All but one of 22 Palestinian villages refuse connection to sewage line, Environmental Protection Ministry says.
Swirling in the strikingly green valley below the southern Samaria community of Nofim is a rambling stream amid grass and trees – filled with dangerous quantities of sewage.
A subterranean sewage pipe connects to the underbellies of four of the five surrounding settlements – Nofim, Yakir, Etz Ephraim and Sha’arei Tikva – and will within a few months also connect to that of Ma’aleh Shomron, bringing all of the effluent to a treatment facility in Eliyahu.
Despite Israeli offers to connect the 22 surrounding Palestinian villages to the same pipe, all but one of them refused the proposal, Environmental Protection Ministry and Shomron Regional Council officials explained during an exclusive tour of the area on Thursday.
Instead, their sewage flows into the aquifer below and ends up directly in the stream, according to the officials.
“That’s a testament to the fact that we are doing everything we can to prevent pollution in Judea and Samaria, but nevertheless, the Palestinians refuse to cooperate,” Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan told The Jerusalem Post during the tour.
Although planned about 15 years ago, the pipeline was only constructed about eight years ago, and a decade ago sewage from the settlements as well flowed directly into the stream, according to Shomron Environmental Association director Itzik Meir.
Erdan expressed hope that donor countries would agree to only continue giving the villages financial support if they agree to connect to the sewage pipeline. Meanwhile, he also said he hoped that the relationship between the local Palestinian and Israeli communities would improve, though he certainly has doubts about this matter.
“Hopefully I will be surprised,” he said.
“It’s important for me to reveal whether they’re making political use of water,” Erdan said. “Or maybe it’s a problem of misunderstanding – but that is hard for me to believe.”
Another Environment Ministry official was slightly more optimistic, explaining that one of the 22 villages had, in fact, recently agreed to hook up to the sewage pipe, a deal that would be finalized in a few weeks time. The official said he could not reveal the name of the village at this point.
Yet a third official told the Post he suspected that the local Palestinian governments were unwilling to connect their villages due to “political reasons” – simply “because they don’t want to recognize Israel as a presence in the area.”
The Palestinian Water Authority could not be reached by press time.
Just when you think things could not get more stupid, the Paleostinians prove that it can be done.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/05/2012
20:18 ||
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There have been 260 attacks by unmanned Predators or Reapers in Pakistan by Obama’s administration – averaging one every four days.
The U.S. first kills people with drones, then fires on the rescuers and others who arrive at the scene where the new corpses and injured victims lie. The CIAÂ’s drone campaign in Pakistan has killed dozens of civilians who had gone to help rescue victims or were attending funerals.
At least 50 civilians were killed in follow-up strikes when they had gone to help victims. More than 20 civilians have also been attacked in deliberate strikes on funerals and mourners.
The CIA duly killed Khwaz Wali Mehsud in a drone strike that killed at least five others. Up to 5,000 people attended Khwaz Wali MehsudÂ’s funeral that afternoon, including not only Taliban fighters but many civilians. US drones struck again, killing up to 83 people. As many as 45 were civilians, among them reportedly ten children and four tribal leaders.
Clive Stafford-Smith, the lawyer who heads the Anglo-US legal charity Reprieve, believes that such strikes “are like attacking the Red Cross on the battlefield. It’s not legitimate to attack anyone who is not a combatant.”
Christof Heyns, a South African law professor who is United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra- judicial Executions, agrees. “Allegations of repeat strikes coming back after half an hour when medical personnel are on the ground are very worrying”, he said. ‘To target civilians would be crimes of war.” Heyns is calling for an investigation into the Bureau’s findings. I'm okay with this.
#2
Civilians had suppos already been repeatedly warned vee local Govt-Public Notices that they risk being detained + interrogated, attacked andor killed, etc. iff they participate in such activities, to which the Militants formally responded by forcing many Civies to act as "human shields" for their fighters.
Not that the Militants weren't doing it anyhow, ala "People's War" tenets or precepts, or that they "didn't know" such responses would had occurred.
#3
"US Targeting Rescuers, Funerals For Secondary Strikes"
'Bout damn time.
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/05/2012 20:40
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#4
Rather than 'rescuers,' or 'funeral goers,' perhaps a new term, such as "terrorists to be named later" or similiar should be coined by the NewSpeak Office.( note: in this sort of situation, where even a scorecard won't identify the players, I am OK w/ this)
#5
I'm OK with all of that too - can we keep a tally of most hits generated from a first strike? Something like, 4 Kia in first hit of car full of bad guys, 3 more in strike of first car swarm, another 6 in the second car swarm and so on. How many hellfires can be consecutively delivered?
CAIRO — Egyptian investigating judges on Sunday referred 43 NGO workers, including 19 Americans, to trial before a criminal court for allegedly being involved in banned activities and illegally receiving foreign funds. The decision is likely to further sour relations between Egypt‘s military rulers and the United States, the Arab nation’s chief western backer for more than 30 years.
Likely?
Beside the 19 Americans, those referred to trial included five Serbs, two Germans and three non-Egyptian Arab nationals. Among the Americans is Sam LaHood, the head of the Egypt office of the Washington-based International Republican Institute and the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. A date has yet to be set for the start of the trial.
The referral is the latest development in a long-running row between Washington and Cairo over an Egyptian crackdown on U.S.-funded groups promoting democracy and human rights.
On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned Egypt‘s foreign minister that failure to resolve the dispute may lead to the loss of American aid. Washington is due to give Egypt $1.3 billion in military assistance and $250 million in economic aid in 2012.
Careful boys, or Hilde will give Bambi a set of checkboxes, and you won't want the big guy to check the middle box on you...
The Egyptian investigation is closely intertwined with Egypt‘s political turmoil since the ouster nearly a year ago of President Hosni Mubarak, a close U.S. ally who ruled Egypt for nearly 30 years. The generals who took power after Mr. Mubarak’s fall have accused “foreign hands” of being behind protests against their rule and frequently depict the protesters as receiving foreign funds in a plot to destabilize the country.
Already, Egyptian authorities are preventing at least six Americans and four Europeans from leaving the country, citing a probe opened last month when heavily armed security forces raided the offices of 17 pro-democracy and rights groups. Egyptian officials have defended the raid as part of a legitimate investigation into the groupsÂ’ work and funding.
SundayÂ’s decision also slapped a travel ban on all 43 NGO workers referred to trial.
I think it's time we slapped a ban on all aid to Egypt. Let them find a way to pay for the wheat without us.
#1
While everyone was "passing the popcorn" while the Obama/Clinton backed hounds were chasing down Mubarack, knew the next major target would be Americans. Welcome to Somalia II.
#3
This is the leftist mentality delusion: "That rattlesnake / scorpion / black widow has every bit as much right to the crib as the baby..."
Yeah...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/05/2012 13:31
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#4
While everyone was "passing the popcorn" while the Obama/Clinton backed hounds were chasing down Mubarack
Aside from wondering if I'd read a more awkwardly-written sentence this year or not - no one "chased down" Mubarak. The Obama administration took the cheapest (on many levels) and most expedient option in favor of their interests. They didn't go much beyond that. Mubarak may be gone, but his backers are still in power.
You have seem to have this "passing the popcorn" thing jammed in your... fore-brain, and it appears to be causing you a great deal of discomfort. Especially since it seems to appear out of context. You might want to see a professional. Or try another phrase expressing your dissatisfaction.
knew the next major target would be Americans.
"Major target"? Hardly. More like a diplomatic rattle-around. The Egyptian junta will try them, then deport them. The message will have been sent.
Welcome to Somalia II.
Again - hardly. Spend some of your energy used polishing your indignancy instead on researching recent (post monarchy) Egyptian history, or perusing the blogs of Egyptians like Sandmonkey. It's a bit more more complex than "Somalia".
#5
NGOs always strike me as the worst kind of non-accountable, elitist bureaucrats
Because NGOs are often headed by them.
Much of what the two current American NGOs in Egypt are doing, was done up until forty years by US intelligence agencies. Since the 'reforms', it went to non-governmetal bodies, each loosely aligned with the center-left factions of both US political parties. And as g(r)omgoru put it, a "finishing school" staffed by the offspring of elites in order to get international exposure.
I don't think facing trial was in the curriculum, though.
#11
What does the Egyptian military want in exchange for these high value hostages NGO workers?
More money, the Blind Sheikh, or something/someone else?
By deporting these foreigners and closing down the NGOs they would have rid Egypt of these "foreign hands", sent a message and they would have avoided the danger of a serious confrontation with the West.
This looks like they're deliberately throwing down the gauntlet.
Pipeline has come under attack at least 11 times since fall of Mubarak; witnesses say flames seen from town in Northern Sinai.
The latest blast took place in the Massaeed area west of the Mediterranean coastal town of al-Arish. Gas pumping was stopped after the kaboom.
Egypt's 20-year gas deal with Israel, signed in the Mubarak era, is unpopular with some Egyptians, with critics accusing Israel of not paying enough for the gas.
Previous kabooms have sometimes led to weeks-long shutdowns along the pipeline, run by Egypt's gas transport company Gasco, a subsidiary of the national gas company EGAS.
(Ma'an) -- Militant group Ansar al-Jihad on Sunday claimed responsibility for a blast on a gas pipeline running from Egypt to Israel hours earlier, citing retaliation for the death in Egyptian custody of the group's leader the day before.
Muhammad Eid Musleh Hamad, also known as Muhammad Tihi, died on Saturday in his prison cell in Cairo.
Cutting off the Juices being the logical response to that.
He was captured by Egyptian security on Nov. 13, and accused of masterminding a series of bombings which have rocked gas pipelines in the Sinai peninsula.
The group also attacked Nakhl police station in central Sinai, a Ma'an correspondent said. The same station was hit by rocket propelled grenades last Thursday.
Egypt doubled the gas price for Jordan in October. Jordan said on Monday it would raise electricity prices as of February to cover the rising burden of imported fuel costs after loss of regular Egyptian gas supplies.
For the past three years, promoters of shale gas and environmentalists opposed to coal-fired power plants have hailed the sudden abundance of U.S. natural gas as a bridge to a renewable-energy future. But natural gas has become so cheap that many energy experts and environmentalists now wonder whether it will turn into a long, bumpy detour.
Cheap gas has thrown energy markets into turmoil. It is impossible for almost any other source of electric power to compete, especially coal and nuclear. And it has left solar and wind, despite their own falling costs, heavily dependent on government mandates.
U.S. natural gas prices, which hit more than $13 per thousand cubic feet in 2008, have tumbled to about $2.50 per thousand cubic feet. Rapidly rising production of shale gas and a warm winter have created a glut and pushed supplies in storage to 21 percent above the average of the past five years.
That has been good news for consumers, whose gas and electric bills have declined slightly.
You can just hear the groans from the green lobby and the rent-seekers...
And it is a hopeful sign for the chemical industry, which uses gas as a raw material, and the makers of electric vehicles. President Obama is promoting the use of natural gas in trucks. And since burning natural gas emits half the greenhouse gases of burning coal, it could cut the quantity of climate-changing emissions.
But with WaPo, there's always a but...
But cheap gas has also thrown energy markets into turmoil. It is impossible for almost any other source of electric power to compete, especially coal and nuclear. By trimming fuel bills, cheap gas has reduced incentives for energy conservation and efficiency. And it has left solar and wind, despite their own falling costs, heavily dependent on government mandates in California and roughly 30 other states, including Maryland.
"Shale gas has changed the game in the United States," said Paul Browning, head of General Electric's thermal-products division, which makes gas turbines. "It is putting pressure on other power generation technologies."
Mr. Browning says that like it's a bad thing...
The shale gas rush has raised myriad environmental issues over wastewater disposal, the toxicity of chemicals used to produce the gas, a possible link to earthquakes, and the amount of potent methane gas that escapes during drilling, possibly offsetting the climate benefits of gas over coal.
WaPo thus raises all the shibboleths that will be used by Bambi and the watermelons to try and limit this cheap energy. But WaPo conveniently ignores the real reason why cheap energy is a problem: there's less to tax, less to give away in government grants and programs, and fewer opportunities for rent-seeking.
But the economic issue is disruptive, too. The rush to produce shale gas "is forcing all of us to seriously address what it means for us," said Ralph Izzo, chief executive of Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), a New Jersey-based utility that relies on nuclear energy for half of its power supply. Izzo said it would mean "the delay of the nuclear renaissance for years to come."
That's not a problem. Nuclear energy is clearly part of the mix, but what society needs is cheap energy, not energy from one source or another. We use what's cheap now. If NG goes away in a generation, that's when we'll build nuclear power plants. At that point we'll hope that the technology has advanced considerably.
Coal use is fading. PSEG is increasing natural gas's share of its power generation mix from 15 to 35 percent and shrinking coal's share from 35 to 15 percent. In North Carolina, Duke Energy's new Buck natural gas plant is producing power 30 percent cheaper than the company's renovated Belews Creek plant, one of the most efficient coal plants in the country.
Memo to Barack Obama: this is how you cut back the use of coal.
Even gas-producing companies are cutting back because of the glut. Chesapeake Energy, a leading shale gas company, said Jan. 23 that it will cut the number of rigs drilling for gas to 24, a third of its average in 2011. Chesapeake also said it would curtail its natural gas production by about 8 percent. Exxon Mobil said Tuesday that it has maintained its 70-rig U.S. fleet but doubled the percentage of rigs searching for oil instead of gas.
Some supporters of wind and solar energy are worried that natural gas could undercut those technologies, too.
Oh, double-plus good!
Last year, in a report titled "Are We Entering a Golden Age of Gas?," then-International Energy Agency head Nobuo Tanaka warned that "while natural gas is the 'cleanest' fossil fuel, it is still a fossil fuel. Its increased use could muscle out low-carbon fuels, such as renewables and nuclear. . . . An expansion of gas use alone is no panacea for climate change."
Just wait until we start mining underseas methane clathrates...
Rachel Cleetus, a senior climate economist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that "the problem is [natural gas] can take over the entire pie and crowd out renewables. Part of the reason this is happening is there's a boom and there's a sense that natural gas resources will be around forever."
It won't be forever, but if it's a generation or two, that's great: all the more time for research to get the costs of renewables down. It takes the pressure off our economy and lets us innovate, and it forces the advocates in 'renewables' to demonstrate the economic utility of their ideas. That's all to the better. Perhaps by the time the current NG boom is over we'll have working space elevators and space stations beaming solar energy down to earth receiving-stations by microwave.
In his State of the Union address on Jan. 24, Obama echoed the conventional wisdom, saying that "we have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100 years" and that "the development of natural gas will create jobs and power trucks and factories that are cleaner and cheaper, proving that we don't have to choose between our environment and our economy."
So Bambi, how about a pipeline or two? And letting the oil companies drill?
But will natural gas continue undercutting other energy sources?
What if it does? Again, the key is cheap energy. We really don't care how we get it. NG is cheap. It's also pretty darned clean which is a bonus.
The day before the State of the Union address, the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) underscored uncertainty about the outlook for gas supplies by slashing its estimates of how much gas is contained in the Marcellus Formation, the nation's biggest shale gas prospect. The agency lowered its estimate of the "technically recoverable resource" by two-thirds, to 141 trillion cubic feet. That is still equal to six years of total U.S. gas consumption and well above the U.S. Geological Survey's most recent Marcellus estimate, but it shows how much is still being learned about this new frontier.
John Staub, an EIA analyst, said proven reserves -- the most certain category -- in the Marcellus jumped 70 percent and that the rate of production decline in wells drilled has been slower than expected. But with new well data from Pennsylvania, Staub said, the EIA believes that less of the Marcellus can be tapped with existing technology than previously believed.
Overall, the United States has 273 trillion cubic feet of proven reserves, enough to last about 11 years. The EIA's estimate of gas resources that can ultimately be recovered stands at 2,214 trillion cubic feet, or 92 years at present consumption levels. However, that includes gas offshore and in Alaska's remote North Slope, where pipeline construction will be costly.
