Any similarities between Harare official Tendai Mahachi's instruction on water, and the Obama administration's stance on healthcare, food, and housing are of course, purely coincidental.
(Speaking of which, I hope Fred has copyrighted Thugburg. He might throw in a few bogus but realistic sounding names like map companies insert a few fake locations, to better prove theft).
California will run out of cash by early March if the state does not take swift action to find $3.3 billion through payment delays and borrowing, according to a letter state Controller John Chiang sent to state lawmakers today.
The announcement is surprising since lawmakers previously believed the state had enough cash to last through the fiscal year that ends in June. Oops
But Chiang said additional cash management solutions are needed because state tax revenues are $2.6 billion less than what Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers assumed in their optimistic budget last year. Meanwhile, Chiang said, the state is spending $2.6 billion more than state leaders planned on. Bullshit planning? Business revenue flight? Wishing on a star for cash?
The Assembly budget committee approved a bill today that would enable $865 million of borrowing from existing state accounts, Senate Bill 95. Chiang, after consultation with the Department of Finance and state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, is also seeking about $2.4 billion in delayed payments to universities, counties and Medi-Cal, as well as additional borrowing from outside investors. Seriously, who the bloody hell would invest in California anymore?
Absent these actions, the state would fall below its prudent $2.5 billion cash cushion on Feb. 29, Chiang estimated. On March 8, the state would actually end up $730 million in the red. The state would be below the safe cash cushion for several weeks ending April 13, save for several days at the end of March.
With such actions, Chiang believes the state would not have to use IOUs or delay tax refunds, maneuvers that have been relied upon in previous years. But Chiang also said that "more cash solutions may be required if our revenues continue to erode or if disbursements significantly exceed estimates." AKA, if we continue to spend like drunken sailors and we don't get the money from robbing the "rich" like we want.
California will run out of cash by early March if the state does not take swift action to find $3.3 billion through payment delays and borrowing, according to a letter state Controller John Chiang sent to state lawmakers today.
The announcement is surprising since lawmakers previously believed the state had enough cash to last through the fiscal year that ends in June.
Surprising. I do not think that word means what you think that word means...
But Chiang said additional cash management solutions are needed because state tax revenues are $2.6 billion less than what Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers assumed in their optimistic budget last year.
So Jerry and the Clowns were over-optimistic on revenue...
Meanwhile, Chiang said, the state is spending $2.6 billion more than state leaders planned on.
...and they failed to get spending under control. Yep, I can see why everyone is so surprised...
The Assembly budget committee approved a bill today that would enable $865 million of borrowing from existing state accounts, Senate Bill 95.
Thus moving money from one pocket to another...
Chiang, after consultation with the Department of Finance and state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, is also seeking about $2.4 billion in delayed payments to universities, counties and Medi-Cal, as well as additional borrowing from outside investors.
Thus stiffing the vendors, who are forced to do business with the state anyway...
Absent these actions, the state would fall below its prudent $2.5 billion cash cushion on Feb. 29, Chiang estimated. On March 8, the state would actually end up $730 million in the red. The state would be below the safe cash cushion for several weeks ending April 13, save for several days at the end of March.
With such actions, Chiang believes the state would not have to use IOUs or delay tax refunds, maneuvers that have been relied upon in previous years. But Chiang also said that "more cash solutions may be required if our revenues continue to erode or if disbursements significantly exceed estimates."
And golly, what are the chances of that?
California borrows money early each fiscal year because the state has regular monthly expenses but receives the bulk of its tax revenues in the spring. The state borrowed $5.4 billion last fall for this purpose.
Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, D-Woodland Hills, downplayed the significance of the new borrowing in a hearing. He said $5.4 billion was small relative to the $10 billion state leaders were prepared to borrow last year.
That doesn't make the amount 'small'...
Some Republicans raised questions about when the borrowing from state accounts from would be paid back and why the state is spending more than expected.
The Pubs are in the minority, and thus know the Dems won't touch that last one, except to say that "it's for the children" and "it's for green jobs" and "it's for high-speed rail something else"...
Michael Cohen, chief deputy director of Brown's Department of Finance, said the state would pay back special funds whenever programs need the money to operate. Cohen also said the state is spending more money than expected because courts have blocked some cuts, while some savings may come later in the fiscal year than forecasters predicted.
If the legislature wants to cut spending they can cut spending. Courts can't stop that. If they try, cut spending on the courts.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2012
16:57 ||
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#1
Gee... why is revenue less than what their optimistic budget was? Business flight? Investors not investing? Unicorns failed to fart enough diamonds?
And who the fuck will still be willing to invest in California at this stage?
#2
"I think they've made the biggest financial mess that any government's ever made in this country for a very long time, and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money. It's quite a characteristic of them." Mrs Thatcher (PBUH)
#4
No problemo, dudes. We'll just borrow some money (we'll call it issuing bonds!) and raise taxes on those stinkin' rich people. Voila! One more can kicked down the road.
#8
That's what's been happening so far, Chili -- that's how a number of states have managed to avoid bankruptcy these last few years. The Feds have been giving them money in various ways. Where do you think that trillion and a half deficit is going?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2012 19:50
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The economy did horribly in the last three months of 2011.
I know that's not what you've been hearing.
During this past Christmas season you were first told that consumers were dying to get to the malls and shop. That turned out to be true -- for a couple of days at least, while stores were desperately discounting everything they had.
Then you were told that manufacturers were having a bang-up month and that automakers were selling cars like it was the old days.
And Apple -- who could forget Apple? -- was selling iAnythings like they were some sort of lifesaving device and every American was in the hospital emergency room.
Last Friday the Commerce Department released its tally of business conditions in October, November and December. And it was, well, quite disappointing if you actually know what to look at.
The headline number you saw on the evening news that night and in the newspapers on Saturday was this: the nation's gross domestic product rose at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the 2011 fourth quarter, which was better than the 1.8 percent growth in the July-September period.
In the first place, 2.8 percent isn't a good rate of growth for any year.
Take out your calculator, divide 2.8 percent by the four quarters of the year, and you'll see that fourth-quarter growth -- even if you take these numbers at face value -- was just 0.7 percent.
Tepid. Lukewarm. Disappointing. Not what should be happening four years into a recession (oh, right, that's supposed to be over) after the Federal Reserve has used all its tricks and our elected officials have bankrupted the country.
But it gets worse.
(If you start coughing up blood while reading this column I suggest you dial 911. Remember, I'm just the skeptical messenger trying to set things straight, so don't take it out on me.)
And that meager 2.8 percent annual growth really isn't what it seems to be.
That's because 75 percent of that 2.8 percent growth involved businesses restocking inventories. Who says? The Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis, which released this data.
So people like you and me weren't really buying all that stuff in the last months of 2011. It was businesses buying stuff and putting it on their shelves in hopes that people would soon come along and buy it from them.
Inventories will only build up so much before companies say "no more." So these restockings are not considered a particularly good thing when the ultimate buyer -- the consumer -- is still uncooperative.
But that wasn't the only scary thing in the GDP report. In fact, it wasn't even the most important thing.
In order to get to that 2.8 percent growth the Commerce Department used a very unrealistic level of inflation in its calculations.
Let me explain: The government comes up with a figure on how much it thinks the economy grew, or shrunk. Friday's figure was a first estimate for the fourth quarter, so most of the numbers used in the calculation are only guesstimates anyway. (But that's for a different story.)
The government then takes that growth figure, subtracts the rate of inflation and comes up with the real growth it reports in its press release.
So, in other words, if inflation is rising it reduces the rate of actual, after inflation, growth -- which is the figure that Washington reports.
In Friday's number the government used 0.4 percent as the rate of inflation. Zero. Point. Four. Percent.
In which country is inflation that low? Certainly not in America. Absolutely not in the last four months of 2011.
The consumer price index, which is put out by the US Census Bureau, had prices up 3 percent for the year.
And the rate of inflation used in calculating the third-quarter 2011 GDP was 2.6 percent; in the first and second quarters, combined, the rate was 2.5 percent; it was 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010.
So how does the Zero-Point-Four-Freakin' percent sound now?
That's how Commerce got to the not-very-inspiring 2.8 percent growth it reported last Friday.
Let me put this another way in case you are missing my outrage.
If the inflation figure used in last Friday's GDP figure had just remained the same as the 2.6 percent rate from the third quarter, Washington would have had to report fourth-quarter annualized growth of just 0.6 percent.
(Calculation: Inflation was lowered by 2.2 percentage points. So subtract 2.2 percent from the 2.8 percent growth to get 0.6 percent.)
And that's an annualized rate. So divide the 0.6 percent by four quarters and the economy expanded at an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny 0.15 percent in the fourth quarter.
On Friday, the Labor Department will issue its employment report for January.
Wall Street had better get out the Depends. I would believe 0.15%. I would believe the 10% unemployment. We are in a depression and no amount of bullshit numbers from the feds can cover it up anymore.
"The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday predicted the deficit will rise to $1.08 trillion in 2012.
The office also projected the jobless rate would rise to 8.9 percent by the end of 2012, and to 9.2 percent in 2013.
These are much dimmer forecasts than in CBO's last report in August, when the office projected a $973 billion deficit. The report reflects weaker corporate tax revenue and the extension for two months of the payroll tax holiday."
America's top intelligence official has claimed that Iran's leadership was now more willing than before to carry out an attack inside the US, and that intelligence agencies were worried about plots against US and allied interests around the world.
In a report to Congress, the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said a plot to blow up the Saudi ambassador in a Washington restaurant - which the US blamed on Iran's Revolutionary Guard - "shows that some Iranian officials, probably including supreme leader Ali Khamenei, have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived US actions that threaten the regime".
Clapper added: "Iran's willingness to sponsor future attacks in the United States or against our interests abroad probably will be shaped by Tehran's evaluation of the costs it bears for the plot against the ambassador as well as Iranian leaders' perceptions of US threats against the regime."
US officials have expressed concern that the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, responsible for external operations, could have sleeper cells in the US or over the border in Mexico and the rest of Latin America.
Clapper's statement was the latest salvo in a war of words between the west and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme and planned oil embargos by both the US and European Union.
Clapper said Iran was "keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons".
To a cheering audience that at several points erupted with chants of "death to Israel, death to America, death to England", Ahmadinejad continued, "Once, his eminency Imam [Ruhollah] Khomeini - leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution], stated that the illegal regime of the Pahlavis must go, and it happened. Then he said the Soviet empire would disappear, and it happened. He also said that this evil man Saddam [Hussein] must be punished, and we see that he is under trial in his country. His eminency also said that the occupation regime of Qods [Jerusalem, or Israel] must be wiped off from the map of the world, and with the help of the Almighty, we shall soon experience a world without America and Zionism, notwithstanding those who doubt."
#2
Even if they're rational actors why should they fear the consequences of a massive attack in the US?
After 9/11 the US declared that the Taliban would be destroyed. Now the US & NATO are begging the Taliban to accept our protection money join peace talks.
The risk to the Iranian leadership is calculable and not too great. The potential reward is enormous, hegemony over ME oil.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/31/2012 18:03
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#5
This is self-obvious already.
IMO Iran per se will hold off doing anything unilateral + military for ALAP AMAP for a while yet. AGAIN, AS LONG AS USN, NATO WARSHIPS STAY OFFSHORE + NO GROUND ARMIES INVADE, OWG SHIA-LED CALIPHATE = UMMAH-HAPPY IRAN CAN STILL GET ITS NUKES.
And while also still attempting to empower regional, global pro-Iran policies + geopol influence.
IOW, IN IRAN'S VIEW IT LOSES NOTHING AS PER ITS NUCPROGS BY ALLOWING US-NATO WARSHIPS TO STAY IN THE GULF.
* INTERNATIONAL ANALYSTS PAST + PRESENT > NUCLEAR DETERRENCE = ONCE ANY NATION ACQUIRES DE FACTO [reliable] NUCWEAPS MIL CAPABILITY, ITS ALL BUT ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE FOR SAID NATION TO BE ATTACKED BY OTHERS, BE THE LATTER NUCLEAR OR NOT.
MULLAHS = Iff the US, etc. want to stop Iran from going nuclear, IT WILL HAVE TO DE FACTO INVADE + OCCUPY IRAN.
#6
America proper is just a [expletive deleted] to pull off an unconventional attack.
In past, I've mentioned the US has 16 major intelligence agencies, and 100+ federal police agencies, some of which are downright scary when they set their mind to it.
In 1988, the Japanese intelligence informed the FBI that a terrorist of the Japanese Red Army, Yū Kikumura, intended to fly to Canada in a month, drive to the US, buy bomb supplies and blow up something.
The FBI decided to make a dramatic example of him.
From his point of view, everything went off without a hitch. He drove across the US border. He stopped at different places to buy parts and chemicals at hardware stores.
After a while, he was pulled over by a state trooper on the New Jersey Turnpike, who told him he had made a minor traffic mistake and was getting a warning. After talking to him, he said that he suspected he might be intoxicated, so asked him to exit his vehicle for a sobriety test.
Then a platoon of FBI came out of nowhere and grabbed him, but *didn't* arrest him. They took him to an isolated house, where he had to wait an hour. Then they sat him in a chair to watch a movie.
The movie began with him going to the airport in a taxi in Japan. After he had left the taxi, the driver held up his Japanese government ID for the camera.
From that point, each and every person he met, from ticket agents, other passengers on the flight, the custom officials in Canada, the car rental agency, the US border personnel, even gas station attendants and hardware store employees who sold him stuff, and finally the state trooper all showed their IDs or badges.
Then they placed him under arrest, and took him into federal detention. A member of the Japanese consulate was waiting for him in booking. Then he was given a telephone and told to call his lawyer in Japan, and tell him about *everything* that had happened to him.
With full knowledge that his lawyer would tell all his Japanese Red Army buddies about it.
He was prosecuted by Samuel Alito and sent to ADX Florence. He is one of the few to have come out of it alive. He was deported to Japan, where he was rearrested and served another sentence. He finally got out in 2007.
Home prices fell more steeply than expected in November, and consumer confidence soured in January, highlighting the hurdles still facing the economic recovery.
The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of single-family home prices in 20 metropolitan areas declined 0.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, a survey showed on Tuesday, a bigger drop than the 0.5 percent economists expected. The decrease added on to the 0.7 percent decline seen in October from September.
Separately, a report from The Conference Board said an index of consumer attitudes fell to 61.1 in January from a revised 64.8 the month before, as Americans turned gloomy about the job market and their income prospects.
The data frustrated expectations for an increase after sharp gains in November and December. I am so glad we had those stimulus! Just imagine what our housing market would be like without it!
#1
This is good news. Home prices need to drop. The skyrocketing home prices we saw in the last two decades were a direct result of artificial stimulus by the likes of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Bawney Fwank. Can you say inflation? I knew you could. How about deflation? That's better, much better if you are a young family looking for a place to live.
I can sympathize with people who find themselves underwater but, if you think of it as a home instead of an investment maybe that will help.
#2
Another good aspect of it is the "your home is your nestegg" myth is busted. That's no help to the people who believed it before the crash hit, but going forward, people who are paying attention can plan accordingly...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/31/2012 15:42
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#3
The end of the Free money supply from re-mortaging thinking they'll sell to some other rube to pay off the debts...
Well, They were the Rubes! Everyone just living in a home is totally unnafected by the price being lower.
New buyers however were severely damaged by low affordability of housing...
#8
BP: _ALL_ forms of taxation are eventually passed on to the customer. Any corporation that pays taxes must collect them from someone else. This goes for land taxes just like everything else.
#9
Home prices are still way too high in many parts of the country. Americans who haven't had a good degree of pessimism about general job & income prospects since about the summer of 2007 just haven't been paying attention.
#10
Every article about home prices should show the Case-Shiller index, but they almost never do.
