07
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#6
I was in Cairo twice and it's a dirty noisy place that has zero appeal and not worth visiting IMO.
I remember clearly how the men were total sluts for my good money - they are really vile people.
he's a lying asshole who's now been caught in his lies. Jail him, strip him of everything, and extradite to MExico
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/29/2012
11:02 ||
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this just shows that Holder's staff knew, not that Holder knew
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/29/2012 14:05
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#2
Wilkinson responded to Burke shortly thereafter and said the incident was tragic. Ive alerted the AG [Holder], the Acting DAG, Lisa, etc.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/29/2012 14:18
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#3
Lord Garth, if my staff kept that in formation from me I'd fire them. What other information is my staff witholding? I can' t trust my staff. He knew.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/29/2012 14:26
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#4
"A total of 103 members of the House have called for Holders resignation or firing, expressed no confidence in Holder via a formal House Resolution, or both. Two sitting governors, two U.S. senators and all the major Republican presidential candidates join those 103 congressmen in not trusting Holder. Many of those who have called for Holders resignation have pointed out that Holder claiming that he didnt read his memos is a sign that hes admitting incompetence to avoid charges of corruption."
Eric will be on the pardons list as the Zero's pack up the WH silverware and head for Chicago.
#5
Eric should move quickly to assure the high quality of accommodations to which he has become accustomed. under the bus. Waiting until the last minute can result in very high prices or unavailability of room except under the tires.
#6
If he admits to knowing, then he is involved in covering up illegal activity, If he denies knowing then he's involved in dereliction of duty. Either way, he is criminal.
#7
"This article was updated after publication. A previous version reported Holder was informed that the weapons used to kill Terry were linked to Operation Fast & Furious. But a letter to Congress provided by the DOJ suggests only that Monty Wilkinson was made aware. That letter states Wilkinson does not recall telling Holder. Reached Sunday, a spokesperson for Holder relied only on that letter, and declined to confirm that Holder himself was not informed."
Iranian president accuses world powers of meddling in region as UN inspectors arrive to check military aspects of nuclear program; Tehran warns EU oil embargo could cause crude prices to rise to $150 a barrel.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday that western powers had implanted the Israeli regime into the Middle East as part of a scheme to gain control of the region and its resources.
Why did they install the Zionist regime (Israel)? To gain control over oil, as well as the popular and revolutionary uprisings in the Middle East, Iranian news agency Press TV quoted Ahmadinejad as saying during a speech at a youth conference in Tehran.
It is clear that this was a historical scheme, he added.
Ahmadinejad's comments came as UN nuclear inspectors arrived in Iran on a visit aimed at shedding light on suspected military aspects of Tehran's atomic work.
Iran said on Sunday it was very optimistic over the visit, but warned it would curb cooperation if the experts became a "tool" for outside powers.
An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team began a three-day visit on Sunday to try to advance efforts to resolve a row about nuclear work which Iran says is for making electricity but the West suspects is aimed at seeking a nuclear weapon.
Argentina has captured a three-man Iranian-Hizballah cell and is hunting for the rest of the network, according to exclusive DEBKAfile sources. Its counter-terror police were a step ahead of attacks plotted against several of the 10 Habad centers in the country, part of a worldwide joint terrorist offensive against Israeli and Jewish targets. Two strikes were thwarted earlier this month in Thailand and Azerbaijan.
The three-man cell was captured in the Argentine resort town of San Carlos de Bariloche, 1,680 kilometers from Buenos Aires, a favorite starting-point for Israeli backpackers touring Patagonia and the Andes. The town is situated on the banks of Lake Naheil Huapi, a major tourist attraction of the Rio Negro district which is famous for its beauty.
Argentina's anti-terrorist Federal Special Operations Group, known as T4, waylaid the three faceless myrmidons on tips from US and Israeli intelligence. In their possession were incriminating documents and maps.
Azerbaijanfoils Iranian-Hizballah terror strike against Israel targets and Habad
A Hizballah cell backed by intelligence from Tehran and external Iranian terror cells in Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia, was captured in Baku on Jan. 19 by Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry (MNS) officers as it was about to launch a series of attacks on the Israeli embassy, Chief Rabbi Shneor Segal and Rabbi Mati Lewis at the Habad center and visiting Israel personages.
DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources disclose that two of the Hizballah cell members live permanently in Baku. The third, who resides in Tehran, was recruited by Iranian intelligence to lead the Hizballah operation, which was the first joint Iranian-Hizballah terrorist attack ever discovered.
In its sights too were the former Israeli chief of staff Gaby Ashkenazi who was due to visit to the Azerbaijan capital and several local high officials who work with the United States and Israel. They were suspected by Tehran of helping the US and Israel set up an attack on Iran from Azerbaijan.
The two Habad figures are Israeli-born heads of the Jewish community in Baku and the Ohr Avner Chabad Jewish Day School.
The cell was rounded up just weeks after a Hizballah terrorist strike against the local Habad center was preempted in Bangkok, thanks to Thai-Israeli counter-terror cooperation. There, Hizballah had intended to take hostages and blow up the Habad headquarters, aping al Qaeda's 2009 outrage in Mumbai.
Our sources can identify the Hizballah terror cell's Baku chief as an Iranian Azeri by the name of Balaqardash Dadashov and the two local operatives as Rasim Aliyev and Ali Huseynov. Found in their possession were guns and explosives said to have been delivered to them by smugglers from Iran, although DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources say they entered Azerbaijan from Armenia.
The operation leader Balaqardash arrived from Tehran with a file full of photos of the targeted Israeli figures, plans of the buildings to be attacked, and maps as well as $9,300 to cover the costs of the preparations. Each of the snuffies was promised a fee of $150,000.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/29/2012 9:53
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#2
Busy little captured terrorists, Frank. The Thais must've got a cell phone from the one they captured...or Mossad and/or the CIA was/were already tracking them via the Labanese phone system.
#3
I think Iran might have made a tactical boo-boo by announcing that it was sending teams to attack Israeli and US targets around the world. That is, there are only a limited number of ways of getting from there to here.
Also, as is common practice, intelligence agencies pay premium dollars for personnel rosters of such organizations as al-Quds.
#5
ION NOT IRAN-HIZBALLAH, WORLD NEWS >SENIOR UK MILITRAY OFFICAL SAYS BRITAIN FACES "IMPOSSIBLE" BATTLE IFF ARGENTINA [successfully] INVADES FALKLANDS [again].
> No Harriers.
> No heavy = fixed-wing Aircraft Carriers [STOBAR] - Helo Carriers potency not enuff.
> Army at smallest size since Napoleonic era.
Despite much-improved island defenses since the 1980's conflict, UK is screwed big time iff the Argies ever break through, UK may not even be able to recover the Falklands iff-n-when they are ever lost???
[ONCE AGAIN, HUGO "THE US HAS EARTHQUAKE BOMBS" CHAVEZ here].
Falklands for UK = [future]GUAM-MICRONESIA, OTHER PACIFIC ISLES for USA???
* SAME > [Belfast Telegraph] > SPLIT FALKLANDS TO RPEVENT ANY MORE CONFLICT.
A suspected Taliban leader was captured in a joint Afghan and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... operation on Saturday in southern Kandahar province, Isaf said.
"An Afghan and coalition security force captured a Taliban leader during an operation in Maiwand district, Kandahar province, today," Isaf said in a statement.
The leader is accused of being part of an explosives cell and co-ordinating the shipment of weapons and ammunition for use by cut-thoat fighters, it added.
The security force confiscated multiple bomb-making materials and jugged two other suspected Death Eaters during the operation.
#4
Well in an actual catch and release program, they usually trunk the subject out into the far end of some park, reservation, or BLM parcel before opening the back door and 'prodding' them out. Having to trek back for a couple days through the wilderness would probably alter a few behavioral issues.
The dominant discourse in mainstream Pak media on issues of foreign policy and national security has always been based on the narrative of the military establishment. Most Pak analysts, both right-wing and liberal, believe the Taliban is a nationalist movement motivated by Pashtun alienation in Afghanistan.
This narrative is a product of the Pak military establishment's 'strategic depth' policy, and was propagated internationally by former military dictator Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... . Addressing the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... parliament in September 2006, he said the Taliban represent Pashtuns and they could spark a 'national war' in Afghanistan. Domestically, opinion makers say in TV talkshows that the Afghan Taliban are representatives of the Pashtun.
They say the Afghan Taliban have grassroots support in the south and southeast, and the movement is a reaction to the lack of Pashtun representation. But they also say the Afghan Taliban are a genuine resistance force fighting an ideological war against foreign invasion. The two views do not coincide.
The central leadership of all major turban factions is based in Pakistain, be it the Quetta Shura of Kandahari Taliban, the Haqqani Network in Wazoo, or the Hizb-e-Islami of Hekmatyar
They would never say Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistain represents all Pashtuns of FATA, or that the insurgency is a nationalist movement motivated by the grievances of the tribes. They call TTP a terrorist organization. And this is where the contradictory notion of good Taliban and bad Taliban comes into play. The Afghan Taliban are a resistance force representing Pashtuns, while their ideological brothers TTP, who also claim allegiance to Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... , are terrorists.
Ironically, those who claim that the Afghan Taliban are a Pashtun nationalist movement are not Pashtuns. Pashtun intellectuals and journalists, both liberal and conservative, and even Pashtuns who have been part of the military establishment, deny that.
The folklore of Taliban nostalgia prevailing in mainstream Pak media that Mullah Omar had brought peace to Afghanistan is also not shared by the Afghans. The Taliban killed thousands of people until there were no rivals and no one to resist their brutality, and there was rejoice in Kabul after their government was toppled in 2001.
Non-Pashtun ethnic politicians complain that Pashtuns hold most key ministries in President Karzai's administration
Afghans do not see the Taliban as a nationalist movement based on the Pashtunwali code, but influenced by Deobandi madrassas in Pakistain. They are not even a unified group. Not even all Afghan Taliban call themselves Pashtun nationalists. Although they are predominately Pashtun, many among them are from other ethnic groups, particularly in Northern Afghanistan. Local turban groups have multiple motivations. Some join the resistance against the perceived foreign invaders, while others fight for local purposes, such as clan rivalries and personal interests. Then there are those who fight for money.
Working on a research project in Northern Afghanistan in August last year, I met some Death Eaters who were not ethnic Pashtuns, but Turkmens. They told me they were paid $500 to $600 a month by a Taliban capo in Mazar-e-Sharif. That is more than what some of my colleagues were being paid by an NGO. Some of the Taliban men are opportunists who benefit from the narcotics industry and seek Taliban's shelter.
"Unlike the late 70s and 80s when Afghanistan experienced a national resistance movement against the Soviet occupation, the Taliban's claim for Jihad against Americans does not resonate with a majority of Pashtuns," according to Afghan political activist and former chief of staff at Foreign Ministry Wahid Munawar.
The central leadership of all major turban factions is based in Pakistain, be it the Quetta Shura of Kandahari Taliban, the Haqqani Network in Waziristan, or the Hizb-e-Islami of Hekmatyar. The commanding cadres of the movement have gone to madrassas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , Southern Punjab or Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... and the tribal areas are recruiting centers for Afghan Taliban. While traveling on the two borders, I regularly meet Taliban who are on their way to Quetta for rest, after a month or two of fighting in Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... or Uruzgan. Majority of the jacket wallahs in Afghanistan are traced to the tribal areas or Balochistan. What cultural or political grievances can they have about the Pahstuns of Afghanistan? The Taliban have destroyed the very foundations of centuries old Pashtun customs such as respect for tribal elders and the Jirga system.
"Taliban draw their support mostly from a tiny minority of Pashtun partly based on ideological grounds," says Rafi Fazil, an Afghan student and activist. "There is also an element of fear - given the vacuum created by the absence of government in Taliban controlled areas - that plays a key role. Not every Pashtun who sympathises with the Taliban actually subscribes to their violent ideology. Those who do, and are prepared to take part in violence, constitute a tiny minority."
If there are free elections, the Pashtuns of Afghanistan would reject the Taliban, like Pak Pashtuns vote for the liberal Awami National Party.
President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... received a large number of votes from the Pashtun south and southeast. The nationalist Afghan Mellat is a popular party among urban Pashtuns. There is no truth to the statement that Pashtuns lack representation in the current power structure in Afghanistan. In fact, non-Pashtun ethnic politicians complain of the opposite - that Pashtuns hold most key ministries in President Karzai's administration.
Abbas Daiyar is a journalist from Kabul and an op-ed contributor and member of editorial board at the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He blogs at kabulperspective.wordpress.com andtweets @AbasDaiyar Continued on Page 49
#1
More confirmation if we needed that we are fighting Pakistani agents in Afghanistan who fear an Indian friendly Govt in Kabul and a weak Western front.
Posted by: Paul D ||
01/29/2012 13:52
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Pakistan is playing with fire and they haven't even got it roaring yet.
[TOLOnews] - A group of 80 hard boyz laid down its weapons and surrendered to the Afghan government in northern Baghlan province on Friday, local officials said on Saturday.
The hard boyz were from Baghlan-e-Markazi district and they had been active in the province over the past few years where they had carried out attacks against the government, Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, head of the 303 Pamir corps in northern Afghanistan, told TOLOnews.
Mr Ahmadzai is confident that security will improve as more hard boyz renounce violence in the province.
Five days ago a separate group of 40 hard boyz also agreed to join the government in Baghlan.
The Afghan and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... forces have also rushed military operations in the country to wipe out hard boyz in which dozens of militants have been killed or captured.
#1
"Today, argues Zhorkin, a tiny, but vocal minority is staging rallies in Russia, aiming to destroy the regime by declaring elections rigged and the Duma and Putin as third term president illegitimate" This is election time and the political power grab is on. Vocal minority is wishfull thinking. This is massive. The leadership wants the old days back. The people want peace, freedom and economic growth. They have all the problems of a modern country. They have many good things also. The disconnect of leadership could set them back years. Better to interact and build with the world and your people than isolate yourself. The future of power, prosperity, and influence resides there. I am not saying one world order.I like some nationalism.
The disconnect of leadership could set them back years. Like what is happening here. Occupy is that massive? hardly. Teaparty are the people that the media government types call a fringe vocal minority! hardly. My two cents.
1. Coup led by Alawite and Sunni military officers who make a deal with demonstrators while sparing Alawites widespread retribution.
1a. Inside plot to assassinate top leaders, bringing an immediate end to the crisis.