So we start building when the time is right.
There is enough certainty about supply for several companies to start pursuing export deals. Cheniere Energy Partners, which had built an import terminal for liquefied natural gas in Louisiana years ago, has won federal approval to turn it into an export terminal and is signing up customers, including Korea Gas. The EIA predicts that the United States will become a net exporter of liquefied natural gas by 2016.
But exports and gas-fueled trucks are bad news for utilities and chemical companies that prefer to keep natural gas supplies in the United States -- and to keep domestic gas prices low. Many believe they have seen this pattern before.
"We're living through an era that we'd call the tyranny of natural gas," said David Crane, chief executive of NRG, a major electric power company. "With all the enthusiasm for unconventional gas and low prices, the one group of people you don't see rushing to embrace it . . . are the utility execs. We remember 1992, when everyone thought gas would be $2 forever."
Back then, the United States built gas-fired power plants able to produce 200,000 megawatts, Crane said, equal to the entire power generation capacity in Japan. Then gas prices soared, defying economic models. Among utilities, Crane said, "everyone lost money." Duke Energy chief executive James Rogers later called gas the "crack cocaine" of the electric power business.
Since then, half the states have passed clean-electricity standards that could protect renewable energy sources from natural gas competition. But renewable-energy developers also like to remind people about the volatility of gas prices over the past decade or two.
James McDermott, a managing director at US Renewables Group, said that when building a power plant, which requires borrowing money for 15 to 20 years, the cost of inputs has a "tremendous effect" on risk and thus the cost of borrowing. Since the wind and sun are free, there is "no price risk," he said.
The wind and sun are NOT free: you have to convert the potential energy into real energy, and that costs money. Whatta maroon. I'll bet he's a rent-seeker.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/05/2012
11:45 ||
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#1
Great in-line comments.
Regret to report that on my last heating bill, I paid $9.81 per thousand cubic feet. This combines the base rate of whatever-it-is with the markup from the energy wholesaler, to the state sales tax, to the distribution company's "usage-based charge" and its "Basic monthly charge" which includes its "Pipeline infrastructure replacement charge".
These extra charges far exceed the base rate of natural gas, and will mostly likely continue to go up, up, up.
That said, I am still better off due to the recently increased availability of natural gas.
Have been attempting to learn about conversion of motor vehicles to run on one form or another of natural gas. Information is fairly hard to find & buried in hype. Two key aspects are: availability of supply stations & hardware required to convert a given vehicle to run on NG. Some conversions allow a car to be switched from running on gasoline to run on natural gas, depending on what's available.
#2
It seems to me that a practical use for an overabundance of natural gas would be to create high volume underground storage of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), that only takes 1/600th of the volume, in cryogenic stasis @ -240F, maintained by a dedicated nuclear reactor.
Right now there are LNG ships, as well as some underground storage, so the technology is well known.
#3
AH9418---$9.81/1000 cf is not that expensive. Natural gas is measured in therms--100,000 btu, which is equivalent to 100 cf of gas at 1000 btu/cf. Fuel oil heat is about 134,000 btu/gallon, so assuming equal combustion efficiencies natural gas is equivalent to $1.31/gallon of #1 fuel oil. Not really outrageous at all. If you equate that to kilowatt hours equivalent, it is 3.34 cents per kilowatt hour. Pretty cheap energy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/05/2012 13:25
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#4
Our highest priority should be to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil from all countries except Canada. Natural gas could be a big part of that. Much of the oil goes to transportation---and that is largely gasoline. It is hard to get the energy density for vehicles with something other than gasoline.
So it seems to me that for now domestic oil should be used for transportation and natural gas goes for heat and fleet vehicle fuel.
I have a battery bank and solar cells in my place up north. This is done because extending a power line to our little homestead would cost $75k.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/05/2012 13:42
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#5
"Cheap natural gas jumbles energy markets - stirs fears it could inhibit renewables"
Gas is renewable. Pass the beans.
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/05/2012 14:25
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#6
Unless things have changed, in cold climates it used to require gasoline to start the vehicle and warm it up before propane could be used. Also requires a "fleet" type of operation to make it worth the paying for the fueling station.
NG vs Diesel w/r to BTU's. Not good for heavy or long haul. Safety? Pressurized NG vs gasoline is not even close.
#7
Then there is in situ coal gasification, which will provide several times more gas than shale.
I seriously looked at a home NG to electricity unit. The problem is that gas is quite expensive where I live because of long term contracts fixed when the price was high.
In colder climates these units make sense because of the dual generating and home heating functions.
#9
NPR did a piece on this a few days ago. At first I thought it was a good one because the "reporter" said cheap natural gas was good for jobs and the economy. Then he went on to explain how it would set the development of "renewable energy" back because wind and solar are still government subsidized and can't compete. He then said that government wind subsidies expire next year.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/05/2012 19:27
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#10
If the WaPo is wringing its hands, I hope that the members of OPEC are shitting in their drawers.
Flood the world with inexpensive LNG and Canadian oil, and let the Mideast camel jockeys go back to their 12th century natural conditions.
#11
Schwans trucks have run on propane gas for 20 some years. Home delivery of food products. I purchased a Harold Bates(England- Wales I think) Methane converter to use years ago but it was too much of project to use.
In Viet Nam you can go about 200 miles on a load of coal gas powered car. Hit a bump and coals fall out on the ground burning. Not speedy.
#12
I understand the lads downunder are supplying China gas at around 4.5 cents a liter. Much cheaper than what an Aussie can get it for. That aint right.
Well, it sounded like it fit.
#13
Back in the 90's when gas was cheap, I looked into converting my Crown Vic to CNG. It was a few hundred dollars in stainless steel pipes and a tank in the trunk. Probably the greenies have made conversion more difficult now, but you can still get factory cars for reasonable prices.
For example: $7000 for a 1996 Ford Crown Victoria CNG Police Pkg Police Interceptor with 30k miles.
Illegal immigration is a contentious topic in the United States, but it can be a touchy subject in Mexico too. This is especially true in northern border cities such as Tijuana, where hundreds of Mexicans are returned each day.
The city's officials say the presence of large numbers of deportees poses public safety problems and further strains social-service programs. No shit?
Business owners near the border complain that they drive up crime and drive away customers. Deportees say they often are made to feel like convicts even when they are not -- ostracized, unable to find work, lacking any family or friends in the area, targeted by police as well as criminals who shake them down and take their money and documents. to be sure, Mexico is asking for criminal info on who is getting sent back so they can handle them appropriately, but perhaps they could, you know, stop this before they cross? Nahhhh
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2012
09:59 ||
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#1
How do you say "Karma's a bitch" in Spanish?
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/05/2012 10:13
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#2
Que sera, sera.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/05/2012 10:57
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#7
A solution to this problem might be found with a treaty agreement between the US and Mexico in which a special prison, just for Mexican nationals, is built just north of the border.
Once a Mexican criminal has served his time in a US prison, he would be sent to this holding prison until agreement is reached between both US and Mexican bureaucrats, for his deportation to Mexico.
While he waits, the US and Mexican governments would split the cost of his upkeep.
#8
Perhaps the Mexican Govt could just transport them away from the border, to their home turf? Give them a bus ticket and a sack lunch (since they are their own citizens).
Russia is using its veto in the UN Security Council to prevent the organization of a UN military aid operation for the Syrian opposition. This prevents the kind of aid the Libyan rebels got. The Russians lost a lot of money when the Libyan dictatorship was overthrown. There were unpaid billions for weapons already delivered, plus lost future sales. For decades, Libya had been a major customer for Russian weapons. The new Libyan government will not buy any more Russian weapons and will not honor unpaid bills for past deliveries. It seems that for decades Qadaffy, not Libya, was a major customer for Russian weaponry. The NTC figures Aisha and Hannibal and Saadi can pay off Pop's debts. Having supported their nattily dressed client rather than jumping on the NTC bandwagon, Putin and Co. are now paying the price.
Russia is determined not to lose Syria in the same way. You can tell Putin is a genius by the fact that he's not supporting the coming new regime so as to get on their good side, but sticking with the existing, literally fascist, regime. A popular form of insanity involves doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get different results.
This Russian opposition sends a message that a dictatorship can openly (via the Internet and cell-phone photos) slaughter their people and maintain tyrannical rule in spite of most UN members condemning this sort of misbehavior. And now Russers seem to be turning out in the streets to toss a few words at Waldemar and Duh-mitri..
If a tyrant has one of the few UN nations with a Security Council veto on their side, bloody repression can be used without fear of armed intervention. Most of the world doesn't like this, but Russia is a nuclear power and determined to use its veto to serve Russian interests. Even when serving Russia's interests in the short term demolishes Russia's interests in the long term. Go figure.
More Strategy Page discussion follows, filling in detail...
#1
That's why the push to develop energy distribution. Norway has an unemployment rate of 2.5%. Each Norwegian is $100,000 in the black in their government fund. Energy is the way out for the USA and Russia. Should they let things fall apart it may take years to rebuild. That will make things much worse for Russia. Russian interests are to the west not the east. China is no bussomed buddy. With the election in Russia the public is in no mood for economic or polical troubles. Europe needs the energy. Greece needs the revenue as does Turkey and Israel. Build and repair.
#2
You can tell Putin is a genius by the fact that he's not supporting the coming new regime so as to get on their good side
(a) Since Russia made "kinetic action" impossible, the current regime is going to survive.
(b) The alternative to Assad are Ikhwan---and they don't have a good side.
#3
See also CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > [China Economic Blog] IRAN-CHINA TRADE EXCEEDS US$40.0BILYUHN IN 2011 [up US$16.0B from 2010], besides also another repor US$40.0Bilyuhn or so worth of bilateral Oil-Gas dev contracts in lieu of Western firms.
#4
A popular form of insanity involves doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get different results.
Oh... do you mean like knee-jerk support of people calling themselves "The Opposition" without digging a little deeper and seeing that they are Salafist Sunni Fundamentalists?
#6
Oh, it is so charming that Vlad, the most westernized of the Czars, has discovered that the west has success precisely because unlike the Russians we don't usually sell out our friends. But expect him to revert to form in short order.
We should offer him a Guantanamo perpetual port treaty on Tartous and a guarantee that Israel will buy a billion dollars of Russian rifles and ammo from U.S. military aide money next year.
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
02/05/2012 12:53
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#2
The challenger, that is ...
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
02/05/2012 12:54
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#3
I'm telling you, AZ Sheriffs are not to be trifled with. He is from Graham County, named after the Graham family of the infamous Graham-Tewksbury feud, the "Pleasant Valley War", which was actually fought north of there.
#1
I'm not convinced Israel will unilateral attack Iran at this time - iff Israel's history of striking enemy NucProgs = Reactors, etc. is any measure, IT WOULD'VE ATTACKED IRAN'S NUCPLEXES ALREADY, + NOT BE GIVING OUT PUBLIC/MEDIA WARNING IT MAY ATTACK.
Again, while Israel's vaunted IDF can certainly strike Iran ONLY THE US-NATO = INTERNAT COALITION OF NATIONS CAN INVADE + OCCUPY IRAN, aka the best + ultimate method, albeit also the most geopol dangerous, of absolutely stopping Iran's NucProgs.
Despite its rhetoric to the contary, it is inconceivable that Iran will not desire to dev Nuclear Weapons because one of the major premises underlying the so-called OWG CALIPHATE = GLOBAL ISLAMIST-JIHADIST IS [minima]PARITY, IFF NOT SUPERIORITY OR DOMINANCE, OER THE NON-MUSLIM WORLD.
Then there is also the post-Cold War premise of GLOBALISM itself, + BIPOLAR or MULTIPOLAR WORLD, where smaller Powers or Wannabes get to rise in Geopol Authority = Power + Influence.
IOW, WIDOUT NUCWEAPS + ABILITY TO PROJECT POWER + INFLUENCE THERE WILL BE NO CALIPHATE = NO GLOBAL ISLAMIST-JIHADIST STATE, BE IT EARTH-BASED OWG OR ANY FUTURIST SPACE GOVT-ORDER.
Anyhoo, NUTSHELL = even iff Israel did attack Iran, by itself such an attack(s) may NOT be enough oer time to stop ambitious Islamist Iran from dev Nuclear Weapons.
IMO to de facto stop Iran's NucProgs comes down really to either INDUCING INTERNAL
"REGIME/POLICY CHANGE"; OR ELSE A US-LED GROUND INVASION e.g. 2003 Iraq.
Iff various Perts are correct in Iran having a basic or minimal, but reliable, stockpile of NucBombs 2012/13 NLT 2015, TIME FACTORS + DESIRE FOR CERTAINTY = GROUND INVASION + OCCUPATION MAY BE THE ONLY REAL OPTION SHORT OF JUST LETTING IRAN [+ Radical Islam MilTerrs] GO FULL MONTY NUCLEAR???
FYI NUTSHELL II = OSAMA, ETAL. + RADICAL ISLAM WON THE GWOT, NOT THE US.
#2
FREEREPUBLIC, DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRANIAN GUARDS [IRGC] TO HIT ANY COUNTRY THAT STAGES ATTACK [agz it].
Points of Origin.
See also related Artic below.
* XINHUA > IRAN TO STRIKE BACK IFF ATTACKED.
* WAFF > THE ARAB PLAN [GCC] TO STOP IRAN.
Absolutely positively categorically undeniably ....@etc. will use their combined MilPol Assets, etc. to stop Iran like the Arab League = desired future OWG Islamic Union unilaterally stopped Libyuh + is stopping Syruh.
You betcha.
* WAFF > HEAZBOLLAH WILL DEFEND THE SYRIAN REGIME [Assad] EVEN AT THE PRICE OF SPARKING WAR WID ISRAEL.
* FREEREPUBLIC > DRONES IS NOT ENOUGH.
Fun to think about, though.
* SAME > [MEMRI TV] FORMER MEMBER OF RUSSIAN JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: RUSSIA READY TO USE ITS MILITARY POWER TO DEFEND IRAN.
* TOPIX > [Senior] IRGC COMMANDER: IRAN WILL NOT INITIATE ANY WAR, but its response or reaction to such will be swift.
D *** NG IT, IRAN DEMANDS ITS RIGHT TO BE INVADED!
IRGC BGEN. Mohammad Pakpour = IRAN WILL HIT US MILBASES IN TURKEY, AGFHANISTAN, + ALL ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST.
* SAME > EUROPEAN DIPLOMAT: IFF ISRAEL ATTACKS IRAN, PAKISTAN WILL RESPOND. Options for Pakland.
Dats NUKE-, LRBM-ARMED PAKISTAN in case you're wondering.
* IRANIAN MAJLIS [Parliament = Govt] WEBSITE: ATTACK ISRAEL THIS YEAR, before the EOY.
ARTIC = It will only take NINE MINUTES for Iran's MRBMS/MBMS, IRBMS to completely annihilate Israel [Military + Govt-Cities]???
Once again, Israel can certainly attack Iran but not be able to invade + occupy, which most accounts believe is the only real or certain way to stop Iran from dev NucWeaps. THE QUESTION NOW BECOMES WHAT KIND OF SITUATION OF HAPPENSTANCE WOULD INDUCE OR CAUSE A US-LED GROUND INVASION OF IRAN???
India's Finance Minister has said that his country "does not require" British aid, describing it as "peanuts".
Well allrighty then...
Pranab Mukherjee and other Indian ministers tried to terminate Britain's aid to their booming country last year - but relented after the British begged them to keep taking the money, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
The disclosure will fuel the rising controversy over Britain's aid to India. The country is the world's top recipient of British bilateral aid, even though its economy has been growing at up to 10 per cent a year and is projected to become bigger than Britain's within a decade.