Below is the index to 2008
Just how far to they have to fall to get back to a usual & customary level?
The IDF arrested a Palestinian member of Hamas early Tuesday morning, three months after he was released as part of the prisoner swap for Gilad Schalit. anybody surprised?
What do the NAR, Consumer Confidence and CBO forecasts have in common? If you said, "they are all completely worthless" you are absolutely correct.
Alas, the market needs to "trade" off numbers, which is why the just released CBO numbers apparently are important.
And the fact that the CBO predicted negative $2.5 trillion in net debt by 2011 back in 2011 is largely ignored. Anyway, here are some of the highlights.
2012 Deficit: $1.1 trillion; 2013 Deficit: $0.6 - yes, we are cackling like mad too.
Unemployment to remain above 8% in 2012 and 2013; will be around 7% by end of 2015; to drop to 5.25% by end of 2022.
This forecast is utterly idiotic and is completely unattainable unless the US workforce drops to all time lows and the US economy generates 300,000 jobs a month for 10 years
Needless to say, CBO assumes the best of all worlds in this meaningless forecast. But here is the kicker: "Had that portion of the decline in the labor force participation rate since 2007 that is attributable to neither the aging of the baby boomers nor the downturn in the business cycle (on the basis of the experience in previous downturns) not occurred, the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2011 would have been about 1¼ percentage points higher than the actual rate of 8.7 percent" translation: CBO just admitted that the BLS numbers are bogus and real unemployment is 10%. Thank you Still is really bad out there, despite what the MSM and Bambi says. If we leave the pessimists in the CBO, the Bambi administration and the MSM in charge, we will certainly be able to count on 10% unemployment over the next decade.
#2
Meanwhile, back in Kansas: A coalition of business groups will propose Kansas start a new program to help some illegal immigrants remain in the state so they can hold down jobs in agriculture and other industries with labor shortages, coalition representatives disclosed Tuesday.
U.S. employers may petition for skilled or unskilled alien workers to meet temporary or seasonal needs in positions for which qualified U.S. workers are not available. It is important to note that the employerÂ’s need for such services must be temporary. There is currently an annual cap of 66,000 visas for H-2B workers. There is currently no annual cap on visas for H-2A workers.
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood will eventually cancel the Camp David Agreement, despite the group's announcement that it respects international agreements Egypt has signed, said Amin al-Sayed Ibrahim, head of Hezbollah's political council.
Hudnas are only good for a maximum of ten years, per Mohammed, and must end as soon as the Muslim entity involved is rearmed and capable of resuming the jihad. However, last time Egypt tried it, General Ariel Sharon nearly drove Israeli tanks through Cairo. That was back when Israel's arms industry wasn't anywhere near #4 in the world, and Egypt could still afford to feed its people...
Speaking to the "International Conference on Islamic Awakening and the Youths," Ibrahim said that the Egyptian military, so as not to lose its clout, would never allow the Brotherhood to write the constitution or even form a constituent assembly to write the constitution.
Following their electoral victories in Parliament, Egypt's most organized political group has offered assurances that it would respect the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
When asked early this month whether Washington believed that the Islamist party would uphold the treaty, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that the party "has made commitments to us in this regard."
Ibrahim said that the current unrest in Syria is a conspiracy and not a revolution, as western media claims. The Egyptian delegation clashed with him over the remarks.
"The Syrians transfer arms to the Palestinian resistance," he said.
Over 1,200 young people from Iran as well as 73 other countries are participating in the two-day conference, Iran's Fars news agency reported on Monday. Is anyone with a brain really surprised by this?
Boys talking big. The Muslim Brotherhood waited for eighty-something years to take power; they won't go to war until they are ready or their hand is forced, no matter their (very strong) private desires.
#3
Cancelling CAMP DAVID ACCORDS = Israel will the right to re-occupy the Sinai = new Israeli war agz Egypt + aligned.
The only way I see for Israel to not attempt to re-occupy the Sinai is for Israel to foprmally join NATO + EU, etc. - given the MSM-Net reported Israeli distrust of POTUS Bammer + Admin, a US-SPECIFIC/ONLY "GUARANTY" OF ISRAELI STATE SECURITY + EXISTENCE MAY NOT BE ENUFF TO ASSUAGE ISRAELI FEARS OF THE WORST CASE.
#4
The EU wouldn't have Israel, JosephM, and therefore NATO won't have Israel. And, given how hard President Obama has worked against Prime Minister Netanyahu, there really is nothing he can do to persuade Israel to trust their security to his decisions short of destroying Iran's nuclear capability before they do.
#1
What are the implications for handloading, I wonder?
Posted by: no mo uro ||
01/31/2012 18:32
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#2
Shamelessly stolen from the comments at Slashdot: Personally i don't believe it. A mile away? They probably couldn't hit an elephant at that dist
I am fascinated by the evolution of ordinance towards ever-smaller, yet deadly packages. Here at the 'Burg, we love our MOABs, ARCLIGHTS (and yes, even our F-150s), but over a rather short period of time, we have gone from carpet bombing cities, to precision munitions, to shooting selected miscreants individually. Imagine a loitering drone, loaded with smart bullets, waiting for an opportunity to pick someone out of a crowd...
WASHINGTON -- House Republicans are expanding their probe into the Obama administration's energy programs, investigating $500 million in green job training grants that placed just 10% of trainees in jobs, according to a government report.
The program's goal was to train 124,893 people and put 79,854 in jobs. But 17 months later, 52,762 were trained and 8,035, or roughly 1 in 10, had jobs. Those numbers come from an audit by the Department of Labor's inspector general, which recommended that the administration end the program and return unspent money.
President Obama has made green jobs a cornerstone of his economic agenda. In his first 2012 campaign ad this month, he said clean energy industries created 2.7 million jobs and were "expanding rapidly." But Republicans have pounced on failures, such as the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a solar panel maker backed with a Department of Energy loan guarantee.
Citing what he calls "abysmal results" in the job training program, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is demanding answers about how the Department of Labor awarded the grants, which were funded out of the 2009 stimulus bill. I think the public is getting this. Green=stupid
#6
As per #2's list of Greenie Companies, IMO despite any good intentions the Fed + latter have not shown or proven that so-called "GREEN TECHS" is par or better than current, NON-GREEN TECHS IN USE, either in costs, power, or related efficiencies. ALSO, FEW IFF ANY NON-GOVT. INDUSTRIO-CONSUMER FREE MARKETS = MARKETS' NEEDS OTHER THAN FED VENTURES/ENDEAVORS TO DEV THE NEW TECHS.
This is why I support Newt Gingrich's scheme for the US to return + set up a MOON BASE by the end of his second term as POTUS [Year 2020] - Newt's offer of formal US Statehood for the MOON/LUNA is also nice, but optional.
IMO the Bammer + DemoLeft should support the US going back to the Moon, IFF ONLY TO SAVE OR SALVAGE THE US, GLOBALIST "GREEN REVOLUTION" WHOSE WEAK + SINKING MAIN DECK IS FAST APPROACHING THE WATERLINE.
[POST-SUNK FRED FLINTSTONE + PAL BARNEY RUBBLE ARGUING UNDER THE WATER here].
It (white blood cells/government) should be there just to stop nasties, but it spreads and metastasises, and over time kills what's it's there to protect.
#3
A .5% raise in a 3 year stretch is not what I would call out of control.
The federal government workforce is mostly professionals and technical people (DOD excluded). As a federal engineer, I am somewhat underpaid in wages, but have a better defined benefit pension than many private sector people. Or so they say in the article.
What they don't mention is that CSRS pension hasn't accepted any new enrollees since 1984 and that since then FERS is the only federal worker pension that non postal service employees can get into.
FERS pays 1% per year of service on you high 3 year average salary. So after 30 years if you made $75,000 a year for your last 3 years, your yearly benefit would be $22,500 or $1,875 a month. So we have to pay into Social Security and have our own 401K fund that we pay into called the TSP. We have to put the 3 together to make enough to retire and not eat dog food.
CSRS employees work 30 years and retire at 80% of high 3 salary and don't have to pay SS out of their check.
You can be pissed off at the lazy, arrogant, stupid, icky federal employees all you want, but let's please get the facts straight. I've worked private sector and am currently in the public sector. I can easily move again if the need arises. A pay freeze until 2015 will have a lot of very hard to replace people heading for the door such as scientists and engineers. The truly overpaid derelicts will just dig in and survive, they have nowhere to go anyway. So I think the discussion needs to be tailored a little bit to address problem employees and waste, not everyone that happens to work for the government.
Just my two cents worth, but I work with a lot of capable, dedicated people.....and a few douche bags.
"...not everyone that happens to work for the government."
But oftentimes people in the government think all of us do. That's an issue.
Bureaucrats, paperwork, treading to float or floating to tread.
When I see things like federal employee unions, it gets me riled up.
I understand the tortoise and hare game, but I cannot appreciate the tortoise out-competing the market that is it's sole support.
Federal Employees, like all are of many different calibers and qualities. But lower pay and pensions must be accepted in exchange for job stability.
The bigger it gets, the smaller it's support base gets.
On a personal note, I have met few Federal Employees I have dis-liked. Very few.
#5
have a better defined benefit pension than many private sector people
If you have any defined benefit pension to look forward to, you are way ahead of the vast majority of private sector workers, whose only defined benefit is Social Security. Defined benefit pensions in the private sector are going the way of the dodo, except for a few of the elite private employees, like CEO's.
#6
Few gov't workers paint the rest as lazy.
yes there are a buhch that aren't worth the sweat off your ballz, but most put in an honest ( and then some) day's work.
Spousal Unit is one of those; and while i do have a bias, she routinely travels on the weekends when she gets sent on out of town details (many not of her choosing)
The Pakistani Supreme Court has ordered an inquiry into the case of the alleged murder of four prisoners under detention of the military's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), throwing a spotlight on the secretive agency.
Eleven people were arrested by the ISI in 2007 for their alleged role in a failed assassination attempt on the former military chief and president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, in 2003. In 2010, an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi freed them due to a lack of evidence. On May 29, 2010, these people were again taken into custody by the ISI. This time the ISI officials claimed these people were linked to militant Taliban groups and were involved in terrorist activities in the country's restive tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
In the past six months, four out of these 11 men, aged between 20 and 30 - Muhammad Aamir, Tehseen Allah, Syed al-Arab and Abdul Suboor - have been mysteriously found dead during ISI detention. The ISI said these people died due to ailments.
On Monday, Pakistan's highest court ordered an investigation into these alleged murders and asked the ISI to bring the remaining detainees to the court on February 9, acting on the request of the relatives of the deceased. The court also asked the military intelligence agencies to submit written explanations about the deaths.
Advocate Tariq Asad, a lawyer representing the men's families, told Shakoor Rahim, Deutsche Welle's correspondent in Islamabad, that it was "abnormal for such young men to die like this in the hospital." He said he believed the men were killed and that he would file a murder case accordingly.
Bedouin in Egypt's Sinai region kidnapped 25 mostly Chinese cement factory workers on Tuesday, demanding that authorities free fellow tribesmen from prison, sources from the tribe said.
"We will not release the Chinese until our demand for the release of these sons of Sinai are met," said one of the Bedouins who wanted to remain anonymous.
The workers were kidnapped on their way to a Sinai cement plant. They are being held in a tent near a road the Bedouins have blocked to press their demand, the sources said.
They said the jailed tribesmen were arrested between 2004 and 2006 as part of an investigation into bombings at the Taba resort on Sinai's Red Sea coast in which 31 people were killed.
Security officials were negotiating for the release of the Chinese workers, a security source said.
Residents of Sinai say they are neglected by Cairo and have attacked police stations and blocked access to towns, villages and industrial sites to show their discontent.
#5
Actually, it would be very interesting if the Chinese tried some unconventional force projection for this, with maximum bloodletting to send a message.
Their people would learn all sorts of interesting and practical information, and everyone else would learn about Chinese unconventional warfare.
Unfortunately, China probably has a "Meh, there are more where they came from" attitude.
At least 12 al Qaeda militants, including four local leaders, were killed in a drone strike in southern Yemen, a tribal chief said in what he called one of the biggest U.S. strikes against the group.
Residents said the unidentified drone attacked the militants overnight who were travelling in two vehicles east of the city of Lawdar in Abyan province.
The tribal leader in the area told Reuters that at between 12 and 15 people were killed in the attack, including at least four leaders or prominent figures in a local Yemeni branch of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Residents said no civilians were hurt in the strike.
"This can be considered as one of the biggest American strikes because it targeted a large number of al Qaeda leaders at the same time," the tribal leader, who declined to be identified, told Reuters by telephone.
"Unlike in previous attacks, this one seems to have achieved its goals and, unlike previous attacks, it did not result in civilian casualties."
The Royal Navy's most sophisticated warship is being sent to the South Atlantic in a move that will send a powerful message to Argentina. Dauntless will set sail for the Falkland Islands in the coming weeks armed with a battery of missiles that could "take out all of South America's fighter aircraft let alone Argentina's," according to one Navy source.
The Type 45 destroyer is the most advanced anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic ship in the world equipped with 48 Sea Viper missiles and the Sampson radar, which is more advanced than Heathrow air traffic control.
The ship is in a league of its own in air defence able to track dozens of multiple targets.
"It can shoot down Argentine fighters as soon as they take off from they bases," said another Navy source. "This will give Buenos Aires serious pause for thought."
The deployment, expected in late March, comes as Argentina has stepped up its sabre rattling over possession of the islands with a ban on all Falkland registered ships in South American ports.
#2
I do not think that O will share sat intelligence with the Brits like Reagan did.
I would also guess that there are British submarines HMS Conqueror already about, but without fanfare. The Argentinians better think long and hard about another Falklands adventure. The loss of ARA General Belgrano could happen again.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/31/2012 9:42
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Top||
#3
The Argentinians no longer have the capability to invade. They are following the Iranian option - all mouth. Besides, with cruise missiles in Brit subs, all of Argentina can be blacked out in an hour.
#5
This has got to be so tempting to the Argentinan leadership.Reminds me of historical grand ships. HMS Hood comes to mind. Pride and glory. With Russian or China's help things could get ugly. I think Argentina will bide its time. Naval mines could cause a pause.Like Iran's Strait of Hormuz.
#8
Mining around the Falklands would be a mother bear to do; mining the major ports of Argentina, not so much. Besides which, the British have a version of CAPTOR and they can be dropped off a few miles from the Argentinian naval bases, pre-programmed to launch at their assigned targets from an ELF signal.
#9
The Brits don't have to mine Argentine waters. They just have to say they did. Better yet, they just have to say that HMS Conqueror carries mines and recently slipped into and out of the harbor in Bueno Aires, and let the world shipping community draw its own conclusions.
This is all blustering by the Argies. Kirchner must really be in trouble at home.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2012 15:02
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Top||
#10
It will indeed be interesting to see how Obama comes down on this one
Obama hates the Brits. Ironic considering the support of the Brit chattering classes before the election.
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
01/31/2012 16:21
Comments ||
Top||
#11
>Ironic considering the support of the Brit chattering classes before the election.
#14
"Cheaper to fund a world class golf course on the island. It'll get O's attention, along with in open invite."
Pk2 wins the thread! :-D
"Why? They hate Britain too."
Sadly, too true, BP. My condolences. :-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
01/31/2012 18:20
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Top||
#15
Lest we fergit, CHINESE DAILY FORUM > "UK CANNOT CONFRONT ARGENTINA".
UK Army General SIR MICHAEL JACKSON = Iff any new Falklands war does break out, THE UK COULD BE IN SERIOUS, EVEN CATASTROPHIC, TROUBLE IFF THE ARGIES EVER SUCCESSFULLY PENETRATE BRIT DEFENSES + OCCUPY THE FALKLANDS AGAIN, AS THE UK MAY NOT THE MIL OR ECON ABILITY TO RECOVER THE ISLANDS FROM ARGIE CONQUEST???
