Just over a month after the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops from Iraq, the United States plans to sharply cut the number of U.S. diplomatic personnel and contractors in the country. The move comes as Yahoo News has learned that the recently withdrawn U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, is being considered to succeed Jim Jeffrey as the next U.S. Ambassador to Iraq.
American officials described plans to cut the 16,000 US personnel and contractors in Iraq by half as a normal cost-saving measure. Hillary, Bill was, and still is, a much better liar. Flexing Muscle, Baghdad Detains U.S. Contractors
(The U.S. currently has about 2,000 diplomats in Iraq and 16,000 personnel including contractors posted to the country, the Times said.) But regional diplomats tell Yahoo News the United States is also under pressure from Iraqi Shiite leaders to reduce the American presence in the country.
"This is what's happening," one regional diplomat told Yahoo News Tuesday on condition of anonymity. "First the U.S. gets the troops out. Then [the Iraqi Shiite] Sadrists say publicly, 'what kind of withdrawal is this, the Americans still have 16,000 diplomats in the country.' So first they force the military out. Now the anti-American elements force the diplomats out. This is what it is."
Seems everyone that was anybody knew but Holder. And I've got a bridge.....
Former Tucson Drug Enforcement Administration chief Tony Coulson told The Daily Caller that Attorney General Eric Holder either knew guns were walking during Operation Fast and Furious, or should have known about the deadly practice.
"[Fast and Furious] was driven locally and it was driven from Arizona, from the ground up, I mean it was not much oversight," Coulson said in a phone interview. "And, I mean, I can only speak to the reporting, but people all the way up to the attorney general knew what was going on."
Coulson, who ran the DEA's Tucson office during Fast and Furious' implementation, told TheDC he learned that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was letting guns walk back in 2009 or 2010. He said he learned this from people who were working in the Phoenix Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. He didn't know it was called "Fast and Furious," but said it was widely known guns were walking.
"Nothing that [ATF] was doing was running into what we were doing at DEA from the Tucson level," Coulson said. "Now, Phoenix was a little bit different. They were, their targets kept running into DEA cases and I think that was reported out of the House letter last week. But in Tucson, we weren't running into them. How I became aware of it was through Immigration and Customs Enforcement."
"At the time, [ATF's] boss here, Bill Newell, was the face and the voice of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms," Coulson added. "If you go back during this time, he's the one who's on every major national news station. He's talking about weapons in Mexico. You know, he was the voice of ATF. I mean, he was driving ATF's policy. There was very little oversight at the time from anyone on what was going on. I became aware of it because ICE interceded on more than one occasion to seize weapons at the port of entry that ATF was trying to walk into Mexico."
ICE falls under the Department of Homeland Security, and with the news that Holder hasn't discussed Fast and Furious with its Secretary Janet Napolitano or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, there are likely to be new questions into what, if anything, those cabinet officials were told of Fast and Furious.
And, contrary to the picture Holder has tried to paint during his congressional hearing appearances, Coulson said that "yeah, absolutely" law enforcement officials were widely aware the ATF was using gun-walking tactics in Arizona. Coulson went so far as to say he suspects Holder himself was aware of the tactic, or was willfully unaware -- meaning he didn't want to know and made sure he wasn't informed of gun-walking.
"If someone brings something to your attention and not really all the facts are brought to your attention, yeah we're sending guns into Mexico, if he [Holder] chooses not to ask the next question, and then makes a statement 'I didn't know about that then' but did find out about it when it became a hot topic issue when he decided well, 'I should ask that next question now: Are you really walking guns into Mexico?'" Coulson said. "That leads to the next question, which is: 'Are the Mexicans seizing, recovering those weapons before they're used in a crime?' The answer is no."
Former Member of Russian Joint Chiefs of Staff Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov: Russia Is Ready to Use Military Power to Defend Iran and Syria; Attack on Syria or Iran Is Indirect Attack on Russia; U.S. in Libya Like Hitler in Poland.
#7
..read - warm water port that is not subject to be geographically limited being blocked [something Russians regardless of political slant have longed for].
#8
Warm-water ports has always been one of the underlying reasons for Tsarist, later Soviet/Stalinist, Russia's many historical attempts to control Iran.
#9
Russia's ability to project and sustain power much beyond its borders is negligible. The US is about the only power that has that capability. France and the UK can do it small scale, and China is trying to develop that capability - but Russia is simply out of the picture.
#10
...Concur with Lone Ranger - the Soviet Union Russian Federation is a danger only to places that are within walking distance. Keep in mind too that the Russian troops of today, with the exception of a few 'elite' units, are not the do-what-you're-told-and-like it troops of Communist days, not to mention the attitude of the Russian public will HAVE to be taken into account. If the people and the troops decide they aren't defending the Mad Mullahs, they won't, no matter how loud Putin and his sock puppets yell. What they could do - and assuredly will - is cut off energy supplies. Remember that the RFSR supplies a good chunk of Europe's natural gas, and a LOT of the world's oil. They could get almost the same results with that as with a full-dress invasion.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/07/2012 20:56
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Russia likes to agitate things to keep oil prices up. They would find a way to back out of it if push came to shove.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > DE-RETROGRESSION: CHURKIN TO BIN JASSEM: IFF YOU TALK TO ME IN THE SAME TONE AGAIN .... THERE WILL BE NO QATAR AFTER TODAY.
IIUC ARTIC > AMD. CHURKIN = all but directly says that, as far as Russia is concerned, tiny Qatar is a mere Guest on the UNSC, + must keep its place as such when talking to a much bigger Power.