2. Russia convinces Assad to step down and leave the country with his extended family and wealth.
2a. Alawite leaders, military officers and top businessmen collectively decide to engineer a coup, or convince Assad to turn over power to a democratic transitional leadership before total collapse ruins the country.
3. Regional and global powers to impose no-fly zones and safe havens, leading to shortages and runaway inflation, and massive anti-regime demonstrations. Assad either falls or flees.
4. Full civil war. Syria collapses and breaks up into statelets (Iraq facing similar and simultaneous disintegration - and "it's all the fault of the Zionists and the U.S." appears to be a very popular conspiracy with the Arabs).
4. The Assad regime implements the Sampson Option, attacking or fomenting strife in Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq, perhaps using chemical or nuclear weapons.
#2
Okay, pappy.
Where, ref #4, would the chinless wonder get such amazing weapons?
Right.
I keep saying, look at the attempted truck bombing in Amman in, iirc,2004. Lots of munitions, reported poison gas, and no reports of any followup as to where the stuff came from. Avert your eyes, folks, if you don't want to know where Saddaam's WMD went.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/29/2012 22:00
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#3
Baby Assad is still sticking it to both the ARAB LEAGUE + the OBAMA DOCTRINE again + again, i.e. getting rid of oppressive Regimes whom commit serious human rights, etc. abuses or crimes agz their own people.
* TOPIX > TURKISH FM DAVUGUTLI > AL-ASSAD HAS CHOSEN TO BECOME [brutal = heavy-handed]MILOSOVIC, NOT GORBACHEV.
The Arab-Muslim World is undergoing its equivalent of "GLASNOST" + "PERESTROIKA", except as per Yugoslavia + Serbia.
* SAME > DAVUGUTLI: [Armenian = WW1] GENOCIDE ISSUE HAS CAUSED FRANCE TO LOSE ITS CREDIBILITY AS CO-CHAIR OF MINSK GROUP.
h/t Gates of Vienna
The tumult indelibly dubbed the Arab Spring in the West, by the credulous and the calculating alike, is easier to understand once you grasp two basics. First, the most important fact in the Arab world as well as in Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other neighboring non-Arab territories is Islam. It is not poverty, illiteracy, or the lack of modern democratic institutions. These, like anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism, and an insular propensity to buy into conspiracy theories featuring infidel villains, are effects of Islams regional hegemony and supremacist tendency, not causes of it. One need not be led to that which pervades the air one breathes.
The second fact is that Islam constitutes a distinct civilization. It is not merely an exotic splash on the gorgeous global mosaic with a few embarrassing cultural eccentricities; it is an entirely different way of looking at the world. We struggle with this truth, which defies our end-of-history smugness. Enthralled by diversity for its own sake, we have lost the capacity to comprehend a civilization whose idea of diversity is coercing diverse peoples into obedience to its evolution-resistant norms.
* FREEREPUBLIC this AM > THE USGS MONITORS EARTH'S MAGNETIC SHIELD TO PREPARE CITIZENS FOR MAGNETIC STORMS. 2013 - ???
* GUARDIAN.UK > SUN CHANGES [weak Sun] UNLIKELY TO SLOW GLOBAL WARMING, SCIENTISTS SAY.
SOLAR ACTIVITY due to weak Sun = at or near the 1822 Dalton Minium.
"The Great/Mighty Slushy" indeed.
Heres the fun part, thanks to on-going INTERNATIONAL/UNIVERSAL GOVT, PERT CONSENSUS THAT THERE IS NO CONSENSUS > "MAGNETIC/SOLAR STORMS" = "Changes may be heralded by significant Solar Booms/Explosion(s) of unknown or uncertain, Pert-subjective or magnitude or intensity.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has asked the Philippine government to freeze all gas and oil bidding contracts in areas claimed by the Moro people. Mohaqher Iqbal, chief MILF negotiator, said in a statement that he had told his counterpart in the government, Marvic Leonen, the MILF position on the ongoing bidding by the Philippine government on oil and gas exploration in Sulu and other areas claimed by Muslims.
The MILF is pushing for the establishment of a sub-state in areas dominated by Muslims with all the rights from the natural resources, including gas and oil. Among the areas the MILF wants to control is the Liguasan marshland in Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces.
Iqbal said the exploration of the gas and oil reserves in Muslim Mindanao without settling the ownership issue first would be adverse to the interests of the people.
#1
Because Saudi economic well being is more important to them than Mindanao's, even with the way they're treated when they go there to do manual labor.
Hasan Küçük, Hague councilor for the Islam Democrats, says dogs should be banned as pets in the city, reports De Telegraaf. The Muslim party says that the animals belong in nature, not inside the house. Küçük says that keeping dogs is animal abuse and should therefore be criminalized.
He responded sharply during a council debate last Thursday, when the Party for Animals suggested more consideration for dogs.
They're both nuts. 'Party for Animals'? Does Fido get a vote in this?
But as Joseph Mendiola might say, I ain't got no dog in this fight. Rwwf.
Paul ter Linden (PVV councillor) responded saying that pets are the norm in the Netherlands, and whoever disagrees should move to another country.
Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar: Allah's Apostle ordered that the dogs should be killed.
From Abu Dawud #2839
Abd Allah B. Mughaffal reported the apostle of Allah as saying: Were dogs not a species of creature I should command that they all be killed; but kill every pure black one.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/29/2012 7:21
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Muslims in the Netherlands don't realize yet that every time they open their yap these days it is a recruiting pitch for Geert Wilders Party For Freedom.
The Heron TP, Israel's most advanced unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed Sunday morning during a test flight near the Tel Nof Air Force Base in central Israel. mNo injuries were reported in the incident.
The Israel Air Force launched a probe to determine the cause of the crash and was looking into the whether it was caused by human error or was the result of a technical malfunction.
The Heron TP is the largest UAV in the IAF. It has a 26 - meter-long wingspan -- the size of a Boeing 737 -- and can stay airborne for up to 45 hours. It can carry 1,000 kg. in payloads, making it capable of conducting a wide variety of missions.
The flight during which the crash occurred was a joint operation of the IAF and the Heron TP's developer, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
In July, France announced its decision to purchase the Heron TP in the first export deal for the UAV. The deal is estimated to reach close to $500 million over a number of years and could lead to additional contracts for IAI as other countries, such as Germany, seek to upgrade their UAV capabilities.
The Heron TP was declared on schedule to be operational by the end of the year.
According to foreign reports, it has the ability to also launch missiles, and in Israel it is often referred to as the UAV "that can reach Iran."
#1
Whoever makes the first UAV heavy bomber capable of a B-52 sized payload of about 4000kg is going to get a huge number of orders--if they permit export.
#2
Re this and complaints about US UAVs crashing..
It better that a robot crashes than a manned plane!
That thought tends to get lost by the press. There is no Hanoi Hilton to empty out with the WoT... a few dead robots? Who cares...
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/29/2012 10:40
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You'd think that's coming. If you have air supremacy a BUFF-sized drone that can orbit all day and drop smart bombs on command makes a lot of sense.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2012 10:44
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Doesn't seem like it should be that hard to convert most current generation heavy aircraft to be bombers; as long as they're fly-by-wire it's mainly a software thing. And most modern airliners CAN land by autopilot (though they don't.) Now, defending the drone, making it difficult to see with radar, etc. are tougher. Heck, Germany had drone bomber in 1942 (V-1) - targeting was iffy and they weren't intended to make the round trip, but ...
* TOPIX > [Jericho III] ISRAELI ICBM TEST RAISES POSSIBILITY OF EMP ATTACK ON IRAN.
At best a delay for OWG Caliphate-happy Rising Iran + Radical Islam.
* WORLD NEWS > IRAN A YEAR AWAY FROM NUKE [2013], SAYS US DEFENCE SECRETARY LEON PANETTA, + prob another 2-3 years away as per dev a reliable LR Delivery Sys for same.
On a separate note, I can't help but notice that after DESERT STORM, the anti-Bush,GOP Lefts + MSM kept harping the general rant "NO WMDS IN IRAQ" to criticize same when they really meant Nuclear Weapons - NOW WID IRAN, ITS "NUKES" PER SE WHILE IGNORING THE NON-NUKE WMDS. DITTO PER "DIRTY NUKES" + LOW-YIELD EMP WEAPS.
SAME FALSE ARGUMENT OR CRITICISM, JUST VEE DIFFERENT OR OPPOSITE DIRECTION???
#8
Just "Who" puts this stuff out there for "public consumption" in the first place? It really pisses me off. They should be summarily "shot at Sunrise".
Schools in southern Thailand have become a battlefield, as reflected in the number of teachers being attacked by terrorists separatists, said an analyst.
Rungrawee Chalermsripinyorat, Southeast Asia analyst at International Crisis Group, said, "Teachers are at the centre of an ideological contest. Schools have become an ideological battlefield. Teachers in state schools are viewed as government agents who indoctrinate [students with] Thai nationalism. The attacks [on teachers and schools] are symbolic attacks on the state. This explains why teachers are being targeted."
Boonsom Thongsrirai, president of the Confederation of School Teachers in the Three Southernmost Provinces said that virtually all of the 27,000 teachers at 1,305 schools in those provinces carry handguns and are escorted by police and soldiers to and from school.
Boonsom, who carries a .38-caliber handgun, said teachers need to remain vigilant at all times. A native of Pattani, he said he agreed with Rungrawee's view but added that teachers were seen as easy targets because they were spread out and not properly trained to fight back.
Every time a terrorist separatist is arrested or killed, schoolteachers are targeted, he said, adding, "Things are not getting better. We live day by day."
He said that some Thai-Malay Muslim parents do not trust government schoolteachers, and that officials could do more to provide security for teachers.
Rungrawee said a lot of money had been spent on providing security and that it was hard to expect greater efforts in that area. As for how schools can be viewed as less of an agent for nationalist indoctrination, Rungrawee said that although the government has introduced bilingual lessons, it may be too little too late.
With attacks continuing and Buddhist families leaving the region, Thai-Malay Muslim students are becoming increasingly isolated and lack the socialisation skills needed to live with people of other faiths or ethnicities. Rungrawee said, "This is worrying."
Boonsom said teachers are preoccupied with security issues, as they try to tackle the twin tasks of winning the hearts and minds of Thai-Malay Muslims while keeping themselves alive.
A defense volunteer was killed in an ambush in front of the mosque in Narathiwat province late Saturday night. Witnesses told investigators that Arsae Kade, 45, a defense volunteer in the district, was returning home from prayers at the village mosque when terrorists gunmen hidden in roadside forest shot at him with M16 assault rifle. The terrorists attackers then fled. Arsae took was hit three times and died on the spot.
Details are slowly emerging of the U.S. raid in Somalia overnight in which two aid workers of the Danish Demining Group were freed unscathed, 8 or 9 kidnappers killed and up to six taken prisoner by U.S. Navy Seals.
According to local reports, U.S. forces temporarily secured Galkayo airport before dispatching several helicopters with operational teams to an area some 100 kms away near the village of Hiimo Gaabo.
Arriving about 3 a.m. at the location, a hefty exchange of fire with abductors holding the two aid workers ensued. Several pirates were killed as Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, and Jessica Buchanan, 32, were taken to safety unscathed.
It was on October 25 last year in Galkayo that the two aid workers were kidnapped after taking part in a seminar. According to the local police chief in Galkayo at the time, one or more bodyguards assigned to the two were co-conspirators in the kidnapping.
Local authorities appeared to have been quickly on the scene following the raid.
We have recovered up eight bodies from the place and I understand that a further five people have been taken prisoner, Abduali Moalim of the local Adados Authority tells AFP.
The president of the Galmudug region where the operation took place expressed his gratitude to U.S. forces.
There are some 12 American helicopters right now at Galkayo. Our thanks go to the United States. The pirates have wrecked our peace and morale. They are a mafia, President Mohamed Ahmed Alim told Reuters.
The action took place as President Obama prepared to deliver his State of the Union address yesterday evening.
NBC News reports that as the president stepped into the House chambers, he pointed to Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta standing in the crowd and said, Leon. Good job tonight. Good job tonight, in what was believed to be a reference to the Somali operation
Indus commissioner flees to Canada
Reported in Jang, Pakistan's Indus Waters Commissioner for two decades - as opposed to four by India - fled to India after it was discovered that he had colluded with India in the building of dams on Pakistani rivers - especially the Nimo-Bazgo dam - against the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty. His office in the water ministry was attacked by teams of investigators led by army officers.
Dr Baqir was a drug addict
Reported in Jang, Dr Baqir Shah who was mysteriously shot to dearth in Quetta after, as police surgeon, he had reported that Chechen men and women were not killed by their own hand grenade as claimed by police but by bullets fired by Pakistani personnel, had been dubbed a drug addict by Balochistan government which has announced that his murder was owed to personal rivalries.
Wukla persons on the attack again
Reported in Mashriq, a group of lawyers attacked an employee of the banking court of judge Naseer Ahmad and rendered him senseless. After the thrashing by aroused wukla the court employees at once locked up the banking court to avoid further damage at the hands of the lawyers.
Jamaat Ali Shah denies he fled country
Quoted in daily Pakistan, former Indus Waters Commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah said in Canada that he was surprised by news that he had run away to Canada after violating exit-control orders against him. He said he had come to Canada to look after his ill mother and despite retirement from his job he had informed the concerned authorities before departing Pakistan. He said he was available to answer any charges.
Democracy ill-suited to Pakistan
Famous columnist and TV personality and distinguished civil servant Oria Maqbul Jan was quoted by Express as saying that democracy was not suited to Pakistan and only an Islamic Shura system would bring order in Pakistan.
Hashmi attacks Nawaz
Quoted in daily Pakistan, Javed Hashmi who deserted PNLM to join Imran Khan's Tehreek Insaf said that Nawaz Sharif had made a deal with Musharraf before leaving his supporters for Saudi Arabia. He said he should apologise for the deal.
Give a billion dollars, take electricity!
Famous nuclear scientist Samar Mubarak Mand told Mashriq that if the government gave him a billion dollars he will give Pakistan the electricity it needs for the next many centuries. He said he was already producing electricity from coal in Thar and was prepared to make even diesel if the government allowed him the money to do so.
After Aila Malik, God safe Imran Khan!