#16
Given the present sttae of ARgentia's armed forces, Buenos Aire's likely advantages oer the UK will stem from ...
> The UK = GREECE, ETC. IN 3-5 YEARS = by 2015?
> Scottish national referendum on independence from London.
> Sinn Fein's new support for Northern Ireland independence from London.
> ISLAMIC DOMINANCE OF THE BRIC = aka BRAZIL = sub-aka MERCUSOR BLOC = i.e. ISLAMIC $$$ IN SUPPORT OF ARGENTINA'S CAUSE VEE UK IN RETURN FOR ARGENTINA'S + MERSUSOR BLOC SUPPORT IN SETTING UP ISLAM IN SOUTH AMERICA.
* MAHA-RUSHIAN HISTOIRE' = The greatest Islamic weapon in the historical Islamic struggle agz the JudeoChristian/Christian nations has been the JudeoChristians/Christians themselves.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Guardian.UK] RICHARD GOTT: ARGENTINA'S CLAIM ON FALKLANDS IS STILL A GOOD ONE.
Argentina = can do an "Iran" + simply wait for normal International Geopolitics + Special Interests, etc. to take its toll on the militarily-superior UK = USA???
Al-Shabab militants have shut down food aid distribution by the Red Thingy Cross permanently because they say the organisation is distributing spoiled food.
A statement said, "Despite being offered unrivalled access to all the regions governed by the mujahideen in south and central Somalia, the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross has repeatedly betrayed the trust conferred on it by the local population."
The militia said it had made a "thorough inspection" of the aid group's warehouses and food depots and that up to 70% of the food was "unfit for human consumption, posing a considerable health hazard and exposing the vulnerable recipients to acute illnesses".
The Red Thingy Cross had earlier said some of their trucks were stuck on bad roads for several weeks in the rainy season and the food they were carrying was spoiled. That food was publicly burned after the militia had photographed of moldy beans.
Islam critic backs out of West Point cadet event after protests
Leftest groups like VoteVets.org, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and the Forum on the Military Chaplaincy petitioned (Issues Demand) Army leadership to stop General Jerry Boykin from speaking the truth.
Referring to the general as "Islamophobic", MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein said 27 faculty members at West Point and 74 students
none of whom would make a good blemish on Boykin's ass
have reached out to his group to protest Boykin's invitation, calling him a shameful representative of religious views.
#1
so I guess everyone have their rights too their own religous views except the general? Too bad some of these cadets are gonna be officers and probably high ranking officers in the future. Maybe Boykin can get a list of the ones that bitched about him and hold his foot on thier head while they trying too come up the ranks.
Posted by: chris ||
01/31/2012 9:03
Comments ||
Top||
#2
No foot to the head. Gen. Boykin is retired and only because he is retired can speak against the official line.
#4
Boykin, now a fundamentalist Christian minister . . . . Since his retirement in 2007, he has repeatedly called Islam the greatest threat that America faces, and compared its followers to Satan.
I'd hope that's what a fundamentalist Christian minister is saying. Or else I'd worry that he's, oh, say, Episcopal, and feel kinda cheated on the price of admission. I presume attendance was optional?
"This is exactly the wrong kind of message for the military to send,” Weinstein said. “We’re just handing al-Qaida material to use against us.”
Right. Because if we'd just shut up it would all be hunky-dory and they'd leave us alone. Good thing they don't know about our Billy Graham Bible Blasters.
It's important to note that unconventional warfare types are often unconventional themselves. It is very hard for them to get promoted beyond Colonel, because they are looked at very questioningly by conventional types.
However, after retirement, some of them will "go off the reservation", and tend towards extremism in what they pursue. My attitude is to admire what they were, and cut them slack for what they have become.
#3
And you cannot short-circuit the need to prove an individual defendantÂ’s direct personal complicity by throwing the term 'honour killing' against a clan, and then hoping to get an up-or-down verdict on the whole lot of them at once.
Given the behavior of these people, the lying, the coverup, and the general toxic atmosphere of this family and its so-called honor, please explain how the parents cannot be considered accessories before and after the fact.
#4
It's important to remember that the word in Arabic, and probably the rest of Islamic languages, commonly translated to English as "honor" more properly should be translated as "reputation/face".
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2012
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Patricia Velásquez (Venezuelan) aka Meela Nais / Anck Su Namun in "The Mummy (1999) - The Mummy Returns (2001)" aka Nicole Willis in "Mindhunters (2004)" aka Carmen in "Committed (2000)" aka Pendra in "Beowulf (1999)" (age 41)
[Dawn] THE killing last week of three lawyers 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... was the latest reminder of the sectarian menace that haunts Pakistain. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 203 people were killed and 297 injured in 30 incidents of sectarian violence in 2011.
The map of sectarianism stretches across Pakistain, from 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... to Bloody Karachi, Mastung district to Lahore. Geopolitics -- in particular, increased global pressure on Iran -- and upcoming general elections in Pakistain are likely to intensify sectarian festivities in the near future. And yet, political interest in coining holistic policies to stem sectarian violence is sorely lacking.
Improved law enforcement is no doubt the best antidote to sectarian and bad boy violence. Deweaponisation and the prosecution of snuffies would certainly reduce the incidence of religiously motivated violence. Successful crackdowns against sectarian gunnies in the late 1990s and the banning of groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... (LJ) and Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistain (SSP) in 2001-02 led to a reduction of such violence in the past decade. But the recent resurgence of sectarianism suggests that targeted security operations cannot suffice to weed out sectarian violence.
Pakistain's weak judicial system and low rates of conviction have made 'crackdown' a euphemism for extrajudicial killings. As such, attempts to stem sectarian violence exclusively through law enforcement have invited retaliation (recall the many police officials involved in arrests of sectarian gunnies who were killed in the mid-2000s) and spurred an ongoing spiral of violence between the state and orc groups.
Moreover, while crackdowns in the late 1990s and the first decade of this century broke the organizational structure of sectarian groups, they led to the infusion of sectarian gunnies and their ideologies into other bad boy organizations. Members of the LJ, SSP and other sectarian groups joined global jihadi networks such as Al Qaeda that boasted more resources and a broader agenda.
A decade later, we're seeing a boomerang effect as sectarian groups return to their original mandates, but with the added advantage of enhanced training, more diffuse orc networks, sanctuaries, funding and other advantages proffered by links to numerous bad boy groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain.
In short, Pakistain's brutal history has shown that tougher law-enforcement can suppress, but not stamp out, sectarian violence. What's needed is a sustained state response comprising multifaceted, long-term policies. And the need is now greater than ever.
Developments surrounding Iran's quest for nuclear weapons threaten to ignite sectarian violence throughout the region. If Tehran proceeds with its weapons programme, Pakistain may descend into a proxy sectarian battleground where Iran and Soddy Arabia vie for influence -- a throwback to the Iran-Iraq war and its aftermath.
Conversely, if international sanctions rein in the country's nuclear ambitions, Tehran will find itself left with few retaliatory options beyond supporting sectarian groups in order to create regional havoc. Either way, Pakistain must take steps to ensure that it is less vulnerable to widespread sectarian strife than at present.
Focused operations against sectarian groups must be complemented by policy initiatives in the educational, economic, agricultural and media regulatory sectors. The need to register and monitor madressahs cannot be overstated: by design, madressah education intensifies sectarian divisions and blurs out religio-cultural commonalities. In the short term, the state must scrutinise madressah curriculums for hateful and prejudiced content against rival sects, and fund conferences and exchange programmes to boost interaction -- and thus understanding -- between sects. In the long -term, the emphasis must be on increased participation in the government school system, and the development of an inclusive, secular curriculum.
Holistic policies to counter sectarianism must also acknowledge that much violence has more to do with socio-economic or political dynamics than ideology.
For example, sectarian outfits originally flourished in Punjab, where Shia landlords stirred resentment among lower-middle class Sunnis. In an urban context, sectarian festivities between Barelvis and Deobandis are often sparked by attempts to take over mosques -- a form of land-grabbing which assumes significance when access to land resources translates into political power.
Tribal warfare, meanwhile, underpins the sectarian violence in Fata. As such, the state must prioritise overall development in the form of job creation and equitable land use, with a particular eye to sectarian flashpoints.
In an age of media saturation, attempts to stem sectarianism must also involve content regulation. The legal publications and websites of Islamic organizations and religious political parties, religious TV programming, and pamphlets of Islamic welfare organizations must be systematically screened for hate-inciting content.
This could prove tricky, as media professionals themselves are not qualified to judge whether religious content is accurate, permissible and unprejudiced. However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... the industry could appoint a panel of religious scholars to help moderate content.
More broadly, Pakistain must strive to develop an independent foreign policy so that Islamabad can engage on its own terms with countries such as Soddy Arabia and Iran that have the potential to stoke domestic sectarianism. Issues such as international financing for sectarian outfits must appear on bilateral agendas, but that will only be possible if
there is cooperation in other, mutually beneficial areas.
Sadly, the probability of any of these policy initiatives being pursued is extremely low, particularly since we are now in election season. Sectarian groups can be counted on to influence vast constituencies and guarantee victory at the ballot box; indeed, prominent members of banned sectarian outfits continue to contest elections or campaign on behalf of mainstream political parties.
Who can forget Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah's participation in an SSP rally, or the permission granted to SSP leader Azam Tariq to contest elections from jail during Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... 's regime? If political parties are unable to look beyond the short-term political gains that result from allowing sectarian groups to flourish, there is little hope of stemming this most heinous form of violence.
THE killing last week of three lawyers in Bloody Karachi was the latest reminder of the sectarian menace that haunts Pakistain. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, 203 people were killed and 297 injured in 30 incidents of sectarian violence in 2011.
The map of sectarianism stretches across Pakistain, from Kurram Agency to Bloody Karachi, Mastung district to Lahore. Geopolitics -- in particular, increased global pressure on Iran -- and upcoming general elections in Pakistain are likely to intensify sectarian festivities in the near future. And yet, political interest in coining holistic policies to stem sectarian violence is sorely lacking.
Improved law enforcement is no doubt the best antidote to sectarian and bad boy violence. Deweaponisation and the prosecution of snuffies would certainly reduce the incidence of religiously motivated violence. Successful crackdowns against sectarian gunnies in the late 1990s and the banning of groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) and Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistain (SSP) in 2001-02 led to a reduction of such violence in the past decade. But the recent resurgence of sectarianism suggests that targeted security operations cannot suffice to weed out sectarian violence.
Pakistain's weak judicial system and low rates of conviction have made 'crackdown' a euphemism for extrajudicial killings. As such, attempts to stem sectarian violence exclusively through law enforcement have invited retaliation (recall the many police officials involved in arrests of sectarian gunnies who were killed in the mid-2000s) and spurred an ongoing spiral of violence between the state and orc groups.
Moreover, while crackdowns in the late 1990s and the first decade of this century broke the organizational structure of sectarian groups, they led to the infusion of sectarian gunnies and their ideologies into other bad boy organizations. Members of the LJ, SSP and other sectarian groups joined global jihadi networks such as Al Qaeda that boasted more resources and a broader agenda.
A decade later, we're seeing a boomerang effect as sectarian groups return to their original mandates, but with the added advantage of enhanced training, more diffuse orc networks, sanctuaries, funding and other advantages proffered by links to numerous bad boy groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain.
In short, Pakistain's brutal history has shown that tougher law-enforcement can suppress, but not stamp out, sectarian violence. What's needed is a sustained state response comprising multifaceted, long-term policies. And the need is now greater than ever.
Developments surrounding Iran's quest for nuclear weapons threaten to ignite sectarian violence throughout the region. If Tehran proceeds with its weapons programme, Pakistain may descend into a proxy sectarian battleground where Iran and Soddy Arabia vie for influence -- a throwback to the Iran-Iraq war and its aftermath.
Conversely, if international sanctions rein in the country's nuclear ambitions, Tehran will find itself left with few retaliatory options beyond supporting sectarian groups in order to create regional havoc. Either way, Pakistain must take steps to ensure that it is less vulnerable to widespread sectarian strife than at present.
Focused operations against sectarian groups must be complemented by policy initiatives in the educational, economic, agricultural and media regulatory sectors. The need to register and monitor madressahs cannot be overstated: by design, madressah education intensifies sectarian divisions and blurs out religio-cultural commonalities. In the short term, the state must scrutinise madressah curriculums for hateful and prejudiced content against rival sects, and fund conferences and exchange programmes to boost interaction -- and thus understanding -- between sects. In the long -term, the emphasis must be on increased participation in the government school system, and the development of an inclusive, secular curriculum.
Holistic policies to counter sectarianism must also acknowledge that much violence has more to do with socio-economic or political dynamics than ideology.
For example, sectarian outfits originally flourished in Punjab, where Shia landlords stirred resentment among lower-middle class Sunnis. In an urban context, sectarian festivities between Barelvis and Deobandis are often sparked by attempts to take over mosques -- a form of land-grabbing which assumes significance when access to land resources translates into political power.
Tribal warfare, meanwhile, underpins the sectarian violence in Fata. As such, the state must prioritise overall development in the form of job creation and equitable land use, with a particular eye to sectarian flashpoints.
In an age of media saturation, attempts to stem sectarianism must also involve content regulation. The legal publications and websites of Islamic organizations and religious political parties, religious TV programming, and pamphlets of Islamic welfare organizations must be systematically screened for hate-inciting content.
This could prove tricky, as media professionals themselves are not qualified to judge whether religious content is accurate, permissible and unprejudiced. However, the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits... the industry could appoint a panel of religious scholars to help moderate content.
More broadly, Pakistain must strive to develop an independent foreign policy so that Islamabad can engage on its own terms with countries such as Soddy Arabia and Iran that have the potential to stoke domestic sectarianism. Issues such as international financing for sectarian outfits must appear on bilateral agendas, but that will only be possible if
there is cooperation in other, mutually beneficial areas.
Sadly, the probability of any of these policy initiatives being pursued is extremely low, particularly since we are now in election season. Sectarian groups can be counted on to influence vast constituencies and guarantee victory at the ballot box; indeed, prominent members of banned sectarian outfits continue to contest elections or campaign on behalf of mainstream political parties.
Who can forget Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah's participation in an SSP rally, or the permission granted to SSP leader Azam Tariq to contest elections from jail during Pervez Musharraf's regime? If political parties are unable to look beyond the short-term political gains that result from allowing sectarian groups to flourish, there is little hope of stemming this most heinous form of violence.
[Dawn] SAHIWAL: Farid Town police have captured 13 Afghan children from a private seminary in a rented residential house at Bashir Colony at noon today. The building was taken on rent by an Afghan national having a Pak passport and CNIC.
Police claimed that all the children were from Badakshan, Afghanistan and have been living illegally in Pakistain, Dawn has learnt.
Muhammad Saiee, Sub Inspector, Farid Town Police station said that police raided the private house in Bashir Town after being given a tip off. Neighbors disclosed to police that the children were getting a religious education from a Madrasah, which was being run by two religious teachers named Bashir Ahmed and Ihsanullah.
Qalib Abbas, SHO, Farid Town disclosed that not a single child has any legal documents showing their Afghan identity.
The police have incarcerated Bashir Ahmed, the seminary teacher. He ran all the seminary affairs including providing food to the children in the rented house. Dawn learnt from police sources that Ihsanullah, the head teacher of the seminary has not been incarcerated.
"We have been told that he has gone to Afghanistan from the last 25 days" the SHO further added.