Like any good Diplo-doublespeak, Churkin cannot confirm or deny he threatened Qatar, only that "making [false? = real?]threats is not his style"???
versus
* RUSSIA TODAY > WAR OF NERVES IRAN: IRANIAN WARSHIPS ARRIVE IN SAUDI ARABIA, in support of Iran future naval ambitions [Global NavOps = "Blue-Water Navy] + to counter seemingly growing international "Iranophobia".
VARIOUS NETTERS/POSTERS = opine that SHIA IRAN MUST BE LOVING THE REGIONAL CHAOS + ON-GOING WEAKNESS, DIPLOMATIC FAILURES OF THE SUNNI SAUDI-LED ARAB LEAGUE, e.g. first agz Gaddafi now Baby Assad???
Israeli and Cypriot officials are planning to discuss allowing the Israeli Air Force to station jets in the neighboring island, Chinese news agency Xinua reported Tuesday.
"In your face, Erdogan!"
The issue will be raised during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's scheduled visit to Cyprus later this month, Xinua quoted Israeli officials as saying.
According to the report, an Israeli embassy official told the Cyprus Mail in January that Netanyahu "will come to Cyprus to emphasize the good relations between the two countries and to strengthen the bilateral relations, which are already good."
Xinua said the Cypriot OnlyCy.com website reported that in September 2011 Israel asked Cyprus to permit stationing its aircraft at the Andreas Papandreou airbase in Paphos.
However, an Israeli official told the Chinese news agency this week that the prospect of stationing planes in Cyprus "is at the exploratory stage - it's not clear if it will or won't happen."
The official was quoted as saying that a potential offshore airbase "is an existing option, and we're investigating the possibility," but cautioned that such an agreement "isn't totally sewn up."
In January, Israel and Cyprus signed two defense agreements which Cypriot Minister of Defense Demetris Eliades said "set the basis for the further development of relations in the area of defense cooperation."
#3
There are easier ways to do that. Moving a squadron to Cyprus is no small matter. It's similar to us having an airbase overseas.
I don't see the strategic usefulness. Israel isn't going to attack Turkey (I think), and if it wanted to do so it has plenty of reach already. It doesn't help with Iran or Syria, and doesn't really help with Egypt. Plus the Cypriots, I assume, would have some sort of veto power over Israel using the base for an attack elsewhere.
So I don't get it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2012 17:01
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First thing that occurred to me was dispersal of assets to offset possible losses in the event of a nuclear exchange. Israel is a small dense target. Cyprus is close enough but not splash close. Iran is unlikely to nuke Cyprus, allowing a safe haven and another ratchet. I don't think that this is a counter against Turkey. But it does put a stick in Erd's eye. And maybe Greece is eye-ing the cash influx possibilities and the not so bitter thought of an annoyed Erd. win win for them.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
02/07/2012 17:10
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#5
Turkey has been drilling off Cyprus (with military escort) while threatening Greek Cypriot/Israeli/US companies from drilling. The Israelis are matching Turkey's escalation of force.
A squadron of jets dispersed to Cyprus won't make any difference in a Mideast war and leaves them more vulnerable to terrorist/commando attack. But it does cement closer Israeli-Greek Cypriot relations and any force escalation Turkey may try to prevent energy extraction can be met from Cyprus.
#10
Cyprus is only about 200 miles further from Tehran than Israel is, so it's gotta be a thorn in a nuclear Iran's side.
It would give Israel two angles on Lebanon and Syria, which would both be a more serious thorn in Iran's side if they are considering a conventional attack on Israel, and Israel considers Iran to be a non-nuclear power.
Lawmen say Matthew Wong, 50, watched the door of his wife's apartment early Monday, waiting for her to walk into a trap.
Thick, black garbage bags shrouded the backseat windows. A quilt covered the rear window.
"It appears it was all planned," said Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokesman Larry McKinnon. "He was waiting out there to ambush her."
What Wong hadn't planned on, deputies said, was getting caught in the flames that he had hoped would kill his wife, Gloria Davis, 47.
After residents of the Countrywood Apartments, 12401 Orange Grove Drive, helped extinguish the fire, Wong was taken to Tampa General Hospital just after 7 a.m. in critical condition, with third-degree burns over his upper body, McKinnon said.
The episode was still under investigation, and no charges had been filed Monday.
Davis was unharmed.
Wong's motives for attacking his wife were not immediately clear, McKinnon said.
Neighbors reported hearing screams and seeing a man on fire. "It was instantaneous," said neighbor Amy Jo Akert. "He just lit on fire. I don't even understand how." Wrath of God? Karma?
Wong was arrested on charges of domestic battery in 2000, but the case was later dismissed, according to court records.
Pasco County deputies most recently responded to the couple's Cross Creek Lane home in November 2010, but no arrests were made.
#2
I'm thinking that in the process of putting accelerant all over her apartment, he got a lot on himself. Then he went back to his car and (literally) fumed for a while before lighting a cig.
Foosh.
People can be stupid that way. I remember seeing a US Army Captain who decided to see a bunch of soldiers cleaning large machines with gasoline in a parking lot. With liquid gasoline all over the asphalt, he decided that right then was the time to have a smoke. Standing in a shallow pool of gasoline.
A senior NCO said "Sir!" and snatched the cig out of his mouth. Puzzled, he pulled another cig out of the pack and put it in his mouth, preparing to light it.