Last week India rejected the British-built Typhoon jet as preferred candidate for a £6.3 billion warplane deal, despite the Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell, saying that Britain's aid to Delhi was partly "about seeking to sell Typhoon."
Mr Mukherjee's remarks, previously unreported outside India, were made during question time in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament.
The alleged terrorist mastermind behind the July 7 London bombings is reported to have been freed from a Syrian jail by President Bashar Assad's regime.
Anyone surprised by this? Anyone? Bueller?
Abu Musab al-Suri had been held in Syria for six years after being captured by the CIA in 2005 and transported to the country of his birth under its controversial extraordinary rendition programme.
But he is now said to have been released as a warning to the US and Britain about the consequences of turning their backs on President al-Assad's regime as it tries to contain the uprising in the country.
Time for the SAS and MI6 to conduct a small joint 'operation'...
Al-Suri, also known as Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, was al-Qaeda's operations chief in Europe and has been accused of planning the London bombings, in which four British-born terrorists detonated three bombs on the Underground and another on a bus, killing 52 people and injuring more than 700 others in 2005.
In a statement released after the attacks, al-Suri said: "[In my teachings] I have mentioned vital and legitimate targets to be hit in the enemy's countries ... Among those targets that I specifically mentioned as examples was the London Underground. [Targeting this] was and still is the aim."
A mechanical engineer, he is also wanted in Spain in connection with the Madrid train bombings in 2004, which left 191 dead, and for links to an attack on the Paris Metro in 1995.
#1
time to expel ALL Syrian diplomats from all countries. Make em live in the Civil War they support
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2012 9:06
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#2
From the article:
Quoting local sources, Syrian opposition website Sooryoon.net revealed al-SuriÂ’s release last week.
It said: “The timing of his release raises a lot of questions and observers believe the release may indicate the regime is stopping security co-operation with the Americans and thus releasing all those Washington considers a threat to its interests.”
Color me skeptical. It makes sense that the opposition would lie about this kind of stuff - they are trying to egg the West into bombing Assad.
Bosnia's government declared a state of emergency in its capital on Saturday after Sarajevo was paralyzed by snow, while in Rome residents dug out from the city's biggest snowfall in 26 years, which shut down the Colosseum. The week-long cold snap -- the worst in decades in Eastern Europe -- has killed at least 176 people, many of them homeless, especially in countries such as Ukraine. I feel particularly bad now, since - how many did you say were homeless? - since it's worse to be dead if you're homeless.
In Sarajevo, more than three feet (one meter) of snow fell on Saturday, closing roads and public transportation. A resident of Sarajevo said, "This is unbelievable. I can't remember snow like this in the past 30 years. Maybe when I was a child, but since then nothing like this."
The state of emergency order said all schools must remain closed in Sarajevo, that women and children should stay at home, and that men should only report to work if their jobs are essential. It also ordered men who own shovels or vehicles big enough to plow snow to help the city clear the streets, especially ones leading to hospitals.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/05/2012
08:10 ||
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#1
Dead is dead, but freezing to death really isn't pleasant.
#2
Lotp that should provoke some interesting discussion. I always thought pneumonia was the way to go. You just fall asleep. The old man's friend. The weather here is very nice. We just had a little snow but its melting already.
#3
Yeah, I thought hypothermia was THE way to check out. You get groggy, your body gives up trying to maintain a constant temperature so you don't feel cold anymore, and you just drift off to sleep. The big sleep. Way better than drowning, if you ask me.
Gunmen killed two paramilitary troops as they escorted Buddhist monks on their morning alms route in southern Thailand, police said on Sunday. The victims, aged 37 and 42, died after attackers opened fire with assault rifles from the back of a pick-up truck, said police in the provincial town of Yala.
Local police deputy superintendent Lieutenant Colonel Sonthaya Toopthong said the attack could have been retaliation for the recent fatal shooting of Muslim civilians who were said to have been riding around with military weapons right after an attack on a local police station by paramilitaries in neighboring Pattani province. That incident at the end of January, in which four civilians including an elderly man and an 18-year-old boy died, sparked local protests and an official investigation.
In a separate incident on Saturday evening, another paramilitary, a Muslim, was gunned down in Pattani as he drove his pick-up truck.
For the first time, 21st-century audiences are able to hear the voice of Otto von Bismarck, one of the 19th century's most important figures.
The National Park Service announced this week that the German chancellor's voice has been identified among those found on a dozen recorded wax cylinders, each more than 120 years old, that were once stored near Thomas Edison's cot in his West Orange, N.J., lab. They include music and dignitaries, including the voice of the only person born in the 18th century believed to be available on a recording.
The trove includes Bismarck's voice reciting songs and imploring his son to live morally and eat and drink in moderation, and Helmuth von Moltke, the longtime chief of staff for the Prussian army reciting lines from Shakespeare and other literature. Comparably, this would be like finding voice recordings of Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman.
Seven people were killed Sunday in a suicide car bomb attack on police headquarters in Kandahar, the interior ministry said. Three policemen and four civilians died in the explosion in the car park, while nine other people were wounded.
The statement from the interior ministry said, "At around noon today, a suicide car bomber detonated his explosive-packed car in district one of Kandahar that killed seven, including three police and four civilians and wounded nine others."
Kandahar governor Tooryalai Weesa also said there were seven deaths, but said five of those were police and gave an injured toll of 19, including 13 women and children.
Blood-splattered merchandise from nearby market stalls lay scattered on the ground after the attack, which destroyed four police cars and damaged nearby buildings.
Pashtuns are believed to be the largest segmentary lineage society in the world today. They have been living in their defined homeland areas since ages, in a social order loosely defined by the code of Pashtunwali.
They believe in the myth that they are children of one common ancestor, Qaise, who converted to Islam once he met the Prophet Muhammad (PTUI!). However, a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... there is historical evidence that Pashtuns did not convert in mass and as late as 12th century there were non-Moslem Pashtuns residing in tribal areas.
In the Pashtun society, customs have generally been more dominant than religion
Being a leaderless society, the tribal system does not usually develop institutionalized political power. They feel that all Pashtuns are born equal and individuals can change the existing social and economic inequality. Tribals lead a semi independent life as per their code of conduct, managing their social issues and disputes through a council of elders known as Jirga. Invaders passed through the lands of some of these tribes for thousand of years, but did not bring any significant change in their social system.
These tribes, on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistain border, were almost independent. The Sikhs administered these areas by maintaining strong forces at district level; but the tribes openly asserted their independence. The relations of the British with the tribes depended on the situation in Afghanistan. They did not make any serious effort to penetrate the area except for some punitive expeditions and defending the passes which led to Afghanistan. The Durand Line divided tribes on both sides, but the British provided them with easement rights for their back and forth movement. They used the tribal areas as the second buffer between them and Russia, the first being Afghanistan.
After the creation of Pakistain, a special status was granted to these areas. They were declared Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Tribals were used as non-state actors in both the Kashmire wars of 1947-48 and 1965.
Until the 1970s, about 70% of the tribal areas were administratively inaccessible. No Pak official was allowed to enter. In 1973, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ...9th PM of Pakistain from 1973 to 1977, and 4th President of Pakistain from 1971 to 1973. He was the founder of the Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP). His eldest daughter, Benazir Bhutto, would also serve as hereditary PM. In a coup led by General Zia-ul-Haq, Bhutto was removed from office and was executed in 1979 for authorizing the murder of a political opponent... formulated a policy of opening up of the tribal areas through development. An industrial unit was established in each agency. Two new agencies, Bajaur and Orakzai, were formed. Electricity was provided to some of the areas and road infrastructure was developed. Some of the areas that were opened up had tactical importance during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Most of the remaining inaccessible areas like Tirah and Shawal were partially opened in the aftermath of 9/11.
In the Pashtun social system, the inhabitants of a village are normally divided into three segments, the Pashtuns, Mian or Mullah (religious functionaries) and Kasabgars (professionals, like barbers and carpenters). The influential class has always been the Pashtuns. The Kasabgars have seldom challenged the authority of Pashtuns; they have concentrated on earning their livelihood and providing education to their children. A number of them excelled in fields like medicine, engineering, education, armed forces and even in politics. But once they make a name for themselves, they want to be known as Pashtun, by aligning with the tribe in whose area they were born and brought up.
The roles of the Khan or Malik and the government officials posted in the area are well defined. They derive legitimacy from state laws. The Mullah is made to perform only some religious rituals. And he is not content with this limited role. He wants his role to be defined and expanded to make him part of the decision-making process in the Pashtun society. Religious people have led almost all the Pashtun uprisings against invaders in history. Followers of Ahmed Shah Barelvi (1863) rose against Sikhs and the British, Pir Roshan (16th century) against Akbar, Sartor Faqir (1897) against the British, Powinda Mullah (1893-1913) also against the British. Faqir of Ipi (1935-1947) was also a key resistance fighter. The leadership of these movements remained with the Mullah only for the duration of the Jihad. When the battles were over, the Khans and Maliks became leaders again.
In the Pashtun society, Rawaj (custom) has generally been more dominant than religion. Music, dance, non-observance of pardha within a tribe, women shaking hands with men, were commonly seen in Pashtuns. They would perform all rituals religiously, but would never force these on others, except for fasting, which is considered an act of Pashtun honor.
The Afghan Jihad did not bring any significant change in the life of the average Pashtun. The Pashtun society started changing once preachers started going to these areas. They were peaceful, polite, and non-coercive, and they were able to persuade older Pashtuns to lay down some restrictions on the younger ones. Music, which was a regular feature of hujras and weddings, was banned in some areas.
But the event that really changed the Pashtun way of life was the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The Talib was a familiar character in each Pashtun village, known as Chinay in Pashto. Docile, well mannered, quite, friendly, not interfering, not preaching, just concerned with his own task, collecting food for the imam of the mosque. In November 1994, once the Taliban captured Kandahar, nobody, including the intelligence agencies, was sure who they were, and who was supporting them. They suspected it was the US.
In the next few years, what the Taliban practiced was in contrast with Pashtun culture. Under the influence of Al Qaeda, they tried to implement Wahabi and Salafi culture. Inspired by them, the talibs of Pakistain also raised forces in Orakzai and North Wazoo. In the aftermath of 9/11 and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... operations in Afghanistan, members of Al Qaeda, Pak Jihadis, secterian outfits, Uighur fighters from China, and groups from Central Asia took refuge in FATA and other parts of Pakistain. Jihadi organizations and some tribals supported them.
The state could not decide on the course of action to be taken against them. They had never seen such a situation in the past. The tribals suspected that state was supporting these elements, therefore they submitted to the Taliban, who used brute force against prominent tribal elders.
Continued on Page 49
See Part I here. Part 1 was all lyrical evaluation. Part II is key quotes from an impressive number of interviews, organized by subject -- feeling much like a Cliff Notes summary. Topic questions in bold, for easier reading.
How does the 'fighting, talking, developing' strategy really play out?
Sir Simon Gass - NATO Ambassador to Kabul (Highest ranking foreign civilian in Afghanistan):
"If they keep fighting they will lose, that's a good reason to come to the negotiating table. In 2005 and '06, the big resurgence of the insurgency wasn't because they were under huge military pressure, rather because there wasn't enough pressure. So we have to keep on applying the pressure so they know they can't return."
How does Pakistan play out on the ground?
NATO Intelligence Analyst at Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands (the European nerve center of NATO/ISAF's operations):
"Pak is important for our fuel and other contracts to kick in. Simply, it's important for the war machine to move forward."
A decade into the war, how does a military planner - not a politician - explain the progress in Afghanistan?
Lt. Col. Ian Kippen (UK Army), Battle-Space Briefer at Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands:
"Design a difficult campaign, and Afghanistan is the perfect recipe for failure. Weather, temperature, droughts, terror. Even the ability for government is an issue. Today, the NATO mission in Afghanistan is like herding cats. For example, revision number six of the ISAF 'OPlan' [Operations Plan] is under work right now. For some of us, that means that five plans have not gone according to, well...plan."
2014 is still two years away. Is NATO going to have the resolve?
NATO Intelligence Analyst at Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands (the European nerve center of NATO/ISAF's operations):
"The economic crisis is testing NATO cohesion and will. The relationship between the US and the European countries is not black and white, but yin and yang. But there is an imbalance between US spending power and EU facilitation. The economic crisis in Europe is taking a toll, for sure. But then, Europe has always been the logistic while the US has been the military arm of NATO. However, France is the outsider inside. Watching France operate in Afghanistan is important, as it has a tendency to go its own way, but also set trends within NATO. The smaller countries, unhappy with not being given a larger administrative role, are going to make noises as well."
What about the criticism that it is NATO/ISAF presence that gives rise to the insurgency, and not the other way around?
Col. Jan Halvert (Royal Dutch Army), PA Division, Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands:
"The war was limited in the early years. The troop numbers were smaller until 2007-09. That's when things changed. Maybe because more troops came and NATO became a 'Magnet of the South'.
What are the 'Pakistan priorities' for NATO/ISAF's operational planning towards the 2014 drawdown?
NATO Intelligence Analyst at Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands:
"It's simple, really. Firstly, fire from Pak is a problem, so sort that out. Secondly, minimize risk of ISAF engaging Pak. Here the meetings of the Corps Commanders help. Also, Pakistani officers brief General Allen regularly in Kabul, so that helps too. As for Pakistan's involvement with the ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces] goes, don't expect any mentoring from Pak officers yet, but the offer has come, along with India."
How does the 'fighting, talking, developing' strategy really play out?
Sir Simon Gass - NATO Ambassador to Kabul (Highest ranking foreign civilian in Afghanistan):
"If they keep fighting they will lose, that's a good reason to come to the negotiating table. In 2005 and '06, the big resurgence of the insurgency wasn't because they were under huge military pressure, rather because there wasn't enough pressure. So we have to keep on applying the pressure so they know they can't return."
How does Pakistan play out on the ground?
NATO Intelligence Analyst at Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands (the European nerve center of NATO/ISAF's operations):
"Pak is important for our fuel and other contracts to kick in. Simply, it's important for the war machine to move forward."
A decade into the war, how does a military planner - not a politician - explain the progress in Afghanistan?
Lt. Col. Ian Kippen (UK Army), Battle-Space Briefer at Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands:
"Design a difficult campaign, and Afghanistan is the perfect recipe for failure. Weather, temperature, droughts, terror. Even the ability for government is an issue. Today, the NATO mission in Afghanistan is like herding cats. For example, revision number six of the ISAF 'OPlan' [Operations Plan] is under work right now. For some of us, that means that five plans have not gone according to, well...plan."
2014 is still two years away. Is NATO going to have the resolve?
NATO Intelligence Analyst at Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands (the European nerve center of NATO/ISAF's operations):
"The economic crisis is testing NATO cohesion and will. The relationship between the US and the European countries is not black and white, but yin and yang. But there is an imbalance between US spending power and EU facilitation. The economic crisis in Europe is taking a toll, for sure. But then, Europe has always been the logistic while the US has been the military arm of NATO. However, France is the outsider inside. Watching France operate in Afghanistan is important, as it has a tendency to go its own way, but also set trends within NATO. The smaller countries, unhappy with not being given a larger administrative role, are going to make noises as well."
What about the criticism that it is NATO/ISAF presence that gives rise to the insurgency, and not the other way around?
Col. Jan Halvert (Royal Dutch Army), PA Division, Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands:
"The war was limited in the early years. The troop numbers were smaller until 2007-09. That's when things changed. Maybe because more troops came and NATO became a 'Magnet of the South'.
What are the 'Pakistan priorities' for NATO/ISAF's operational planning towards the 2014 drawdown?
NATO Intelligence Analyst at Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands:
"It's simple, really. Firstly, fire from Pak is a problem, so sort that out. Secondly, minimize risk of ISAF engaging Pak. Here the meetings of the Corps Commanders help. Also, Pakistani officers brief General Allen regularly in Kabul, so that helps too. As for Pakistan's involvement with the ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces] goes, don't expect any mentoring from Pak officers yet, but the offer has come, along with India."