The police has registered FIR (55/12) under Section 14, Foreigner Act. The names of the children are...Gul Ahmed, Najeebullah, Wajhiullah, Habibullah, Ihsanul Haq, Faizul Hasan, Abdul Tawab, Kifayatullah, Sibghatullah, Islamuddin, Mukhtar Ahmed, Muhammad Saddiq and Shahabudin.
Children are in jug with the Farid Town Police. Ihsanullah is the brother-in-law of the incarcerated Bashir Ahmed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2012
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[An Nahar] The Syrian authorities have agreed to an offer by Russia to have informal talks in Moscow with opposition representatives to resolve the crisis in the country, the Russian foreign ministry said Monday, an offer swiftly rejected by the opposition.
Russia had suggested to both the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... and the opposition that they should meet in Moscow for "informal contacts" without any preconditions, the foreign ministry said.
"Our offer has already received a positive response from the Syrian authorities. We are expecting that the opposition will also give their assent in the next days and put the interests of the Syrian people before any other ideas," it said.
But the head of the Syrian National Council said later on Monday that the opposition rejects all talks with the Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... regime until President Bashir al-Assad steps down.
"The resignation of Assad is the condition for any negotiation on the transition to a democratic government in Syria," Burhan Ghalioun told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Moscow's diplomatic moves come at a time of mounting concern that the festivities between the opposition and regime forces have become even deadlier with 80 people killed across Syria on Sunday alone, according to activists.
This is on top of what the United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... said at the start of January already amounted to 5,400 deaths in the standoff.
Russia also appears keen to prove it is playing a constructive role to defuse the crisis, amid mounting Western frustration over Moscow's refusal to support a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the Assad regime.
The foreign ministry said that the talks in Moscow were "acutely necessary for the immediate cessation of all violence in Syria and preventing a bloody split in society."
They would also help ensure the "success for profound democratic changes in the country, in line with the hopes of all Syrians."
Russia said its offer to host talks was motivated by its desire to see an end to the crisis "through a peaceful mechanism worked out by the Syrians themselves, without international interference."
Moscow still maintains close ties with the secular regime in Damascus that were cultivated under Assad's father and strongman predecessor Hafez al-Assad and extend to having a naval base in the country and supplying arms.
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#1
Fig leaf for Assad and perhaps Russia itself. Russia has to be taking a hit for blocking Security Council resolutions on Syria.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/31/2012 18:12
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[Iran Press TV] Syrian troops have regained control of some suburbs in the capital, Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... , which were held by terrorist groups, reports say.
The Syrian army on Monday retook control of the eastern suburbs of Damascus, including Kfar Batna, Saqba, Jisreen, and Arbeen, days after terrorist groups fighting against the government of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... attacked the area and took up positions there.
According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, dozens of civilians were maimed during the exchange of fire between Syrian troops and terrorists.
A front man for the anti-government forces of the terrorist ''Free Syrian Army'' confirmed the withdrawal of the gunnies from the Damascus suburbs.
Activists say gangs had come as close as 8 km to Damascus and that they were launching attacks on government troops.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... Russia's Foreign Ministry has announced that it has invited Syrian officials and the opposition to meet for talks in Moscow, and that the Syrian authorities have agreed to negotiations.
The Syrian National Council, however, has said that it will not join the talks aimed at ending months of unrest in the country.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March. Many people have bit the dust in the country over the past 10 months. Damascus says over 2,000 security forces have been killed in the unrest.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing protesters. But Damascus blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2012
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#1
This is a very important event. Instead of being "proactive", on the offense, the Syrian army has been forced to be "reactive", counterattacking to regain lost ground.
This change is militarily significant, and signals a shift in momentum.
[An Nahar] The opposition Syrian National Council warned on Monday of a possible "massacre" of hundreds of young men rounded up by security forces in a town near Damascus. ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... It voiced "fears over a possible liquidation of hundreds of young men that Syrian security services have gathered in a public square in Rankous," 40 kilometers north of the capital, in a statement received by Agence La Belle France Presse.
The SNC called for the Arab and international media "to act quickly to follow this issue."
Security forces "raided Rankous this morning, backed by tanks and rocket-launchers ... and launched a campaign of arrests," it said.
"The authorities have cut off electricity, telephone lines and water. They have imposed a siege on Rankous, preventing food and medical aid from entering" the town of 25,000 inhabitants.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier that troops penetrated Rankous after shelling the town which had been encircled for six days.
The rights group and activists at the scene said army deserters pulled out of Rankous as troops moved in. The assault reportedly cost the lives of two deserters and left dozens of civilians maimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2012
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#1
See also TOPIX > SYRIAN GOVT. FORCES CLAIM TO REGAIN DAMASCUS [outskirts = suburbs].
Yoohoo, Arab League = desired future NO-US-OR-NATO-REQUIRED OWG ISLAMIC UNION, I'm still a'lookin at you.
[An Nahar] Security forces have executed Free Syrian Army colonel Hussein Harmush, a founder of the rebel group made up of soldiers who defected, the Syrian League for Human Rights said on Monday.
"An air force intelligence unit last week carried out a sentence to shoot dead officer Hussein Harmush," the non-governmental group said in a statement.
The report could not be immediately confirmed.
In June, Harmush became the first Syrian military officer to publicly declare his opposition to the regime's deadly crackdown on protesters while speaking to Agence La Belle France Presse in the Turkish village of Guvecci.
Months later, his "confessions" were aired on Syrian national television after his return home in unclear circumstances. Many refugees are convinced he was kidnapped by Syrian agents from a refugee camp.
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[Dawn] A jacket wallah killed a cut-thoat commander in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar who had beat feet two previous liquidation attempts and three other people on Monday, police said.
The attack damaged a house that commander Haji Akhunzada was building in Pakha Ghulam on the outskirts of Peshawar.
He was considered a significant force within Ansarul Islam, a homegrown group based in the lawless tribal district of Khyber, and had moved to Peshawar after escaping two other failed attacks in the past.
"It was a suicide kaboom, four people have been killed. Haji Akhunzada is among the dead," Imtiaz Shah, a police brass hat, told AFP.
A bomb disposal official said it was a suicide attack.
"Evidence collected from site shows that a suicide bomber was involved," Hukam Khan told AFP.
Pak officials, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , blamed rival cut-thoat group, Lashkar-i-Islam for Monday's killings. Lashkar-i-Islam is another homegrown cut-thoat group in Khyber led by warlord Mangal Bagh ...a former bus driver, now head of the Deobandi bandido group Lashkar-e-Islam and the Terror of Khyber Agency... Ahmad, the top government official in Peshawar, told AFP that Akhunzada and his son-in-law were among the dead.
The bomber was dropped off by a motorcyclist, then walked to the house under construction and detonated his vest, Ahmad added.
Ansarul Islam and Lashkar-i-Islam have a history of killing each other's fighters, police said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami
#1
So will the Hatfields - er, Ansarul Islam - retaliate against the McCoys Lashkar-i-Islam? On the surface this looks like a potential long-term serial, worth plenty of popcorn, but maybe I'm missing something.
[Iran Press TV] Fearless Leader of the Islamic Revolution ...Iran's doddering head theocrat... Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei ...the successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the actual dictator of Iran... says uprisings in the Middle East region are part of the battle against Zionist autocracy in the world.
Good luck with that. Thus far Allah has shown himself to be on their side, which means by fighting them you are fighting against your god.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the Zionists, US, and Western powers feel weak in the face of Islamic Awakening and "this feeling of weakness and defeat will grow by the day."
Please don't be concerned -- we'll have a chocolate bar, and the feeling will go away.
The Leader said humanity is standing at a critical juncture and is on the verge of a "grand development."
"Humanity has passed all material and ideological schools such as Marxism, Liberal Democracy and Secular Nationalism and is at the beginning of a new era," the Leader said.
Ayatollah Khamenei further urged the revolutionary youths to vigilantly guard the fruit of their efforts and not allow arrogant powers to "hijack" and "derail" their revolutions.
The Leader stressed that despite social, historical and geographical differences, Mohammedan nations are "everyone is against the satanic US and Israeli dominance and cannot tolerate the cancerous tumor of Israel."
Yes. A shame, that.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with foreign guests participating in the "Islamic Awakening and Youth Conference" in Tehran. The two-day event kicked off on Sunday with some 15-hundred participants from 73 countries.
The conference mainly focuses on the pivotal role of the youth in the wave of Islamic Awakening that is sweeping through the Middle East and North Africa.
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#1
America should have made Ayatollah extinct long ago.
An elephant in Amsterdam's zoo has made history after being fitted with a jumbo-sized contact lens following an eye injury, a statement said Monday.
"Win Thida is the first elephant in Europe with a contact lens," the Artis zoo said on its website.
The 44-year-old Asian elephant accidently scratched its left cornea while playing and the eye was constantly watering. The procedure lasted about an hour, the statement said.
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#1
Awwwww, no Pachyderm wid OVERSIZED GLASSES, or at least THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPETT [Don Knotts]???
#4
#3: There are a lot of old Trunks in this country that desperately need a fitting of new lenses. Posted by: Procopius2k|
Actually, those Trunks need new brains. Theirs has atrophied from lack of use. The TEA Party passed out some elixir, but the majority of the Trunks refused to take it.
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"It's bad planning by the military, when coming up with the initial design, and bad planning on the part of the few manufacturers that have a monopoly on building certain types of weapons systems. Monopolies do not encourage efficiency."
[Bangla Daily Star] A 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... activist was killed and around 80 others, including 19 cops, were maimed in festivities between law enforcers and Jamaat-Shibir men in the city's Hatim Khan area yesterday afternoon.
The dead man, Shafiqul Islam, son of Abdur Rahman Sheikh of Basua Achintola in Rajshahi, worked at Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited Hospital. He was the father of a child.
The 30-year-old was already dead when he was taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. He was shot in the back near the neck, said Habibur Rahman, an emergency medical officer of the hospital.
The BNP-led four-party alliance will enforce a half-day hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... in the city today to protest the killing.
Mizanur Rahman Minu, president of Rajshahi city BNP, announced the programme at a press briefing in the evening.
Witnesses said Shafique was hit by a bullet when police, under attack, opened fire on the violent activists of Jamaat and Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... around 4:45pm.
M Obaidullah, commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police, said they were yet to know how the man was killed. He claimed that police fired rubber bullets and shotgun shells only to scatter the rioting party men and that they had targeted nobody.
"Moreover, the killing took place when the law enforcers already started falling back," he added.
The RMP commissioner also claimed that gun-wielding Jamaat-Shibir activists fired at police.
Following the festivities, some 53 people were nabbed from different parts of the city.
At least 19 copperswere maimed as Jamaat-Shibir men hurled brick chips and lobbed cocktails, witnesses and RMP officials said.
The injured, including inspectors Tofazzal Hossain of Detective Branch and Khan M Shahriar of Boalia Police Station, were admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.
Yesterday, huge contingents of police were deployed at different points, including Saheb Bazar, Rajshahi College and Shah Makhdum College, in the city from 3:00pm as the four-party alliance was set to hold agitations.
Around 4:00pm, BNP leaders Mizanur Rahman Minu and Nadim Mostafa brought out separate processions from Lokhnath School and Rajshahi College points.
Police soon intercepted Nadim's procession while Minu and his men marched to Bhubon Mohon Park and held a rally there.
Later at about 4:30pm, a big procession of Jamaat and Shibir marched from Hatim Khan to Lokhnath School but was stopped by police at the northern corner of the school.
Enraged, Jamaat-Shibir men started pelting law enforcers with brick chips and stones. The area was engulfed in smoke as they went kaboom! three cocktails.
The activists chased the cops twice up to the Rajshahi College point.
After reinforcement, police chased the Jamaat-Shibir men, firing rubber bullets and teargas canisters.
At one stage, Shafiqul was found lying "unconscious" on the road and minutes later, a police van took him to hospital, witnesses said.
Shafiqul was seen throwing brickbats at police moments before a bullet hit him, they added.
The disturbances lasted till 5:00pm when the law enforcers brought the situation under control.
"Hatim Khan area is a bastion of Jamaat-Shibir. Police had to retreat thrice during the festivities as they ran short of teargas canisters and bullets", said Additional RMP Commissioner M Moniruzzaman.
Tension ran high in the city with shops keeping their shutters down and roads being almost empty.
Emaj Uddin Mondol, the city unit Jamaat assistant secretary, said some 60 Jamaat-Shibir activists were maimed in police action and many of them were bullet hit. They were taken to Islami Bank Bangladesh Hospital and different clinics.
Law enforcers had shot into the Jamaat procession without any provocation, he claimed.
Islami Chhatra Shibir, a pro-Jamaat student body, condemned the killing and also "police brutality".
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[Dawn] Armed assailants on Monday carried out a grenade attack in front of a cellular-phone shop in Bloody Karachi's ...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... Lyari, DawnNews reported.
At least three people were reported injured in the attack in the Bahar Colony area of Lyari.
Meanwhile, ...back at the scene of the crime, Lieutenant Queeg had an idea: there was a simple way to tell whether Manetti had been the triggerman -- just look at his shoes!... at least three people bit the dust after suffering from gunshot wounds as unidentified armed attackers opened fire in North Bloody Karachi.
The incident happened at the Power House Chowrangi area of North Bloody Karachi on Monday night. One of the victims was struck down in his prime while two others succumbed to injuries at the hospital.
The identity of the dear departed was yet to be ascertained.
Earlier in the day, a young man named Taseer Abbas was also bumped off near Ancholi while another bullet riddled body was found from Baldia town.
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[An Nahar] Russia will not back a new draft resolution on Syria, its deputy foreign minister said Monday ahead of the U.N. Security Council's debate over the latest Western-backed proposal.
"The current Western draft has not gone too far from the October version, and, certainly, cannot be supported by us," Gennady Gatilov told Interfax news agency in an interview.
"The draft has statements in it calling on the member states to stop arms deliveries to Syria," he said.
"But there is no clear line between arms contraband that some countries engage in to support Death Eater forces in Syria, and the legal military-technical ties with this country," he said.
Gatilov said Moscow wanted any Security Council resolution on Syria to include "our fundamental guidelines: inadmissibility of violence..., appeal to the authorities and opposition to begin dialogue, unacceptability of foreign armed intervention ... and an imposition or threat of sanctions.
"It is not in our political practice to bargain over issues of principal importance," Gatilov said.
Russia, which has resisted Western calls to back U.N. sanctions against Syria, had suggested to both Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... 's regime and the opposition that they should meet in Moscow for "informal contacts" without any preconditions.
Russia and China placed a rare double veto on the first draft resolution last year, which placed the blame for the violence directly on Assad.
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#1
So call their bluff. See what stage II looks like.
#3
If anyone read the piece by Putin in today's "The Washington Times", #1 Pencil may well be ignored and left to play patty-cake with the rest of his impotent hot-headed camel driving cretin brethren...Let's use our own oil, etc and give these scum enough room to wipe themselves out. Personally? I don't care if I ever hear an Arabic-sounding name or idiom the next millennium.
Conservative bloggers are lashing out against the Republican “establishment” for a redistricting map that could harm tea party favorite Rep. Allen West’s (R-Fla.) reelection chances, even sparking a conspiracy that pins the alleged campaign against West on Mitt Romney.
The rightÂ’s blogosphere has been buzzing over the last few days about a redistricting plan passed by the Republican-controlled Florida legislature that would put West in a district that is even more Democratic than the one he currently occupies.
#4
During his draft deferment years, Mitts suffered his missionary service at the Rue De Lota home base, which had been owned by an affluent Jewish family before the Nazis seized it during the War. The LDS purchased the it in 1952.
#5
Word is, a lot of Democrats are voting in the Republican primary for Romney, denying the republican party of the ability to choose a true conservative. Indeed Obama-lite vs Obama is thier goal.