#3
The static electricity generated by some vehicles can be murder (one can hope, literally murder, in the case of this schmuck). Been closing the doors of our Accord with my elbows since we bought it in 2004.
On Tuesday, two blasts rocked the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna, including one targeting a military barracks. The number of casualties was not immediately clear.
Musa Ilallah, an official with the National Emergency Management Agency, said "There were two separate blasts," with one near a bridge and the other "inside the 1st Mechanised Division of the Nigerian army."
He said rescue officials had been deployed but were being refused access to the area by soldiers.
Ilallah stated, "From all indications, they gate-crashed into the military barracks."
He added that there was talk of a suicide bomber, but that there was no official confirmation.
Residents said windows at an office complex at the military barracks were shattered. The area had been cordoned off, but the office complex could be seen.
One resident said, "Virtually all the glass has been shattered. I saw soldiers with glass cuts on their bodies being taken out, but it's difficult to say if there were any (more serious) casualties."
Long piece in the NYT so just the first few paragraphs here to whet your appetite. Frankly, I'm blown away that the NYT reported this; it's certainly outside of the 'narrative'. Reported here in Rantburg to help provide some context with Chris Covert's reporting of the coming dissolution of Messico.
Two American brothers of a Mexican casino magnate who fled drug and fraud charges in the United States and has been seeking a pardon enabling him to return have emerged as major fund-raisers and donors for President Obama's re-election campaign.
The casino owner, Juan Jose Rojas Cardona, known as Pepe, jumped bail in Iowa in 1994 and disappeared, and has since been linked to violence and corruption in Mexico. A State Department cable in 2009 said he was suspected of orchestrating the assassination of a business rival and making illegal campaign donations to Mexican officials.
When The New York Times asked the Obama campaign early Monday about the Cardonas, officials said they were unaware of the brother in Mexico. Later in the day, the campaign said it was refunding the money raised by the family, which totaled more than $200,000.
The money, now being laundered, will be put to use. That's a nice way to exchange cash when you think about it...
As recently as January of last year, one of Mr. Cardona's brothers in Chicago, Carlos Rojas Cardona, arranged for the former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party to seek a pardon from the governor for Pepe Cardona, according to prosecutors in that state. None was forthcoming.
Last fall, Carlos Cardona and another brother in Chicago, Alberto Rojas Cardona, began raising money for the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The Cardona brothers, who have no prior history of political giving, appeared seemingly out of nowhere in the world of Democratic fund-raising, Democratic activists said.
How often does that happen, I wonder, and not just for the Democrats?
The money Alberto Cardona raised put him in the upper tiers of fund-raisers known as bundlers, according to a list released last month by the campaign. He and Carlos Cardona each gave the maximum $30,800 to the Democratic National Committee, and a lesser amount to a state victory fund. A sister, Leticia Rojas Cardona of Tennessee, donated $13,000 to the national committee, and another relative in Illinois gave $12,600, records show. There is no record of Pepe Cardona making a donation.
Much much more at the link; it's the kind of original reporting you generally only see in the NYT when the target is a Republican.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2012
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#1
The Cardona brothers, who have no prior history of political giving, appeared seemingly out of nowhere in the world of Democratic fund-raising, Democratic activists said.
Chicago, Drugs, amigos? Timing is everything I suppose. Kind of just "appeared" very fast, and very furiously?
#3
Seems like there is too much "splash" regarding this contrived event by Obama. Still going for the most transparent administration in the history of the universe? There is little cost for this cheap publicity. An affected air of honesty where there is none?
h/t Gates of Vienna
Half of Algeria is still being held hostage by a wave of cold weather and snow which has hit the country over the last three days and which has taken many casualties (many caused by malfunctioning heaters and car accidents on icy roads).
Chicago: A Pak-American, charged with sending money to the now-believed-to-be-dead al Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri, has pleaded guilty before a court here for providing money for terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmire.
Raja Lahrasib Khan, a Chicago taxi driver and native of Pakistain who became a naturalised US citizen in 1988, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, resolving charges that have been pending since he was placed in long-term storage in March 2010.
Khan, 58, is currently in jail and his sentencing is scheduled for May 30. Born and raised in Pakistain-occupied Kashmire, Khan faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. He immigrated to the US in 1970s.
His plea agreement calls for an agreed sentence of between five and eight years in prison, and it requires Khan to cooperate with the government in any matter in which he is called upon to assist
What a clever idea. One wonders if he has already been talking...
through the termination of his sentence and any period of supervised release, the Justice Department said.
Khan admitted that he met with Ilyas Kashmiri, who was also involved in separatist movement in Jammu and Kashmire, in Pakistain in the early to mid-2000s and again in 2008.
At the time of the second meeting, Khan knew or had reason to believe that Kashmiri was working with al Qaeda, in addition to leading attacks against the Indian government in Kashmire, the Justice Department said.
During their 2008 meeting, Kashmiri told Khan that the late Osama bin Laden ... who used to be alive but now he's not... was alive, healthy and giving orders, and Khan gave Kashmiri approximately 20,000 Pak rupees (approximately $200 to $250), which he intended Kashmiri to use to support attacks against India.
The Justice Department said on November 23, 2009, Khan sent approximately 77,917 rupees (approximately $930) from Chicago to an individual in Pakistain, via Western Union, and then directed the individual by phone to give Kashmiri approximately 25,000 rupees (approximately $300).
Although Khan intended the funds to be used by Kashmiri to support attacks against India, he was also aware that Kashmiri was working with al-Qaeda, the Department said.