Writing in his paper Jinnah, Chief Editor Khushnood Ali Khan stated that after the joining of Aila Malik of Q-League, Tehreek Insaf of Imran Khan had reached an extreme position. If Aila Malik and Samaira Malik are the support system of Tehreek Insaf then God support Imran Khan (Khuda hi hafiz).
PPP wants a weak Pak Army
Famous foreign minister and son of General Ayub Gohar Ayub told daily Pakistan that the PPP was always determined to weaken the Pakistan Army. He said Bhutto tried to do it by creating federal security force as a counter. In the shape of a memo Zardari had asked for help from the army of another country against the Pak Army.
Dr Safdar Mehmood's new history
Monthly Naya Zamana revealed that in a recent article that Pakistan's renowned historian Dr Safdar Mehmood had stated that late Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani had told him that a teacher of Usmani had appeared in his dream to ask him to repose trust in Jinnah. Dr Mehmood had written that former IG Police Balochistan Ch Fazlul Haq had told him that Maulana Usmani had told him that Jinnah had told him that Holy Prophet PBUH had appeared in Jinnah's dream and told him in the UK saying Jinnah go back to India and lead the Muslims. Usmani said that Jinnah has insisted that this dream of his should not be revealed to anyone.
Rehman Malik thanks Taliban too soon
Reported in daily Pakistan Mullah Umar spoke as a leader of all Taliban - Pakistani and Afghan - and ordered that the Taliban should stop attacking Pakistan Army and Pakistan Taliban to concentrate more on attacks on the Americans. Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik thanked the Talban but soon the attacks restarted in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa; and Mullah Umar confirmed that he had not advised Taliban to stop attacks on Pakistani targets.
Pak Army attacks Pak Police
Columnist Hamid Mir wrote in Jang that an ASI was doing duty at Secretariat Chowk in Islamabad when the Army Chief was scheduled to pass through. He was told by am army officer to move his men away from the spot which he did. After 15 minutes the same army officer returned with a posse of men and held him from the throat and took him and his men away in a truck and held them as hostages at another place. After release the ASI tried to lodge a complaint with the police station but was not allowed to do so.
Jamaat Ali Shah helped Indian Army at Siachen
Reported in Jang Indus Waters ex-commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah facilitated the building of India's illegal Nimo-Bazgo dam so that Leh could get electricity which means that Indian soldiers at Siachen would get the benefit of more comfort through use of electricity.
Mengal warns Baloch rebels
Quoted in daily Pakistan great Baloch leader Sardar Ataullah Mengal stated in Karachi that the Baloch rebels should think twice before revolting against Pakistan because it was not certain that they will thus get independent Balochistan. He said if there was no Pakistan there would be no freedom for the Baloch.
Syeda Abida on warpath
Quoted in Jinnah PPP leader Syeda Abida Hussain said that to save Haqqani and the PPP Zardari had gambled away everything including the party tickets which were to be given to her and Fakhr Imam. The tickets for Jhang constituencies were to be given to Faisal Saleh Hayat and Raza Hayat. She said the decision to join Imran Khan had not yet been taken.
Akram Sheikh's male chauvinism
Reported in Mashriq Asma Jahangir said that after its independence and restoration of judges the Supreme Court had not come up to the expectation and hopes of the people. She said clash of state institutions was not good for the state but it was not against the law to criticise the decisions of the Court. The Court had become limited to just a few cases. Many senior lawyers reacted to lawyer Akram Sheik's article in a newspaper criticising Asama Jahangir as an example of Sheikh's male chauvinism. They said Akram Sheikh as lawyer of Mansoor Ijaz had attacked Asma who was a respected lawyer of the Bar.
Double Shah gets 14 years
Reported in Express, Double Shah the fraudster from Punjab who had defrauded hundreds of thousands of innocent people across the province of Rs 5 billion promising to double their deposits overnight has been sentenced to 14 years in jail. His victims still had faith in him. The Court also fined him Rs 5 billion.
This should be fun, a bloodless Anschluss of Europe. I'll have of whatever the EU politicians are smoking. It certainly causes weird behavior.
The European Union is to gain dramatic powers to control tax and spending in crisis-hit eurozone countries under a deal to save the currency. The EU will have to agree the national budgets of heavily indebted countries under a deal to be signed tomorrow at a summit in Brussels attended by David Cameron.
The move will mean Greece losing control over its own budget, after Germany and the International Monetary Fund laid down increasingly harsh conditions for the indebted nation to receive its second £100 billion eurozone bail-out.
With the country on the brink of default, Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, yesterday revealed that a "fiscal compact" was set to be signed by European Union leaders at their summit tomorrow.
The move to closer integration between the eurozone economies comes just days before Tory Euro-sceptics launch a campaign to repatriate powers over policing and justice already handed to the European Union.
Conservative MPs will put pressure on the Prime Minister to harness a "block opt-out" that will allow Britain simultaneously to withdraw from European Arrest Warrants, compulsory sharing of data with other police forces, and more than 100 other laws handed to Brussels.
#1
tipper, good post. I appreciate your efforts. This may be a push to purge undesirables. Where does it end?. This is a program that I can see Obama types wishing to implement. Forget the constitution. It's a living document that can be updated to reflect modern times. :-(
WASHINGTON: A Egyptian military team plans to visit the United States next week as Cairos crackdown on pro-democracy organizations has called into question the future of US aid to Egypt, American officials said on Friday.
Really, there should be no question about it...
The Egyptian delegation hopes to meet with officials at the State Department and the Pentagon. It will also hold talks on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers will soon consider a new request for aid to Egypts military, which now runs about $1.3 billion per year, one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
They're holding Americans for hostage, essentially. Now they're asking for 'aid'.
The Egyptian visit comes after Egypts military-led authorities pounced on non-governmental organizations, including several funded by the US government, and slapped travel bans on six American staffers including a son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former congressman.
Political analysts say the crackdown, along with questions over Egypts emergency law and security forces treatment of women protesters, has clouded the outlook for Egypts fledgling democracy following last years overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said American officials were pressing Egyptian authorities on the crackdown, which she described as bizarre. The Americans have demanded that Egypt lift travel restrictions placed on a number of foreign NGO staffers.
We do not have progress since yesterday, I am sorry to report, Nuland said.
The assertions of the Egyptian government in these cases are that they are subject to a judicial process which is not complete, Nuland said. Our message back is, Complete these formalities and let our people travel as soon as possible.
That's diplospeak for "put them on the next plane to Washington and explain to us why you grabbed them in the first place."
Other political sources said the Egyptians were expected to discuss the NGO issue on Capitol Hill, where a number of senators have warned the Egyptians that US aid was at stake if action against the NGOs continues.
Continued restriction of their activities and harassment of international and Egyptian staff will be looked at with great concern, particularly in light of Egypts considerable US assistance, 11 senators said in a letter to Egyptian Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi dated Jan. 18.
President Barack Obama spoke with Tantawi on Jan. 20 and stressed the importance of the NGOs, as well as Egypts deteriorating economic situation and its request for $3.2 billion in support from the International Monetary Fund.
The Obama administration is finalizing its budget for the 2013 fiscal year, which will be presented on Feb. 13 and is expected to include continued assistance for Egypts military.
Lawmakers imposed conditions on the US assistance given in 2012, requiring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to certify that the Egyptian government is supporting the transition to a civilian government. That includes holding free and fair elections and implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association, and religion, and due process of law. Clinton can waive this if it is in US national security interests, but must notify Congress that she has done so.
Those are decisions that are going to have to be made later on in the winter and spring, Nuland said. These are points that were obviously making clear to the Egyptians.
Not one chance of Hilde certifying the aid if the NGO members are still being held hostage. It's a gold political campaign opportunity that even Mitt Romney couldn't screw up.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2012
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#1
Isn't the military aid part of the Jimmy Carter deal contingent on Egypt's recognition and friendly relations with Israel? Continuing to pay that bill now that the Muslim Brotherhood is in charge seems as silly as sending a check to Hamas and whatever we are suriely paying NK to not do what they have committed to do.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/29/2012 1:47
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We sent funds to Pakistan for years. Its believed it freed up billions for them to give to islamists like the Taliban to blow up girl schools and kidnap Koreans.....
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Police sources said today that the financing of the so-called the Iraqi Islamic State decreased by 30 percent following the arrest of a specialized group in collecting funds.
Staff General Mehdi al-Gharawi said in a press conference, attended by Aswat al-Iraq, that the federal police was able to arrest 13 persons comprising a cell to collect funds for the organization from governmental establishments and the citizens on the right side of the city, west of Mosul.
He mention names of heads of departments and exchange bureaus that deal with these terrorist organization, which were registered in their painfully extracted confessions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2012
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That's good. At least for hurting Al Qaeda's financing in northern Iraq.
Posted by: American Delight ||
01/29/2012 8:29
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This was likely a "protection racket" to shake down people for "contributions" to da cause. Or else.
[Pak Daily Times] South Korean activists on Saturday released huge gas-filled balloons filled with socks over the border into impoverished North Korea despite threats from Pyongyang. "Mama! Look! Socks!"
"Oh, very good! I will make soup!"
The socks can be worn to help survive the harsh winter, be sold for cash or exchanged in the communist North for food that can keep a person going for a month, the campaigners say.
About 1,000 pairs of socks were launched by five large plastic balloons from the northern South Korean city of Paju. Each pair of socks was attached with a leaflet containing a "politically innocuous" message, said the Seoul-based group North Korea Peace, which has been sending socks to the North once a month over the past few months.
"We're not interested in sending political messages or sparking any troubles there. All we want is that people in the North wear warm socks over their frozen feet," Sunny Kim, a spokeswoman for North Korea Peace, told AFP. "Warm socks are so rare and they can easily be traded for cash in the North. One pair of socks fetches about 22 pounds (10 kilos) of corn, which is enough to sustain a person for a month."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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#1
Incidently, there are probably 10 guys in Pyongyang wondering which of their new 100 pairs of socks they will wear today. South of the city is some poor farmer wishing the socks had come with a longer political message so that he could have got more than one wipe worth of toilet paper before the party big wigs confiscated the socks.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/29/2012 2:12
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"22 pounds (10 kilos of corn ... enough to sustain a person for a month" > yokay-y-y, nice, but my next question is from where + whom, etc. will provide this corn???
Given that Pyongyang is repor already raiding the military's food reserves.
[An Nahar] Internal Security forces thwarted an escape attempt this week by Fatah al-Islam A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Leb pot stirred. inmates in Roumieh prison, according to media reports on Saturday.
Prisoners tried to escape from Roumieh prison Bloc B through a hole they dug in one of the cells, which apparently leads to an abandoned factory nearby, shut down after fire broke out in it two years ago.
According to MTV, a prison guard was alerted by the sounds the inmates were making.
He informed the security forces and the plan was foiled.
The channel added that the hole was 40 centimeters in width; however, the inmates needed 20 more centimeters to be able to complete their break out attempt.
In August, five inmates, including Fatah al-Islam terrorist network members, beat feet the prison by scaling down the building's walls with bed sheets before mixing with visiting relatives and walking out of the compound with them.
Fatah Al-Islam battled the Lebanese army two years ago in the Paleostinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in northern Leb.
Roumieh, the oldest and largest of Leb's overcrowded prisons, has witnessed sporadic prison breaks in recent years and escalating riots over the past months as inmates living in poor conditions demand better treatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] South Sudan has closed another 242 oil wells as the government announced it had unearthed a theft syndicate involving more than 40,000 barrels per day.
The wells were closed in Palaung oil fields in Upper Nile state that accounts for more than 60 per cent of the young nation's crude output.
There are 600 oil wells in Palaung oil fields and shutting the 242 wells will halve the controversial daily output of 250,000 barrels per day, officials said.
The field is held by Petrodar Oil Company, the biggest oil operator in the country.
However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... Petroleum and Mining minister Stephen Dhieu Dau said his technicians discovered that an additional 40,000 barrels were being produced per day on top of 230,000 barrels per day the company reported.
"After the ordering the shutdown, the company tried to increase production against our advice," Dhieu said, accusing Khartoum of having a hand in the matter.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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Where does one PUT 40,000 bbls per day? They gottm salt caverns in the Sudan?
This almost sounds like an accounting dodge.
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth, Man of a Thousand Nyms ||
01/29/2012 18:31
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I don't know Petrodar, but the Chinese are the biggest foreign operator in the Sudans. Combine that with the fact that the pipeline carrying all the oil from the South transits the north and I have no trouble believing 40,000 BOPD is being stolen, by fraudulent tests, by accounting entries and/or by pipeline 'taps'.
[An Nahar] Two women employed by the office of Iraq's runaway vice president Tareq al-Hashemi have been jugged by security forces and may be at risk of torture, rights group Amnesia Amnesty International said.
Hashemi, a Sunni, has been accused of running a death squad, a charge he denies. He is holed up in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, which has so far declined to hand him over to the central government.
"One of the employees, Rasha Nameer Jaafer al-Hussein, was jugged from her parents' house in Storied Baghdad's ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... Zayouna district on 1 January without a warrant," Amnesty said in an online statement on Friday.
"The other employee, Bassima Saleem Kiryakos, was jugged on the same day after her house in the Green Zone in Storied Baghdad was raided by over 15 armed coppers wearing military uniform. The officers did not have an arrest warrant," it said.
Kiryakos had already been jugged, beaten and released after three days shortly before her current detention, according to Amnesty.
"Amnesia Amnesty International fears both women may be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. It is believed their arrest is in connection with an arrest warrant against... Hashemi," it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Libya's ruling National Transitional Council said it adopted on Saturday a new electoral law on the basis of which the North African country will form its first constituent assembly in June.
The law, announced on the NTC's Facebook page, scraps a draft proposal that would have reserved 10 percent of seats on the 200-member General National Congress for women, in a move criticized by women's and rights groups.
The law also stipulates that two-thirds of the congress be made up of candidates from political groups, with the rest going to independent members.
NTC member Mukhtar al-Jaddal confirmed the adoption of the electoral law.
"The NTC adopted the electoral law. The new law has abandoned the 10 percent quota reserved for women" that was proposed in the draft version of the law, Jaddal told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The NTC said on its Facebook page that the adopted law calls for 136 seats of the assembly to go to candidates of political parties and the remaining 64 seats to be held by independents.
It also said that each political party must have equal numbers of men and women in their lists of candidates for the 136 seats.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
Actually, this could be a better way. Reserving a percent of a parliament for any group is a bad idea, because it gives people a license to legislate with little or no support.