Mod Note: Florida is a Closed Primary State
Note from another moderator: It's best to check on the basic facts in such matters. Just to be very clear, a closed primary = Dems can't vote in the primary. And if they managed to change their party registration last year, they can't switch to vote Dem in the national election.
#6
Conservatives pointed out that a major player in the process, Florida Speaker Designate Will Weatherford, has been a surrogate for Mitt Romney in the past. Some used this fact to suggest that Romney was involved in a campaign against Allen West.
The Michael Bloomberg of Massachusetts. This is two presidential elections in a row where Democrats pick the Republican nominee.
#10
See the above mod note. FL has a closed primary, which means the only way registered Dems can vote in the primary is if they changed their registration last year, well before the field had slimmed down at all.
#17
Mr. West, smart as he is, will hopefully now buckle down to the task of learning the strategy, tactics, battlefields, and allies/enemies of Republican/conservative politiicians. Getting elected and representing your constituents is only part of the job.
In other words, more or less what rammer said. ;-)
[Tripoli Post] After a long-delayed trial, a Nigerian court Monday sentenced a former aide to late dictator Sani Abacha to death by hanging over the 1996 murder of the wife of a presidential candidate. Whoa! Betcha his family will be moving some big money out of the country with a little help from random email contacts...
Lagos high court judge Judge Mojisola Dada ruled that Army Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, chief security aide to Abacha, was guilty of conspiracy and murder of Kudiratu Abiola, the wife of late presidential candidate Moshood Abiola.
An aide to Abiola, Lateef Sofolahan, was found guilty of the same charges and also sentenced to death by hanging after the trial which had been repeatedly delayed since 1999. Nigeria has not officially carried out a death penalty in some 15 years.
Kudiratu Abiola was rubbed out on June 4, 1996 in Lagos. Her husband was the presumed winner of 1993 presidential elections, which were later annulled, prompting unprecedented protests in Nigeria.
The judge said that evidence had been manifestedly heavy that both men killed Kudiratu Abiola. He said: "In view of this, they are guilty of conspiracy and murder. The prosecution has proved its case beyond all reasonable doubt. In view of this, they should be hanged."
The annulment of the 1993 elections helped pave the way for Abacha to rise to power. He ruled the country from November 1993 to July 1998, when he died, with iron fist. Al-Mustapha was described as his powerful chief security officer.
Abiola, a wealthy businessman and presidential candidate, was jugged in 1994 after he challenged the military's decision to annul the vote. He died in jail a month after Abacha's death in circumstances yet to be clarified.
Abacha had allegedly set up a so-called "strike force" which hunted down opponents of the regime, a number of whom were either rubbed out or jugged, while some decamped the country.
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#1
I could swear I got a really nice email from this chap recently.
[Yemen Post] Six kabooms rocked the southern Yemeni province of Thaleh late on Sunday night, some 245km south to the capital Sana'a, triggering a state of panic among the residents.
Local sources told Yemenpost that unknown attackers assaulted the army
brigades in the town using Rocket Propelled Grenades(RPG) and that fierce clash ensued between army troops and the unidentified attackers.
Different kinds of weapons were used in the festivities, said the local sources.
No accounts of deaths or causalities have been released.
Residents in the province blamed the remnants of the former regime for the latest escalations.
Al-Qaeda and other unidentified organizations have stepped their offensives on army personnel and brigades lately, apparently taking advantage of a distracted and undermined government.
Separately, the car of Shalal Ali Shai, a high- profile figure in the Separation Movement, was attacked by army units after a quarrel with his guards, leaving one of his guards killed.
Shalal allege that it was an liquidation attempt and the troops were targeting him because of his activities. However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... the army denied that saying it was his guards who initiated the clash.
Massive popular protests combined with Shiite rebellion in the far north and al-Qaeda insurgency in the south has shaken Yemen to the bone, leaving thousands killed, pushing the economy to the brink of collapse, and triggering a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Yemeni outgoing President has signed a deal in the Saudi capital of Riyadh under which he transferred power to Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, the consensus candidate for the upcoming presidential elections due to take place on Febraury21, in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
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Indictments were filed with the Jerusalem District Court against five Palestinian teens from east Jerusalem over incidents in which they hurled Molotov cocktails at security forces in the Silwan neighborhood.
#1
Those weren't Molotov cocktails; they were just bottles of cleaning fluid the kids were using to scrub down those dirty security force vehicles. You know, like the way they squeegee your windshield at stop lights. Security folks shouldn't smoke - it's unhealthy. The yoots didn't do nothin wrong, nope, nothin.
[An Nahar] Gunmen have attacked two more cop shoppes in Nigeria's second city of Kano, killing at least two people amid a wave of escalating violence blamed on Islamists.
One of the attacks occurred at dawn on Monday, setting off a gunbattle with police, residents said. On Sunday night, gunnies stormed another cop shoppe near a bus station, leaving two civilians dead.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the violence, but Kano, the main northern city in Nigeria, has been targeted in recent weeks by attacks claimed by Islamist group 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... The violence has included coordinated bombings and shootings on January 20 that left at least 185 people dead -- the worst attack yet attributed to the group in Africa's most populous country.
Monday's attack was the second in three days against the cop shoppe in the Mandawari neighborhood, underlining the apparent inability of the authorities to halt the violence.
"It was crazy. These guys came on cycle of violences and opened fire on the cop shoppe but they met tough resistance from the police, and it lasted around 20 minutes," Jamilu Muhammad, who lives across the Mandawari station, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Kano state police commissioner Ibrahim Idris confirmed the raid but said the gunnies "could not get access to the station," and were "repelled by officers." He made no mention of casualties.
"From my house I heard gunshots at exactly 5:50 am (0450 GMT) coming from around the cop shoppe," said a local journalist who lives in the neighborhood.
He said cycle of violences were racing up and down his street as the sound of gunfire rang around the cop shoppe.
The attack occurred during Moslem morning prayers near the palace of the emir of Kano, the most important traditional leader in the city.
Dozens of soldiers went on patrol in the neighborhood immediately after the assault but most later left, leaving only a truckload with seven soldiers outside the cop shoppe.
In Sunday's attack, a large group of gunnies converged on a cop shoppe in the Naibawa district, sparking a shootout with police that lasted more than 30 minutes, residents said.
"Two civilians were rubbed out in the attack on the Naibawa cop shoppe," Idris told AFP on Monday.
He said the gunnies threw an explosive inside the police building, causing damage, but said no officers were hurt.
Kano remains under a dusk to dawn curfew following the series of bombings and shootings on January 20 that mainly targeted cop shoppes and killed at least 185 people.
Monday's attack was the fourth on police buildings since then.
On Saturday, a purported Boko Haram front man ruled out dialogue with Nigerian authorities and instead warned it would spread its attacks to another northern city in Africa's most populous country.
In leaflets distributed around Kano over the weekend, Boko Haram warned residents that it would continue to target the security services in northern Nigeria's main city.
Kano had previously beat feet the worst of Boko Haram's violence, and the brazen January 20 attacks highlighted the group's renewed strength.
The sect has been blamed for the deaths of more than 900 people in roughly 160 separate attacks since July 2009. It has claimed attacks that have killed more than 200 people since the start of 2012.
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Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines has renamed 90 of its 123 ships since 2008 in efforts to dodge sanctions, study finds; "Iranian ships are being shuffled like a deck of cards in a Las Vegas casino."
Using a series of legal loopholes, Iran has renamed over a dozen cargo ships in the past year as it seeks to circumvent sanctions on arms transfers and the supply of nuclear-related equipment, according to a new study released on Monday.
The report was published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and included an analysis of reported incidents of illicit arms and drug transfers in recent years.
According to the report, the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has renamed a total of 90 out of its 123 ships since 2008. The company has also reflagged a significant percentage of its fleet, which dropped off the list of the top 100 fleets in the world last April. It previously was ranked as the 23rd largest container line in the world.
Israel has captured a number of Iranian arms ships transferring weaponry to bully boyz groups in the region in recent years. Last week, The Jerusalem Post reported on efforts by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz to recruit EU countries to help counter Iranian smuggling throughout the region. Gantz raised the issue with European counterparts he met at NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... headquarters earlier this month.
Last March, Navy commandos seized the Victoria, which was transporting 50 tons of weaponry - including advanced radar-guided anti-ship missiles - to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, in the Gazoo Strip. The ship was owned by a German company and was flying a Liberian flag.
In late 2009, the Navy seized the Francop which was carrying hundreds of tons of weaponry en route to Hezbullies in Leb. It was also owned by a German company and was flying an Antiguan flag.
 "The Iranian ships are being shuffled like a deck of cards in a Las Vegas casino," explained Hugh Griffiths, one of the authors of the report and an arms trafficking expert at SIPRI. "There is a constant game of cat and mouse being played and the renaming and reflagging of vessels of different states is a way of trying to avoid inspection because of sanctions."
The report, Griffiths said, was the culmination of two years of work by SIPRI during which it created the Vessel and Maritime Incident Database which contains information on countries and shipping lines suspected of illicit activity.
According to the SIPRI report, in October 2010 Germany removed ships suspected of being owned by IRISL from its shipping registry after the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... imposed sanctions on the state-owned shipping company. The report claims however that despite the sanctions, other EU member states -- Cyprus and Malta - continue to have Iranian ships on their registries.
#2
And this from Rooters--using the tactics of the cartels, they will be using Swift or Dole containers from South America to a terrorist near you:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/30/iran-smuggling-idUSL5E8CU42820120130
STOCKHOLM Jan 30 (Reuters) - Iranian traffickers, trying to dodge an embargo imposed by Western nations over Iran's nuclear programme, are smuggling weapons on container ships owned by firms from the countries that imposed the sanctions, a think-tank said on Monday. Before 2008, when the United Nations toughened arms embargoes on Iran, the majority of arms and dual-use goods shipments to and from Iran were being transported aboard Iranian ships, or ships chartered by Iranian companies, it said.
"By using respectable mainstream European shipping companies in countries such as Germany and France, they make them their unwitting accomplices," said Hugh Griffiths, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Container shipping companies generally cannot verify the cargo they transport in the sealed containers..."What has been seized and is in our report is just the tip of the iceberg," said Griffiths.
"Like the Colombian cocaine cartels, they have in recent years come under increased pressure from a legal framework that allows their cargoes to be seized. So they have started to use ships which have no suspect profile," said Griffiths.
SIPRI said governments should discuss with the shipping industry ways of tackling the growing use of container shipping for smuggling.
"We suggest there should be more information sharing between the shipping industry and governments, because the shipping industry has a lot of valuable and currently untapped information - particularly ship security officers and the captains of certain ships," Griffiths said.
[An Nahar] At least 95 civilians, six members of the security forces, and two deserters were killed in violence across Syria on Monday, activists and a rights group said.
Security forces killed 95 people, including eight children and a woman, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said.
Seventy-two people were killed in the central opposition bastion Homs, fifteen in the southern cradle of the uprising Daraa, six in the restive countryside around Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... and two in the flashpoint northwestern province of Idlib, the LCC said.
Near the capital, meanwhile, troops penetrated Rankous, 40 kilometers north of Damascus, after shelling the town which had been encircled for the past six days, the Observatory said.
Security forces also stormed the flashpoint city of Homs, killing a family of six and a young girl, who was hit by gunfire from a checkpoint in the Karm al-Zeitoun district, according to the Britannia-based rights group.
Another civilian was killed by gunfire in Karm al-Zeitoun, and one in the neighborhood of al-Khalidiyeh, also in Homs.
Four civilians were reportedly killed in the Qussour district, while another was hit by machinegun fire in Baba Amro and a man was rubbed out by sniper fire in the city's Wadi Iran quarter.
A young man was rubbed out in town of Qusseir in the Homs province, the Observatory said.
It claimed that person or persons unknown killed a doctor in Shammas, also in Homs, while the state news agency said. ... and if you can't believe the state news agency who can you believe? Dr. Mustafa Safar was rubbed out by a "terrorist group."
Separately, rebel soldiers "attacked a minibus carrying six security officers on their way to make arrests in Hirak, killing all of the passengers," said the Observatory, in statements received by Agence La Belle France Presse.
Government forces responded by deploying two tanks which opened fire and killed three civilians in the southern city of Daraa, it said.
Elsewhere in the province of Daraa, cradle of the 10-month uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike... 's regime, a civilian was killed by indiscriminate gunfire in the town of Saida, the watchdog added.
Near the capital, the Observatory and activists at the scene said deserters pulled out of Rankous as the army moved in. The military assault reportedly claimed the lives of two deserters and left dozens of civilians maimed.
In the eastern suburbs of Irbin and Hammouriyeh, snipers were "shooting at everything that moves," the watchdog said.
Armed festivities also erupted between the army and mutinous soldiers in Hirak, further south in Khirbet Ghazaleh and Saida, as well as in Nassib, a village on the border with Jordan.
Meanwhile, ...back at the desert island, Bert was realizing to his horror that he'd had only one bottle for one message, and he'd forgotten to include a return address... the Syrian state news agency reported a "terrorist group" attacked a gas pipeline in Homs province, near the border with Leb.
"An armed terrorist group has targeted a pipeline between Homs and Banias, near the town of Tal Kalakh, in a sabotage operation," SANA reported, without elaborating.
Syrian cities have been subjected to energy shortages for several weeks, which the authorities blame on "armed terrorist groups."
The opposition says the regime carries them out to punish protest hubs.
Since mid-March, Assad's regime has faced an unprecedented protest movement. The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... estimated at the start of January that more than 5,400 people had been killed in the ensuing crackdown on dissent.
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[An Nahar] Thirty-five Ethiopian Christians, 29 of them women, face deportation from Soddy Arabia for "illicit mingling" after police raided a private prayer gathering, Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... said on Monday.
The New York-based watchdog said the women were subjected to "unwarranted strip search," while the men were beaten and insulted as "unbelievers".
The group was tossed in the calaboose on December 15 in a private home in Jeddah as they gathered to pray ahead of Christmas in the ultra-conservative Mohammedan kingdom which bans the practice of any religious rites except those of Islam.
"While King Abdullah sets up an international interfaith dialogue center, his police are trampling on the rights of believers of others faiths," said HRW senior Middle East researcher Christoph Wilcke.
"The Saudi government needs to change its own intolerant ways before it can promote religious dialogue abroad," he added in a statement.
HRW said it spoke to three members of the group -- two women and one man.
Those who were taken to court have been told that they were being charged with "illicit mingling" of unmarried persons of the opposite sex.
At Buraiman prison, officers forced women to strip and an officer "inserted her finger into each of the women's genitals, under the pretext of searching for illegal substances," HRW said citing the two women.
"She wore a plastic glove that she did not change," it added.
At the male prison, officers "kicked and beat the men, and insulted them as "unbelievers," the man in jug told HRW by telephone.
HRW said that Soddy Arabia has no codified criminal law that defines "illicit mingling", calling on authorities to release the Ethiopian men and women "immediately if there is no evidence to charge them with offences that are recognizably criminal under international norms."
It also urged Riyadh to investigate allegations of "physical and sexual abuse."
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[Bangla Daily Star] Police sued some 6,000 activists of BNP and 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... for shooting two dead, attacking coppers and vandalising public property in Laxmipur on Sunday.
In a similar move, Chandpur police filed two cases that day accusing at least 6,000 BNP and Jamaat activists of attacking on-duty coppers and using explosives during their demonstrations.
Four persons died in Laxmipur and Chandpur towns on Sunday when police fired on agitating BNP activists and supporters.
Over 450 people including 100 police sustained injuries as the law enforcers attempted to foil scheduled marches of the opposition in different districts on the day.
In Laxmipur, BNP's youth wing Jubo Dal activist Rubel Hossain, 25, and BNP supporter Abul Kashem, 50, died of bullet wounds while two rickshaw-pullers Abul Mridha, 50, and Limon Soiyal, 25, died in Chandpur.