In February and March 2010, Khan participated in several meetings with an undercover law enforcement agent who posed as someone interested in sending money to Kashmiri to purchase weapons and ammunition, but only if Kashmiri was working with al-Qaeda, as well as sending individuals into Pakistain to receive military-style training so they could conduct attacks against US forces and interests, the Justice Department said.
On March 17, 2010, the undercover agent provided Khan with $1,000, which Khan agreed to provide to Kashmiri.
Khan then gave the funds to his son, who was traveling from the US to Britannia, intending to later retrieve the money from his son in Britannia and subsequently provide it to Kashmiri in Pakistain.
Further on March 23, 2010, Khan's son arrived at an airport in Britannia and a search by British law enforcement officials yielded seven of the ten $100 bills that the undercover agent had provided to Khan.
After learning of his son's detention, Khan attempted to end his involvement in the scheme to provide funds to Kashmiri by requesting an urgent meeting with another individual who was also present at Khan's earlier meetings with the undercover agent.
During their meeting, Khan demanded to return the undercover agent's funds by providing $800 to this other individual, the Justice Department said.
#1
It doesn't seem consistent that this guy gets a 5 year sentence, and the lady in Minnesota who funded al-Shabaab will get up to 195 years in prison. It's great that he'll cooperate with authorities, but I don't want him walking the streets of this country as early as 2017.
Posted by: American Delight ||
02/07/2012 12:40
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#2
How many muslims are Taxi drivers?
Told in UK alot are taxi drivers as they get cash in hand so they can collect welfare payments
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/07/2012 14:38
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#3
Not to mention sharing hackney carriage licences with brothers and cousins etc .. Paul D
CHICAGO - A Chicago cab driver pleaded guilty on Monday to giving money to a senior Pakistan-based al-Qaida operative implicated in militant plots in South Asia and Europe who was killed in a suspected US drone strike in June.
Raja Lahrasib Khan, 58, a native of Pakistan who is a naturalized US citizen, never posed any imminent domestic danger, authorities said at the time of his arrest in March 2010.
Khan admitted that he met with Ilyas Kashmiri, an alleged leader of both al-Qaida and one of its Pakistan-based affiliates, in Pakistan in the early to mid-2000s and again in 2008.
Khan gave Kashmiri about 20,000 Pakistani rupees - approximately $200 to $250 - in 2008, and directed another person to give Kashmiri the equivalent of $300 in 2009, prosecutors said.
The IDF also believes Hezbullies has obtained SA-8 Russian-made advanced surface-to-air missile systems from Syria.
Hezbullies and Iran are preparing for the "day after" Syria's downfall with plans for how to continue supporting the Leb-based guerrilla group in the event that Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... 's regime is toppled.
In recent years, a significant portion of Hezbullies's weaponry has come directly from Syria.
Last week, for example, The Jerusalem Post revealed that Syria had recently transferred dozens of additional M600 long-range missiles to Hezbullies as well as additional 302 mm rockets.
The IDF also believes Hezbullies has obtained SA-8 Russian-made advanced surface-to-air missile systems from Syria.
"The assessment that Hezbullies will be severely impacted by Syria's downfall is unlikely since it will be able to fill the vacuum with assistance directly from Iran," a senior Israeli defense official explained.
According to Military Intelligence, Hezbullies is currently providing assistance to Assad in the form of weapons, instructors and actual fighters who are assisting the Syrian military in its efforts to quell the resistance.
Iran is already believed to be working on establishing new routes to smuggle weapons to Leb. In recent years, for example, Iran has tried transporting weaponry to Leb via aircraft that lands in Beirut International Airport, ships that dock in Syria and then transfer their cargo by land to Leb and even by train via Turkey.
The IDF believes Assad will fall within the coming year. In recent weeks, the number of defections in the military has risen to approximately 1,300 soldiers and officers and draft numbers are down. As a result, the Syrian military is refusing to discharge soldiers who have completed their compulsory military service.
The prediction that Assad will fall is based on a combination of three factors -- Syria's failing economy, its refusal to insert fresh blood into the ranks of the leadership and the military's failure to stop the opposition.
On Sunday, Al-Arabiya reported Hezbullies forces were deployed in Syria to protect a military base where Iranian soldiers were deployed after it was attacked by anti-government protesters.
Rebel groups have had some success fighting against Assad-loyalist troops and are reported to have taken control of several towns near Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... . Assad's crackdown on protesters has resulted in the deaths of more than 5,000 people, according to UN estimates.
#1
Syria is 74% Sunni and 13% Shia. It is difficult to see where Iran and Hezbollah would make large inroads into Syria. But maybe...anything is possible in this screwed up region of the world.
#2
I understand the differing sects. but I don't understand why this is sufficient to cause a cessation of aid to the Hezzies.
Sunni & Shia seem to agree on a lot of things with antipathy to Israel probably at the top of the list. I've heard this same thing about Hezzies and Hamasses but they seem to get along in their Jew-hate.
#3
As a result, the Syrian military is refusing to discharge soldiers who have completed their compulsory military service.
That... can't be helping the desertion rate.
I understand the differing sects. but I don't understand why this is sufficient to cause a cessation of aid to the Hezzies.
That, not so much. The fact (or widespread rumor, which is as good as a fact on the Sunni street) that Hezbollah gunmen have been imported into Syria cities to do the slaughter that Syrian draftees wouldn't is sufficient reason for a hypothetical post-Assad regime to cut Hezbollah dead.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/07/2012 13:08
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The Senate has sent President Barack Obama legislation that requires the Federal Aviation Administration to devise ways for drone aircraft to safely share airspace with manned aircraft within three years.