What they did, requiring political parties to have an equal slate of men and women candidates is a much better choice. Especially because women have been enfranchised in Libya since the early 1960s, which became much more popular with the ascendancy of Qaddafi.
This likely means that there is no great bias against women holding office, except by hardcore Islamists, and they might actually do *better* than 10% in the election.
[An Nahar] U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... still believes someone in authority in Pakistain knew where the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse... was hiding before U.S. forces went in to find him, he said in a TV interview to air Sunday.
Intelligence reports found Pak military helicopters had passed over the compound in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... , Pakistain where U.S. Navy SEALs discovered and killed bin Laden last year, according to excerpts of an interview Panetta gave to CBS News.
"I personally have always felt that somebody must have had some sense of what was happening at this compound. Don't forget, this compound had 18-foot walls... It was the largest compound in the area.
"So you would have thought that somebody would have asked the question, 'What the hell's going on there?'" Panetta told CBS.
The Pentagon chief said that concern played a significant factor in Washington not warning Pakistain officials of the impending raid: "it concerned us that, if we, in fact, brought (Pakistain) into it, that-- they might...give bin Laden a heads up," he said.
Panetta acknowledged he did not have "hard evidence" Pakistain knew of the Al-Qaeda leader's whereabouts.
U.S. Navy SEALs killed Bin Laden on May 2 in a raid on a compound in the Pak garrison town of Abbottabad, north of the capital Islamabad, and later buried the 9/11 criminal mastermind at sea.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Not much new news here, so why is this being re-hashed now on an English language Lebanese news site?
#3
Perv and Co(Pak army)see OBL,Mullah Omar & co as assets and use them re negotiations with the West.All comes down to money from the West and a secure western front.
Posted by: Paul ||
01/29/2012 8:45
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#4
"Pakistan Knew of bin Laden Hideout"
Well, duh.
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/29/2012 10:15
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#5
Panetta=
Kicked-upstairs hard and often enough until it becomes impossible for him to even remember who he is. Gettin' a big profane paycheck that EVEN HE doesn't know what he did to earn is demonic.
[Pak Daily Times] Mansoor Ijaz on Saturday moved an application in the Supreme Court, saying he could not come to Pakistain over security concerns and that the court direct the judicial commission probing the memo scandal to record his statement outside Pakistain.
Ijaz's lawyer Akram Sheikh filed the application under Order XXXIII Rule 6 of the Supreme Court rules 1980, and Article 187 of the constitution for recording the applicant's testimony outside Pakistain.
The applicant contended that according to the Supreme Court order, the commission was also mandated to collect evidence within and outside Pakistain "according to prevailing laws on the subject".
The applicant also reiterated that he did not want that his name be put on Exit Control List (ECL) if he enters Pakistain.
"The applicant does not want to be the suspected root cause of any institutional conflict between the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS), the commission, the judiciary, the government and the armed forces on the issue of his security or otherwise," Mansoor Ijaz's application read.
The applicant said that Research In Motion had shown reluctance in providing data to the commission about conversations between him and former ambassador Husain Haqqani. The applicant said he had executed a waiver to the company, enabling it to release his records "but Husain Haqqani has categorically refused to execute any waiver/consent".
Mansoor Ijaz also said that he was unwilling to violate the chain of custody that requires him to deliver and explain in person the content of all the evidence available directly to the chief justice.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Pak Daily Times] US Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... said he had advised President Barack Obama My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it... not to authorise the raid on the compound in Pakistain where the late Osama bin Laden ... who went shovel-ready... was thought to be hiding. "My suggestion is, don't go," Biden recalled, saying when Obama sought his opinion on whether to give Navy SEALs the go-ahead to raid the compound. "We have to do two more things if he is there." Biden did not specify which two things he had considered necessary for the operation. Obama also sought opinions from senior advisers, but no one was willing to give a definitive answer except then CIA director Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... , who told Obama to move forward with the operation, Biden said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
Biden didn't want Obama to order it because they were already late for Obama to take Biden for walkies, and he really, really had to go.
#2
I remember when 0 announced Slo Joe as his running mate, several here pronounced it the end of The One - and I believed!
So why is it taking so long?
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/29/2012 12:26
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#3
Biden as VP was an insurance policy for O
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/29/2012 12:39
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#4
Advice from Biden =
-Color coordination tips from Ray Charles.
-Sensitivity training from Alec Baldwin
-Divorce counseling from OJ
-Humor from Bill Mahar
-Truth from the Times
#7
Plugs DID root for the San Francisco Giants instead of the San Francisco 49'ers in the NFL playoffs. There has to be some way to look at that as a flash of genius... NAH!!
[Pak Daily Times] A policeman and one terrorist were killed in a shootout, which took place at Sheikh Yousuf Road in the city. According to details, four unidentified gunnies on two cycle of violences killed a policeman and then tried to flee. Elite Force personnel, who witnessed the shooting, chased the attackers and killed one of them. Police say the dead attacker was wearing a boom jacket. The attackers took refuge in a closed private university and were engaged in a shootout with police forces until the filing of this report A heavy contingent of police and Elite Force personnel cordoned off the area and surrounded the university building. A search operation was also been launched.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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Top|| File under: TTP
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 50 people, including a politician, were hurt during a clash between Jatiya Party ...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament... activists and employees of Rangpur Medical College Hospital in the northern city yesterday over the politician's "demand" for jobs for his men.
Five truckload of stick-wielding Jatiya Party activists led by politician Hossain Mokbul Shahriar Asif, nephew of JP chief HM Ershad, went to Rangpur Medical College Hospital to demand 30 class-III and class-IV jobs for his party men around 12:30pm, sources and witnesses said.
This did not go well with the employees of the hospital and they set up a barricade between the JP activists and the hospital director's office. A clash ensued and law enforcers had to fire 40 teargas canisters and use truncheons to dispel the feuding sides.
This did not go well with the employees of the hospital and they set up a barricade between the JP activists and the hospital director's office. A clash ensued and law enforcers had to fire 40 teargas canisters and use truncheons to dispel the feuding sides.
Lawmaker Asif, eight journalists and seven coppers were among the injured, said Altaf Hossain, officer-in-charge of Rangpur Police Station. Of the injured, Asif with head injuries and a police sub-inspector were admitted to the very hospital while others received first aid.
Witnesses said the MP along with his party workers and followers went to the hospital to demand the jobs for JP men. After the initial clash at the barricade, employees of the hospital unitedly put up a resistance.
Around 1:30pm the JP activists tried to move towards the hospital again but police lobbed around 40 rounds of tear shells and charged truncheons on the JP activists and the hospital employees.
Officer-in-Charge Altaf Hossain said they tossed in the clink Abu Bakar Siddique, the son of an employee of the hospital, in connection with attacking the politician.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... Rangpur Medical College Hospital Director Toufiqul Islam told The Daily Star that Asif demanded 30 jobs for his men and as he refused, the MP and his men went to his office to assault him. He denied any irregularities in the appointments of the class-III and class-IV employees.
Lawmaker Asif refused to make any comment on the incident.
However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... JP Presidium member Moshiur Rahman Ranga and the party's Rangpur secretary general Mostafizar Rahman Mostafa denied allegations made by the hospital director. They too refused to comment on yesterday's incident.
Convener of class-III and class-IV employees union of the hospital Mafizul Haque said Jatiya Party leaders and activists demanded jobs in the hospital and mounted pressure on the director which led to an altercation between them and resulted in yesterday's clash.
The hospital authorities held exams on December 10 last year to appoint 186 class-III and -IV employees. The result was published two weeks later and their interviews were taken in December and January. It is now appointing the selected candidates.
On January 19 leaders of Rangpur Medical College Hospital Bangladesh Chhatra League ... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ... unit and on January 25 Awami League Rangpur unit locked the director's office demanding jobs for their men, sources claimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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[An Nahar] Syria said it was surprised by and regrets the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... 's decision to suspend its observer mission to the unrest-swept country on Saturday.
"Syria is surprised by and regrets the decision taken by (Arab League chief Nabil) al-Arabi to suspend the observer mission after having decided (last week) to extend it for a month," state news agency SANA said on its website.
An unidentified official accused Arabi of acting at the request of Qatar, which heads the vaporous Arab League's committee on Syria, ahead of a U.N. Security Council meeting next week.
"This decision is aimed at increasing the pressure for foreign intervention in Syrian affairs," SANA quoted him as saying.
Earlier this month, Qatar suggested sending an Arab military force to Syria to work towards an end to the 11 months of violence that the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... says has killed more than 5,400 people.
Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... rejected that proposal.
The 165 League observers were deployed a month ago after Syria agreed to a League plan foreseeing a halt to the violence, prisoners freed, tanks withdrawn from built-up areas and free movement of observers and foreign media.
Damascus has not fulfilled the commitments it made under that deal.
On Friday, several Arab countries submitted to the Security Council a draft resolution that follows the general lines of a League proposal made last week that would have Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... step down in favour of his deputy and a unity government formed.
Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar said earlier the authorities in unrest-hit Syria are determined to "cleanse" the country of outlaws and restore order, quoted by state news agency SANA.
"The security forces are determined to carry on the struggle to cleanse Syria of renegades and outlaws ... to restore safety and security," he said at a ceremony in honor of fallen soldiers.
"Groups are committing terrorist acts and killing innocent people, robbing them of their property and undermining their security," he said.
Damascus does not recognize the scale of the protest movement that erupted in mid-March, insisting it is fighting "terrorist groups" seeking to sow chaos as part of a foreign-hatched conspiracy.
"These crimes will not deter members of the internal security forces from carrying out their sacred duty to confront these groups and establish a climate of safety and security," the interior minister stressed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Iff the ARAB LEAGUE = Muslim Govts-States desire to form a so-called ISLAMIC UNION + MEDITERRANEAN UNION, etc. where among other the US-NATO are no longer required to take the lead in UN-approved, Military-led "police actions" or
"peacekeeping", etc. vee "rogue" Muslim Regimes, then SYRIA IS THEIR CHANCE = THEIR BABY!
#2
"Syria is surprised by and regrets the decision taken by (Arab League chief Nabil) al-Arabi to suspend the observer mission after having decided (last week) to extend it for a month," state news agency SANA said on its website.
"Leaving so soon? Do svidaniya! Ma`a as-salaamah! I shed copious tears at your departure!"
The United States and South Korea are to hold two military exercises on the Korean peninsula soon. They will be the first such war games since the recent change of leadership in North Korea.
There has been some thought that war games might give North Korea's young, untested leader, Kim Jong-un, an excuse to flex his muscles to bolster national unity and his own credentials. He succeeded his late father last month and is a four-star general but is not known to have performed any actual military service.
He's not known to have performed much of anything...
He did go to high school for a number of years. It is not known if the school awarded him a PhD...
A command post exercise, named "Key Resolve" is to start on February 27. It will involve 2,100 U.S. personnel, including 800 coming from Japan and elsewhere, as well as the participation of 200,000 South Korean troops. Members of the UN Command, as well as officers from Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark and Norway, are to observe.
U.S. military officials describe it as a training exercise, which will last until March 9, focusing on crisis management with a "whole of government" approach.
It will overlap with the start of a two-month joint tactical field exercise, known as "Foal Eagle." The training is to involve 11,000 U.S. forces, along with a still undecided number of South Korean military divisions and smaller-sized units. Foal Eagle, is to run from March 1 through April 30.
The United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission (UNMAC) says, at the border village of Panmunjom, it informed North Korea's army of the exercise dates and that it would be a non-provocative training. North Korea does not see it that way.
Oh, naturally...
It has repeatedly called for the annual joint exercises to be scrapped, contending they are a provocation and a prelude to an invasion.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2012
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LONDON/KABUL: British Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed on Saturday that he was sticking to an end-2014 deadline for withdrawing British combat troops from Afghanistan.
We ... want to have a long-term relationship with Afghanistan, long after our combat troops come home, and that will happen at the end of 2014, Cameron said during a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the prime ministers country residence Chequers outside London.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2012
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#1
Not to be outdone by the Brits, France wants its Boyz home in 2013.
#3
Dunno, Glenmore.... Our big problem with Islamic terrorism is in Pakistan with some Saudi financing. We keep giving our borrowed money to the Paks in hopes they won't betray us. Is it insanity or stupidity? Or both? Drives me almost around the bend. Bad investment.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/29/2012 13:22
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[An Nahar] Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi confirmed on Saturday reports of a foiled liquidation attempt against security officials, reported Voice of Leb radio.
He revealed that head of the ISF's Information Branch Col. Wissam al-Hassan was the target of the foiled attempt. He did not provide further details on the manner in which the liquidation was going to be executed, saying that the appropriate measures have been taken to tackle the situation.
A plan to assassinate Rifi and Hassan was discovered, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday. Security information obtained by the daily revealed that the Bureau received information of a possible liquidation attempt from two sources, which confirmed the credibility of the reports and prompted the security forces to deal firmly with the matter.
The liquidation was most likely going to be executed through a car boom near the ISF headquarters in Ashrafiyeh, said the daily. It added that there was a higher possibility that Hassan, not Rifi, was going to be targeted.
Al-Liwaa reported on Saturday that "very credible" foreign and internal sources revealed the liquidation plot against Rifi or Hassan. It also said that "due to logistic and political reasons," the Intelligence Bureau chief was the likely target.
Furthermore, it revealed that the liquidation attempt was in its preparation phase.
President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... , Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel were all informed of the attempt, said the newspaper.
In addition, it did not rule out the possibility that political figures may have been targets in the liquidation.
This is not the first time the media has reported an alleged plot to murder a security official in Leb.
Not long ago, Al-Manar television spoke of a plot to assassinate General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.
Captain Wissam Eid, a top communications analyst with the ISF Intelligence Bureau, was assassinated in a January 25, 2008 car booming outside Beirut.
On December 12, 2007, Brigadier General Francois al-Hajj, chief of the army operations directorate, was killed in a car kaboom in Baabda, along with three other people.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 -- The head of the U.S. Pacific Command said Friday that there will be no "significant" change in the scale and role of American troops in South Korea despite the Pentagon's plan to cut budgets and slash the number of ground troops.
Adm. Robert Willard, however, left open the possibility for some adjustment, based on annual consultations between the allies, given regional security conditions. The agreement to station roughly 30,000 soldiers in Korea is generally to face North Korea but also "with an understanding that those troops are there with the region in mind," he told reporters at a press conference organized by the Washington Foreign Press Center.