Our Noakhali correspondent reported that Enamul Kamal, a sub-inspector of Laxmipur Sadar Police Station, filed the case Sunday night blaming opposition activists for the killings of Rubel Hossain and Abul Kashem.
In the case statement, the SI named 181 people including district BNP unit general secretary Sahab Uddin Sabu, district Jamaat ameer Foyez Ahmed and president of district Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal ...student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)... unit Harunur Rashid.
Rubel was buried at Dalal Bazar graveyard Sunday night while Kashem at his family graveyard at Charmonsha village in Laxmipur sadar upazila yesterday morning.
A correspondent from Chandpur reported that Alamgir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Chandpur Model Police Station, had identified 59 local BNP, Jubo Dal and JCD leaders in the cases. The OC in one case accused them of an attack on police, violence and murder and in another of using explosives.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... local BNP units observed a half-day hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... peacefully in Chandpur and Laxmipur yesterday, protesting the deaths of four people in the police firing the day before.
No long-distant buses were running in the town for six hours since the strike began at 6:00am, a Chandpur correspondent reported.
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#1
How did that work? Didn the police surround the entire crowd and herd them, sheep-like, to the police station?
[Bangla Daily Star] BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... yesterday said her party does not believe in army coups; rather it wants to go to power through an election under a non-partisan caretaker government.
"We believe in mass upsurge. We will oust the government with the help of the people," she told a huge rally in front of the party's central office at Nayapaltan prior to starting a mass procession in the capital.
"Take initiative to restore the caretaker government system and ensure continuation of the democratic process. Otherwise you will not get the time in the face of a mass upsurge. We won't participate in an election without a caretaker government," she warned the government.
Despite tension in the air centring ruling Awami League's (AL) "counter programme" the same day, thousands of leaders, activists and supporters of BNP, its allies, and like-minded parties thronged the rally venue in the afternoon to bring out the mass procession.
The demonstrators carried colourful banners, posters, placards and portraits of the party's top leaders. The procession started from the party office and ended at Moghbazar intersection led by Khaleda Zia.
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Nationalist movements promote and protect national language, culture and identity through political expression. They aim to control their affairs without outside interference. They are about managing their economic resources by themselves. They may want autonomy within a multinational state in order to structure it to protect their identity, or in certain cases for an independent state of their own.
Taliban meet none of these criteria in Afghanistan or Pakistain, and therefore cannot be considered a Pashtun nationalist movement. They take ideological and political inspiration from Arabs and other non-Pashtuns. They have consciously, as a matter of policy, targeted different cultural traits of Pashtuns, like tribal councils and folk music; they are not concerned about the language and promote mostly Arabic and/or interestingly, Urdu; Economic resources or their control is not their concern; neither is any political or administrative manifestation of Pashtun identity their goal.
They have killed a large number of traditional Pashtun elders in FATA and banned the Jirga as means of dispute settlement in areas under their influence. They have been eliminating the Pashtun way of life.
The term 'Taliban' referred to students of madrassas. The current use of the term started when Mullah Umar led some of those students to rise against the atrocities of the Mujahideen groups who had fought against the Soviet Union. In the beginning, even Americans considered them a force to counter pan-Islamists as well as the neighbouring Shia Iran. But very soon, international terrorists, mainly Al Qaeda, established connections with the Taliban.
Today, the only connection that they have with Pashtuns is that the term Taliban is a Pashto plural for the Arabic term Talib (student), and that they are using Pashtun territory. The only thing that unites these diverse groups is that they follow a particular brand of Islam. Quite a large number of them come from Punjab.
The Pak state considered the intervention of Soviet Union an opportunity to achieve long-cherished policy aims based on its threat perceptions from India. It had always considered Afghanistan's closeness with India as against its security and also feared Afghan claims about the Durand Line. In this situation it had always seen the Pashtun nationalist with suspicion. The unitary post-colonial state of Pakistain had always considered all the pluralist democratic identity movements as a threat. Due to the Afghan connection, Pashtun identity politics and autonomy aspirations, even within Pakistain, were considered more so.
Pakistain's use of religious beturbanned goons as a tool of policy began in early 1970s when most of the Mujahideen leaders who rose to fame in 1980s were backed to oppose President Daud's government in Afghanistan. This policy was furthered later by promoting the Mujahideen amongst the resistance movement at the expense of Pashtun nationalists (Afghan Millat, one such Pashtun Nationalist Party from Afghanistan, was denied freedom of action in 1980s) amongst the anti-Soviet resistance. The Pak state aimed at a social and political engineering of Pashtuns. It was believed that a secular Pashtun cannot be trusted. There was similar mistrust of the secular freedom fighters in Kashmire too.
The Taliban were supported before 9/11 with the similar aims - as an alternative to those liberal Afghan Pashtuns who were getting increasingly fed up of the warring Mujahideen groups. Even after 9/11, Pakistain does not talk about Pashtun tribal elders or Pashtun nationalists of secular leanings when it expresses concern about Pashtun representation in Afghanistan.
In FATA, the current Taliban concentration includes a sizeable number of non Pashtuns and Al Qaeda. The jihad boy challenge in Punjab is taken to be a completely separate problem, and the very strong presence and role of Punjabis in FATA is often denied.
The approach also suits pan-Islamists because it makes it easier for them to use Pashtun territory on both sides of the Durand Line as a sanctuary and provides them with a constant source of of foot soldiers. They are aided by the lack of modern state governance in those area. But none of the Death Eaters talks about this lack of governance, or the rights of Pashtun in any part of Pakistain or Afghanistan.
On the contrary, Talibanisation is de-Pashunisation of the Pashtun, and may lead to the de-Paksation of the Pashtun.
Â
An approximately twenty-year-old resident of Qalansuwa, in the Wadi Ara region of central Israel, was charged Monday with planning a shooting attack against IDF soldiers near Nablus.
A Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) investigation revealed that the suspect, Muhammed Abu Ali, is originally from Tul Karem in the West Bank, but was granted Israeli residency as part of the Family Reunification Act.
Abu Ali used his Israeli residency to shuttle between Israel and the West Bank in order to aid three members of an Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... terror cell to plan the terror attack against IDF soldiers.
[An Nahar] Up to half a million starving refugees could flee violence in Sudan within months, sparking a massive food crisis in newly independent South Sudan, the U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP) has warned.
WFP's Deputy Executive Director Ramiro Lopes da Silva said relief agencies were preparing for the worst, with Sudan's government in Khartoum blocking emergency aid into border regions where it is battling rebel forces.
"The numbers being used for planning purposes in the context of a worst case scenario, we are speaking of somewhere between 300-500,000 people" set to flee to South Sudan, Da Silva told news hounds.
"In a couple of months we are in what is typically the hunger season, both in Sudan and South Sudan, and obviously the impact on those populations is potentially very serious," he added.
South Sudan -- which declared independence from former civil war enemies in north Sudan in July -- is already reeling from multiple crises, including ethnic festivities, rebel attacks and some 3 million people needing food aid.
Over 80,000 refugees have already decamped Sudan's civil war regions of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile since last June, where Khartoum is battling rebel forces formerly allied to the now independent South Sudanese army.
The U.N. estimates that more than 500,000 people have been displaced or severely affected by the fighting, but the government, citing security concerns, continues to bar U.N. and foreign aid workers from the war zone.
The area is at risk of famine if substantial aid deliveries are not delivered by March, the American ambassador to the United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... , Susan Rice earlier this month, a warning backed by the U.N.
The numbers of people arriving into South Sudan seeking aid has at times been as high as at the peak of last year's Horn of Africa crisis, when extreme drought struck the region and famine zones were declared in Somalia.
"In the last week, we had days of influx similar to the peak of influx to Dadaab (refugee) camp in Kenya, so we are speaking of over 1,000 people a day", Da Silva said.
Da Silva said WFP had only until May to pre-position enough food for the rest of the year, before rains in the grossly underdeveloped South made roads impassable.
Over 300,000 people are displaced by internal violence in the South, which also hosts over 100,000 displaced people from Abyei, a border region both sides claim ownership of.
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#1
and obama's position is...
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/31/2012 13:17
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Two Veracruz state Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) political operatives were caught with MP $25 million (USD $1.9 million) in cash stuffed in two suitcases at the airport at Toluca in Mexico state following a flight from Veracruz city last Friday, according to Mexican news reports.
In a related report, a Veracruz state top cabinet minister resigned his post, possibly as a result of Friday's incident.
Mexican Policia Federal (PF) agents arrested Miguel Morales Robles, an employee for Veracruz governor Javier Duarte de Ochoa, and seized the cash -- all in Mexican pesos -- taking the money to a local PF office in Toluca.
Governor Duarte is a member of PRI and was elected to office in 2010.
Reports say after a brief exchange of messages between the Procuradoria General de la Republica (PGR), or national attorney general and the office of Governor Duarte, the money was returned. The reports were later retracted.
Morales Robles had on his person a letter explaining the cash he carried was official money. The money was reportedly "transportation money", which explained its presence but not how it was gathered or how it was to be used.
The two operatives, the other identified as Said Sandoval Zepeda, were travelling aboard a Veracruz state official aircraft. The aircraft was a Beech B200 King Air as identified by the registration marking and an aircraft database.
Sandoval Zepeda has been identified as a member of Governor Duarte's personal security detail.
A later explanation by the governor's office was that the money was to be paid to a private company in Mexico state, Industria 3, SA de C.V. for its participation in three upcoming events in Veracruz city.
In Mexico, it is not against the law for government officials to carry large amounts of cash. It is not, however, common practice for officials to do so. As of the moment of publication a PGR spokesman was quoted as saying the origin of the cash is still under investigation.
Despite reports in the Mexican press that the money was returned, as of 1632 hrs Monday on the website of El Diario de Coahuila, an unidentified PGR spokesmen said the money would not be returned until its origin could be proved.
In a reported internet radio interview, Veracruz state government spokesman Gina DomÃnguez told Formato 21 the cash was transported because an upcoming holiday made such as large transaction difficult. The implication is that Mexicans routinely get large draws on their accounts in cash for holidays and the state would be trying to compete for service with everyone else.
Later Monday Tomas Ruiz, Secretario de Finanzas de Veracruz, gave a broad outline for the cash outlays, mostly for artists and promotion materials.
However at 1836 hours Monday, a post at Animal Politico stated that Secretaria de Finanzas y Planeacion del Gobierno de Veracruz, the Veracruz treasurer's office, Vicente BenÃtez Gonzalez had abruptly resigned after only serving 14 months. In the news release Benitez Gonzalez thanked Governor Duarte for the opportunity to have served in Duarte's administration.
However, two Veracruz state politicans, Veracruz Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) senator Juan Bueno Torio and chair for the Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD) Steering Committee unleashed charges that money was in fact intended to go to PRI presidential frontrunner Enrique Pena Nieto to finance his campaign, still in the primary stage of the national electoral process.
Mexico state, where the bust took place, is Pena Nieto's home state and as governor his last government post.
The charge is an oft repeated one levelled against former PRI leader Humberto Moreira Valdes and former Coahuila governor after Moreira had run up the heaviest per capita debt load of any state in Mexico during his tenure.
As for specifics for the charge of diverting public money to electoral campaigns, none actually exists, except that the confluence of events that led to Moreira's resignation looks terrible.
The potential of malfeasence that led to Moreira's abrupt resignation apparently still exists and now, less than two months later, a potential political firestorm surrounding large sums of cash and where it goes, revives those charges,this time in stark bas relief to the upcoming election. To read Rantburg reports on the Humberto Moreira debt scandal in Coahuila and Moreria's subsequent resignation, click here and here and follow the links
As a related matter and for what it is worth, officially PAN president Gustavo Madero, the man who kept pressure on Moreira to resign has not publicly commented. However this writer could haver sworn that Madero did repeat the charge that the cash was intended for Pena Nieto, which was published on Animal Politico, but later removed.
However, in a Twitter post earlier on Monday, Madero asked, "Who do you think the PRI governor sends 25 million cash?"
Madero also posted a late, mischievous tweet calling the resignation of Benitez Gonzalez as being Moreira-ized.
[Dawn] The Sunni Tehrik, hitherto known as a religious organization, announced on Sunday that it was converting itself into a political party to be called Pakistain Sunni Tehrik. ...formed in Bloody Karachi in 1992 under by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. It quickly fell to trading fisticuffs and liquidations with the MQM and the Sipah-e-Sahaba, with at least a half dozen of its major leaders rubbed out. Sunni Tehreek arose to become the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque, headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was eventually bumped off by person or persons unknown. ST's current leadership has heavily criticized the Deobandi Jihadi leaders, accusing them of being sponsored by Indian Intelligence agencies as well as involvement in terrorist activities... The announcement was made by the head of the Tehrik, Maulana Sarwat Ejaz Qadri, who was addressing the "Pakistain Bachao Janisaran-i-Mustafa Conference" held in Nishtar Park among slogans of "Pakistain ki safety, PST, PST".
Mr Quaderi said the PST would launch its political campaign on March 23 with a rally at Minar-i-Pakistain in Lahore and unveil its manifesto and programme which would aim at ushering in a 'Mustafvi Revolution' to eliminate injustices and terrorism.
He said the party would strive for the supremacy of law, adding that student wings of the party had already been set up in colleges and universities under the name of Pakistain Islamic Student Federation.
He said the PST would field its candidates throughout Pakistain.
There will be no hereditary politics and the only criteria for leadership will be commitment to service, sacrifice and fear of Allah Almighty.
"Our journey will be for martyrdom for the glory of Islam and survival of Pakistain," he said. The main objective of the party will be to turn Pakistain into a welfare state.
Maulana Quaderi said that although 63 leaders and workers of the party had been killed it had not given up its message of peace, love and fraternity. It upheld the rule of law and continued its struggle against soaring prices, terrorism, oppression and injustices by organising rallies 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... , Sukkur, Lahore and Islamabad.
He said that everyone talked about accountability, but no-one took the first step of starting it from himself or from his own party.
"But from here, I start accountability of our leaders who neither own any plot or asset nor any bank accounts within the country or abroad. Their total assets and accounts are the people of Pakistain and the motherland."
He criticised the PML-N and JUI, without naming them, and accused them of using the sacred name of Islam for their political ends. He said Islam could not be enforced by people sitting in Islamabad.
He said when the aspirations of the party (meaning JUI) were not met its leaders quit the government and started exploiting the sacred name of Islam. These people, he alleged, were in politics for the sake of dollars and riyals and not for Islam.
He accused another political party of 'providing oxygen' to banned ...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organizations which were involved in acts of terrorism across the country and said that his party had decided to join politics to eradicate the menace of terrorism and "enlightened tsunami".
Referring to US drone attacks, he said these were not the result of policies of the GHO or agencies, but a reaction to acts of Islamic fascistiwho did not hesitate to kill their fellow Mohammedans by declaring them infidels and cutting their throats and limbs by using the sacred name of Islam.
They were now planning to impost their ideology by force in Sindh and Punjab, he said.
Maulana Quaderi referred to liquidation of two activists of the party on Sunday and warned the government that if their killers were not locked away within 24 hours, his party would hold a sit-in outside the CM House and Governor House.
Earlier, Allama Shah Turabul Haq said that the wave of terrorism could have been checked by arresting the culprits behind the Nishtar Park kaboom.
The real assassins who organised the suicide kaboom, he said, were yet to be locked away.
Haji Hanif Tayyab said the country was in grip of soaring prices, corruption and mismanagement, but the government had no time to pay attention to problems which had hit all segments of society, especially the poor and lower middle classes.
Other leaders who addressed the conference were Ali Nawaz Khaskheli, Shahibzada Rehan Nomani, Shabbir Abu Talib, Pir Rizwan Jeelani and Tariq Mehmood.Strict security arrangements had been made at the venue of the meeting to avert any untoward incident. Besides Rangers and police, activists of the party manned all entry and exit points.