#1
Of course, so that "good" people can do "nice" things, in the densely populated airspace over cities.
Not icky things like persistent surveillance looking for anything criminal, potentially criminal, or just not authorized by government; instantly ticketing any driver who violates any of the rules; or other things only a recklessly paranoid, totalitarian, voyeuristic and corrupt government would do.
#7
Eric Jablow, you jest, but I'm willing to bet that there is, actually, a viable agricultural drone market, especially for cropdusting. Hell, even for vanilla remote sensing aerial imagery. It's got to be cheaper than operating small planes to do the same thing. They're always in the market for new and more productive means to do that sort of thing.
I'm just not sure whether anyone's come up with drone aircraft large enough to carry a viable UAV air spray rig. But they already automated combines, seeders, and spray trucks about five-six years back - mostly because they wanted equipment which could operate in the dead of night, but still.
Come to think of it, the dead of night's a great time to be cropdusting - winds tend to die down after twilight, which means that you can narrow your buffer zone somewhat.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/07/2012 15:27
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#8
There is a guy out here who painted a field in a 40mph crosswind, had to pull an Immelmann at one end to avoid power lines.
#2
The two apparently shook hands at the end of the meeting as McCain told Zhang, “I hope you didn’t interpret my remarks as anything other than the advocacy that I and others hold for every nation in the world, including yours.”
Western obsession with Tibet dominates all thought towards China. Tibet is not even on the frigging radar as far as the rest of China is concerned. You know, the part of China that counts and that will decide if the government goes or stays. Tibet...puh-leez.
#4
Maybe McCain should visit McDonalds in Beijing, like Jon Huntsman did. I think a lot of people in Beijing know that McDonalds is where internal security hang out. At least that's what I was told. Imagine trying to stand outside with shades on, like Huntsman did and think you can remain anomyous. Shades of Get Smart.
#6
If history is any guide, whatever happens in China will result in millions of Chinese being killed. By who or for what purpose, if any, is anyone's guess.
I call it the China Syndrome. Negative real interest rates and distrust of the government's will/ability to maintain the value of the currency causes investments in tangible and risky assets.
Inflation has been kept in check by the efficiency gains from the internet and shifting manufacturing to China but for how long?
#1
"Herding" us all into dividend paying stocks then hammering the capital gains tax is a likely outcome. It's asset manipulation and we are the assets. They will not stop until we are Norway.
#3
The interest rate should have been raised to reflect the actual cost of borrowing at lest 7 years ago. Most of the estimates I have seen indicate it should be somewhere between 6-8%.
It is artificially kept low, to maintain the fantasy that everyone can own a house without regard to their income.
Time for the fantasy to die. Raise the damn rates.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/07/2012 6:29
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#4
It's artificially kept low to fund the US government and to do it without actually DOING something that would get the politicians voted out. It is a hidden tax on savings and it will continue until savings are gone (or valueless, same thing). Then the vampire will turn to his next victim, whatever it is. It will consume all the blood, er money, everywhere. Then the sun will come up.
#5
Double the rate and over enough time you double the outlay of the Federal government on interest payments. If we go back to historic prime rates of about four percent, we'll have a two trillion dollar deficit.
This is why Bernanke is keeping rates down.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2012 7:52
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#6
Keeping the T rates low does hurt US savers but also hurts the foreigners who seek US T debt.
Muni bonds can be tax free at both State and Fed level if you buy the ones issued by govt in your state (or if you live in a state with no income tax).
Corporate Bonds can also be a good buy and some corporations are, arguably, less risky than the US govt.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/07/2012 8:25
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#7
The No Country For Old Men coin toss scene is one of the best examples of pure good acting I have ever scene.
Javier Bardem was a slam dunk for an Oscar with that scene. All anyone needs to know is that he's a ruthless killer. He projects such utter menace, with just minimal movement. It is the height of socially uncomfortable, between a normal, average person and death itself.
#11
Imagine that scene with Meg Ryan or Reese Witherspoon as the protagonist. Or having the scene end, not when the coin toss is called, but when the dude behind the country triggers the Claymore mine he has had wired under the country in his paranoid preparation for an encounter just like this one.
#12
investments in tangible and risky assets. Make sure you distinguish these two classes. Currency is an intangible and risky asset. A few thousand gallons of gasoline stored in your garage is tangible and risky. Cans of tune are tangible & not risky as long as they don't spoil. Etc.
#14
#4 and #5, bingo. Imagine having a credit card where you could set your own credit limit and APR. The card is maxed out, expenses keep rising, and you can barely make the minimum payments (which are a function of the interest rate).
If you have no control over the expenses or the limit - as the Fed does not - what do you do? Right, keep the interest rate near zero to keep the minimum payments manageable. Maybe do a little quiet counterfeiting too, and call it something complex, like "quantitative easing," so no one asks any questions.
The funny money is why real inflation is closer to 8-10%. I.e., the annual rate at which the dollar is being devalued. To counter inflation, interest rates need to be higher than the inflation rate. So really, the prime rate should be more like 10%. Two problems with that. One, the government would no longer be able to pay the bill. Two, people would be saving instead of spending, which would kill the so-called (almost entirely consumption-driven) recovery.
It isn't about the dream of home ownership for all. Mortgage rates (new and re-fi) are at rock bottom, around 3.8%. Yet, home sales remain stagnant. Anyone who was going to buy already has, or, they're waiting for home prices to stabilize, because they're still dropping. And by "anyone," I mean people with a decent credit rating and a good chunk for a down payment, which substantially limits the pool of eligible buyers.