What about the India angle?
NATO Intelligence Analyst at Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands (the European nerve center of NATO/ISAF's operations):
"The Pakistan versus India role is important. For instance, India wants to invest in Herat for iron ores. Now, we would want to ship that out of Pakistan versus Iran or China. China already owns 95 percent of global minerals, so it's got enough. Iran has penetrated Afghanistan through oil, while it has a deep distrust of the Taliban but supplies weapons and IEDs to them, just to stick it to the west. So frankly, we would rather India and Pakistan work things out, and not the other way around."
There is an impression in Pakistan that the Afghan government favours India, e.g. Kabul has signed a recent strategic partnership with New Delhi, which the Indians claim, was pushed for by the Afghans themselves. Can Islamabad expect a similar push?
Dr. Hakim Asher, Spokesperson for the Government of Afghanistan and President Karzai:
"We will come to that later. Right now we have other issues and bigger problems between our countries."
How many insurgents are operating in Afghanistan?
Col. Jan Halvert (Royal Dutch Army), PA Division, Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands:
"No idea of the number of Taliban out there."
Brig. General Carsten Jacobsen (Deutsch Army), ISAF Spokesman:
"2000 Taliban, maybe? But maybe there is a five-digit number? Who knows how to quantify the hardcore of extremists...The ones who will never give up. What about someone frustrated who becomes a sympathizer. Is he just a local, or an insurgent? The number of Taliban is not important. The intensity is. There is no size of battle. You can't kill them, but you can overwhelm them. "
But insurgents win by not losing: Isn't that the basis of guerilla war? How, and when, can you claim victory when they can even strike within Kabul?
Governor Fidayee of Wardak Province:
"There might be attacks in Kabul, but there are successes too. What about the Loya Jirga? How did that happen without a hiccup? Listen: ANA [Afghan National Army], ANP [Afghan National Police] and NDS [National Directorate for Security] cannot be beaten by the insurgents conventionally. Never. Our goals are to defeat them in a different way. Today, four of my districts are ready for transition [for total Afghan control taken from NATO/ISAF]. So not just security bothers me [sic]. We will be deliberate and gradual."
The NATO/ISAF footprint is seen by the insurgency, by some locals and by some neighbours as an occupation. Isn't it?
Lt. Col. Steve Kissler, Georgia Army National Guard (Agribusiness Development Team), Wardak Province:
"Golly. We see and hear, mostly hear, about things that are happening all around us. But the people we deal with make us feel that they want our help...These people who we're helping...They either haven't thought to do it themselves, or they need the help. That's why they ask"
What about the Salalah incident? How will that play out for NATO/ISAF?
High-ranking ISAF military official in Kabul who asked not to be named for the record:
"It's going to go far beyond the military. There are going to be several questions. The integration of the Pakistan Army in the operation as well as the Durand Line and its sanctity will come into play. Remember that the Durand Line is not clear anywhere from 1.8 to 5 kilometers depending on where one is standing. The insurgency uses it as a playground, and is using it against us with Salalah."
The Pakistanis fear the worst as far as NATO/ISAF's intentions regarding Salalah are concerned. Should they?
Brig. General Carsten Jacobsen (Deutsch Army), ISAF Spokesman:
"This [Salalah] is the best thing that could have happened to the Taliban. Allen met Kayani the same day! Of course, it's a setback. But would we give it the same importance as the Bin Laden incident? That will have to be watched, and consulates as well as convoys could get affected and will have to be watched too. There are larger problems here...of a tension with Pakistan. We are using Pakistan's roads, yes, but are not dependent on them."
There is a school that believes that war will always go on around these parts, that the Afghans know nothing else. Does NATO/ISAF reflect on that?
Brig. General Carsten Jacobsen (Deutsch Army), ISAF Spokesman:
"The Afghan memory and foresight is longer for war. No body would be in their right mind to claim to understand how much war these people can take. But the insurgency will die only with so many areas they can't deal with."
Pakistan is often associated with the insurgency in the Western narrative. What's the word in Afghanistan itself?
Mirwaiz Orya, Tolo TV News Anchor in Kabul:
"What I ask my guests and analysts everyday is that if the home of the terrorists is Pakistan, as president Karzai says, then why is the US helping the ISI and the Pakistani military? Everyday I ask this. And everyday I get no answers."
What evidence is there of Pakistani involvement in the insurgency?
Dr. Hakim Asher, Spokesperson for the Government of Afghanistan and President Karzai:
"We now know that even the Lashkar-e-Taiyaba, equipped by the ISI, works here. We have the confessions of the arrested terrorists. We will share this evidence with Pakistan when we have to. Some evidence we have already shared."
What's the bottom-line of the Pakistan narrative here?
Brig. General Carsten Jacobsen (Deutsch Army), ISAF Spokesman:
"The perception of Pakistan continues to drive the conflict. But only the insurgency wins."
Kemal Nematullah, reintegrated former Taliban Commander, Badakshan Province:
"Pakistan has always created problems for Afghanistan and has today destroyed Afghanistan. This will not end."
Dr. Hakim Asher, Spokesperson for the Government of Afghanistan and President Karzai:
"They are friends. But some within them want the terrorists to go on...It's not the Pakistan Army. It's the ISI which wants this."
What's the difference? Why make the divide between the Pakistani military and the ISI?
General Ally, Provincial Chief of the National Directorate for Security (NDS), Badakshan Province
"You know better than me, the difference."
Where is the Pakistani military headed? What does it want now?
High-level NATO executive in Kabul who asked not to be named for the record
"Look, OBL was traumatic, it shook their military, and it was a setback. Pakistan may encourage the peace process, but it all depends on Pak. Frankly, I'm doubtful about the peace process really taking off before 2013. And I don't see a PakMil suddenly surrounding the Haqqanis, either."
Does the NATO/ISAF narrative perceive Pakistan as an enemy?
Lt. Jamie Holm, 1st Armored Division, US Army, Forward Operating Base Airborne, Wardak Province:
"Honestly, as an American soldier, I think Pakistan could be one of our greatest allies. Definitely a better ally than India. Why? Because Pakistan and the US are both revolutionary countries.
I have no idea what that means.
They've both fought their way for freedom. That makes us natural allies, does it not?
What about the peace process?
Hasb-e-Allah, reintegrated former Taliban Commander, Badakshan Province:
"People are not just joining the peace process, which is flawed and doesn't inspire any hope. Rather, they are joining the NDS [National Directorate of Security], as the NDS can promise action and results. What can 'peace' promise? Peace doesn't have any Army. The NDS does.
Peace also depends on the strategy of the Afghan government for reintegration and reconciliation with the Taliban. How confident is it of achieving these goals? Are reformed insurgents here to stay?
General Ally, Provincial Chief of the National Directorate for Security (NDS), Badakshan Province
"They will never do anything against our national security. People think they're simple Taliban fighting in the mountains who give up their arms. They're not. Nobody knows what they've been doing in the past for us. They're Afghans. And they actually cut the roots of the Taliban."
After 2014, will drones continue to play a role in the Afghan battlefield?
Lt. Col. Ian Kippen (UK Army), Battle-Space Briefer at Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands:
"There are no drone strikes inside Afghanistan today. Drone are only used for recon [surveillance] purposes. But drone strikes are foreseeable in the future, after ISAF.
Does the region have a future of war?
Lt. Col. Ian Kippen (UK Army), Battle-Space Briefer at Joint Forces Command Brunsumm, Netherlands:
"Thanks to 'Military Technology Inflation', we have a new problem. Because everything has a computer in it, and as the low tolerance for military casualties has increased, war has become expensive. That means smaller armies and more alliances will pave the way for the West. However, for the region, China and India will be outliers. They will continue to have massive militaries."
As the war effort draws down and the peace talks begin, does 'the enemy' get redefined?
Saleem Adil, disabled former soldier and worker at Afghan Spark Anti-Mining Tool Factory, Kabul
"Fighting against the mines saves lives. I don't know if fighting against the Taliban does the same. I can't see the mines. But I can see the Taliban and protect myself."
Will this insurgency ever end?
Brig. General Carsten Jacobsen (Deutsch Army), ISAF Spokesman:
"Insurgency is not ended by a decisive battle. It won't be over if we all meet in Jalalabad."
Khan, a Harvard Shorenstein Fellow and an Asia Society Global Young Leader, is a Senior Reporter for The Friday Times. @wajskhan on Twitter andwajahat_khan@hks.harvard.edu Continued on Page 49
"As far as the neighbours are concerned, they should understand that Afghanistan has suffered an insurgency for the last thirty years and needs the right size of forces with the right capability," said an official in a no-names briefing. "The [Afghan] Ministry of Finance says that ten billion [dollars] a year are required for the security and non-security budget to keep things going. The current costs of the war [over $120 billion, according to NATO analysts in Brunsumm], when compared, will make this figure look like nothing. Reading the tea leaves makes things look not all that bad...One month of a military campaign is equal to the annual cost of a [post 2014] stabilizing campaign...It's worth exploiting!"
The bolded part is key. I suspect the Afghans will get by with $2b of annual military grants, given that the Pakistani budget is only $6b, with a force size several times larger and covers the cost of a navy. The reason the Taliban was able to take over previously was because we cut off the opposition cold, money-wise, after the Soviets withdrew, even as the ISI funded the Taliban. A few hundred million a year to Ahmad Shah Massoud after the Soviet withdrawal could have saved us $1T in war-related expenses. But you know what they say about Humpty Dumpty...
[Yemen Post] Clashes between the Sunni tribal alliance and Shiite Houthi militias continued on Friday in northern Yemeni province of Hajjah as a tribal mediation committee failed to broker an agreement between the warring parties, leaving at least 14 killed of the two parties.
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[Dawn] An al-Qaeda-linked turban killed in 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... earlier this week, has been identified as an Azerbaijani national, documents made available to DawnNews revealed on Saturday.
The turban, identified as Aslanov Zaur, was among the six foreign hard boyz who were killed during festivities with security forces in the Jogi area of Central Kurram Agency on February 1.
A passport, documents and photographs recovered by security forces revealed that Zaur was a key commander and played an instrumental role in attacks on Pak security forces in the tribal areas.
The passport (passport number 3503893), issued from the Azerbaijani capital Bakku in February 2009, shows Zaur belonged to the city of Sumaqyit, located at a distance of 31 kilometers from the capital and was born on September 25, 1981.
According to the document, he was issued an Iranian visa by the Iranian embassy in Bakku for three months from March 2, 2009 to May 31, 2009.
The travel documents also reveal that he had entered the city of Astar, the capital of Gilan province of Iran on March 26, 2009 (evident from the entry stamp), and since than had gone underground. He is suspected to have entered Afghanistan and then Pakistain through unfrequented routes.
Security forces also recovered USBs, card readers and other devices from the pockets of the turban, besides Sudanese currency, American dollars and Pak currency notes.
The turban's belongings also show a drafted document in Azeri language, signed by six people.
A registration certificate issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Azerbaijan is also among the documents recovered from the dear departed.
Scores of photographs have also been found from the USB and the card reader recovered from his pockets, which show him being photographed with other turbans.
A number of telephone numbers have also been recovered from his personal belongings.
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[Dawn] Two coppers were bumped off on Friday night in a targeted attack on their car in a locality, off Manghopir Road, where some men said to be associated with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain had been locked away a few months ago on a lead given by one of the coppers, officials said.
Head Constable Nadeem Abbasi and Constable Mohammad Sajid were in a private car when they were targeted in Sultanabad within the remit of the Manghopir cop shoppe, said SSP (west) Asif Aijaz.
He added that the head constable, who resided in the same area, was posted at the Manghopir cop shoppe and the constable was posted at the Shershah cop shoppe.
Police Sherlocks said four to five shots were fired at each of the two coppers. One of them was struck down in his prime, while the other died at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, the Sherlocks added.
Both the coppers were in civil dress and were travelling in a private car, said officials.
The Sherlocks said 9mm pistols were used in the attack though the number and identity of the attackers were not clear yet.
SSP (west) Asif Aijaz confirmed to Dawn that police acting on the information provided by the slain head constable had locked away some suspects belonging to the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban in Sultanabad a few months back.
Teenager rubbed out
A teenager was bumped off in a Gulshan-e-Iqbal locality near Samama Shopping Centre on Friday, police said. They said that Mohammad Irfan, 16, was standing near Samama Shopping Centre on main University Road when gunnies riding a cycle of violence fired at him. The victim sustained three bullet wounds and died before he could be moved to a hospital.
The body was later shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.
The police said that the victim, a resident of Godhra Camp in New 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 a Class X student and was going to meet his friend in a nearby locality. He originally hailed from Larkana.
Till late in the night, no FIR regarding the murder was lodged with the Mobina Town cop shoppe.
Fishery worker killed
A young fishery worker was rubbed out in the Shershah area, police said. They added that Fareed Khan, 35, along with his cousin, Mohammad Saleem, was going home in Shershah in a taxi when the former was targeted on Pritum Das Road near Lyari Expressway.
Two gunnies riding a cycle of violence opened fire on the taxi, leaving Fareed dead, they added.
The body was shifted to the Civil Hospital Bloody Karachi for medico-legal formalities. The victim had sustained four bullet wounds.
Resident of Shershah, Urdu Bazaar, the victim originally hailed from the tribal areas, the police said, adding that a personal enmity might be a probable motive behind the incident.
A case (FIR 19/2012) was registered under Section 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistain Penal Code against faceless myrmidons on a complaint of Saleem at the Shershah cop shoppe.
In a similar incident, a worker at the fisheries was targeted on Mauripur Road a few days back. The victim hailed from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Young man bumped off
A young man was rubbed out in front of his house within the remit of the Sohrab Goth cop shoppe on Friday, police said. The officials added that some gunnies knocked at the door of 30-year-old Ghulam Sakhi's house and asked for him. As soon as he stepped out, they fired at him and decamped.
However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... police also quoted some eyewitnesses as saying that the gunnies opened fire on the victim after having an altercation with him.
The victim was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He's dead, Jim! on arrival.
The police said that the victim ran a department store in the area and he also had very close links with some coppers.
The motive behind the murder could not be ascertained, the officials said.
An FIR was yet to be lodged at the Sohrab Goth cop shoppe.
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[An Nahar] French President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... Saturday condemned China and Russia's veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution on the Syria crisis, saying it encouraged the Syrian regime crackdown.
"The Syrian tragedy must stop," said Sarkozy in a statement issued through his office.
Sarkozy "strongly deplores the fact that because of the vote of two permanent members (of the U.N. Security Council) and despite the support of 13 other members, the Security Council was unable, for the second time," to express itself.
Since March 2011, "the Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... regime has only responded to the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people for freedom and democracy with fierce repression and endless promises," the statement added.
Earlier, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe denounced China and Russia's veto, saying it "paralyzed" the international community.
"It is a heavy responsibility because of course that paralyses the international community," he told La Belle France 2 Television.
"I understand it even less given that we made great efforts to accept the amendments presented by Russia and by China," he added.
"There was no arms embargo, no sanctions, no call for Bashir al-Assad's departure in this resolution," he said, listing the concessions that Western powers had made in their bid to pass the resolution.
"We could not go further," he said.
Western nations were not prepared to put the Syrian regime, which Juppe said was guilty of crimes against humanity, on the same footing as the opposition forces fighting them, "often with their bare hands".
Thirteen countries voted for the resolution drafted by Arab and European nations which would have given strong backing to an Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... plan to end the crisis.
Russia and China made a repeat of their rare double veto carried out on October 5 on an earlier condemnation of Assad.
Russia's U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin called the draft resolution "unbalanced."
China's official news agency quoted Li Baodong, Beijing's representative to the U.N., as saying more consultation had been needed.
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#1
Maybe Sarkozy should put together a coalition of the willing. Has a kind of poetic justice to it.