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A theater in east London is staging new play "Guantanamo Boy" this week. The production, based on a 2009 novel of the same name, opens on Tuesday at Stratford Circus, located in an area with a large Muslim population.
Director Dominic Hingorani said, "Stratford wanted to start making emotionally challenging theatre for a teenage audience and we are in east London with a lot of Asian resonance. It (Guantanamo Bay) obviously has a lot of resonance with people here."
Hingorani said his adaptation of the novel looked at Guantanamo through the eyes of a Muslim teenager from Britain who is detained during a family visit to Pakistan because he is suspected of being a terrorist.
Although fictional, the novel was inspired by the incarceration of teenagers like Mohammed El Gharani, released in 2009 after more than seven years in captivity, including at Guantanamo.
"We are reimagining this experience through a teenagers' eyes. It was very important to keep an eye on the fact that we are taking the audience with us in order that they can engage." Hingorani said.
"I am trying to give the audience an experience that is unsettling and intense and to some degree a sense of how violent and upsetting that environment must be," he explained.
"Whatever your politics, we are talking about human rights and the consequences of human rights being expendable," Hingorani added.
#3
He was a sharia boy
She said see ya later boy
He wasn't good enough for her
Now he's jihadi man
Slammin on his head
Says your pretty face needs a cloak.
He was a sharia boy
She said see ya later boy
He wasn't good enough for her
Now he's a convict
Slammin on his pelvic
Does your pretty face see what he's worth?
#6
"I am trying to give the audience an experience that is unsettling and intense and to some degree a sense of how violent and upsetting that environment must be," he explained.
Inciting the yoots to retaliatory violence, then. Thanks, asshole.
"Whatever your politics, we are talking about human rights and the consequences of human rights being expendable," Hingorani added.
Huh? Expendable consequences? That statement doesn't make any sense. Must be using the Progressive Truth Generator.
#7
"Stratford wanted to start making emotionally challenging theatre for a teenage audience and we are in east London with a lot of Asian resonance. It (Guantanamo Bay) obviously has a lot of resonance with people here."
Oh, I get it. The director thinks he's found a way to sell some tickets. The man's a whore.
It does remain to be seen whether this trend leads only to warm winter quarters, or whether a tipping point of some sort has been reached.
A group of Death Eaters laid down its weapons and surrendered to the authorities in western Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province on Monday, the provincial governor said.
"A 27-member group of cut-throats - including its commander, Mullah Abdullah - renounced violence and joined the government in the Pashtun Zarghun district of Herat province on Monday morning," Provincial Governor Daoud Saba told TOLOnews.
The commander was active in the Pashtun Zarghun district and organised anti-government activities there, he added.
Herat officials had previously accused the commander of kidnapping and of terrorist activities. The commander survived several operations conducted by Herat security officials to capture him.
The commander and his men gave their weapons to the Zone Four Border Police in Herat province, officials added.
A week ago more than 20 Death Eaters in Herat laid down their weapons and surrendered to authorities.
#3
Why get oneself + Camels, Goats killed fighting the US-NATO when POLITICAL-LEGAL JIHAD = FORMAL GOVT. POWER-SHARING can achieve the same thingy(s), or better???
#4
WAFF > [KavKaz Center] EXPERTS PREDICT THE ISLAMIZATION OF ENTIRE EURASIAN CONTINENT.
* SAME > [Pravda.RU] TURKEY'S DEFENSE POWER [rate of growth] SHOULD CONCERN RUSSIA.
ARTIC = Russia + Turkey have fought roughly 30 conflicts oer the centuries, Turkey continues to court the Turkic peoples of Russia [Turkic Union].
* Also from PRAVDA > RUSSIA RISKS TO LOSE MANY DISPUTED TERRITORIES, to number of Countries asserting territorial claims.
* SAME > RUSSIA TO SELL DESOLATE LANDS TO CHINA?
ARTIC > PERT = describes RUssian labor force as mainly ALCOHOLIC, HIGHLY MARGINALIZED, wid LITTLE TO NO VALUABLE "HIGH WORKING SKILLS", + also TOO COSTLY VEE CHEAPER CHINESE, NORTH KOREAN, + OTHER FOREIGN LABOR.
* SAME > WHAT MAKES JAPAN CLING TO RUSSIA'S KURIL ISLANDS?
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [University of Windsor, Canada Study] AMERICAN MUSLIMS SAY THEY REJECT "SEPARATE" SHARIA SYSTEM, in US Courts espec as per Morals, Marriage + Divorce.
Ankara dismisses reports suggesting Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal will set up movement's new headquarters in Turkey; further denies pledging $300M in aid funds to Hamas
Ankara will not allow Khaled Mashaal to relocate Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,' Politburo to Turkey, the Turkish website Today's Zaman reported on Monday.
Â
According to the report, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc said that Meshaal's stay in Turkey was "out of question."
He also denied reports suggesting that Ankara had pledged $300 million in aid funds to Gazoo Strip's rulers.
Â
The Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... -based Hamas Politburo has decided to relocate following the growing unrest in Syria. It has been looking for another Arab country to host its headquarters, but has so far failed to find one.
Â
Mashaal had recently visited Turkey which, unlike its fellow NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... members, recognizes Hamas as a legal political party. The West considers Hamas a terror organization.
Â
Still, Arınc insisted that the relocation was out of question.
Â
Arınc stressed that Turkey's ultimate goal was "to realize grinding of the peace processor between Israel and united Paleostinian political factions," adding that Turkey believes that "strengthening the Paleostinians unity will benefit the Paleostinian people and the grinding of the peace processor."
 Meanwhile, ...back at the laboratory the fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight... Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... left Gazoo for a regional tour Monday.
Â
Haniyeh's tour is expected to include stops in Iran, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Â
Haniyeh is travelling with his political adviser Yussef Rizq, his minister of housing and public works Yussef al-Mansi and two key Hamas members -- Yehia Sinwar and Rawhi Mushtaha. The latter were released from Israeli prison in 2011 as part of the Shalit deal.
Â
The trip is Haniyeh's second since his appointment to Hamas PM.
WHILE Pakistain has endured two back-to-back years of intense flooding, mismanagement continues to mark rehabilitation efforts at both the state and private levels. As reported in this paper on Saturday, a lack of coordination between the government and NGOs in rain-affected parts of Jamshoro district in Sindh has resulted in the duplication of relief projects. Apparently, NGOs did not share their plans with the state, which is why several organizations have been working on identical projects. The report adds that the state's response in relief efforts has also been far from satisfactory. In a similar vein, the Sindh minister for Zakat and Ushr told the provincial assembly during question hour recently that over Rs3.6bn meant for the reconstruction of houses for victims of the 2010 floods remained unspent. He told the House that "modalities for the construction of houses" were still being worked out, despite the fact that it has been a year and a half since floodwaters first raged through Sindh. In this regard, the Sindh chief minister reportedly told flood victims to "be patient". Patience is indeed a virtue, yet failure to build the houses despite the passage of such a lengthy period of time and the availability of funds is enough to try anyone's patience.
This attitude of the state is not new as several months after 2010′s floods initially struck, there were millions of dollars reportedly lying unused in the prime minister's fund. We complain -- and perhaps rightly so -- when the world fails to loosen its purse strings for us in times of trouble. Yet when funds are clearly available we fail to put them to good use mainly due to the haphazard manner in which the state conducts its affairs. Along with the state, NGOs should declare the amount of funds that have been raised for the flood victims in 2010 and 2011, as well as details of where and how these funds have been spent. Ultimately, much better coordination needs to exist between the state and the private sector immediately after a disaster has taken place as well as in the long run to ensure transparency and effective rehabilitation of victims.
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[An Nahar] South Sudan on Monday accused its former foes in the Khartoum government of arming gunnies who killed over 40 people in a cattle raid, as the U.N. warned tensions between the two sides risk regional peace.
"A militia group from Unity state penetrated into Warrap state... and attacked people in a cattle camp, killing over 40," said Interior Minister Alison Manani Magaya, the latest wave of violence in the world's newest nation.
"This militia group was armed by the government of Khartoum," he added.
South Sudan seceded peacefully from Sudan in July after decades of war, but both countries have since repeatedly exchanged allegations that each side backs proxy rebel forces against the other.
Oil-rich but grossly impoverished South Sudan was left awash with guns after years of conflict, and brutal tit-for-tat raids by rival ethnic groups to steal cattle from each other are common.
United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... said Sunday tensions and a furious row over oil between the former enemies has become a major threat to regional peace and security.
"The situation in Sudan and South Sudan has reached a critical point. It has become a major threat to peace and security across the region," Ban told an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital.
Key issues unresolved at independence have escalated into bitter arguments, including a row over pipeline transit fees to transport the landlocked South's oil to port in the rump state of Sudan.
Juba said Sunday it had nearly completed a shutdown of its oil production -- the decampedgling nation's top revenue source -- after it accused Khartoum of stealing $815 million of its oil, and AU-mediated talks stalled.
In addition, tensions have been raised by their still un-demarcated border, parts of which cut through oil fields.
The South's oil-producing border state of Unity is a base for a number of rebel groups that Juba claims are backed by Khartoum to destabilize the decampedgling nation by attacking civilians and laying landmines.
Magaya could not name the specific group responsible for the attack, which took place over the weekend, but claimed that rebel groups in Unity state were collaborating with one another.
"The number of maimed is still not clear, but they took a lot of cattle with them," he said, added that the gunnies were from the Nuer ethnic group, while those attacked were Dinka.
He said government teams had been sent to investigate and that the corpse count could rise as local officials "were still counting the bodies."
South Sudan is reeling from an kaboom of ethnic violence, notably in Jonglei state, where a militia army of up to 8,000 armed youths attacked a rival ethnic group earlier this month affecting 120,000 people, according to the U.N.
The attacks were a dramatic escalation of centuries old tit-for-tat cattle raids, with aid workers reporting horrific killings, including babies beaten against trees and women hacked by machetes.
The U.N. has warned South Sudan faces massive challenges as the world's newest nation struggles to support hundreds of thousands of fleeing violence.
Last year, over 350,000 people were forced from their homes due to violence, according to U.N. figures, while since June South Sudan has also taken in over 80,000 refugees fleeing civil war in north Sudan.
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Four villagers were killed and four others wounded when gunmen attacked a pickup truck in Pattani province on Sunday night.
The police chief of Nong Chik district, Pol Col Chonvee Chamarerk, said the attack on the pickup occured about 10 p.m. after an M79 grenade was fired at the operational base of a ranger unit. The grenade blast slightly injured a ranger.
The rangers at the base contacted patrol units to set up checkpoints on Highway 418 to check vehicles traveling on the road. At Ban Kayi, about 2 km from the base, an pickup truck heading against the flow of traffic was attacked by an unidentified group of armed men and an exchange of gunfire followed.
Four people in the pickup were killed and four others injured. A team of police and defense volunteers which examined the scene found 26 spent AK47 shells and 30 spent M16 shells on the road. An AK47 rifle was found in the pickup.
Ya Dueramae, the driver of the pickup, told police he was taking nine passengers to the funeral of a former village chief. At Ban Kayi, they saw a number of defense volunteers. At that moment the pickup came under attack from many directions, killing and injuring the villagers. The vehicle was full of bullet holes.
Mr Luechai, the district chief, said he has ordered district officials to arrange a funeral for the victims and told relatives that the police would investigate the incident and make sure there would be justice.
Former defense minister Yutthasak said initial investigations did not support the claim they were innocent villagers. He said that according to a report he received a pickup truck and a motorcycle were involved in the attack on the ranger base. The motorcycle from which the grenade was fired managed to escape, but the pickup slid off the road while fleeing and came under fire.
Gen Yutthasak said that anumber of weapons were found in the pickup. He said the pickup driver's account to police that the people in the vehicle were on their way to a funeral might not be true. People going to prayers did not need to carry weapons. It appeared they were fleeing after the M79 attack.
He said, "Authorities are sceptical that those in the pickup truck were ordinary villagers."
[Iran Press TV] Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad says US Republican and Democrat parties are two sides of the same coin, and freedom and democracy are nothing but "a big lie" in the country.
The two US parties have been ruling the United States for more than a century, but they pursue the same goals and only differ in their agents, Ahmadinejad said on Monday.
"There is one group behind the curtain that leads the people on, but their objective is one," he added.
The Iranian president said whenever US officials run out of logic, they resorts to threats of using bombs and imposing an economic siege "and if any one supports them, it's because of fear."
The United States and its allies accuse the Islamic Theocratic Republic of potentially pursuing a militarized nuclear program and have accordingly used the allegation to push for four rounds of Security Council sanctions and a series of additional unilateral embargoes against Tehran.
Washington and the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... recently stepped up the pressure on Iran to unprecedented levels by imposing sanctions on the country's crude oil imports and Central Bank. The US-led sanctions have further been accompanied by repeated threats of a military strike against the Islamic Theocratic Republic.
Iran has categorically denied the charges and maintains that its nuclear program is geared towards civilian purposes including generating electricity. Tehran says as an ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency member and a signatory to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty it is entitled to use civilian nuclear technology.
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#1
Moud, Moud, Moud - its LISA, CAROL + MILWAUKEE TWAS DONE IT!?
[An Nahar] Swedish immigration authorities said Monday they were temporarily halting all deportations to Syria due to growing violence as Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike... 's regime continues its deadly crackdown.
"The Swedish Migration Board has now temporarily stopped all deportations ... to Syria. The reason is the dramatically worsened security situation in the country," the agency said in a statement.
The Migration Board had decided on December 16 last year the situation in Syria was so dire Sweden could hike the number of Syrians granted asylum.
"Now, the violence has worsened further, meaning no deportation rulings (to Syria) can be carried out," the agency said.
In 2011, 640 Syrian nationals sought asylum in the Scandinavian country -- a 52-percent increase over the previous year, according to Migration Board statistics.
More than 5,400 people have died in Syria in 10 months, including 80 on Sunday alone, as Assad continues to crack down on protests inspired by uprisings that have ousted authoritarian leaders in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Tripoli Post] African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... leaders failed Monday to choose a new chairman for the bloc's influential executive Commission, even though at one time incumbent Jean Ping seemed to enjoy a slight lead over South Africa's Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the ex-wife of South Africa's President.
President Michael Sata of Zambia told news hounds: "We went for an election and none of the two candidates emerged as a winner."
The continent's strongest nation, South Africa has lobbied hard to see Dlami, the executive branch of the bloc since 2008.
AU sources revealed that in the voting that is going on behind closed doors on the second and final day of the AU summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Ping was narrowly ahead of Dlamini-Zuma in the first three rounds of voting, but was short of the two-thirds majority needed for an outright win.
Dlamini-Zuma has said in a flyer, that if elected, she pledges to spare no effort in building on the work of those African women and men who want to see an African Union that is a formidable force striving for a united, free, truly independent, better Africa
South Africa said at the weekend that it was optimistic that Dlamini-Zuma, who was married to President Jacob Zuma until 1998, can defeat 69-year-old Ping, who is counting on support from French-speaking West and Central Africa countries.
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[Dawn] THE pages of history are littered with the remains of those that failed, no small number of them deaders to the law of unintended consequences.
Purposive action will sometimes have the desired and estimated effect, and may even occasionally yield some beneficial side effects, but quite often it will throw up a situation that spells disaster. The chain of causality is convoluted and many-stranded.
So it was that when Gen Musharraf liberalised the country's media policy, there was no way he could have imagined that he was thus committing himself to hurtling down towards a future in which his very creation, his much-vaulted "gifts to the nation", would play a decisive role in inducing him to vacate the seat of power.