So, the fantasy is pretty much dead. The Fed recently announced that ZIRP (0% interest rates) will remain in effect until 2014 or 2015 at least. Has nothing to do with the little guy, but rather the government's ability to pay it bills. They would raise the rates, if it didn't mean instant default, bankruptcy, and who knows, maybe Chinese aggression, depending on how much they don't like getting stiffed for a trillion or two.
#17
Yes. Effectively, that's what ZIRP + QE is. Nifty. The Fed is paying the US government to borrow money, by accepting repayment in devalued dollars. Yeah, that'll slow em down.
One hell of an interesting experiment, that's for sure. Just make sure you have a chair when the music stops.
#19
Up to my eyeballs, Glenmore! That was never the plan at all, but life threw me some curveballs and here I am - and weirdly kind of relieved. I'm glad for the bit of luck. I am not glad for the country.
The new command could take over responsibility for the daily war Rear Guard Or, maybe the way it should have been done in the first place...
effort as the U.S. reduces the amount of troops in Afghanistan and moves away from its combat role, according to the Post.
#3
Or, maybe the way it should have been done in the first place...
It's pretty much what WAS being done in the first place - but the wise ones decided Iraq was a bad war and A'stan was the good war, so we switched back.
#6
Pakistan is not reliable. Supply and support of special operations in Aghanistan is iffy without Pakistan support. Are we supplying through Pakistan again after taking out OBL?
#2
It has long been obvious that the US is just treading water in Afghanistan. The Afghans are incapable and unwilling to run their own affairs, outside of dictatorship, and the Taliban offer only chaos and rule by whim.
Perhaps the best thing the US could do to salvage the situation is to cede the South to the Pushtun to do with as they please, and defend the North as a de facto independent state, no Pushtun allowed.
#4
on our way out - turn over any eqiuipment we aren't bringing home to the tribes of the northern alliance as a giant FU to Karzai, the caped restauranteur, and the Pashtun
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2012 9:20
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#5
The Taliban are just the latest twist in a Pashtun vs Pashtun civil war that's been going on for 200 years. Why we should expect it to be resolved in a couple of years ( with or without SF in charge) is beyond me.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/07/2012 12:31
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#6
Let me get this straight - our ground forces are liars to a man, including the retired personnel? I think this guy's a little too impressed with himself. Hundreds of thousands of US troops have rotated through Afghanistan. If the mission were in real trouble, we'd have heard from more than one person. One estimate is that the number of full-time Taliban is around 2000. That's about 60 per province. We have over 100,000 troops in-country. Let's say the total is 100,000. That's almost 3000 per province. So in a given province, 3000 GI's can't get 60 Taliban to keep their heads down? The Taliban aren't exactly the Vietcong, with their battalion-sized attacks on American fire bases and regiment-sized running battles with heli-borne troops, resulting in an average daily GI death toll of 20 a day (58,000 GI dead vs 1.2m Vietcong and NVA dead).
I am from Llano, which is about 25 miles down the road from Mason and my family home was on the Llano River so I think I know the mind set down there. We have our share of liberals, those that went to texas university in austin, but we also have our proud conservatives that went to Texas A&M University.
So "Don't Mess with Texas" takes on a whole new meaning when you have a bizzillion cowboys and goatherders with concealed weapon permits.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/07/2012 11:16
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#4
Bill Clinton - Concealed Weapons? In Texas?
Couple years agao an old widow lady asked me to come over to her house (a 200 acre ranch) to help her setup her email. After no less than 3-4 minutes the door bell rings. She checks who it is and then opens the door where I see a cowboy staring at me with a 30-30 rifle in his right hand (the next door neighbor just checking in to make sure the strange car in the drive way was friendly folk visting).
These guys had an uncanny tendency to ease up on strangers and be next to them before they knew anyone was around, fully armed at that in that part of ranch country.
#5
Concealed weapons? Naw, they were out in plain sight.
There were enough weapons in the parking lot at Llano High School to start a revolution. We had about 300 students, most of whom drove to school from out in the sticks, so that would be about 200 pickup trucks each with a rifle rack containing a 30-30, a 12 ga and a .22, and I almost forgot usually a .357 or .45 auto in the glove compartment. Never had a shooting at a dance or at a football game...too many weapons.
Of course, now you can be permanently expelled from a school for having a TOY pistol in your back pack or a two inch knife..when most of us carried a 4 inch case knife in our boots.
Times change...if the drug cartels want some big trouble, they should continue to screw with Texas...there are some folks in South Texas that make Comanches studder.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/07/2012 13:54
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#6
Bill Clinton - On the same page.
When I was a kid in small town Texas, during quail or squirel season, 4 of us young teenagers walking through town with 410s and 12 gauge rifles meant to the locals we were going hunting out in the woods and pastures just outside the town (with permission "don't shoot the cows").
A group of teens walking through town now like that and you know the rest of the story. Nice chatin with you.
Activist politician living on the dole found guilty of assaulting Jewish man at London supermarket protest plans to vigorously appeal conviction.
Hold on to your hats, guys -- this one's got it all!
An anti-Israel activist has this week been found guilty of assaulting a Jewish man at a London supermarket protest calling for a ban of Israeli produce.
Start with your basic anti-Zionist misbehavior...