[Dawn] LAST Wednesday, the federal government expressed a desire to take up the issue of the latest Difaa-e-Pakistain Council meeting with the Punjab government. This was at best a political statement for the consumption of an assorted audience -- in the absence of an administrative arrangement that would oblige provinces to respond to the centre's queries in such matters. The issue was the participation of a leader of a 'banned' group in the DPC rally in Multan on Jan 29. Given that eyebrows have been raised about the recently founded DPC and its politics, the presence of Malik Ishaq, the leader of the 'banned' and very turbanLashkar-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 ... could not go unnoticed by the PPP-led government. The latter took the opportunity to follow up on the N League-LJ thread that goes back to the League's public courting of prominent Lashkar members for votes in a by-election in Jhang some time ago. The highlighting of the link catered to all those who are upset with the mixing of national politics with various brands of jihadis. Equally or perhaps even more importantly, it was an opportunity for the PPP to try and hit at the PML-N's credibility with jihad-wary international players.
This is surely not a matter of principles, for principles are as routinely flouted in Pak politics as bans are violated and 'defunct tags' worn as medals of gallantry. Basically, it has to do with how political parties here -- those in power and their challengers -- go about identifying and pleasing their allies in a particular situation. The current PML-N government in Punjab has generally kept its distance from the PPP-led set-up in Islamabad. Punjab has been particularly keen to show off this gap over the centre's approach to the war against militancy. This gap will increase as the election comes closer and the manoeuvring for power intensifies.
This article starring:
Malik Ishaq
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
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[Dawn] ODDLY, the two institutions that bang the accountability drum the loudest are the very ones that won't submit to oversight themselves.
The higher judiciary has used the threat of contempt of court laws to pre-empt any criticism. The security establishment relies on its muscle and its close connections with sections of the media to win immunity from public criticism.
Doubters only have to glance through the report produced by the commission set up to investigate Saleem Shahzad's murder. Even though the crime corresponded to the pattern of earlier allegedly officially inspired kidnappings and beatings suffered by journalists, the commission hardly noticed the parallel. The report effectively let our notorious intelligence agencies off the hook.
And when the defence establishment was clearly responsible for the entire the late Osama bin Laden ... who sleeps with the fishes... fiasco last May, the media promptly zeroed in on the civilian government, even though it had nothing to do with the matter. Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... went so far as to demand Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari's ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... resignation.
Accountability is not just about corruption: those in positions of authority also need to accept responsibility -- and possible punishment -- for acts of omission and commission which have resulted in setbacks to the country. For example, every war with India was initiated -- and lost -- by our army. Which general has ever resigned or been punished for his incompetence?
It does not take a military historian to conclude that while our junior officers and jawans fought valiantly, they have invariably been let down by their high command. These same generals have been pampered more than any other officer corps, and yet have lost battle after battle with monotonous regularity. Needless to say, no uniformed head has ever rolled.
Or take our entire defence policy and posture: dictated entirely by the military establishment, it was never debated; and our occasional and powerless civilian leaders have hardly any input in it.
Nevertheless, we are forced to contribute to strategies that have dragged us ever deeper into insecurity rather than making us safer. Our Afghan and Kashmire policies are examples of repeated failure to evaluate threats intelligently. And yet we continue to plod along on the course chosen by GHQ, bleeding lives and treasure as a result. Who has even been questioned for these repeated failures?
The Supreme Court, for its part, has validated military coups time and again, thereby distorting the course of Pakistain's political development. Which judge has ever been pilloried for any of these self-serving judgments?
Now we have the 'memogate' scandal. For weeks, the country was gripped by a drama scripted by mysterious agencies, and propelled by the judiciary, the military and the media.
The civilian government was destabilised. One ambassador resigned, while the defence secretary was sacked.
But when the audience was getting impatient, and the curtain about to open, one of the two principal actors got cold feet and refused to emerge on the stage. The fact that somebody with the kind of shady reputation Mansoor Ijaz has acquired was allowed to shake the foundations of the state, thanks to the patronage and support he is perceived to have received
from the establishment, shows what a banana republic we really are.
Here's a character who has consistently lambasted the military and the ISI in the foreign media. That he is apparently being used as a pawn against an elected government is an indication of the immaturity and cynicism of those involved in this entire murky episode. But who actually used who is something we will probably never learn.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase... spare a thought for the commission set up by the Supreme Court to look into 'memogate'. The American businessman, having had his moment in the limelight, no longer has the time to come to Pakistain. Presumably, the honourable members of the commission can now return to their main job of dispensing justice to a hard-pressed people. Maybe they will even find the time to clean up the mess in the lower courts under them.
But who has claimed the credit for causing this needless furore in the first place? Who among the media, the judiciary or the military has raised his hand to say he was wrong? On the contrary, the farce grinds on, long after the bored audience has left.
Nobody has ever accused the security establishment of being over-endowed in terms of IQ. But surely even our generals must realise that a country destabilised by their shenanigans is bound to suffer in a variety of ways. At the end of the day, a sound economy is essential to support our bloated armed forces. A government that is under constant threat of being toppled unconstitutionally simply cannot provide good governance, even if it had the political will and the competence to do so.
Now that the prime minister has been summoned to face contempt of court proceedings, lesser mortals are well advised to keep their opinions about our higher judiciary to themselves. Leaving the court premises after a recent hearing, the PM's lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, asked rhetorically: "Why are only civilian prime ministers always being cited for contempt of court? Why not army generals?"
Foreigners are amazed at the endless stresses and strains our bewigged and uniformed chieftains put the system through. In the US, the UK and in Sri Lanka, I was constantly asked to explain why Pakistain is in such a constant state of turmoil.
I cannot repeat my response to these well-meaning friends here for fear that it might fall under the purview of our wide-ranging and freely interpreted contempt of court laws.
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[Dawn] Bara tehsil and Tirah valley of Khyber Agency remained in the grip of violence, as one Frontier Constabulary soldier was killed and four others were maimed in a pre-dawn attack by bully boyz on Friday, while a girls' school was blown up in Dera Ismail Khan ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... . Also, four suspected bully boyz were killed and three others maimed in different parts of the agency.
Officials in Bara said that activists of Lashkar-e-Islam bully boy group attacked a security checkpost in Malakdinkhel area, leaving one FC soldier dead and four others maimed. They said that two suspected bully boyz were killed during the security forces' operation in the area soon after the attack.
The injured soldiers were taken to a military hospital in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar.
Sources in Tirah valley said that an activist of a bully boy organization was killed and three others were maimed when volunteers of Lashkar-e-Islam and its rival group clashed in Akkakhel area.
The officials said that a bridge in Shalobar area was partially damaged when a time device planted to it went kaboom! on Friday morning. Forces have recently established a number of checkposts in Shalobar area of Bara after nearly 3,000 families vacated their houses and shifted to Jalozai camp in Nowshera.
Of late, the area has witnessed a surge in bully boy attacks on the security forces and is under curfew since November last year.
In Bazaar Zakhakhel area of Landi Kotal, an kaboom outside the house of a local elder killed his son and injured two of his other family members. No one has grabbed credit for the blast.
The Zakhakhel tribe revolted against Mangal Bagh ...a former bus driver, now head of the Deobandi bandido group Lashkar-e-Islam and the Terror of Khyber Agency... -led Lashkar-e-Islam in April last year and after forcing the LI activists to leave their area, they now have found their own gang, Tawheedul Islam. In Dera Ismail Khan, unidentified hard boyz blew up a government girls' school in Kotla Saidan late on Friday night.
Quoting an FIR lodged on the complaint of school watchman Taqi Shah, police said that five gunnies entered the school, tied Mr Shah with ropes and blew up the building after planting explosives in the classrooms. The Dera Township cop shoppe registered the case and has started investigations. According to police, about 40kg of high kaboom was used in the attack.
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Police fired tear gas and birdshot at protesters on Saturday in a third day of deadly festivities in Cairo, as anger at Egypt's ruling military boiled over after 74 people died in football-related violence.
The police responded after dozens of protesters threw stones at officers guarding the interior ministry hundreds of metres from the capital's iconic Tahrir Square.
Some protesters later intervened and stood between their comrades and police, ending the violence.
In the canal city of Suez, two people died from birdshot wounds sustained in festivities overnight, medics said.
The health ministry said 12 people have been killed in Cairo and Suez since the violence erupted.
Five people were also hurt in overnight festivities outside police headquarters in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, state media reported.
Marchers had taken to the streets nationwide on Friday to demand that Egypt's ruling generals cede power immediately after a night of violence in several cities.
The official MENA news agency on Saturday cited the health ministry as saying 2,532 people have been injured.
A news hound for the state-owned Nile News television station was maimed in the eye by birdshot, the channel reported.
The interior ministry said 211 coppers were maimed, including a general who lost an eye, and 16 conscripts were maimed by birdshot.
Protesters, many of them organised supporters of Cairo's main football clubs known as the Ultras, held up a huge banner to the police that read: "Those who didn't deserve to die have died at the hands of those who don't deserve to live."
Many of the dead in Wednesday's football riot in the northern city of Port Said were thought to have been Al-Ahly supporters, set upon by partisans of the local Al-Masry side after the Cairo team lost 3-1.
The Ultras played a prominent role among anti-regime elements in the uprising that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... a year ago, and commentators and citizens have suggested pro-Mubarak forces were behind the massacre, or at least complicit.
In the ongoing aftermath, rocks and stones flew in all directions on Friday as police vans in Cairo repeatedly charged demonstrators.
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#1
NOT-ABOUT-SOCCER SOCCER RIOT ...
versus
* NEWS KERALA > US SHOULD SUSPEND MILITARY AID TO EGYPT UNTIL ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVILIAN GOVT: ARTICLE [NYT].
To deter or prevent post-Mubarak, "Arab Spring" Egypt from devol into another "Pakistan".
IMO also read - hostile anti-US/West, anti-Israeli, Nuke-armed Egypt???
#2
NEWS KERALA > MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD CALLS ON WEST [US + Euros] TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL AID, DIPLOMATIC SUPPORT TO EGYPT, lest Egypt's "peaceful revolution" turn "hungry" [angry] agz US interests throughout the ME.
For a map, click here For a map of Chihuahua state, click here.
By Chris Covert
A total of nine individuals were shot to death and seven others were wounded in a shooting early Saturday morning in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, according to Mexican news accounts.
The shooting took place at the Far West bar near the intersection of calles Leandro Valle and Teófilo Borunda Norte in Santo Niño colony. At least 20 shooters burst into the bar at around 0130 hrs.
Two of the victims were women, one of which was a municipal police agent. El Diario de Juarez news daily identified the victims as Julio Alberto Barraza Flores, Marco Antonio Murga Rojas, Cesar Reyes Ocaña, Jorge Luis Rivera Mendoza, Rocio Zuñiga Sanchez, Fernando Rivera Castañeda, Elizabeth Zafiro Quintana, Jorge Luis Mendoza Rivera and Vicente Romero Cruz.
According to La Polaka news daily, the dead police agent was identified as Elizabeth Zafiro of Grupo Beta.
Five of the dead were identified as the norteno music group La 5th Banda. News reports characterized the number of spent rifle shell casings as in the hundreds.
The massacre is the worst single incident of violence in Chihuahua state against civilians in a year. Last summer, Chihuahua state and Mexican federal government officials made much of the fact that intergang and drug violence was on the decline, so much so a Policia Federal unit left Juarez, as well as one Mexican Army unit.
With this shooting and a number of others in recent weeks, it appears drug and gang related violence may well be on the upswing.
#4
Sometimes bands give away too much info in their corrido lyrics and are offed; sometimes they offend a certain cartel and are offed; and sometimes one cartel is offended the band plays before members of a rival cartel with deadly consequences. Livin' on la frontera teaches you life lessons not found elsewhere. Borgboy in Tucson.
[An Nahar] Russia and China's veto Saturday of a U.N. resolution on the bloodshed in Syria is a "shockingly callous betrayal" of the Syrian people, Amnesia Amnesty International said.
Moscow and Beijing have acted in a "completely irresponsible" way, the London-based human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... group added.
Russia and China vetoed a United Nations ...Parkinson's Law on an international scale... Security Council resolution condemning Syria for its lethal crackdown on protests, as activists said Syrian troops killed more than 230 people in shelling of the city of Homs.
"The decision by Russia and China... is a shockingly callous betrayal of the people of Syria," Amnesty said.
The group's secretary-general Salil Shetty added: "This is a completely irresponsible use of the veto.
"It is staggering that they have blocked the passage of what was already a very weak draft resolution.
"After a night in which the whole world watched the people of Homs suffering, the actions of these members are particularly shocking."
Thirteen countries voted for the resolution proposed by European and Arab nations to give strong backing to an Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... plan to end the clampdown.
Amnesty said it would continue to press Security Council members to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... ; impose a comprehensive arms embargo; and implement an assets freeze on Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... and other top Syrian officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
or as Russia and China call it, "just an average Saturday at the UN"
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/05/2012 5:50
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#3
whadda ya think yer gonna get when we give China "most favored nation status" at the UN, hello people, evil communist scumbags dont change their spots!
AI isn't getting the money it used to get when Russia was the USSR, and China hasn't been the same since that old reprobate Mao died. The current US administration has positioned itself just-so, that it's gotten harder to raise funds from the anti-US crowd. So AI has had to fall back on the "we're for the downtrodden" schtick to raise funds.
#6
Plus, AI has to pay the rent on its spiffy headquarters in Manhattan here. It's tough to help the downtrodden when you don't have an office with a good view.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/05/2012 14:25
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A college student claims he was injured when a fraternity member in a "drunken stupor" decided "that it would be a good idea to shoot bottle rockets out of his anus," and did so, "but instead of launching, the bottle rocket blew up in the defendant's rectum, and this startled the plaintiff and caused him to jump back," and fall off the fraternity's deck.
Louis Helmburg III sued The Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity Inc., of Huntington, West Virginia, and Travis Hughes, a fraternity member, in Cabell County Court.
Helmburg claims - in a statement it would be difficult to deny - that "firing bottle rockets out of one's own anus constitutes an 'ultra-hazardous' activity," which exposes both defendants to strict liability.
Helmburg says he suffered pain and medical expenses, and lost playing time on the Marshall University baseball team. He claims the Alpha Tau deck from which he fell lacked a railing, which violated Huntington building codes. In addition to the full story at the link, the complaint in .pdf is here
#1
1. I've never been drunk enough to do that. (I think I'd be dead long before I got that drunk, if I ever decided to get drunk to begin with.)
2. I've never been stupid enough to admit having anything to do with a mess like that.
Sexist remark: Ever notice it's never girls who do this shit? /sexist remark
(Yeah, yeah - I know. Girls do plenty of other stupid shit.)
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/05/2012 10:20
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#2
Don't laugh, this douche-nozzle will probably get a bunch of money because the deck lacked a handrail.
That is the world we have made, 20,000 families will lose their homes this month due to poor economic policy, and this guy will get a million dollar settlement.
Syrian forces bombarded the protest city of Homs Saturday, killing more than 200 civilians in a "horrific massacre," activists said, as the army opened fire on funeral processions near Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... , killing 12 people.
The Damascus government denied involvement in the pre-dawn assault, blaming groups trying to incite unrest ahead of a possible Security Council vote, as television images showed bodies and buildings destroyed in the city.
La Belle France, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, condemned this "further step in savagery," calling it a "crime against humanity."
In an apparent allusion to Moscow, it said anyone hindering condemnation of the violence and steps toward a political solution would "bear a heavy responsibility in history."
Opposition groups again demanded the world act to end a campaign they say has killed at least 6,000 people since March, and angry protesters stormed Syrian embassies in Athens, Berlin, Cairo, Kuwait and London.
Opposition groups put the Homs corpse count at between 217 and at least 260. If confirmed, that would be the deadliest incident in the nearly 11-month uprising.