"I don't anticipate that there will be changes that are significant associated with this strategic rollout," he said. "But the dialogue between the United States and Seoul -- that has always been ongoing."
The yearly discussions are to ensure that the U.S. has "the number of troops there and the conditions under which they're being employed correct," he added.
Regarding North Korea, the commander in charge of U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region said his military is closely monitoring whether its power transition is going smoothly after the abrupt death of Kim Jong-il in December.
"This young man that has assumed power, Kim Jong-un, is relatively untested and has a lot to face in terms of governance of North Korea, with all of the challenges attendant to it, and what has been a rather coercive approach to the region and the world by his father," the admiral said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2012
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#1
I thought we already drew that down to about 10K.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/29/2012 1:49
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They hate us.
They need us.
They want us to leave.
They need us to stay.
Typical.
KABUL: Frances plans to withdraw its combat troops from Afghanistan a year early drew harsh words Saturday in the Afghan capital, with critics accusing French President Nicolas Sarkozy of putting his re-election campaign ahead of Afghans safety. A wider proposal by Sarkozy for NATO to hand over all security to Afghans by the end of next year also came under fire, with one Afghan lawmaker saying it would be a big mistake that would leave security forces unprepared to fight the Taleban insurgency and threaten a new descent into violence in the 10-year-old war.
So perhaps you guys should be working to make your own country more secure. Just a thought...
Sarkozys decision, which came a week after four French troops were shot dead by an Afghan army trainee suspected of being a Taleban infiltrator, raises new questions about the unity of the US-led military coalition. It also reopens the debate over whether setting a deadline for troop withdrawals will allow the Taleban to run out the clock and seize more territory once foreign forces are gone.
Afghan forces are not self-sufficient yet. They still need more training, more equipment and they need to be stronger, said military analyst Abdul Hadi Khalid, Afghanistans former minister of interior.
Sarkozy announced Frances new timetable on Friday alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was in Paris for a previously planned visit. He also said Karzai had agreed with him to ask for all international forces to hand security over to the Afghan army and police in 2013, a plan he would present it at a Feb. 2-3 meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. He said he would call President Barack Obama about his plan on Saturday.
Afghan lawmaker Tahira Mujadedi said Afghan security forces will not be ready in time for any early NATO withdrawal, saying the current timetable already is rushing the training of national forces.
That would be a big mistake by the Afghan government if they accept it, she said of Sarkozys plan. In my view, they should extend 2014 by more years instead of cutting it short to 2013.
She said she sympathizes in the matter of the French soldiers deaths, but argued that they present no logical reason for France to deviate from the US timetable for NATO to hand over security by 2014.
When military forces are present in a war zone, anything can happen, Mujadedi said. The French troops are not here for a holiday, she added.
Afghan forces started taking the lead for security in certain areas of the country last year and the plan has been to add more areas, as Afghan police and soldiers were deemed ready to take over from foreign forces.
According to drawdown plans already announced by the US and more than a dozen other nations, the foreign military footprint in Afghanistan will shrink by an estimated 40,000 troops at the close of this year. Washington is pulling out the most 33,000 by the end of the year. Thats one-third of 101,000 US troops that were in Afghanistan in June, the peak of the US military presence in the war, Pentagon figures show.
Sarkozy also said France would hand over authority in the province of Kapisa, where the French troops were killed this month, by the end of March. Karzais office confirmed that decision Saturday, saying it was made at the French presidents request.
The NATO coalition has started to hand over security in several areas of Afghanistan, aiming to transfer about half of the country in the coming months. But Kapisa was not one of the provinces earmarked for handover, according to US Navy Lt. James McCue, a coalition spokesman.
Kapisa lawmaker Mujadedi argued that Afghan forces in her province particularly are not ready to go it alone in fighting the Taleban insurgency, which is especially strong in several of the provinces districts. She warned that if NATO forces do pull back from Kapisa, it could also destabilize nearby Kabul.
We have had so many attacks, ambushes and also suicide attacks in Kapisa, Mujadedi said. Unfortunately, our national police and army, while present in Kapisa, are unable to provide good security for people.
Frances early withdrawal announcement could step up pressure on other European governments like Britain, Italy and Germany, which also have important roles in Afghanistan even if the US has the lions share by far.
Karzai, who praised the role of France and other NATO allies, didnt object at Fridays joint news conference when Sarkozy said the 2013 NATO withdrawal timetable was sought by both France and Afghanistan. However, the Afghan leader appeared to suggest that it was a high-end target.
We hope to finish the transition ... by the end of 2013 at the earliest or by the latest as has been agreed upon by the end of 2014, Karzai said.
Nick Witney, a senior policy fellow at the Paris-based European Council on Foreign Relations, said public support of the war in Europe started sliding fast after the coalition agreed to end the combat mission in 2014.
It has become more and more difficult to justify every single casualty, since its now clear that these are wasted lives, said Witney, a former head of the European Defense Agency. Most European policymakers realize that on a purely cost-benefit assessment, we would all leave Afghanistan tomorrow."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2012
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#1
Modern day colonialism has been canceled due to lack of interest. I guess it doesn't bode well for your country when even the Chinese have no interst in gaining a foothold in yor backyard.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/29/2012 1:41
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[Yemen Post] Yemen Interior Minister Abdul-Kader Qahtan has affirmed that the Interior ministry has special plans to protect and secure the presidential elections.
"We are preparing procedures and will do best to successfully hold the early presidential elections due to be held on February 21" he added.
Qahtan further said the ministry would provide a safe environment to hold fair and free elections, pointing out that it would responsibly encounter any attempts to disturb the elections.
In comments to the army-run 26 September newspaper, he urged all the employees of the ministry to do their best, stressing that the future of Yemen and building up a civil state depends on these historical elections.
He made clear that tight security measures would be taken in centers of elections observation committees across all Yemeni governorates.
"Yemen witnesses national reconciliation, and human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... and justice should be among the most important values of the Interior Ministry and its security services," he added. "Security services must establish new relations with citizens on the base of mutual respect and trust."
Separately, thousands of people have been sitting in for a weak before the Police Leadership headquarter located beside the Interior Ministry, demanding to try several coppers who killed a cell phone citizen while he was coming back home after mid-night.
The protesters said that the coppers Killed Abdul-Hameed Alwesabi, after they looted his many and cell phones.
"He refused to surrender money, so they shot fire on him and left him bleeding until death," Adnan Mohammad, a protester told Yemen Post on Friday. " These coppers turned to become criminals and killers."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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[An Nahar] Six passengers of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground off the coast if Italia two weeks ago, are suing Carnival Cruise Lines, demanding compensation totaling $460 million.
Carnival is the parent company of Costa Cruise Lines, which owns Costa Concordia.
Attorney Marc Bern, who represents the plaintiffs, said the lawsuit had been filed in a Miami, Florida, court on Friday, alleging wanton recklessness on the part of the ship operator.
The Costa Concordia had 4,229 people aboard including about 1,000 personnel when it ran aground near Giglio, a picturesque island off Tuscany that is part of a nature reserve known to swimmers and divers for its clear waters.
The official toll from the disaster stands at 16 dead, of whom 14 have been identified, and another 16 missing.
Since the disaster, several consumer associations have announced their intention to bring a class action against Costa Cruise Lines.
On Friday, negotiators announced in Italia that some 3,000 survivors of the ship wreck will receive 11,000 euros ($14,400) each plus expenses as compensation.
Bern said the suit had been filed despite the cruise line's offer to pay passengers who have returned home more than $14,000 each -- and predicted more legal action in the future.
"Over the next two weeks there will be more lawsuits filed in Miami," he told AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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#1
...A couple other articles I've seen suggest that because of Italian law - and Costa Concordia was an Italian ship - they will have to file in Italy...which requires you to post a 10% bond when you file a lawsuit. I'm sure these nice folks can come up with $4.6M USD in cash...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/29/2012 8:03
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#2
I bet Carnival has set up their registrations and subsidiaries etc. such that it will be very difficult to win a major lawsuit against them. But maybe because there are 4000 people involved it will help - I know from personal experience it is virtually impossible to fight a corporation in Delaware while residing in Louisiana, and this incident ought to be even harder.
#3
And the contract has a clause limiting damages to $71,000/person.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/29/2012 12:48
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#4
I bet Carnival has set up their registrations and subsidiaries etc. such that it will be very difficult to win a major lawsuit against them.
S.O.P. in the maritime world is that the Costa Concordia would be the sole asset of a limited liability corporation, separate from but majority-owned by Costa Cruise Lines.
[Pak Daily Times] Tension gripped the city on Saturday after a hand grenade was hurled at a hardware shop in Liaquatabad No 2, leaving five persons maimed.
Two young men wearing trousers and shirts hurled a hand grenade at the Green Hardware Shop near Dak Khana Chowrangi, Liaquatabad No 2. Resultantly, the shop owner Obaid Raja and four others, Asad Aslam, 20; Sohail Aziz, 22; Sardar Ghayasuddin, 35; and Mukhtiar Hussain, 27; were maimed.
Police shifted them to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for medical treatment. According to the doctors, they sustained injuries in their upper and lower torsos and were out of danger.
Police, Rangers and bomb disposal squad also arrived and collected evidence from the scene. The kaboom partially damaged the interior of the shop. The incident triggered panic among the traders and shopkeepers of Liaquatabad who closed their shops and staged a protest demonstration. They shouted slogans against the extortionist group, demanding their elimination.
Shops being attacked with arms and hand grenades have become a routine matter in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . Initially, the extortionist gangs were attacking Lyari, Old City and Saddar areas but in the recent months, one of the city's prominent and busiest markets in Liaquatabad has been hit by the menace.
Police sources said that an alleged member of one of the Lyari gangs, Shakir was tossed in the slammer about a couple of months ago for demanding Rs 400,000 from the same shop's owner and later shooting at and injuring a minor boy outside his shop over non-payment. Since his arrest, Obaid Raja was receiving threats to withdraw the case and the culprits were also demanding Rs 200,000 extortion, they added.
Police officials have not ruled out the involvement of Lyari's Rehman Dakait group behind these cases. SHO Mumtaz Shah said that the shopkeepers and traders were responsible for encouraging the extortionists by keeping the police uninformed.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Two soldiers were killed in a roadside blast in the Jogi area of Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... . Official sources said that a convoy of security forces was on its way to its camp when a roadside kaboomwent kaboom!, killing two soldiers on the spot. Security forces had launched a major operation in central Kurram last summer and declared that the area had been cleared of cut-thoats. However, man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them... some bully boyz have returned to the area and have started launching attacks against the security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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Adbusters, the radical, Vancouver-based anti-consumerist magazine, credited by many media outlets for launching the Occupy Wall Street protests, has put out an ad calling for 50,000 protestors to "Occupy" the G8 summit in May. And they are not calling for peaceful protest.
Fortunately, the Chicago cops have a large supply of baby blue helmets. And truncheons...
The Adbusters ad shows a picture of policemen beating up a defenseless protestor, and comes with the caption: "In the Tradition of the Chicago 8." The Chicago 8 were radicals who incited riots in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic convention. The "tradition" of the Chicago 8 included calling for displays of public fornication and attacking police.
According to the official statement of Adbusters (titled Tactical Briefing #25), "On May 1, 50,000 people from all over the world will flock to Chicago, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and #OCCUPYCHICAGO for a month. With a bit of luck, we'll pull off the biggest multinational occupation of a summit meeting the world has ever seen."
The ad threatens to shut down the economy if their demands are not met: "And if they don't listen ... if they ignore us and put our demands on the back burner like they've done so many times before ... then, with Gandhian ferocity, we'll flashmob the streets, shut down stock exchanges, campuses, corporate headquarters and cities across the globe ... we'll make the price of doing business as usual too much to bear."
Bring. It. On.
So the same group that called for the Occupy Wall Street protests in the first place is now calling for protestors to shut down the entire economic system of a city if their demands are not met, in the tradition of people who brought us the 1968 Democratic convention riots.
The claim that the Occupy Movement is composed of peaceful protestors seeking constructive and meaningful change stopped being credible long ago.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2012
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#1
It's still kind of cold here in May. They certainly wouldn't want to camp overnight.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/29/2012 0:16
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#2
there is no good reason for a physical G8 meeting anyway; if they have biz they can teleconference
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/29/2012 0:19
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#3
Todays CPD is not your Daddy's CPD. It is at least 2000 Officers understrength, there is no money for the proper equipment and Mutual Assistance from other departments, Batons are a no-no as is tear gas, the 'Training' has been 'watch a movie, your trained'. Meanwhile we have this nagging little issue called CRIME.
Genl Custer meet the Souix, Souix, Genl Custer.
#5
If I were the mayor of any other city with an infestation, I would be offering free one-way Greyhound fare and meal vouchers at 76 Truck Stops on the way to my 100 smelliest park denizens.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/29/2012 1:34
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#6
Obumble's home town, home of the '68 donk convention, scheduled for May. Should be worth a couple of points in the general election. Where do I contribute?
#10
Important note: Several of the scenes of "police beating protesters" were choreographed propaganda events using actors from a Tucson production studio, Moveon.org, the formerly communist front organization the National Lawyers Guild, and Adbusters.
YouTube (Google) now refuses to post any video calling OWS into question, including one of a man pretending to have been run over by a policeman on a motorcycle, facial comparison at least a dozen actors from Tucson impersonating police or demonstrators being attacked, choreographed events with "directors" and professional camera crews, etc.
Paid for to a large extent by George Soros front organizations, and coordinated in the White House by radical friends of Obama.
#11
"Physical meeting means 5-star restaurant dining opportunities on somebody else's dime."
Bingo.
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/29/2012 10:10
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#12
Will Mayor Rahm Emanuel put up with nonsense? I seem to recall he put the teachers' union in its place shortly after taking office...
The tactic I've come up with is to open the doors to the protesters, then lock them in with the Democratic conventioneers, having turned off the power to the building until the blood stops flowing under the doors. This is perhaps why I am not involved in politics. ;-)
[Yemen Post] Protests erupted on Saturday inside a camp of the Republican Guard commanded by son of the outgoing President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... , well-informed sources affirmed.
Eyewitnesses said that they heard shootings inside a camp belonging to the Republican Guar south Sana'a, indicating that soldiers of the Fourth Brigade staged a sit-in demanding to have their salaries.