Last August, Carole Swords, chairwoman of the Respect Party in the East London borough of Tower Hamlets,
And she's a political henchwoman of the very describable George Galloway...
attacked counter-protester Harvey Garfield after he allegedly stood in the way of her damaging Israeli goods at a Tesco supermarket in central London.
But his existence prevented her from expressing herself fully.
Garfield claimed that he was at the store to defend Israeli products from potential vandalism by protesters. "On the day, I heard about the supermarket protest and went along in order to inform the store and help identify the activists," he said.
Swords was found guilty on a public order offense and was given a conditional discharge by the City of London Magistrate's Court after she assaulted Garfield, knocking his glasses off.
She was ordered to pay £250 costs, and she offered to pay £1 a week because she is receiving state benefits.
Let her work it off in a job suitable for a person of her demonstrated abilities -- sweeping streets, perhaps, or stuffing envelopes...and withdraw the benefits.
According to the Respect Party, Swords will be "vigorously" appealing the charge.
In court, Swords accused Garfield of harassment but the court reviewed CCTV footage from the supermarket which revealed that Swords had used "threatening and abusive behavior to cause harassment."
Whoops. One hopes no one actually said, "Liar, liar, pants on fire," aloud.
The incident occurred after a protest by anti-Israel activists at an Ahava store in Covent Garden, central London.
Garfield was part of a group of counter-demonstrators targeting Israeli goods.
Garfield said that Swords had approached the staff at the grocery store and demanded to know why it stocked Israeli products. She was told to address any complaints to Tesco's head office. At that point she left the store but then returned, and after seeing Garfield, she swore at him and assaulted him.
Sensing the possibility for mayhem...
"As I turned to follow she stopped and said don't you f-- -ing follow me. Before I had a chance to answer she struck me in the face causing my glasses to fall off," Garfield said.
He said he then found a police officer who locked away her, and she spent 10 hours in jug.
He was accused of punching Swords, spitting in her face and calling her a Nazi and Paleostinian terrorist. "I was asked if I had suggested that she was a supporter of terrorism to which I said no but that I had photo of her in Gazoo standing behind Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, [leader Mahmoud] Zahar stating that Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organization by her majesty's government," Garfield said.
But wait, there's more!!
Swords is also an organizer of the Viva Paleostina group set up by former MP and anti- Israel activist George Galloway ... a Brit embarrassment, not particularly honest, more fond of dictators and faceless myrmidons than he is of his native countrymen except at the peak of the election cycle ... . In 2010, she took part in a convoy Gazoo where she met with Hamas leaders.
And even more:
According to the popular London-based blog Harry's Place, Swords recently linked to a video of a Holocaust denier who states in the clip that Christian support for Israel shows that there is no longer any Christianity, only "Holocaustianity." Previously Swords had written on Facebook that Zionists are "cockroaches" who "hide in the dark and try to create havoc where they lay their eggs."
She also claimed on another entry that Israel is in control of the US and, according to Harry's Place, has linked to stories by Louis Farrakhan and a David Duke supporter.
Checking off every item on the list, we continue...
The blog has also shown that Swords liked a "Free Mohammed Hamid" page on Facebook. Hamid, according to Harry's Place, is a recruiter of faceless myrmidons in the UK.
Just the kind of person one wants set free to walk the streets of London, don't you agree?
Last July she told a Jewish counter demonstrator at another anti-Israel protest at the Ahava store that he should "go back to Russia."
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
02/07/2012 11:05
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#3
Hold on to your hats, guys -- this one's got it all!
This is not the perfect contry and western song, because it doesn't have anything about Mama, or trains, or prisons, or trucks or gettin' drunk... oops, wrong comment. sorry.
[Yemen Post] Yemen Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi will launch Tuesday the electoral campaign of the early presidential elections scheduled for February 21 under the title "We build Yemen together."
Spokesman of the opposition Joint Meeting Parties Mohammad Al-Odaini said the Yemeni ruling and opposition parties met last week and agreed to launch Hadi's campaign on Tuesday.
He made clear that Saleh would deliver a speech to the Yemeni people, pointing out that leaders of the political parties, state officials and Arab and foreign ambassadors would attend the inauguration ceremony of the campaign in Sana'a.
Recently, Yemeni parties had expressed fears that some sides seek to disturb the elections, particularly as some gunnies loyal to the outgoing President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... carried out sieges of some government institutions.
News reports had said Hadi has threatened to unveil realities about Yemen's current situations after he said that nothing of the GCC-brokered power transfer's provisions was implemented.
Meanwhile, ...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... the Higher Coordination Commission of the Yemeni Revolutionaries affirmed that Yemeni revolutionaries will take part in the elections, indicating that vote for Hadi would put an end to Saleh's phase.
Under the GCC deal, Hadi is the consensus candidate of major parties, while Saleh remains as a figurehead president for 90 days after he was forced to sign the deal.
After the elections, as GCC deal states, Hadi will oversee national dialogue to consider proposals for constitutional reforms that include replacing the presidential system with a multi-party parliamentary system.
Hadi is additionally tasked with presiding over the military commission, which operates to negotiate the demilitarization of the capital, Sana'a, and other cities.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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[Iran Press TV] An eight-nation bloc of Latin American and Caribbean countries has thrown its weight behind the Syrian government, condemning foreign efforts aimed at destabilizing Syria.
"The heads of state and government of the Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA) reiterate their condemnation of the systematic policy of interference and destabilization in the brother Arab Republic of Syria which (the policy) intends to impose by force on the Syrian people a change in rulers," the bloc's statement said.
The statement was issued during the bloc's recent meeting in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on Sunday.