Back at the turn of the millennium, there could have been no way of foretelling the sequence of events and regrettable decisions that, in 2007, caused people -- or at least, civil society -- and the media to throw in their lot with the judges and the lawyers, and the whole to snowball into something of a revolution complete with a dethronement scene at the end.
When the dust cleared, Pakistain was minus a soldier at the helm of civilian government but plus a number of institutions with a renewed sense of empowerment.
Fast forward from those days to now when in many people's view our erstwhile heroes have turned out to have not just clay feet, but disgracefully so. Consider the legal community. A citizenry appalled by the murder of the then Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer found, to its consternation, cause to be even more appalled by the support offered by a great many lawyers to the killer, Mumtaz Qadri.
Since 2007, we have watched unpalatable instances where lawyers have used strong-arm tactics in courts, against individuals that were part of the judiciary, and watched footage of lawyers clashing with the police.
Today, the more sensible of observers watch aghast as members of the legal fraternity vilify and ridicule a senior colleague -- who they themselves lionised a few years ago -- because he chose to represent the prime minister of the country.
The other winner of the events of 2007, the media, finds itself in a perhaps even more unpalatable place four years on. The major topic of discussion at the moment with regards to the ethical and professional compass of the country's media landscape is the footage aired on a morning show, the host, flanked by upper-class dames, chasing down couples
strolling innocuously in a 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... park.
From the defenders of freedom and democracy to vigilante guardians of our morality? How far the industry would seem to have fallen. Surely this is not what was intended by the liberalisation of the media.
The show currently being talked about is not the only one, nor is this the only channel, to have violated privacy, constitutional freedoms and even the norms of civilised behaviour in the name of either 'getting the story' (read: ratings) or crusading on the side of what individuals consider 'right'.
Such fare is what sections of Pak journalism consider defendable as something that needs to be exposed because it was in the overarching public interest -- trial and punishment in the anchor and his organization's court of morality and that too without a search warrant that even the police are required to obtain before they can raid the
private property of any individual. Again, surely this wasn't the intended effect of empowering the media.
One answer can be found in hypothesising that as a body, those involved in the 'revolution' of 2007 were given increased confidence and even lauded for seeing themselves on the side of what is 'good' and 'right'. In truth, though, like every other facet of a Pakistain that is broken and breaking down, all those involved were ordinary individuals, flaws
and failings included, elevated to a position of reverence for which they weren't prepared.
Absolute power, especially with righteousness to boot, is likely to corrupt absolutely -- and if not corrupt, then at least lend a sense of infallibility and invincibility that can lead disastrously, damagingly, astray. That one's man 'right' is often another's 'wrong' only further complicates a problem to which the only solution lies in the adage about my
freedom ending where your nose begins.
Yet the law of unintended consequences alone does not explain the viciousness and no-holds-barred fighting that is evident across Pakistain's landscape today, of which the media constitutes merely the loudest representative voice.
In the politicians' vengeful avowal that Musharraf be placed in durance vile if he dares return, in the vitriol of X party's supporter against Y party, in the demand made recently in the Punjab Assembly that those thought to practise magic at graveyards be issued the death penalty forthwith, in a body politic increasingly turning towards the violent and the simplistic --
everywhere, the eye of the imagination can see dogs, young and vicious and slavering, straining at the leash to pursue the perceived evildoer, the dissident, the other.
One way to understand this is through the Shakespearean lens of "Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the dogs of war". If 'war' is understood as conflict, then Pakistain has run the gauntlet over the course of its history.
Havoc has been dealt out by all parties, at every level, from the long running civil-military stand-off to the current turban-terrorist threat, from the politicians to the army to a society whose different factions are at war, from the bludgeoning dealt out by economic or employment conditions to the wretchedness dictated by illiteracy and poverty.
If there is viciousness and a sense of nothing to lose all around us today, it must logically have to equal the viciousness of the conflicts that created the dogs of Pakistain's 65-year-old war.
These products of war constitute the young Pakistain, the mob that rules the brave new world; and if the old guard looks on in dismay, repeating aghast that this torrent of anger is not what was intended ... well, so well it might.
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The Supreme Court on Monday directed the intelligence agencies to produce seven people in their custody on Feb 9, DawnNews reported.
An apex court bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez heard a petition filed by a woman whose three sons had been picked up by intelligence personnel for their alleged role in the Oct 2009 attacks on the army GHQ and the Inter-Services Intelligence agency's Hamza Camp in Rawalpindi.
The woman had alleged that her sons and eight other people had been kept in illegal confinement since May 29, 2010, and four of them, including one of her sons, Abdus Saboor, had died in mysterious circumstances.
Raja Arshad, the lawyer of Judge Advocate General (JAG) Branch and chiefs of the ISI and MI told the bench that the four had died due to illness.
Arshad further said that he was not aware of the nature of the illness but that his clients were ready to conduct port mortems of the bodies.
The chief justice mentioned that the prime minister had appeared before the court and told the lawyer that no one was above the law and the Constitution.
The Constitution provides people protection and guarantees their independence, he added.
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The Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... (HRW) in a news release on Monday said that the inability of the commission, formed to investigate the death of Pak journalist Saleem Shahzad, in naming those responsible was a matter of concern.
The HRW moreover stated that the Pak government should "redouble efforts" to find responsibility for the death of the journalist who had reported that forces of Evil had infiltrated the military.
Shahzad, who used to worked for an Italian news agency and a Hong Kong-registered news site, had told the Human Rights Watch that he had been getting threats from intelligence agents.
"The commission's failure to get to the bottom of the Shahzad killing illustrates the ability of the ISI to remain beyond the reach of Pakistain's criminal justice system," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
"The government still has the responsibility to identify those responsible for Shahzad's death and hold them accountable, no matter where the evidence leads."
The commission which didn't single out any person or organization for the murder, in turn, left the room open for further probe.
"The commission appeared fearful of confronting the ISI over Shahzad's death," said Adams.
"Shahzad had made it clear to Human Rights Watch that should he be killed, the ISI should be considered the principal suspect. He had not indicated he was afraid of being killed by bad boy groups or anybody else."
The ISI has in the past denied as "baseless" allegations that it was involved in Shahzad's murder.
Shahzad, a 40-year-old father of three, had vanished in May last year after leaving his home in Islamabad to appear on a television talk show, two days after writing an article about links between rogue elements of the navy and al Qaeda following an attack on a naval base.
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[Yemen Post] A bomb has gone off on Monday in one school used as a camp for refugees coming from a nearby trouble-torn province, in the southern port city of Aden, injuring at least 8 internal refugees.
A bomb has went kaboom! in al-Qadisia school, which is like many schools in Aden used as camps to shelter refugees fleeing the festivities between al-Qaeda hard boyz and security forces in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan.
The initial accounts indicate that 4 maimed children are in a very serious condition.
The bomb was carried by one refugee, who brought it from his hometown Zinjibar, the bustling provincial capital of Abyan, and that he did not mean to explode it, local sources told Yemen Post.
Abyan has witnessed fierce festivities between the army troops and al-Qaeda bully boys, leaving hundreds killed and forcing as many as 100000 to flee their homes and seek shelter in neighboring provinces.
Al-Qaeda has took over Zinjibar in May and declared it an Islamic emirate, but their emirate hasn't last long as army troops assisted by local tribes men forced the hard boyz out of the town.
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
[An Nahar] News about the alleged liquidation attempt of the head of the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch, Col. Wissam al-Hassan, revealed that Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... and Progressive Socialist Party MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... might also be targeted, according to newspapers published on Monday.
An Nahar daily reported that security agencies urged Berri and Jumblat to take precautions as they move from and into their residences in Ain al-Tineh and Clemenceau.
According to the newspaper, the homes of the two officials are under "surveillance," as other officials are taking precautions and moving by taxis.
Jumblat told the daily that "the security coordination is very important, amid the stage that the country is passing through."
"Head of the ISF intelligence branch is playing his role, and we shouldn't forget the accomplishments made by the branch in revealing the identity of a number of Lebanese for collaborating with Israel," he noted.
According to As Safir newspaper published, Jumblat was informed of the security threats during his visit to Moscow last week.
Concerning the controversial telecom data that renewed the dispute between Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui and the Intelligence Branch, Berri called on officials to implement the law.
"A judicial authorization should be submitted to the phone call interception command center," the speaker told An Nahar.
Berri's visitors told al-Joumhouria newspaper that the telecom data shouldn't be open to everyone.
For his part, Jumblat urged politicians, in remarks published in An Nahar, not to settle accounts with the ISF intelligence branch.
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#1
ION MANILA, INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > CHINA SEEKS CALM AFTER US, PHILIPPINES TIES GROW.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > "GLOBAL TIMES" SAYS CHINA SHOULD PLACE ECONOMIC SANCTIONS ON THE PHILIPPINES | CHINA CALLS FOR CALM AFTER PHILIPPINES OFFER [epxanded troops rotation]TO US
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > REPORT: CHINA SHOULD PUNISH THE PHILIPPINES OVER US OFFER | MAKE PHILIIPINES PAY FOR [anti-China] BALANCING ACT.
* SAME > PHILIPPINES SEEK TO STRENGTHEN ["maximize"] US DEFENCE TIES.
* SAME > US-PHILIPPINES RELATIONS BUILT FROM POOR [Chinese] PUBLIC IMAGE, among many Filipinos.
* WAFF > REPORT CALLS FOR STRENGTHENING DEFENCE BASES IN NORTH AUSTRALIA, espec close to the key West AUS NW Shelf Petrol, Mineral Resources
Zone.
Read, CHINA + in lessor REGIONAL BURQUA/HARD BOYZ.
* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > AUSTRALIAN NAVY TOLD TO BE MORE VISIBLE NEAR RESOURCE PROJECTS.
* worLD MIL FORUM > RAND: CHINA'S STEADY IMPROVEMENT OF DF-21D ANTI-CARRIER ASBMS INDUCING THE US NAVY TO BREAK UP + "SCATTER/
SPREAD" ITS COMBAT ASSETS AROUND ASIA-PACIFIC.
Lots of smaller-sized TG's + TF's, EBG's - organized mass formations of USN Fleet-Ship units likely to be held off until last possible moments. TRICKLING/CREEPING INTO THE BATTLE ZONES.
#2
FTA: "Iqbal said the MILF has always been ready to dialogue with non-Moro sectors in keeping with a strong Islamic tradition of consensus-building to formulate policies meant to foster harmony among local communities."
[Dawn] Pak Sherlocks and lawyers will visit India next month to gather more evidence for the prosecution of seven suspects linked to the 2008 Mumbai attacks, they said Monday.
Pakistain indicted seven alleged perpetrators over the attacks but says that its own commission needs to gather more evidence in India.
Delhi has called for "decisive" action from Pakistain against the perpetrators of the attacks and accuses its efforts so far of being a "facade", saying it has already handed over enough evidence to convict the accused men.
"If all goes well, the visit will take place between February 4 to February 10," senior public prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali told AFP.
Both sides, he said, agreed that the Pak commission could visit India between February 1 to February 10 to cross examine witnesses of the carnage in which 166 people were killed.
But Ali said there is a "possibility that the visit may be delayed" by the death of the lawyer representing alleged criminal mastermind, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
The dear departed's son, Khwaja Harris Ahmad, has applied to replace his father and the issue would be taken up by the court on February 4, Ali said.
The commission is made up of two senior prosecutors, a director from the Federal Investigation Agency and five lawyers representing the suspects.
"We can proceed to India before February 10 if our authorities address all the legal requirements," Ahmad told AFP.
Pakistain had wanted Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the Mumbai attacks, to testify.
But Ahmad said Kasab, who has appealed a death sentence in India, was not included on the list of witnesses whom the panel wish to cross-examine.
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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.
California will run out of cash by early March if the state does not take swift action to find $3.3 billion through payment delays and borrowing, according to a letter state Controller John Chiang sent to state lawmakers today.
California will run out of cash by early March if the state does not take swift action to find $3.3 billion through payment delays and borrowing, according to a letter state Controller John Chiang sent to state lawmakers today.
The economy did horribly in the last three months of 2011.
Home prices fell more steeply than expected in November, and consumer confidence soured in January, highlighting the hurdles still facing the economic recovery.
The IDF arrested a Palestinian member of Hamas early Tuesday morning, three months after he was released as part of the prisoner swap for Gilad Schalit.
What do the NAR, Consumer Confidence and CBO forecasts have in common? If you said, "they are all completely worthless" you are absolutely correct. 
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood will eventually cancel the Camp David Agreement, despite the group's announcement that it respects international agreements Egypt has signed, said Amin al-Sayed Ibrahim, head of Hezbollah's political council.
WASHINGTON -- House Republicans are expanding their probe into the Obama administration's energy programs, investigating $500 million in green job training grants that placed just 10% of trainees in jobs, according to a government report.
Kurram Agency
Punjab
Pervez 
[Dawn] SAHIWAL: Farid Town police have captured 13 Afghan children from a private seminary in a rented residential house at Bashir Colony at noon today. The building was taken on rent by an Afghan national having a Pak passport and CNIC.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Iran Press TV] Syrian troops have regained control of some suburbs in the capital, 
[An Nahar] Security forces have executed Free Syrian Army colonel Hussein Harmush, a founder of the rebel group made up of soldiers who defected, the Syrian League for Human Rights said on Monday.
[Dawn] A 
An elephant in Amsterdam's zoo has made history after being fitted with a jumbo-sized contact lens following an eye injury, a statement said Monday.
[Bangla Daily Star] A 
Armed assailants on Monday carried out a grenade attack in front of a cellular-phone shop in 
"The current Western draft has not gone too far from the October version, and, certainly, cannot be supported by us," Gennady Gatilov told Interfax news agency in an interview.
After a long-delayed trial, a Nigerian court Monday sentenced a former aide to late dictator Sani Abacha to death by hanging over the 1996 murder of the wife of a presidential candidate. 
Indictments were filed with the Jerusalem District Court against five Palestinian teens from east Jerusalem over incidents in which they hurled Molotov cocktails at security forces in the Silwan neighborhood. 
Gunmen have attacked two more 
[An Nahar] At least 95 civilians, six members of the security forces, and two deserters were killed in violence across Syria on Monday, activists and a rights group said.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] Thirty-five Ethiopian Christians, 29 of them women, face deportation from 
Khaleda Zia
[Dawn] The Sunni Tehrik, hitherto known as a religious organization, announced on Sunday that it was converting itself into a political party to be called Pakistain 
Ankara dismisses reports suggesting Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal will set up movement's new headquarters in Turkey; further denies pledging $300M in aid funds to Hamas
WHILE Pakistain has endured two back-to-back years of intense flooding, mismanagement continues to mark rehabilitation efforts at both the state and private levels. As reported in this paper on Saturday, a lack of coordination between the government and NGOs in rain-affected parts of Jamshoro district in Sindh has resulted in the duplication of relief projects. Apparently, NGOs did not share their plans with the state, which is why several organizations have been working on identical projects. The report adds that the state's response in relief efforts has also been far from satisfactory. In a similar vein, the Sindh minister for Zakat and Ushr told the provincial assembly during question hour recently that over Rs3.6bn meant for the reconstruction of houses for victims of the 2010 floods remained unspent. He told the House that "modalities for the construction of houses" were still being worked out, despite the fact that it has been a year and a half since floodwaters first raged through Sindh. In this regard, the Sindh chief minister reportedly told flood victims to "be patient". Patience is indeed a virtue, yet failure to build the houses despite the passage of such a lengthy period of time and the availability of funds is enough to try anyone's patience.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
Four villagers were killed and four others wounded when gunmen attacked a pickup truck in Pattani province on Sunday night.
Mahmoud 
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the intelligence agencies to produce seven people in their custody on Feb 9, DawnNews reported.
The 
Walid 