They affirmed that the soldiers blocked a main street linking between Sana'a and Aden, demanding to dismiss the commander of their brigade.
Military sources had revealed the commander of the Republic Guard Ahmed Ali Saleh had cautioned officers and soldiers against arranging any demonstrations, threatening to purge anyone trying to protest.
They made reference that Ahmed tossed in the slammer dozens of officers prevent them from joining mass protests against the rule of his father.
The sources said that he has banned the use of cell phones inside the camp with the aim of preventing any rebellions or further defections.
Camps of the Republican Guard had engaged a fierce war with the rustics of Arhab district in the vicinity of the capital, Sana'a.
They have helped President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... retain power despite the months of protests, intense international pressure and an liquidation attempt in June that forced him to leave the country for weeks of medical treatment in neighboring Soddy Arabia.
Separately, shat has become known as the institution revolution hit many public authorities and resulted in the ouster of tens of corrupt officials in Yemen, as employees and students insisted on firing them.
Several military and security units demanded the removal of officers accused of corruption or involvement in the deadly crackdown on protesters.
Hundreds of the Air Forces soldiers have been protesting for several days , demanding to fire their commander Mohammad Saleh Alahmar, half brother of Saleh.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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[Tripoli Post] The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday that Libya's transitional government must take control of all makeshift prisons to prevent further atrocities against detainees.
Navi Pillay said that several former rebel groups are holding as many as 8,000 prisoners in 60 detention centres around the country, adding, in a statement to AP, that there's torture, extrajudicial executions, and rape of both men and women.
She said she is particularly concerned about sub-Saharan African detainees whom the brigades automatically assume to be fighters for former Libyan dictator Muammar Qadaffy. ...whose instability was an inspiration to dictators everywhere, but whose end couldn't possibly happen to them...
Two days ago, aid group Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) suspended its work in prisons in the Libyan city of Misrata because it said torture was so rampant that some detainees were brought for care only to make them fit for further interrogation.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... Amnesia Amnesty International said it had recorded widespread prisoner abuse in other cities that led to the deaths of several inmates.
Pillay, who on Wednesday briefed the UN Security Council about Libya, said the transitional government would need help to take control of the prisons and run them properly.
"Something has to be done immediately to assist the authorities for the state to take control of these detention centers," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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[Pak Daily Times] Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... 's opposition called on Saturday for more 'resistance' against President Abdoulaye Wade, after a night of riots over his plans to run for a third term in elections next month.
Local media reported that one policeman was killed during the riots, in which protesters threw rocks, overturned cars and burned tyres and security forces fired tear gas, raising worries of growing instability in West Africa's most peaceful nation. Calm had returned to the capital Dakar by morning and security boosted around the presidential palace. Truckloads of police in full riot gear patrolled the city, armed with tear gas grenade launchers, according to a Rooters witness.
"We are asking the people to remain alert and to resist Abdoulaye Wade," Abdoul Aziz Diop, the front man for opposition activist movement M23 told Rooters by telephone on Saturday. "If Wade tries to impose himself on us ... we will resist." He said that opposition figures and activist leaders were meeting on Saturday to discuss their next steps.
The festivities came after Senegal's top legal body late on Friday night validated the candidacy of 85-year-old Wade and 13 rivals for the Feb. 26 vote, but turned down the presidential bid of world music star Youssou N'Dour, saying he did not have the required 10,000 signatures of support. Wade's rivals say the constitution sets an upper limit of two terms on the president. But Wade, who came to power in 2000 and was re-elected in 2007, has argued his first term pre-dated the 2001 amendment establishing the limit.
Wade appeared on state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
late on Friday and made an appeal for calm, promising elections would be free and fair. "Stop these displays of petulance which will lead to nothing," he said. "The electoral campaign will be open. There will be no restrictions on freedom." Senegal is the only country in mainland West Africa to have not had a coup since the end of the colonial era. February's poll, and a possible run-off a few weeks later, are seen as a test of social cohesion in the predominantly Moslem country.
Critics say that Wade, who spent 26 years in opposition to Socialist rule, has done nothing during his 12 years in power to alleviate poverty in a country where formal employment is scarce, and has dragged his heels on tackling official graft. Wade points to spending on education and infrastructure projects such as roadbuilding as proof of progress towards turning Senegal into an emerging market country and a trade hub.
His candidacy has raised eyebrows abroad. The senior US State Department official for Africa, William Fitzgerald, told French RFI radio that Wade's candidacy was "a bit regrettable". Rival presidential hopeful Amsatou Sow Sidibe called on Wade to withdraw his candidacy voluntarily. "Peace and tranquility in Senegal depends on it," she told.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Two men have been bumped off near a graveyard in Sibbi,
How thoughtful of the bumpers.
some 160 kilometres away from Quetta city. According to official sources, the victims, identified as Din Muhammad and Abdul Salaam, were on their way home from a religious congregation when unidentified gunnies opened fire on them. They said both the men died instantly. Police rushed to the scene of the crime and cordoned off the area. The bodies were taken to Civil Hospital, Sibbi, for autopsies. The victims belonged to Mongechar area of Kalat district. Officials said the motive behind the murders could be an old enmity. However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the police have started the paperwork but haven't done much else against person or persons unknown and an investigation is underway. Meanwhile, ...back at the wrecked scow, a single surviver held tightly to the smashed prow... the bodies have been handed over to their heirs after completing legal formalities.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] BNP is trying to go to power riding on the shoulder of the army, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina alleged yesterday.
"It's their old fashion. They always tried to get to power using the army," she said addressing a view-exchange meeting with the Awami League leaders from Laxmipur district at the Gono Bhaban.
Hasina said the history of BNP shows that they never believed in democratic means for transfer of power, UNB reports.
Blaming BNP for undermining the country's democratic system, she claimed that democracy was in trouble whenever the party was in power.
People now enjoy full freedom in exercising their voting rights, but if BNP comes to power again, they will have difficulty casting their votes freely, BSS said quoting the prime minister.
UNB adds: Hasina said that all parties at a meeting in 1986 had decided to participate in the election. But later at a rally, BNP chief Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... had asked the army to come out of the cantonment and take part in a mass revolt.
"Soon after that, she [Khaleda] remained untraced for three days. She thought that the army would come out of cantonment and put her in the citadel of power. But that did not happen," she added.
When queried, Khaleda said she was incarcerated and confined for three days, said the prime minister.
Hasina mentioned that the opposition leader did the same during the BDR mutiny in 2009. "She went out from her house two hours before the BDR incident began in a black glass car defying all protocols provided to her as the leader of the opposition... it remains a mystery where she had been for the next three days."
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] The opposition Syrian National Council on Saturday urged Syria's diaspora to protest outside Russian embassies against Moscow's opposition to a draft resolution on Syria at the U.N. Security Council.
"We call upon all Syrians abroad to show solidarity with our people inside the country and protest against the Russian position by holding sit-ins in front of the embassies of the (Syrian) regime, Russian embassies, and at U.N. centers tomorrow Sunday at 2:00 pm their local time," Samir Neshar, a member of the SNC's executive committee, said at a news conference in Istanbul.
He also announced that the SNC would send a delegation to the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... on Sunday to demand the protection of Syrian civilians and accused Iran of taking part in the crackdown on protests by the Syrian regime.
European and Arab countries submitted a new draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council but Russia rejected the text on Thursday, opposing any form of sanctions or arms embargo against its former Syrian ally.
SNC president Burhan Ghalioun will head the delegation, Neshar said.
The SNC also condemned the alleged "participation of the Iranian regime in the killings of Syrians who demand freedom and call on it to stop taking part in the repression of the Syrian revolution in order to protect relations between the two peoples," Neshar said.
Turkey, which cut ties with the Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... regime, has hosted numerous meetings of the Syrian opposition and deserters from the Syrian army who are leading the armed opposition.
On Saturday, the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... suspended its observer mission in Syria because of an upsurge in violence there.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] His supporters make thousands of campaign calls and blanket Florida with signs as they dream of Newt Gingrich ...former Speaker of the House, author of the Contract with America. Gingrich gave the country welfare reform and a balanced budget and the Publicans a landslide House victory in 1996. On the downside, he has a roving eye and a loose fly, he's opinionated, and he's abrasive despite his ability to work with the other side of the political aisle... in the White House, but for many in his Republican Party such a scenario would be nothing short of a nightmare.
After the former House speaker's shock win in South Carolina, morale soared at Newt headquarters in this sprawling city four days ahead of a crucial Florida primary that could put Gingrich -- or his main rival Mitt Romney ...whose real first name is actually, no kidding, Willard, was governor of Massachussetts and is currently the front-runner for president on the Publican ticket. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's foot is in an ideological bucket because of Romneycare, a state-level experiment that should have been a warning against Obamacare if anyone had been paying attention. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field... -- in the driver's seat as they chase the Republican presidential nomination.
Minions of volunteers swarmed the ground floor of a small red brick house as they carried out campaign duties for the most controversial conservative in the race to see who will go head to head with President Barack Obama I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody... in November.
"We went from 50 volunteers to about 250," said Gingrich's local campaign chairman Bert Ralston. "We knew it was coming, but it's fantastic."
They put up campaign placards, distribute "Newt 2012" stickers, strategize, and of course make calls to prospective voters seeking their support for a candidate whose rivals deride him as bombastic and "erratic."
The calls are simple and direct, with volunteers reading from a script: "Newt Gingrich is the only candidate with the experience and vision to... rebuild the America we love. I hope we can count on your support."
An 11-year-old boy on Tuesday made some 75 campaign calls for Gingrich, volunteer John Libby said.
Retired history professor Don Rawlins, energized by the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement, is a fervent Gingrich supporter who helped post Newt signs at a campaign rally on the University of North Florida campus.
"The country is under water, the house is flooded, and we want the best plumber, regardless of the flaws he may have," Rawlins told AFP.
Gingrich has been castigated by social conservatives for his extramarital affairs that led to two messy divorces, and his toxic reign as House speaker in the 1990s has received fresh scrutiny.
Recently, conservative pundits have been among his most ardent critics, saying that while Romney might be too moderate to be a true conservative, the former Massachusetts governor and millionaire investor would be a stronger candidate against Obama in November.
But Rawlins said he is looking beyond Gingrich's shortcomings and occasional pie-in-the-sky ideas, including claims he will establish a permanent moon base by 2020 if elected.
"He is straightforward, he discusses the things that matter, he has the experience," Rawlins said.
Leaette Vollmar, who travelled 900 kilometres from Tennessee with her niece to attend the Gingrich rally at the University of North Florida, was equally succinct.
"He is bright, he knows how to get the job done, he won't flipflop," she said, belittling Romney for having changed his stance on issues such as health care and abortion. "He (Romney) is from Massachusetts, that tells it all," Vollmar said of the historically liberal state.
In Florida Gingrich has often compared himself to conservative icon Ronald Reagan, the 1980s Republican president.
He has hoped to capitalize on an electorate frustrated by high unemployment and a collapsed housing market, and who he hopes recognizes the anti-establishment bent to his campaign speeches.
But after a bump, Gingrich is suffering a post-Carolina slump, with a new poll Friday showing Romney has opened up a nine-point lead among likely Republican voters in Florida.
An aggregate of polls shows Romney at 38.7 per cent compared to Gingrich at 31.5 per cent.
While Gingrich's grass roots support is impressive, some Republicans no longer hide their discomfort with the renaissance of a man who left Congress in 1999 under a cloud after a House Ethics Committee (think of an escargot pretending it has a backbone) penalised him $300,000 in the first-ever reprimand of a sitting speaker.
On Thursday, the establishment unleashed 89-year-old Bob Dole, the Republican presidential nominee in 1996, who publicly voiced the fears that many were whispering about Newt.
"It is now time to take a stand before it is too late," Dole said in an open letter.
"If Gingrich is the nominee it will have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state and federal offices,' he said.
"Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed him and that fact speaks for itself," he added.
"He was a one-man-band who rarely took advice. It was his way or the highway."
Republican Representative Peter King told Washington website Politico that a Gingrich nomination would "make it difficult" to keep a Republican majority in the House. "There is just real concern."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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#1
Bill Clinton said the POTUS elections from Bush 1 + Dole were stolen from same, hence Dole's fellow Congresscritters decided that Clinton's presidential/electoral legitimacy + credibility of the US Nation's Laws + Processes would stand or fall on whether POTUS Bill had sex wid a "portly pepperpot" femme Intern in what used to be a nice clean blue dress.
* "A REVOLUTION EVERY NOW + THEN CAN BE A GOOD THING", correct?
The above political adage may ultimately be the best reason of all for Americans to vote for Newt.
#3
Gingrich is a hand grenade - useful but you don't want to be near him when he goes off. His attacks on capitalism (the Bain stuff) and his moral, ethical and philosophical "flexibility" are well demonstrated by his being on the Global Warming couch with Pelosi, opposing Bush on the surge, agreeing with Obama on the Individual Mandate... the guy seems to have no guidance on his intellect at all to determine good from bad. Moon colony? Even Ron Paul laughed at that one. And Gingrich fails miserably head-to-head against Obama due to very high negatives - even rural females favor Obama over him, which is really bad since that's a core group that the GOP carries. Plus he loses the independent voters badly to Obama compared to Romney. The establishment is afraid for all the wrong reasons - yes he'd shake up DC, but the problem is he'd never get elected. Bashing the press sells well to GOP grass roots, but it comes off as arrogant to uninformed and the great unwashed middle. Gingirch would demolish the GOP. His role should be as an attack dog speaker, a think tank kind of guy, a talking head on TV, not a serious candidate. The best thing I can say about him is that he is forcing Romney to get over to the conservative side more strongly, and is toughening up Romney. getting him to actually learn to throw sharp elbows (which he will need with Obama's Chicago gangsters). The other thing is that as long as the combination of Santorum, Gingrich and Paul continue to keep Romney below 50% in delegate count, it keeps open the possibility of late entries to take a brokered convention (which could be good, or could be bad).
#5
comments inside the article have factual problem
The Republican win of the House of Representatives was in the 1994 elections. In the 1996 elections, the Democrats picked up 9 seats (net) but the Republicans retained the majority.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/29/2012 7:01
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#6
Fine summation, Old Spook. Given this group of candidates, I think I'd like to take my chances with an open convention. It is an interesting group - combine Romney's business acumen, Gingrich's fearlessness, Santorum's character and Paul's 'differentness' and you'd have a great candidate (but then there's Gingrich's character, Romney's inconsistency, Santorum's non-charisma, and Paul's 'differentness' and you'd get the normal political candidate.)