"Assad forces randomly bombed residential areas in Homs, including Khalidiyeh and Qusur, which resulted in at least 260 civilians killed and hundreds of maimed, including men, women, and children," said the Syrian National Council (SNC).
The "Assad regime committed one of the most horrific massacres since the beginning of the uprising in Syria," it said.
Assad's forces also "bombed" the northern town of Jisr al-Shughur near the Turkish border, and suburbs of Damascus, it said.
Al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya television showed dozens of bodies and scenes of chaos as tweets claiming to be from residents said Homs "is bleeding" under the bombardment.
"It's a real massacre," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse, calling for "immediate intervention" by the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
He said at least 237 were killed, including 99 women and kiddies, and several hundred maimed in Homs, a flashpoint of the Syrian uprising.
Al-Jazeera said witnesses spoke of nail bombs exploding and incessant shelling.
Resident Danny Abdul Ayem reported "non-stop bombardment... by tank shells and mortar bombs."
"The bombardment stopped this morning, and residents emerged to look for the dead and maimed in the debris," activist Hadi Abdullah told AFP by phone from Khalidiyeh, adding that "nearly 200 deaders" were prepared for burial.
A medical student told al-Jazeera the local hospital was struggling to cope.
"There is a lack of blood, a lack of oxygen... There is danger in the streets," he said. "We are overwhelmed. We have opened the mosque next door" to the maimed, he said.
AFP was not immediately able to verify the authenticity of videos or of opposition and resident accounts because of restrictions on reporting in Syria.
The government denied its army had shelled Homs and accused television stations of "inciting" violence, the official SANA news agency said.
"The civilians shown by satellite television stations are citizens who were kidnapped and killed by armed gunnies" it accused of "wanting to use that information to (pressure) the Security Council."
In separate violence, Abdel Rahman said security forces opened fire on funerals near Damascus, killing 12 people and wounding 30.
A diplomat at the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... said the Security Council was expected to meet between 14:00 and 15:00 GMT and vote later on a resolution of condemnation.
But there were new objections from Russia, which opposes a resolution that can be used to justify foreign military intervention, call for Assad to quit or impose an arms embargo on Syria.
"The draft does not suit us at all and I hope that it is not put to a vote," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Jay ... and Lavrov will meet later Saturday, amid a renewed American push for passage of the resolution.
The SNC demanded Russia change its position and "clearly condemn the regime and hold it responsible for the massacres, to stop the killing in Syria."
Syrians must be allowed to "democratically elect a regime that ensures freedom and dignity for all Syrians," it said, urging people to take to the streets.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe condemned "in the strongest terms the new attack by the Syrian regime on the people of Homs.
"Far from halting their policy of repression, the Syrian authorities have taken a further step in savagery. The massacre of Homs is a crime against humanity, its perpetrators must answer for it," he said in a statement.
"This unbridled violence underlines the urgency for the United Nations Security Council to end its silence in order to condemn the authors of this crime and open the way to the implementation of the vaporous Arab League's political plan.
"The international community must recognize and support the right of the Syrian people to freedom, security and the choice of their political future.
"Those who would hinder the adoption of such a resolution would assume a heavy responsibility in history."
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02/05/2012
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[Al Jazeera] Greece has only one day left to clinch a eurozone bailout and a bond swap with creditors to manage its crushing debt repayments, its finance minister has said, warning that talks were "on a knife edge".
"The moment is very critical," Evangelos Venizelos told news hounds on Saturday after a telephone conference with fellow eurozone finance ministers, which he described as "very difficult".
"Everything must be concluded by tomorrow (Sunday) night... so that we can be within the timetable given the bond maturities in March," the minister said.
Athens has been negotiating with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank on further action needed to unlock a new rescue deal worth 130bn euros ($171bn).
Pressure is also mounting for a deal with private lenders to wipe out part of the 350bn euro ($460bn) Greek debt, with Athens facing loan repayments of 14.4bn euros ($19bn) on March 20.
Venizelos said two major points of contention with the EU and IMF remained open - controversial labour cost cuts, and new fiscal measures to address slippage to deficit targets owing to a greater than forecast recession. He said the time had come for the coalition of socialist, conservative and far-right parties backing the Greek interim government to make "a decision and a commitment" to pave the way for agreement.
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is expected to summon the coalition party leaders to a meeting on Sunday. But the outcome is unclear, as all three parties have expressed misgivings about the additional fiscal reforms demanded by Greece's creditors.
Papademos has reportedly threatened to resign if his coalition backers reject the demanded austerity measures, though government front man Pantelis Kapsis refused to confirm this.
The coalition leaders are strongly opposed to demands for further civil service cuts, now reportedly affecting teachers and military staff, and for a reduction in the minimum monthly wage which now stands at 750 euros ($986).
Defence Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos warned on Saturday that "social tolerance has reached its limit" in Greece after two years of austerity.
"I fear society will not be able to respond to the asphyxiating terms being imposed," Avramopoulos told financial daily Imerisia.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2012
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#1
We should be watching these events unfold. Our government has done the same thing but only in a much bigger way. Increase taxes, continue to spend, and barrow. What happens when you can no longer barrow is what we are about to see (China has lost 250- nearly 500 billion on our dollar). So government must cut safety nets. Cut government services/programs. Then turn on their people to save themselves. Tax revenue continues to decline.They have made mistakes that have been made many times in the past. I remember in (I think it was the Hunt for Red October) "you ass, you have killed us").
#2
Perhaps it's a law of nature that the rubes can't understand the concept of a government -- an entire nation -- running out of money.
I'm sure B.O.'s counting on that.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2012 12:15
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Fred, B.O. is one of those rubes. I doubt he's ever considered that it might take more than his anointed presence, the lapdog media, and a good protection racket.
#4
Nah, he's just planning on getting his, and continuing to get his, while we get nuttin'.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/05/2012 14:23
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Most politicians are not leaders. They wii not tell the bad news and will tell the public what the think the public wants to hear. An exception to this rule was Winston Churchill. Maybe jealousy explains part of the reason why Winston's bust got sent back from the White House.
Most politicians are parasites. They live off the fat of the land.
So......if the public does not demand responsibility, politicians will say platitudes while the country collapses.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/05/2012 14:26
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Governments that print their own currency and only borrow in their own currency never run out of money.
Rather the reverse. They end up with far too much of it. Like Zim where it took a gazillion zimdollars to buy a loaf of bread.
President Barack Obama The Cambridge police acted stupidly... on Saturday accused Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... 's government of murdering civilians in an "unspeakable assault" in the city of Homs, and demanded that Assad step down.
"Assad must halt his campaign of killing and crimes against his own people now. He must step aside and allow a democratic transition to proceed immediately," Obama said in a statement.
The U.S. president's blunt condemnation came amid reports that more than 200 non-combatants were killed by Syrian forces in a night of shelling of residential areas in the flashpoint city of Homs.
The U.N. Security Council was set to meet and discuss a draft resolution condemning the Assad regime and endorsing an Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... plan for a political transition, while Russia's foreign minister planned to meet the Syrian leader in Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... next week.
"Yesterday the Syrian government murdered hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women and kiddies, in Homs through shelling and other indiscriminate violence, and Syrian forces continue to prevent hundreds of injured civilians from seeking medical help," Obama said.
"I strongly condemn the Syrian government's unspeakable assault against the people of Homs and I offer my deepest sympathy to those who have lost loved ones," he said.
Obama said the Security Council "now has an opportunity to stand against the Assad regime's relentless brutality and to demonstrate that it is a credible advocate for the universal rights that are written into the U.N. Charter."
He pledged to work with the Syrians "toward building a brighter future," for the country.
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02/05/2012
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#1
You tell 'em Mr Prez...that'l learn 'em. They better watch themselves or next time you will give 'em a smackdown with a strongly worded note!
ISI chief to go in March
Daily Nawa-e-Waqt reported that ISI chief General Pasha was expected to finish his second tenure in office on 18 March 2012 and will go home.
Just like Cincinnatus and former president George Washington. Or perhaps more like dear Lt-General Hamid Gul.
The nutty former head of Pakistain's ISI, now Godfather to Mullah Omar's Talibs and good buddy and consultant to al-Qaeda's high command...
Major general Naushad and corps commander Peshawar General Khalid Rabbani were being considered for the ISI top job.
Does anyone know anything about these honourable gentlemen?
Insaf will win 100 seats
Writing in Jang Haroon Rasheed stated that when the 'tsunami' of Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... began in Lahore it was hoped that the party would win 30-40 seats - because the PMLN was still a big party - but afterwards this estimate went up to 70 seats. After the Karachi rally and the one coming on 23 Match, Insaf will win a hundred seats.
 Khalid Kharal attacks PPP
Old PPP veteran leader Khalid Kharal told Mashriq that the PPP had lost vision and was corrupt compared to the old leadership. He said his wife too had nothing to do with the PPP and that he welcomed the joining of Insaf party by Shahnawaz Cheema and Khwaja Muhammad Saleh.
 Marvi Memon leftover of Imran Khan
According to Haroon Rasheed in Jang old PMLQ firebrand Marvi Memon wanted to announce her entry into Insaf party but Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi did not allow her to make the announcement and later did not let her come to the mike and speak. She was politically savvy and hardworking but was emotional and self-centred. She wanted Imran Khan to announce her entry and then put her in charge of information, which Imran Khan denied her. After that she turned away from Insaf. She was picked up by PMLN which was like eating the leftovers of Imran Khan.
 How unkind to say so. But apparently she has plenty of company...
Gilani eats up income from the tombs
World famous politician Sheikh Rasheed stated in Express that prime minister Gilani was used to eating up the income of the tombs and was therefore not fit to be prime minister. Roedad Khan said the Supreme Court disappointed him by giving the PPP the sixth option while the country was sinking. Hasan Nisar said that Husain Haqqani was loyal to no one.
 They talk about each other like a bunch of high school girls
Hamid Mir's dilemma
Writing in Jang columnist Hamid Mir stated that when he said that the worst kind of democracy was better the best kind of dictatorship, the Army would get offended with him; and when he said that the corruption by the government was pushing Pakistan to the brink of disaster then he was considered an enemy of democracy.
 Court will save generals from dismissal
Famous lawyer Akram Sheikh told Express that if the prime minister used his powers to dismiss the generals Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... and Pasha the Supreme Court will overturn the order and keep them in their posts.
 'Pakistan is calling me!'
Quoted in Mashriq Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... in Dubai announced that he was going back to Pakistan because Pakistan was calling him. He said Pakistan needed alternative leadership which he would provide. In Pakistan, however, courts had ordered his arrest as he landed in the country amid reports that he was fast losing support among his followers after hearing that he was coming back. According to Nawa-e-Waqt (16 Jan 2012) Musharraf said he was willing to join Insaf party but was puzzled why Imran was not in favour of letting him join.
 Second judge ducks the Khosa case
Reported in Mashriq after seeing that one judge of the High Court had excused himself from hearing the case of actress Sapna's disappearance as wife of the powerful Dost Muhammad Khosa son of Punjab PMNLN leader Zulfiqar Khan Khosa, another High Court judge Sheikh Najmul Hasan too had excused himself from hearing the case. Dost Khosa claimed that he had divorced his wife before she disappeared and he was looking for her.
Why would he look for her if he'd divorced her? Is that now not the responsibility of her father?
Dasti raises dust
 Famous PPP leader from Muzaffargarh Jamshed Dasti was reported by daily Pakistan as saying that he was making ready to announce his joining the Insaf Party because the PPP high command had handed over the control of everything (siah-o-safed) in Muzaffargarh to someone else which proved that the PPP favoured the feudals only. Shah Mehmood played a role in getting Dasti to rise in revolt. (Dasti later agreed to stay with the PPP.)
 Dr AQ Khan attacks Imran Khan
 "You disgrace my family name, you upstart name-thief!"
World famous nuclear scientist Dr AQ Khan was quoted in Mashriq as saying that the end of Imran Khan would be same as Mian Azhar after he revolted from the PMLQ. He said if a gathering of the people and clapping was any yardstick then Mira and Reema would be more popular leaders than anyone.
 Eunuchs freed in seduction case
 Technically they can't, you see, no matter how real it might seem to all parties involved
,Reported in Mashriq the police rounded up a lot of khwaja sara (eunuch) people from the roads of Lahore accusing them of inviting the citizens to sin (dawat-e-gunah) with them. The plea from the eunuchs was that what they did by the roadside was begging for alms because they had no other way of subsisting. The Court let them off the charge after determining that they were not inviting people to sin.
 Astrologers go after Christian graves
Reported in Jinnah astrologers practising magic in Lahore were obsessed with the sensitive organs and bones of men and were focusing on the graves of the Christians. Christian graveyards were being attacked and graves opened to steal the sexual organs of men to mix in potions made for enhancing power among Muslim men.
How great must the enhancing need be, to use not the bits of, say, a freshly slaughtered bull or tiger, but the well-rotted parts of a centuries-ago subdued people?
'Judiciary has again ganged up with Army!'
Reported in Jinnah lawyer Asma Jahangir stated that the judiciary was once again being seen as siding with the Army against the elected government which had happened in the past too. She said the government was being pushed into a dead alley with the street banner saying 'justice'. She said establishment tweaked results of all elections and had produced a whole crop of politicians.
 Akram Sheikh, all-round lawyer
Quoted in Mashriq world famous lawyer Akram Sheikh
Perhaps the writer means that Mr Sheikh, esq. is world famous within certain select circles, not among the general public like us...
who defended millionaire Mansoor Ijaz against the PPP government stated that he was also thinking of taking the case of defending PPP lawyer-leader Babar Awan too who was under notice of contempt from the Supreme Court.
 Aitzaz to replace Gilani?
Daily Mashriq quoted a daily in the UK Times as saying that the PPP was considering getting rid of prime minister Gilani and appointing Aitzaz Ahsan in his place. This was to be done to ease the pressure on President Zardari who was assigning Aitzaz to engage the judiciary in secret negotiations.
 Chehlum terrorists caught in KarachiÂ
Hurrah!
Reported in Mashriq a 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 ... terrorist gang was caught by the police before it blew up the Shia procession in Karachi on the night of chehlum (40th day) of Imam Husain's martyrdom together with 60 kilos of explosive matter, 4 suicide jackets and a rocket launcher. But the killings could not be stopped in Rahimyar Khan - the home town of the terrorist leader Malik Ishaq recently freed from a Lahore prison - where the procession was attacked killing 20 people. In Basra in Iraq the death tool, was above 50.
Oh nooooos -- their evil ones are more evil than ours! However will we be able to face our fathers' wrathful disappointment?
#2
Hes one silly twat that William, fucking tosspot. really angry this morning and if i saw him i would spark him like the fucking cretin he is. oh christ and i stand by those islanders?
[An Nahar] The Lebanese army deployed on Saturday in the northern village of Wadi Khaled after media outlets reported that members of the Free Syrian Army were present in the area.
"On Saturday morning the military carried out three airdrops in al-Rami village near Wadi Khaled and searched the area for hours," a military source told LBC.
The source noted that these measures were taken depending on the circumstances and "it could end on Saturday."
MP Moein al-Merehbi confirmed the incident, slamming the deployment of the army as "Syrian orders to President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... , Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji."
"Media reports saying that there are gunnies infiltrating from Syria into Leb and vice-versa are bizarre and strange," he stated.
Al-Akhbar newspaper reported that Wadi Khaled is a military base for the Free Syrian Army.
According to the daily the Free Syrian Army officers and troops are moving liberally along the illegal border crossings, smuggling weapons and transporting injured soldiers.
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02/05/2012
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[An Nahar] The government is trying to negotiate the withdrawal of al-Qaeda linked Death Eaters from Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province in southern Yemen, tribal and government officials said on Saturday.
The negotiations, taking place through tribal mediators, are "ongoing," a government official told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity, without giving further details.
Last May, the Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), linked to al-Qaeda, took control of Zinjibar, triggering nine months of deadly festivities between Death Eaters and government troops.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the fighting and more than 90,000 residents displaced.
Tribal mediator Tareq al-Fadhli said the government's negotiating team comprised six members of parliament headed by the influential tribal chief and politician Awad al-Wazir.
Al-Fadhli said he "passed on the demands of the Partisans of Sharia (to the politicians)" at a meeting on Saturday in the southern coastal town of Shaqra, 35 kilometers east of Zinjibar.
The Death Eaters are demanding assurances that "Sharia law be implemented" and government troops "retreat to their barracks," he said.
The Partisans of Sharia will withdraw from Zinjibar and police forces would be allowed back into town under the command of Abyan's current security chief once the conditions are met, he added.
Al-Fadhli said a "second phase" of negotiations would deal with the bad boys' pullback from other southern Yemeni towns once the withdrawal from Zinjibar is complete.
At least three tribal-mediated negotiation attempts to secure the Death Eaters withdrawal from Zinjibar have failed since the town fell.
On January 25, hundreds of al-Qaeda gunnies bowed to tribal pressures and withdrew from the town of Rada, 130 kilometers southeast of the capital Sanaa.
Rada was overrun on January 16, the latest in a series of towns and cities to fall as al-Qaeda takes advantage of a central government weakened by months of anti-regime protests.
Heavily armed tribes, which play a vital role in Yemeni politics and society, have been joining the army to battle Death Eaters linked to al-Qaeda who have taken over several regions across the country's south and east.
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[Dawn] Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... has said that there is no space for terrorism, militancy or extremism in Islam and those involved in such activities cannot even claim to be Moslems.
The prime minister, in his message on the occasion of Eid Milad-un- Nabi (PTUI!) being celebrated on Sunday, said: "Those, who spread disorder and chaos, cannot even claim to be Moslems as the scourges of terrorism and extremism are incompatible to the essence of Islamic teachings."
Gilani said Islam, a universal religion, guides the humanity to the path of peace, security and welfare.
He said Islam does not allow anyone to spread violence and strife on the face of earth and forbids people to kill others.
The premier said since Islam preaches peace and love, therefore, those, who enter its fold, become the embodiment of the same.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2012
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#1
Translation = Don't Assassinate Me Please.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/05/2012 5:49
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The premier said since Islam preaches peace and love, therefore, those, who enter its fold, become the embodiment of the same
What rubbish.What gets taught in Madrasses?How does Islam get on with other religions worldwide?
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/05/2012 7:25
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#3
never have gotten along with other religions and never will
Posted by: chris ||
02/05/2012 7:27
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This was a misquote.What he meant was "we havent terrorized space yet"- Meaning " we have targets of opportunity. Perhaps Newts space station". Yep, thats it.
#6
All of what he said is true...IF you are talking about his particular sect. If you are not a member of his particular sect then you are not a human and all bets are off.
[An Nahar] The Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... 's parliaments chief called on member states to expel pro-regime Syrian ambassadors, saying that Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... 's government is continuing to kill Syrian protesters.
Ali Salem al-Diqbassi, the 88-member advisory body's speaker, said that Arab League countries should carry out a decision to cut diplomatic and economic ties with Syria as Assad faces down pro-democracy protests with violence.
The Syrian regime "continues to carry out the most extreme acts of killing and oppression," he said in a statement.
The 22-member league last week suspended an observer mission in Syria because of an upsurge in violence, which activists say has killed more than 6,000 since mid-March when an unprecedented revolt erupted against Assad's regime.
Arab ministers will meet on February 11 to review the suspended observer mission to Syria.
In November, the League slapped strong sanctions on Syria, the first time such severe measures had been taken against one of its own members, freezing commercial transactions with the government and its accounts in Arab states.
It also called on member states to withdraw their ambassadors from Syria, but left the decision to each state.
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[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. on Saturday asked Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to withdraw the 'un-parliamentary remarks' that he had used against the Army and security agencies.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Malik said that Chaudhry Nisar should apologize to the country for "insulting the whole nation and the Army" by passing derogatory remarks.
The interior minister also said that he would take up the matter in the NA session on Monday requesting to expunge these remarks from proceeding of the house.
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From a complaint filed on January 23 in West Virginia, reported today by Courthouse News Service:
8. Â Â [Defendant] was highly intoxicated on this date and time, and decided in his drunken stupor that it would be a good idea to shoot bottle rockets out of his anus on the [Alpha Tau Omega fraternity] deck, located on the back of the ATO house.
10. Â [Defendant] placed a bottle rocket in his anus [and] ignited the fuse, but instead of launching, the bottle rocket blew up in Defendant's rectum, and this startled plaintiff and caused him to jump back, at which time he fell off of the ATO deck, and he became lodged between the deck and an air conditioner unit adjacent to the deck.
13.  Per the applicable codes ... the deck in question should have had a railing, which comported with said codes.
16.  ATO owed plaintiff a duty to provide a safe deck, including a railing, and ... a duty to supervise its guests and its own fraternity members, such as Defendant, and other under age persons, from consuming alcohol on its premises, which leads to stupid and dangerous activities, such as shooting bottle rockets out of one's own anus.
18. Â [Defendant] also owed plaintiff ... a duty of care not to drink under age, or to file bottle rockets out of his anus.
19. Â [Defendant] breached this duty when he both drank under age ... and attempted to fire a bottle rocket out of his anus while under the influence. The act of firing a bottle rocket, within Huntington City Limits, was also a crime.
22. Â Plaintiff asserts that the activity of underaged drinking and firing bottle rockets out of one's own anus constitutes an "ultra-hazardous" activity which exposes both of these defendant to strict liability.
[An Nahar] Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud on Saturday accused Syrian rebels of shelling the protest hub of Homs to swing a U.N. Security Council vote in their favor.
"The reports on some satellite channels that the Syrian army shelled neighborhoods in Homs are fabricated and unfounded," Mahmoud said in a statement to Agence La Belle France Presse.
He charged that "armed terrorist groups, incited by the Istanbul council (opposition Syrian National Council)" carried out the assault on Homs and other areas "to swing the vote" at the Security Council.
The Security Council met on Saturday to vote on a draft resolution condemning the Syrian government's deadly crackdown on protests, just hours after activists accused the regime of a "horrific massacre" in Homs.
Russia and China vetoed the resolution proposed by European and Arab nations, while 13 of the 15-member council voted in favor.
Activists say Syrian troops killed more than 230 people in shelling of the city of Homs overnight.
But the Syrian minister denied regular army troops had any hand in the bloodshed, and said bodies of victims broadcast on some news channels were "those of civilians kidnapped and killed by armed terrorist groups."
"The armed terrorist groups took pictures of the bodies and passed them off as victims of the alleged shelling in a bid to influence the positions of some countries during Security Council deliberations," Mahmoud said.
"What happened yesterday is that armed terrorist groups indiscriminately fired shells on streets and neighborhoods in Homs to kill civilians and terrorize others and then pin the blame on the Syrian army," he added.
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#1
why swing the UN vote? It's not like they are going too do anything besides ocndemn the regime for the crackdown anyway.
Posted by: chris ||
02/05/2012 7:25
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[Bangla Daily Star] Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday said if any attack on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina or the party were planned, it would be devised in London, not in the country.
"Such a scheme would be hatched in London and executed in Bangladesh," he told a meeting of the Awami League Central Working Committee (ALCWC) with party chief Sheikh Hasina in the chair at the Gono Bhaban.
The minister, however, did not name anybody in this connection.
Referring to his January 14 talks with the UK's Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell in Dhaka, Ashraf said he had informed Mitchell about the matter during the meeting.
"If any such incident [attack] occurs in Bangladesh, it'll have an impact on the entire world, including the neighbouring countries. The international community is worried about it," he mentioned.
Ashraf called upon the people as well as his party men to remain alert about keeping the BNP out of power. "So you have to remain cautious about any probable attempt to turn the country into Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... 's Bangladesh. We don't want to be recognised as a corrupt nation in the world."
The AL spokesperson accused the BNP and its chairperson of doing everything possible to foil the ongoing trial of war criminals.
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On Saturday, a senior Muslim leader in Canada ordered an end to honor killings and domestic abuse, saying the Koran does not endorse such violence. Imam Syed Soharwardy, founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, issued the fatwa following the convictions in Ontario, this week in the deaths of four Muslim women killed by relatives.
Soharwardy said, "Those who think honor killing is OK are dead wrong.
In contrast with their victims, who are just dead.
There is no place for violence in Islam."
He added that "a very small minority" of Muslims adhere to the concept and "need to be corrected."
Soharwardy said he had been researching the issue for a while but it was the recent murder trial that led him to act. The imam said he and other scholars also want infidels non-Muslims to understand that mysogyny is not sanctioned by Islam.
Soharwardy noted while a fatwa is "not legally binding" it is "morally binding."
It is just the third fatwa Canadian organization has issued in the past decade. The most recent one was in January 2010 when the council said Muslims were not to commit acts of terrorism against Canada or the United States.
#1
Too bad he didn't issue the fatwa before Dad, sonny and wifey 2 dumped the car with daughters 1,2 and 3 and wifey 1 into the canal. Apparently wearing short skirts and texting boys are a bad thing honour-wise.
[Yemen Post] Armed men belonging the Southern Movement intercepted on Friday a protest for the revolutionary youth in the southern port city of Aden, leaving many injured some of them at death's door.
Tens of thousands rallied on Friday through the streets of Aden to celebrate the first anniversary in of the Yemeni revolution that succeeded in bringing down the head of the regime, President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... .The Southern Movement gunnies attacked the revolutionary rally with tear gas , stones, and live ammunition, leaving many protesters injured, among whom two at death's door.
Southern Movement, which calls for the separation of the south Yemen and make it an independent state, claims that the Yemeni revolution overshadowed their movement's chief demand.
Ah. Good to know. I was confused before.
According to the initial accounts the injuries are various as some were hit by live ammunition, others were suffering from suffocation.
Most Yemenis firmly stand for Yemen's unity and they dead against separation.
Massive popular protests calling for an end to the authoritarian role of President-for-Life Saleh ... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence... combined by al-Qaeda insurgency in the south, Shiite rebellion in the far north and increasing calls for the separation of the south has shaken Yemen to the bone, leaving thousands killed, pushing the economy to the brink of collapse and triggering a catastrophic humanitarian disaster.
Saleh, who is in USA for medical treatment, has signed a deal under which he relinquished power to Vic President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, the consensus candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections, in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
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[Tripoli Post] Tripoli- The Syrian protestors tried to break into the Syrian embassy in Tripoli early morning on Saturday. They broke the windows and climbed to the roof and managed to change the old flag with the new Free Syrian flag. The security guards then intervened and the protestors drove away. The guards then hoisted the old flag back.
The interim government of Libya has already recognized the SNC, Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian People but the Pro-Assad embassy staff was still here. In the evening 10s of protestors gathered outside the Syrian embassy in Tripoli and began chanting the Anti-Assad slogans, they were accompanied by many Libyan nationals as well.
Some people then climbed over the walls, to the roof using ladders and changed the flag. The Libyan revolutionaries guarding the embassy didn't stop the angry protestors, which included women and kiddies.
The official of the SNC spoke to the Tripoli Post and said that "We will not leave until we take over the embassy, NTC has recognized us and it's our right to take our embassy back from Assad thugs". He also had an authorization letter from the SNC.
The protestors finally opened the door and everybody rushed inside the building. Many people were trying to secure the building and look for important documents that could help expose the Assad regime.
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[An Nahar] Tunisia will expel the Syrian ambassador and stop recognizing the Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... regime as government after a violent repression that killed over 200 people in the central city of Homs, the presidency said.
"Tunisia has begun formal procedures to expel the Syrian ambassador and to end all recognition of the regime in power in Syria," said the presidency in a statement.
The move came "following the bombardment that made more than 200 people deaders" and left hundreds maimed in Syria's protest hub of Homs.
The Tunisian presidency expressed its "deep concerns about the massacres perpetrated over more than nine months by the regime against its people."
"There is no solution for this tragedy other than the fall of Bashir al-Assad's regime and the opening of a road towards a democratic transition in Syria," added the statement.
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#1
They're fortunate that they're nearly a continent away.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Tens of thousands erupted into the streets of Moscow on Saturday for rival rallies arguing over the future of Russian leader Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile... , in a trial of political strength one month ahead of presidential polls.
While protesters from the anti-Putin movement massed for their third rally in less than two months urging the Russian strongman to quit, his supporters also filled a square in western Moscow to bursting point.
Police said 138,000 turned up for the pro-Putin rally in the west of the capital and put the number of protesters at the anti-Putin event at around 36,000. However opposition rally organisers insisted they mobilised over 120,000.
Bundled up in down jackets, fur coats and felt boots, the protesters defied freezing weather of around minus 17 degrees Celsius as Russia's political temperature heated up ahead of the March 4 elections.
The rally by the anti-Putin movement -- its third since disputed December 4 parliamentary polls -- was seen as a crucial test of whether activists can keep their momentum to pose a real challenge to the Russian strongman.
"We are not afraid of the frost. We are afraid of lies," said Mikhail Matrosov, a 51-year-old businessman who came to the rally with his friends. "We are for fair elections," he said.
The protesters marched onto Bolotnaya Square just on the other side of the Moscow river from the Kremlin and massed to hear speeches from activists and politicians calling on Putin to quit for the sake of the country.
"Putin wants to rule forever! One, two, three Putin leave!" cried opposition activist Ilya Yashin.
Leader of opposition Yabloko party, Grigory Yavlinsky, said: "We are different but we are all of the same colour, the colours of the Russian flag!"
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[Al Jazeera] Ethnic Tuareg rebels have launched a fierce offensive against Mali's security forces in a bid to seize the northern town of Kidal. The attack on Saturday is further evidence that Tuareg rebels have significantly increased their attacks against government control in Mali.
Kidal is the latest and most significant town targeted by the fighters, who have gained ground in other northern areas following weeks of festivities with government forces.
The Tuareg rebels have been bolstered by an influx of fighters from Libya who joined their movement after the late Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy ...a reminder that a single man with an idea can change an entire nation, usually for the worse... was toppled last year.
Hama Sidahmed, a Europe-based front man for the rebels, said their ambition was to take control over Kidal. "We will take the two military camps and occupy the town."
The sporadic firing of heavy weapons have been heard across the town as government forces fought to fend off the fighters, according the Rooters news agency.
In recent days, thousands of civilians reportedly decamped the town in anticipation of the fighting.
Some Tuareg leaders say many of their community have also decamped the southern city of Bamako, fearing reprisals after violent demonstrations this week. About 3,500 people had crossed west into Mauritania, said a Mauritanian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The International Committee for the Red Thingy (ICRC) said on Friday that nearly 10,000 people had decamped into Niger after fighting between the army and gangs in the area around the northeastern cities of Menaka and Anderamboucane.
The Tuareg rebels say they are fighting to secure the independence of Azawad, an area that takes in Mali's three northern regions, one of which is Kidal. The government accused the rebels of atrocities and collaborating with al-Qaeda, a charge rejected by the MNLA.
The ICRC said that some refugees were being looked after by local families while others had set up makeshift camps nearby.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Two retired army officials, placed in durance vile in connection with plotting to overthrow the government, told a Dhaka court how they had planned to have an army brigade surround Dhaka cantonment, Bangabhaban and the Gonobhaban, and force the president to dismiss the government and announce a new one.
Ishraq Ahmed, a Bangladeshi businessman who instigated the plot, was to be made the new ruler of the country, according to the plot, which had detailed a new state system and a blueprint on how that system would be implemented.
This was reported in the Bangla daily Prothom Alo Saturday.
Lt Col (retd) Ehsan Yusuf and Major (retd) Zakir revealed these details in their confessional statements following their arrest in December.
Another alleged plotter, a serving major named Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque alias Major Zia is on the run.