#7
Tactically, Gingrich wins, because his supporters can block the onerous Romney, and even if Gingrich can't win the nomination, conservatives win with a brokered convention.
#8
I didn't see Gingrich offering US funds to pay for a moon colony. Rather he said it would be a good goal and NASA should provide prizes that stimulated private enterprise to take steps that way... and followed with the statement that if they got a colony up to 13,000 people he would put forward a bill to grant them statehood.
Oh and he wanted it to be an American colony under US law.
Nothing about funding it. Same for Mars. He said Bush proposed a 480 billion dollar mission to Mars. He would propose offering 10 Billion tax free prize to the first private operation to get there and back. Said it would save $470 billion over the Bush plan.
The media is rather unfairly bashing him on his space proposals. They are based on the 30's prizes to folks like Lindberg.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/29/2012 10:56
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#9
Romney's proposals would be the death of US Space. Just look in the NASA forums what they had to say about him. His "experts" are the same crew of dildos that were run out of NASA after wrecking it.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/29/2012 10:59
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#10
Oh, and a lot of us understand that a vote for Romney is a vote for Goldman Sucks.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/29/2012 11:00
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#11
"The media is rather unfairly bashing him on his space proposals."
Shorter version, WM.
Even shorter: "Duh."
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/29/2012 11:02
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#12
I always get the feeling from him that I'm hearing...
"Those are my principles, If you don't like them I have others..."
He's that but primarily he's always struck me as a generally right of center and rather extraordinarily self-aggrandizing political opportunist who is most interested in attaching himself to the big political idea du jour in an effort to further inflate what he sees as the glory that is Newt.
Whether seizing the then still relevant mantle of the Reagan legacy in '94 in response to a groundwell of public opposition to Billary's attempts to socilize US health care or more recently sharing a couch with Nancy Pelosi in support of the then-roaring climate change agenda, you can often understand Newt by putting a finger in the wind to see which way it is presently blowing.
When that fails recall that Newt is the father of the modern earmark and that his 90s Congresses led a vast expansion of the practice. A permanent moon base might well be technologically achievable but politically impossible but a promise to expend funds in furtherance of the idea will buy him a few votes on the space coast.
Newt may or may not truly hold conservative ideas at heart but it's certain that given the layers of opportunism and vote-buying one would have to unravel to learn the truth said truth will remain forever masked.
#14
On the other hand, he writes, with Forstchen(spelling?), some first-rate alternative history civil war stories. I'd say the best of both worlds would be to make sure he has the time to continue writing.
#15
An open convention would be interesting but then the movers and shakers in control could well be the Country Club types who just don't get it.
We see that a lot in Illinois... the reason the state is blue has more to do with the state's pub leadership cadre than a huge desire outside of Chicago's wards for Dems.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
01/29/2012 13:22
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#16
Since when are balanced budgets toxic?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/29/2012 19:01
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#17
I mean, IIRC, the only reason the Clinton years were not every bit as bad as the Obama years is because a Republican House kept the spending down and balanced the budget. Clinton took credit for it but all he really did was to recognize that he didn't have the votes. Seems to me there was something about a Contract with America. The House also checked Hillary's push for socialized medicine which in all likelihood would've looked a lot like Obamacare. So this is toxic?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
01/29/2012 19:06
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#18
absolutely not. That 2 yr period 15 yrs ago was great. Since?......
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/29/2012 20:23
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#19
I watch with enormous sadness the Republican party prepare to lose to the most defeatable President in AMerican history, producing a placid, well mannered, constructed candidate in the mold of Bob Dole and John McCain. The passion Newt engenders is because of the quality and genuine conservative nature of some of the things he says, interspersed with his egomaniacal posturing, superb debating skills, and 40% ill-considered ideas. Newt is a font of thought, and should be taken as a valued source, culled of the ego and foolishness of his moments, and used as a basis for rational policy.
But the worst of all, is that the Republican Party lets Obama frame the debate, cannot get traction to make the great unwashed aware of his disasterous policies and falsehoods, and most of all
allowed a debate format that let the candidates essentially abegin to destroy each other over a year before the election. I'm a life long conservative with passionate feelings and I'm bored beyond mention by now. Imagine how turned off the sheeple are.
The elction is in doubt now, and the Dems haven't even started cheating yet. We need to bring a nuke to the gun fight, not good manners and artfully crafted mediocrity and watered down policy ideas. The nation is in grave peril, Obumble sings at the Apollo in a revealing display of Neronic narcissism, and we get bupkis aside from Fox coverage. Lord Help the Republic.
#20
The moon stuff is all about the space industry workers in FL. It's not "zany"; it's good old fashioned pandering.
Newt has got his problems, but the best candidates we had are long gone. This is what is left, and I'll take Newt over 1,000 Romneys.
And I'll tell you all one good thing about Newt. He is willing to say what needs to be said. Call it "bomb throwing" if you like, but running Newt as the nominee guarantees we'll hear about Fast & Furious and all the rest. Newt will talk about it. Mitt won't.
#21
The thing that bothers me most about Romney (other than Romneycare) it that the media - who are in the tank for Bambi - have already annointed him.
That means they think Romney running is the best chance of Bambi getting a second term. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/29/2012 22:35
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[Bangla Daily Star] "Twelve Islamic and like-minded parties" yesterday said if the ongoing war crimes trial was not stopped, they would try "India's agents" after the end of Awami League rule in the country.
They warned that the government must meet their demands within 30 days, or they would go for tough agitation programmes such as hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... and blockades.
The demands include putting an end to the war crimes trial, keeping the words "Absolute faith and trust in the almighty Allah" in the preamble to the constitution, scrapping the women development policy and stopping "conspiracy against Islam".
The leaders were speaking at the national convention of 12 Islamic and like-minded parties at the Jatiya Press Club in the capital.
They alleged the government had been working to implement India's agenda, and in one such effort, it had set up the International Crimes Tribunal to harass Islamic scholars and wipe out Islam from this country.
The speakers also called for the immediate release of Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... and BNP leaders jugged on charges of crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War.
Addressing the convention, Jatiya Gonotantrik Party President Shafiul Alam Pradhan said, "Sayeedi [Jamaat's nayeb-e-ameer] is not a war criminal. He rather encouraged people to participate in the Liberation War. And Salauddin Quader Chowdhury [BNP politician] played a neutral role."
Abdur Rob Yusufi, nayeb-e-ameer of Khelafat Majlish, said the government must apologise to the people for "its acts against Islam".
Also present at the convention were, among others, Moulana Shah Ahmadullah Ashraf, ameer of Khelafat Andolon; Moulana Mohammad Ishak, ameer of Khelafat Majlish; Moulana Mufti Ijharul Islam Chowdhury, chairman of Islami Oikya Jote ... a political party in Bangladesh. In the 2001 elections the party won 2 out of 300 elected members in an alliance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It has a focus on building an islamic state, and has used the madrassas to gain support... ; Sheikh Shawkat Hossain Nilu, chairman of National People's Party; Abdur Rakib, chairman of Nejam-e Islam Party; Momtaj Chowdhury, chairman of Bhashani Front; Khondkar Golam Mortaza, chairman of National Democratic Party; Sheikh Anwarul Haque, chairman of NAP (Bhashani); Abdul Mobin, chairman of Islamic Party; Moulana Abdul Latif Nezami, secretary general of Nezam-e Islam Party; Moulana Isha Shahedi, chairman of Islami Oikya Gay Pareehad; Moulana Mahiuddin Rabbani, acting chairman of Sammilita Olama Mashaekh Gay Pareehad; and NDP Secretary General Alamgir Majumder.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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[Pak Daily Times] The Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... suspended its controversial observer mission in Syria on Saturday as the bloodshed in a crackdown on anti-regime protests spiked with the corpse count nearing 200 in four days. The announcement came as umbrella opposition group the Syrian National Council (SNC) said its leader would travel to New York to press the UN Security Council for protection from Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... regime.
SNC chief Burhan Ghaliun's trip comes amid a new bid by Arab and European states for UN action over the more than 10-month-old deadly crackdown on dissent that has hit immediate opposition from staunch Syria ally Russia.
It also comes as Gulf states and Turkey called in Istanbul for global efforts to focus on bringing the bloodshed to an "immediate end" and paving the way for the initiation of a political transition. Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said, "The decision to suspend the observer mission was taken after a series of consultations with Arab foreign ministers because of the upsurge of violence whose victims are innocent civilians."
He said it also came "after the Syrian government chose the option of escalation, which increased the number of victims". The 165 Arab League observers were deployed on December 26 after Syria agreed to a league plan foreseeing a halt to the violence, prisoners freed, tanks withdrawn from built-up areas and free movement of observers and foreign media.
The head of the monitoring mission, General Muhammad Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, said unrest has soared "in a significant way", especially in the flashpoint central cities of Homs and Hama and in the northern Idlib region. According to a tally by AFP taken from reports by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and official Syrian media, 193 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since Tuesday.
"The SNC, meanwhile, has decided to head to the Security Council tomorrow, led by Burhan Ghaliun, to present the Syrian case and demand protection," executive committee member Samir Neshar told an Istanbul news conference.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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#1
"Global effort" = UN-approved, US-NATO-led milaction [e.g. Libyuh-style NFZS]; or pro-ISLAMIC UNION, "Arab League for Arabs" AL-led milaction agz Assad???
[An Nahar] Thousands of Tunisians angered by the increasing prominence of ultra-conservative Islamists in a country only recently freed from dictatorial rule erupted into the streets in protest Saturday.
An Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent estimated several thousand activists, professors, artists and other demonstrators flooded the streets of the nation's capital, including along Bourguiba Avenue, a well-known thoroughfare that became a center for dissent during protests that led to the ouster of dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali a year ago.
Some in Tunisia are angry by the growing influence of radical Islamists, known as Salafist ...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't... s, who have dominated headlines in recent weeks.
Police on Tuesday ended a weeks-long sit-in by Salafists at the university in Manouba, about 25 kilometers from Tunis. The Salafists were angry the university had banned the full-face Mohammedan veil, or niqab, over security concerns if students were concealed from head to toe.
Journalists have also suffered attacks at Salafist protests.
"We are here to speak out against aggression against journalists, activists and academics," said Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, founder of the Democratic Progressive Party. "And to tell the government that Tunisians' hard-fought freedoms must not be compromised."
Sarah Kalthoum, a retired teacher in her 70s, said she was concerned by what she viewed as regressive ideas from Salafists.
"We spent our lives educating people, and now some want us to go back in time 14 centuries," she said.
Some in the crowd said they are sensing an encroaching religious conservativizm in their everyday lives.
"The grocer told me the other day, 'I don't like your jeans,'" said Leila Katech, a retired anesthesiologist. "I told him I didn't like his beard."
Through this religious prism, "Everything becomes tougher: Going to see a gynecologist, what to wear, how to talk," Katech said.
Following Ben Ali's ouster, many Tunisians in October voted for the Islamist Ennahda party, which now dominates the government.
Anxious not to alienate its more radical members, the moderate Islamist party has remained quiet or reacted timidly to some Salafist incidents.
"This government is not complicit, but it is complacent," Chebbi said.
Tunisia was the first country in the Arab world to initiate mass protests against its autocratic leadership, triggering a wave of protests across the region last year in what became known as the Arab Spring uprisings that led to the ouster of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... and Libya's Muammar Qadaffy ... who is now napping peacefully in the dirt...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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#1
I am thinking that peaceful protests and candlelight vigils against Islamist regimes are not going to be too effective. Often religeous leaders will provide leadership and support to overthrow tyranical governments. When the religeous leaders are the tyranny, a bloodless coup is pretty much out of the question. Assembling in large groups in open places just makes the mass public stoning an easier proposition.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/29/2012 2:05
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#2
"We spent our lives educating people, and now some want us to go back in time 14 centuries," she said.
#3
now some want us to go back in time 14 centuries
They didn't expect this? Seemed obvious enough to me. In a year or two Ben Ali, Mubarak, and even Daffy may be looked back on as 'the good times' for North Africa.
[Pak Daily Times] Yemeni troops killed four bad turban fighters in a southern town they seized from government control, a local official said on Saturday, but a front man for the Islamic fascistidenied his side had suffered any casualties.
The fighting in Zinjibar, capital of the southern Abyan province where bad turban bands had taken control of swathes of territory in the last seven months, underlines erosion of central authority, which fans US and Saudi fears the state may collapse and give al Qaeda a foothold near oil shipping routes. Those fears are behind their support for a plan to ease Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... from office after a year of protests demanding he step down, which has been punctuated with open war between his forces and those of a rebel general and tribal magnates. Saleh, who left Yemen this week, has transferred some powers to his deputy and enjoys immunity from prosecution under the deal. It established a transitional government, including opposition blocs, and envisions restructuring Yemen's armed forces, key units of which are led by Saleh's relatives. Meanwhile, ...back at the hoedown, Bob finally got to dance with Sally... a front man for the bad turban group said his side had suffered no casualties, but confirmed the account of a soldier's death. Separately, a police colonel in Hadrawamout province was gravely maimed when person or persons unknown shot him with automatic weapons before fleeing on cycle of violences late on Friday, a local official said. He blamed the attack on al Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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[An Nahar] The Gulf Arab states and Turkey, which have spearheaded regional condemnation of the Syrian regime for its deadly crackdown, urged Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... Saturday to accept an Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... plan to stop the bloodshed "without delay."
The Arab plan, which envisages Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... transferring power to his deputy and the formation of a national unity government within two months, has been rejected by Syria.
The foreign ministers of the six Gulf Arab states and Turkey, in a final declaration, said no significant progress was made on the vaporous Arab League peace plan "mostly due to the intransigent attitude displayed by the Syrian administration."
The ministers "strongly urged the Syrian administration to fulfill without delay all of its commitments and obligations under the Arab League peace initiative."
Soddy Arabia is the largest member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and other members include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
"We hope Syria seriously evaluates the decisions of the Arab League, puts an end to repression against its people and start a reform process in line with the demands of the people," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said after the meeting.
Turkey, once a close ally of Syria, has been at the forefront of international criticism over the Damascus regime's crackdown on protests and has also become a haven for Syrian opposition activists.
The Istanbul meeting comes amid a new Arab and European quest to secure U.N. action over Syria's crackdown, which is opposed by Russia.