After the two were placed in durance vile, they requested that they be allowed to give their confessional statements before a civilian court.
According to the Prothom Alo report, they were taken to a Dhaka Metropolitan Court on January 9, where magistrates Shahriar Mahmud Adnan and Keshab Roy recorded their statements under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... sources in the ISPR said they did not know anything about it. The ISPR on January 19 at a presser formally revealed to the nation news of the plot to topple the government.
The two former army officials were given three hours to mull over what they would say in their testimonies, court sources said.
According to court sources, Ehsan Yusuf in his statement said he knew businessman Ishraq Ahmed as a friend of his elder brother Lt Col Mehbub. The two had fought together in the Liberation War.
Ishraq is a former student of Faujderhat Cadet College. He left the country for Denmark after Mehbub was killed following the 1981 abortive coup.
Yusuf and Ishraq used to meet twice or thrice a year in the 1990's. In 1997, Yusuf came to know that Ishraq was living in a house at Dhaka's Mohakhali DOHS. Yusuf went there to visit him. Ishraq told him that he had prevented a coup in 1996.
In his statement, Yusuf said after he retired, Ishraq invited him to his house in 2009 and offered him a position in a foreign company, the Bangla daily reported. He asked Yusuf about the internal situation of the army after the 2009 BDR carnage.
Yusuf said Ishraq asked him to introduce him to army officials affected by the carnage. Yusuf then took Ishraq to Major (retd) Zakir and Lt Col (retd) Shams.
Shams did not like Ishraq. He said Ishraq thinks about taking over power like the army officers of the 1960s, which he thought was pointless now.
Yusuf also told the court that in 2011 Ishraq asked him whether he had met Major Syed Ziaul Huq. In February 2011, Ishraq gave him a book and asked him to give it to a brigadier general.
Ishraq was in touch with that brigadier general, Yusuf said.
In his statement, Yusuf said Ishraq told him that a seminar would be organised in England by the organization of Mostak Ahammed, a teacher at a British university. The seminar would be used to inform the west about the possible consequences of the anger and antagonism in the Bangladesh army following the BDR carnage.
According to Yusuf, Ishraq used to say that China was a factor for the region in the future; and he was in touch with some Chinese leaders, Prothom Alo reported.
Yusuf said he went to see Major Zia in July or August 2011 on the request of Ishraq. Major Zia was studying at the Military Institute of Science and Technology then.
Ishraq told Yusuf that Major Zia would be able to lead and he also spoke about Major Zakir.
In his statement, Yusuf told the magistrate that on a Friday during the last Ramadan, he took Major Zia from Gulshan Shooting Club to Ishraq's home on a rickshaw. When they arrived, Major Zakir was already there. They discussed the government they would form after overthrowing the present one, the Bangla daily reported.
During that meeting, several former army officials, bureaucrats, journalists, intellectuals, teachers and other eminent personalities were discussed.
Major Zakir had then said they almost went for a military operation following the BDR carnage, Yusuf said in his statement. He said Ishraq had the impression that any coup following the carnage would give the impression that it happened because of the carnage.
Ishraq also presented a military plan, which showed that a brigade would surround Dhaka cantonment, Bangabhaban and Gonobhaban.
According to the plan, the prime minister was to be taken to a safe place; many army officials from 34 Bengal regiment would take positions at army headquarters; and the president would dissolve the government and announce a new one; and the head of that brigade would be made the new army chief.
A brigadier general was to be made the chief of general staff and businessman Ishraq was to be the country's new ruler, Yusuf said, adding that the reason behind making Ishraq the ruler was that he used to be a freedom fighter.
A major general was to be given authority over the home ministry, he added.
Yusuf told the court that Ishraq had the impression that there would not be any parades in winter 2011 and he wanted to get everything over with before the winter.
Some two or three days after the meeting, Yusuf went to see Ishraq at his home. At that meeting, Ishraq told him that action would be taken against several generals.
They also discussed Ishraq's position in the new government; the war crimes trial; reinstating Bismillah and faith in Allah in the constitution; repealing women's rights laws; decreeing the hijab; Islami banking; enforcing Sharia law; creating zakaat funds; stopping indecency on TV and films; appointing a Dhaka University teacher as education minister; and forming a high-powered committee for the National University.
A few days after the meeting, Yusuf went to Ishraq's home once again to hold further discussions, Yusuf said in his testimony.
During that meeting, Ishraq told him that the seminar in London had been a success. Plans were made in the seminar on how small groups would execute their operations.
They also discussed the responsibilities of each army official, their positions, sources of arms and bullets, and what would be done to any deserters, Yusuf said.
"At that meeting, Zia said that past coup instigators either had to die or leave the country. What will happen to us now?" said Yusuf.
Yusuf said Ishraq responded by saying that they needed to establish a chain of command in the military. They then dwelt on how the situation would be presented to foreign countries.
Some days later, Yusuf spoke to Ishraq over the telephone, when the businessman told him that the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence was on to him and he would have to go into hiding.
He also said that Ishraq was not in the country during Eid-ul-Azha. The businessman, however, asked everyone to gather at Major Zakir's home on Eid day and they had a teleconference. They had then expressed disappointment at an army officer backing out of the plot.
According to Yusuf, their last meeting was held on December 9, 2011. In the course of it, a major proposed calling off the plot to overthrow the government. After that, Yusuf had contacted a major in Bogra, who later went on to disclose the entire plan.
Court sources say that the statement of Major Zakir is very similar.
Ehsan Yusuf was placed in durance vile at Dhaka's Matikata area, close to Dhaka cantonment, on December 15 and Maj Zakir Hossain was placed in durance vile at a relative's house at Indira Road in Dhaka on December 31.
Following the revelations and the January 19 presser, an investigation court was formed in Dhaka and five others in other parts of the country.
[Yemen Post] The Yemen-based Abaad Centre for Studies and Researches has cautioned that some factions seek to collapse Yemeni cities militarily under the pretext of Al-Qaeda as happened in Radda and Abyan provinces scenarios.
"This scenario may be carried out in Ibb, Dhala'a, Lahj, and, Hadhramout and other cities would be controlled under the pretext of fighting Al-Qaeda as it is expected to happen in Dhamar, Taiz, and Hodeidah.
In a periodic report, Abaad pointed out that Al-Qaeda has no systematic structure and its goals are foggy, affirming that it lacks strategic visions.
Ouch. Not a kind evaluation of the Bravest Lions of Islam...
"Therefore, Al-Qaeda was penetrated by local and international bodies, and only those bodies take advantages of Al-Qaeda," added the centre. "Even some figures benefited from Al-Qaeda as that clearly appeared during its control and withdrawal of Al-Amria in Rada when Tariq Al-Dhahab could get his brother out of the custody."
"There are figures affiliated to Al-Qaeda, some were in Abyan and others who escaped jails, are currently existed in Sana'a, and some Al-Qaeda fugitives live with the displaced people inside schools in Aden."
The report ruled out that Al-Qaeda has the ability to take over any town, if it does not receive direct and indirect logistic support by some sides that are in connection to the power transfer process.
"Al-Dhahab withdrew from Radda after he failed to recruit enough numbers to completely control the city as well as he got his main demand, release of his bother" the report added.
The periodic report revealed that Al-Dhahab was not the real leader of Al-Qaeda in Radda.
It further cited that Al-Qaeda senior leaders, Nasser Al-Wohaish, the leader of Al-Qaeda, and Ebrahim Darwish, another Al-Qaeda leader were at Alzahir district of Baidha governorate when Radda was taken over.
"Decisions were taken by Al-Qaeda Shura council consisted of 20 persons who are selected of 60 persons, the real division of Al-Qaeda which is called " Almuhajreen" which includes a Saudi and Pakistani nationals. Their duties were not external protection. Some Bedouins, tribesmen and other escapees joined Al-Qaeda in its fighting with the aim of getting money and others were contained as a result of Al-Dhahab's charisma in the area.
"While the real leader was not known in Radda, there was a field leader who is called Abu Hamza and another high-ranking leader called "Abu Hamam" , and they were considered the main decion-makers in Radda"
Abaad said that assassination incidents against officers and soldiers of the Political Security and other security services were clear-cut indicators of Al-Qaeda expansion.
"Before Al-Qaeda control on Radda, three of the Political Security officials were killed in Baidah, capital of the governorate, and Al-Qaeda was behind their assassination," the report added "One of these officers, Ahmed Samba was kidnapped and executed by Al-Qaeda in Abyan,"
"Security services believe that Al-Qaeda was behind killing of approximately 70 security officers including 20 ones affiliated to the Political Security. Most of them were killed in the eastern and Southern governorates in the period from January 2011 to January 2012. This number is 25 percent of all those officers and soldiers killed since the eruption of anti-regime protests."
The report affirmed that Al-Qaeda used the Yemeni political gap and the power transfer process to strengthen its control, pointing out that Saleh's regime directly or indirectly contributed in Al-Qaeda control on Abyan and Radda.
"As Al-Qaeda took over Al-Qaeda in Zinjibar in April 2011 and seized control on the Central Security camp without fighting, it was supposed that Major General Adel Al-Masri, nephew of the Interior Ministry, be investigated.
"However, Al-Masri was appointed as a security director of Radda a day after the signature of the GCC-brokered power transfer deal," the report added.
"After Almasri became the first security official in Rada, Al-Qaeda could seized control Radda at the same way it took over Zinjibar,"
"As a result of Al-Qaeda operations, some regional and international powers would move to Yemen's territorial water, particularly the United states,"
"Its military move is motivated by presidential elections race, particularly after it achieved victories in Afghanistan and Yemen as well as the success of its covert operations which led to the killing of Bin Laden and Anwar Al-Awlaki,"
"Pentagon said it deployed a large floating base to serve as a "mother ship" for commando teams to the Middle East as tensions rise with Iran, Al Qaeda in Yemen and Somali pirates, but the main goal was the implementation of an agreement with Taliban for which the American forces would leave Afghanistan in return for allowing Al-Qaeda leaders would exit Afghanistan with guarantees of not endangering their lives,"
"Because Iran is interested in getting Americans and Al-Qaeda out Afghanistan, so it would facilitate the mission," added the report.
"As for the US-Iranian competition at Bab-el-Mandeb strait, particularly after Tehran threatened to close Hormuz strait, the report said that Americans seek to secure Bab-el-Mandeb, and then expand to the east Africa, but they know that Iran's existence in the African Horn would make them accept share as happened in Afghanistan and Iraq" the report concluded.
It expected that Washington would support Turkey's efforts to decrease the ceiling of Iran's demands which start with the United States' suspension of its support to the Iranian opposition and ends with turning blind eyes to Iran's repression against Sunnis in Balochistan , Ahwaz and Kurdistan.
It also cited that Washington and Tehran would reach an agreement that put an end to bargaining, pointing out that the Gulf Cooperation Council states would have their roles in the agreement as they are considered the closest partners to the United States.
"Yemen could be included in bargaining and Iran may abandon its influence in the African Horn, Yemen, Syria , Bahrain, particularly if it felt that it is fragile from inside and that its "Guardianship of the Jurist" system faces collapse in conjunction with parliamentary elections and Arab spring revolutions" it added.
The report concluded that bargaining reveals that Al-Qaeda organization is used as a justification for regional and international race to took over region's resources.
It ultimately called the Yemeni Consensus government to set an emergency plan to deal with Al-Qaeda which includes economic reforms, political openness, debates and dialogues with all Yemeni forces including Al-Qaeda and the Houthi group.
"The government must take into consideration the military and security action as the last solution," the report said.
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[Yemen Post] Fierce clashed flared up between the army troops and beturbanned goons suspected of ties with al-Qeada in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in the southern Yemeni province of Abyan.
The army used heavy artillery in its bombardment of al-Qaeda hideouts in the quiet provincial capital of Abyan, Zinjibur, local military sources told Yemen Post.
There is no accounts of causalities so far, but locals asserted that many have been killed and injured in the festivities.
Yemeni army managed to regain control of Zinjubar after al-Qaeda took over in May, however, it could not completely clear the elements out of the town.
Yemen-based al-Qaeda branch has strengthened its foothold in the southern provinces of the fragmented-state, apparently taking advantage of the distracted government.
Soddy Arabia and USA have repeatedly expressed their grave concerns over al-Qaeda taking advantage of the current unrest storming the country.
Yemen is a vital ally of the US on its war against terrorism, but cooperation on fighting al-Qaeda has been disrupted due to the recent events, leading US to step up its drone raids on al-Qaeda hideouts and convoys.
Last week, US drones killed at least 13 beturbanned goons of the terrorist group, including high-ranking figures.
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Jennifer Jason Leigh aka Stacy Hamilton in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)" aka Hedra 'Hedy' Carlson in "Single White Female (1992)" aka Catherine Sloper in "Washington Square (1997)" aka Stevie in "The Machinist (2004)" aka Annie Sullivan in "Road to Perdition (2002)" aka Allegra Geller in "Allegra Geller" aka Amy Archer in "The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)" aka Anney Boatwright in "Bastard Out of Carolina (1996)" aka Sadie Flood in "Georgia (1995)" (age 50)
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.
Pipeline has come under attack at least 11 times since fall of Mubarak; witnesses say flames seen from town in Northern Sinai.
Stirs fears it could inhibit renewables
Illegal immigration is a contentious topic in the United States, but it can be a touchy subject in Mexico too. This is especially true in northern border cities such as Tijuana, where hundreds of Mexicans are returned each day.
Russia is using its veto in the UN Security Council to prevent the organization of a UN military aid operation for the Syrian opposition. This prevents the kind of aid the Libyan rebels got. The Russians lost a lot of money when the Libyan dictatorship was overthrown. There were unpaid billions for weapons already delivered, plus lost future sales. For decades, Libya had been a major customer for Russian weapons. The new Libyan government will not buy any more Russian weapons and will not honor unpaid bills for past deliveries.
Bosnia's government declared a state of emergency in its capital on Saturday after Sarajevo was paralyzed by snow, while in Rome residents dug out from the city's biggest snowfall in 26 years, which shut down the Colosseum. The week-long cold snap -- the worst in decades in Eastern Europe -- has killed at least 176 people, many of them homeless, especially in countries such as Ukraine.
Pashtuns are believed to be the largest segmentary lineage society in the world today. They have been living in their defined homeland areas since ages, in a social order loosely defined by the code of Pashtunwali.
Wazoo
Kurram Agency
[Dawn] Two 
Punjab
Asif Ali 
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Police fired tear gas and birdshot at protesters on Saturday in a third day of deadly 
International Criminal Court
A college student claims he was injured when a fraternity member in a "drunken stupor" decided "that it would be a good idea to shoot bottle rockets out of his anus," and did so, "but instead of launching, the bottle rocket blew up in the defendant's rectum, and this startled the plaintiff and caused him to jump back," and fall off the fraternity's deck.
Hillary Clinton
Greece has only one day left to clinch a eurozone bailout and a bond swap with creditors to manage its crushing debt repayments, its finance minister has said, warning that talks were "on a knife edge".
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
ISI chief to go in March
Mehmood 
Pervez 
Najib Miqati
Prime Minister 
Gilani said Islam, a universal religion, guides the humanity to the path of peace, security and welfare.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Dawn] Interior Minister 
From a complaint filed on January 23 in West Virginia, reported today by Courthouse News Service:
Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday said if any attack on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina or the party were planned, it would be devised in London, not in the country.
[Yemen Post] Armed men belonging the Southern Movement intercepted on Friday a protest for the revolutionary youth in the southern port city of Aden, leaving many injured some of them 
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...
[Yemen Post] The Yemen-based Abaad Centre for Studies and Researches has cautioned that some factions seek to collapse Yemeni cities militarily under the pretext of Al-Qaeda as happened in Radda and Abyan provinces scenarios.
[Yemen Post] Fierce clashed flared up between the army troops and 