The U.N. Security Council has been deadlocked for months on Syria. Russia and China vetoed a previous European resolution in October, accusing the West of seeking regime change.
In the final declaration, the ministers also agreed that international efforts should be focused on bringing the bloodshed in Syria to an "immediate end" and paving the way for the initiation of a political transition process in line with "legitimate demands of the people."
International pressure on the Syrian regime has been mounting, as more than 5,400 people have been killed since anti-government protests broke out last March, according to U.N. figures.
GCC Secretary-General Abdul Latif Al Zayani will travel to Brussels on Monday for talks with NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen. On Tuesday, he will meet with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... 's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
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01/29/2012
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[Pak Daily Times] Nigerian troops on Saturday killed 11 fighters from the cut-throats sect Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie... during a shootout in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, a front man said.
"Today, in an exchange of fire during an cordon-and-search operation conducted by the JTF, 11 Boko Haram members were killed," Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Mohammed told, referring to the army's Joint Task Force unit.
Gunmen in Nigeria have killed at least one officer after opening fire on a cop shoppe in the city of Kano, where attacks claimed by Islamists left 185 dead last week, police said on Saturday.
Security forces in Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer are struggling to contain the menace by the Boko Haram Islamist sect that has used increasingly bold tactics to kill more than 200 people this year alone.
The latest attack in Kano, the economic heart of Nigeria's mainly Mohammedan north, occurred just before 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Friday, police said on Saturday, confirming the assault first reported by residents.
Gunmen "opened fire on our men and the coppers on duty fired back leading to a shootout," city police front man Magaji Majia said, adding that one officer was killed. Witnesses had previously told two officers had died.
The attack came at the start of a nighttime curfew that has been in effect in the northern city since a January 20 assault by Boko Haram killed 185 people.
Kano had previously evaded the worst of Boko Haram's violence, and the brazen, coordinated strikes that primarily targetted cop shoppes in a major city highlighted the group's renewed strength.
Since then in Kano, another cop shoppe was attacked on Tuesday night, with authorities reporting three people maimed and a German engineer was kidnapped on the outskirts of city on Thursday. Also on Thursday, a Kano bus station was hit, with no one reported being killed. The Friday night attack happened in the Mandawari neighbourhood.
The purported head of Boko Haram, Abubakar Muhammad Shekau, threatened more violence in an audio recording recently posted on YouTube. Boko Haram has previously said that it wants to create an Islamic state in Nigeria's deeply-impoverished mainly Mohammedan north, charging the government with harassing Mohammedans and raiding Islamic schools.
The group was also blamed for coordinated attacks on Christmas Day, the mostly deadly at a Catholic Church near the capital Abuja where at least 44 people were killed, but its victims also include scores of Mohammedans.
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01/29/2012
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[Pak Daily Times] Despair, fear and helplessness, not usual attributes of young boys but that's what I observed when I met some of the 23 lads recently released from Taliban custody in Khaar, headquarter of Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central.
The boys between the age of 15 and 22 were kidnapped by Taliban in the first week of September last year when they were picnicking just over the Afghan border. They belong to the Mamoond tribe, a fun loving people unlike the other tribes in Bajaur, the smallest of the seven tribal agencies borders Afghanistan's Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... . Later, they were released after months of negotiations involving local elders and political administration.
It was a bright sunny day but the general impression was shadowy. Nothing had changed since my last trip in October last year. I was not expecting much either. The same checkposts, the same complaints against the rigid behaviour of Para-military forces though the military justifies its stiffness to bring order in an area still brimmed with Taliban sympathisers.
The boys mostly bearded and dressed in shalwar camese, a traditional dress, appeared shy and reluctant to talk about their ordeal. Unlike the usual boys of their age, they had no dreams and ambitions. They look tired and life seemed a burden on their meek shoulders. Why you boys don't study, I asked. We cannot afford to study, we are poor people, said Abdullah, 22, with a shrug of his shoulders. But what if you are provided opportunities to study, will you, I asked, yes we will, almost all of them said.
There is no source of entertainment for these young and vulnerable boys. Do you watch TV, I asked the boys, we do not own television, they responded with a wry smile that made me feel embarrassed. Only one boy said his family owns television but he can't watch because of scheduled power outages. "We get electricity for a while after three days," Kifayatullah, 20, said with a profound resignation.
Only two of the boys was knew who the prime minister of Pakistain, while nobody knew who is the governor of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, a person who directly controls the affairs of tribal areas through political agent. They only knew that political agent is the most powerful person on earth. Such is the gap between people and the state.
They had no idea what USAID or UKAID were but when I told them that USAID has given more than $5 billion in civilian assistance to Pakistain since 2002, they looked indifferent and didn't react much.
"Yes, we understand that this is a big problem that the US assistance is not experienced on the ground but now we are trying to develop our projects in such a way that the assistance reaches directly to the people," said US Embassy Spokesperson Mark Stroh.
Narrating the story, Ziaullah, 25, said that it was Eid day and they wanted to picnic in an area called Kandao, across the Afghan border. We were total 23 boys. While drinking water from a spring, six people holding AK 47 surrounded us and said that they would be taken to see their Emir (leader) and released subsequently but it didn't happen.
We spent the first night in the mountains and later we were divided in groups and kept separately. They were vigilant but didn't beat us or tortured us. Just once they let us talk to our families on phone. One boy, Hamidulla, 15, who beat feet from Taliban earlier, narrated his story saying that one night he woke up and saw that his captors were asleep. He said he thought if he was asked what he was doing, he would say he wanted to leak but when he realised that nobody got alerted, he bravely ran away. "For hours I walked in the jungle at night. Nobody was there but a dog confronted me. I tried to run but it bit me. I lied in the jungle for hours as the pain was too excruciating but finally, I made it home," he said with such ease and innocence.
Our captors' accent was like us but we didn't know them. They said we were taken hostage because of the Lashkar (tribal force) launched by our elders, Zia said.
When I asked, "Were they not stopped at the border on both sides by the paramilitary forces?"
"Nobody stopped us on either side but generally we don't need visa or passport to cross the border. That's how it is for centuries," Rehmatullah said. An elder said there is confusion, we don't know who is supporting Taliban on both sides. A common statement you hear from people in the tribal belt.
"Life was much better before. There was poverty but at least there was peace. Since the arrival of Taliban, our life has changed. We miss the old times as military now very strict with us and at times their behaviour is humiliating," one of the young boys said asking not to be named for obvious security reasons.
Majority of the boys does labour jobs in Punjab. We don't know who the Taliban were but we only saw they were having beards and long hair. The Inqilaab, (the arrival of Taliban in Bajaur Agency is called revolution) wasted 3-year of my studies and now I want to resume it again, said Zubair Sayed, 14, a student of 5th grade.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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[An Nahar] Dozens of Libyans protested Saturday against Defense Minister Osama Juili's visit to an ex-bastion of Muammar Qadaffy ...whose instability was an inspiration to dictators everywhere, but whose end couldn't possibly happen to them... , saying it showed support from the nation's new rulers to the slain dictator's diehards.
"Don't trade with the blood of deaders for the sake of elections!" shouted angry protesters demonstrating in Tripoli against Juili's visit on Wednesday to Bani Walid after deadly festivities there killed seven people.
Juili toured the town 170 kilometers southeast of Tripoli, and declared it was under the control of the new government after initial conflicting reports over who was in charge of the former Qadaffy stronghold.
Deadly festivities erupted on Monday in Bani Walid which local officials said were between a brigade of fighters who helped topple Qadaffy and supporters of the dictator.
Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelali initially did not know who was fighting in Bani Walid before saying it was an "internal" conflict."
But on Sunday, dozens of protesters, most of them from Bani Walid and who called themselves as anti-Qadaffy groups, insisted that the fighting was between former rebels and loyalists of the dead dictator.
They said Juili's visit to Bani Walid and his meeting the town's tribal chiefs was a signal that Libya's new rulers were in fact siding with the dictator's loyalists.
"We know all those whom he met in Bani Walid. They all are Qadaffy supporters. He was shaking hands with them," said protester Abdelhakim, a doctor from Bani Walid who gave only his first name.
"Juili's visit there is a signal that the new government supports Qadaffy's men."
Abdelhakim said Bani Walid had "extreme groups" of those who supported Qadaffy and also those who have been against him for decades.
"We are from those groups who have always opposed Qadaffy. We did not like Juili visiting Bani Walid and meeting pro-Qadaffy people," he said as crowds behind him rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against Juili as they demonstrated outside the office of Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib.
Bani Walid was the penultimate town to fall to Libya's new government during last year's uprising, and local officials had said that Qadaffy loyalists among its residents were behind the recent unrest.
Juili denied that during Wednesday's visit.
"The fighting was not between thwar (anti-Qadaffy revolutionaries) and Qadaffy diehards," he said.
"It was an internal problem... It was between two groups of young men. One of them was the May 28 Brigade," he said referring to an ex-rebel formation in the town.
Bani Walid was a recruiting ground for elite troops of Qadaffy's armed forces and was captured in October last year, just days before the ousted dictator was killed in the fall of his hometown Sirte.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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[Pak Daily Times] A house was partially damaged in an improvised bomb (IED) kaboom in Meri Colony, Kohat, on Saturday. No loss of life was, however, reported. The IED was planted in a box beside the main gate of the house. Police and law enforcement agencies cordoned off the blast site and launched a search operation after the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
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SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea lashed out at South Korea and the United States Saturday, warning that their upcoming joint military exercises would push the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war.
South Korea and the U.S. plan to jointly stage major military maneuvers, called Key Resolve, from Feb. 27 to March 9, with about 200,000 South Korean and 2,100 U.S. troops participating. Separately, the two allies plan to hold the Foal Eagle joint military exercise from March 1 to April 30. The Marines of two countries will also hold a joint landing exercise in March, the largest of its kind in 23 years.
North Korea routinely denounces military drills in the South as rehearsals for a northward invasion.
"The Key Resolve is a nuclear war rehearsal for aggression" on the North, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary. The North often releases its position on South Korea or the United States through its state media.
The commentary also claimed that "the exercises will deteriorate the critical inter-Korean relations and drive the tension of the Korean Peninsula to the brink of war."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2012
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[An Nahar] The Paleostinian Islamist movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, said on Saturday it does not plan to move its headquarters out of unrest-hit Syria.
"There is no change, and Hamas has not taken any decision to leave Syria, and we are still there," front man Fawzi Barhum told Agence La Belle France Presse.
He said the constant travels to Arab states of the movement's Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... -based chief Khaled Meshaal and other officials were aimed at consolidating Arab support for the Paleostinian cause and inter-Paleostinian reconciliation.
On Sunday, Meshaal is to make his first visit to Amman since he was expelled from the kingdom in 1999.
Hamas leaders will "keep Syria as their base even if they are obliged to stay away from the country a little more than before," said a Paleostinian official in Gazoo City, on condition of anonymity.
"Hamas will not close its offices in Damascus and will not leave the country," he said, although "for reasons of security some leaders may feel obliged at times to leave the country."
Syria, a firm supporter of the Islamist movement, has been hit by more than 10 months of deadly anti-regime protests.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Why would they leave, they will be in charge. Just like Egypt.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/29/2012 1:51
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Top||
#2
that paleostinian cause sure is expanding leaps and bounds lately. Coming back too bite the neighbors in the ass
Posted by: chris ||
01/29/2012 9:14
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#3
Of course the headquarters building is staying. But the key people have already gone, according to reports, and nobody but themselves cares what happened to the underlings,
[Yemen Post] Yemeni Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi is considering the idea of forming a military committee to run the affairs of Yemeni Air force temporarily, according to local sources close to Hadi's office.
This comes as a response to the demands of the Air force personnel, who have gone on a strike since past Saturday and refuse to go back to work until their commander, Mohammed Saleh, the half brother of outgoing President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... , quits.
Last week, an officer threw Saleh with his shoes; setting off a wave of protests in the military facility demanding their allegedly corrupt boss resigns, and emboldening others to get rid of their corrupt bosses.
Loud calls to remove al-Hmar from his position have begun form al-Anad Base and expanded to all Air Force bases in Yemen in less than a week.
After the peaceful revolution has successfully toppled Saleh from office, a wave of institutional revolts ensued.
"Two high-ranking officers have been kidnapped due to their supportive position to discharging al-Hmar, and we know exactly who behind this incident, it's the Republican Guard, the best trained and equipped troops in the country, commanded by Saleh's elder son, Ahmed," said a soldier at Sana'a base, requesting anonymity.
Saleh relatives still control key military institutions, including the elite Elite Republican Guards, Special Forces, Counterterrorism Unit, National Security, and Air force.
Saleh has left Yemen for U.S.A to receive further medical treatment form wounds and injuries sustained in a bombing last year at the Presidential Palace and he is most likely not going to return home.
He has sought asylum in Yemen's rich neighbor of Oman, Rooters reported citing unidentified diplomats.
Saleh has transferred his executive to Hadi, the consensus candidate for upcoming Presidential elections for both the former ruling General People Congress party and Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), the main opposition bloc in the trouble-torn country, in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2012
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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.
A suspected Taliban leader was captured in a joint Afghan and 
Pervez 
Punjab
[TOLOnews] - A group of 80 
Indus commissioner flees to Canada
North Korea
U.S. Defense Secretary 
Mansoor Ijaz on Saturday moved an application in the Supreme Court, saying he could not come to Pakistain over security concerns and that the court direct the judicial commission probing the memo scandal to record his statement outside Pakistain.
US Vice President 
A policeman and one terrorist were killed in a shootout, which took place at Sheikh Yousuf Road in the city. According to details, four unidentified 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Najib Miqati
Six passengers of the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia, which ran aground off the coast if 
Tension gripped the city on Saturday after a hand grenade was hurled at a hardware shop in Liaquatabad No 2, leaving five persons 
Kurram Agency
Adbusters, the radical, Vancouver-based anti-consumerist magazine, credited by many media outlets for launching the Occupy Wall Street protests, has put out an ad calling for 50,000 protestors to "Occupy" the G8 summit in May. And they are not calling for peaceful protest.
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
[Tripoli Post] The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights said Friday that Libya's transitional government must take control of all makeshift prisons to prevent further atrocities against detainees.
Khaleda Zia
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] His supporters make thousands of campaign calls and blanket Florida with signs as they dream of 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Pak Daily Times] Nigerian troops on Saturday killed 11 fighters from the 
Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