The statement further lent support to the national dialogue policy of the Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... , saying that the initiative adopted by Assad is seeking a "political solution to the current crisis respectful of the Syrian people's illusory sovereignty and the territorial integrity of that Arab country."
Earlier in October 2011, the ALBA ministers called for an end to the media campaign against Syria, saying that their countries would defend the illusory sovereignty of Syria in international gatherings, particularly at the UN.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011. Hundreds of people, including Syrian security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing the protesters, but Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... says "outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups" are responsible for the unrest, which it says is being orchestrated from abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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#1
Lest we fergit, HUGO CHAVEZ > VENEZUELA'S TROOPS WILL FIGHT WID ARGENTINA IN ANY MIL CONFLICT WID BRITAIN OER THE FALKLANDS.
[Dawn] Federal ministers, suspended from parliamentary membership by the apex court, became advisors to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... DawnNews reported on Monday.
Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Minister for Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain were made advisors to the prime minister after they lost their membership from the parliament.
Earlier today, the apex court suspended memberships of 28 politicians of the national and provincial assemblies after the government failed to amend the Constitution to validate the recently held by-elections on what were said to be on bogus voters' lists.
According to reliable sources, both will enjoy the same privileges as they were as federal ministers.
According to the verdict, the government had failed to pass an amendment bill within the given time frame and therefore the court had decided to suspend the memberships of the concerned politicians until the government amended the constitution.
In a related development, the government has claimed that it has built consensus with the opposition over passing 20th Constitutional Amendment Bill from the parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... on Monday described the rare double veto used by Russia and China to block a resolution condemning Syria as a "slap in the face of the Syrian people," urging the Lebanese state to "aid the Syrian refugees" instead of staging "airborne military parades in the northern border areas."
In his weekly column in al-Anbaa newspaper, his party's mouthpiece, Jumblat said the vetos "destroyed what's left of 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 initiative which tried to find a political solution to the crisis in Syria."
The Arab solution would put an end to autocracy and help Syria transit to "pluralism, democracy and diversity, away from the fake promises of reform which have not and will not be fulfilled," Jumblat added.
"The policy of disassociation is maybe useful at the Arab and international forums due to the sensitivity of Leb's stance towards the Syrian crisis, but it is not appropriate in dealing with the Syrian refugees," the Druze leader noted.
He stressed that "it is past time for the (Lebanese) state authorities to acknowledge their existence, as they are afflicted people who need help and all kinds of medical, social and humanitarian aid."
Jumblat said that such a step "would be better than the airborne military parades in the northern border areas," wondering "have we forgotten that the Syrian people had hosted tens of thousands of Lebanese refugees during the (2006) Israeli aggression against Leb?"
The Lebanese army deployed on Saturday in the northern border area of Wadi Khaled after media outlets reported that members of the rebel Free Syrian Army were present in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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#1
Wally always jumps to the winning side. Sounds like Pencilneck is going down
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2012 10:10
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#2
He's always on the winning side because he's on all sides, Frank.
[Iran Press TV] Paleostine's resistance movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, has agreed to a Qatari proposal that recommends acting Paleostinian Authority chief the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... as the prime minister of a future Paleostinian unity government, officials say.
According to Paleostinian officials, Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani made the proposal during a meeting with the leaders of the two major Paleostinian factions of Hamas and Fatah in Qatar's capital, Doha, on Sunday.
Hamas Political Bureau chief Khaled Meshaal and Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah, discussed the formation of a Paleostinian unity government during the Sunday meeting.
Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior Fatah official, said that the meeting was "positive" and the two Paleostinian leaders are scheduled to meet again on Monday.
On May 4, 2011, Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal to form a joint caretaker Paleostinian government and hold presidential and parliamentary elections by May 2012.
During the planned Monday meeting, Meshaal and Abbas will discuss delaying the elections to the "end of the year" because there may not be enough time to prepare for the May elections, the Paleostinian officials said.
The officials also said that the two major factions have agreed to hold a meeting with "all other Paleostinian political factions" in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on February 18, to "set the date for the parliamentary and presidential elections."
The leaders of Hamas and Fatah also met in Cairo in November and December 2011 and urged cooperation with the aim of achieving Paleostinian unity.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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[Yemen Post] Yemen Prime Minister Mohammad Salem Basindwia along with other ministers of the interim government failed to persuade judges of ending their protests, well informed sources said.
The sources said that Basindiwa offered the demonstrators to end their protests in return for meeting some of their demands in the coming days, reminding them that Yemen currently witnesses difficult conditions.
They said the judges did not accept any promises, and they would escalate their protests and use all legal means that may lead to achieve their demands.
Judges began their protests last week , demanding to carry out reforms in judiciary , make it independent, give judges complete immunity and cleanse judges of all military and security members.
They also demand to elect members of the Supreme Judiciary Council from the members of the judicial authority and limit the powers of the Justice Minister to the administrative and financial affairs.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, Zebulon finally found just the friend he'd been looking for... what has become known as the institution revolution hit many public authorities and resulted in the ouster of tens of corrupt officials in Yemen, as employees and students insisted on firing them.
Several military and security units demanded the removal of officers accused of corruption or involvement in the deadly crackdown on protesters.
Hundreds of the Air Forces soldiers have been protesting for weeks , demanding to fire their commander Mohammad Saleh Alahmar, half brother of Saleh.
Protests erupted lately of January inside a camp of the Republican Guard commanded by son of the outgoing President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh. ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... they were ended after Ahmed cautioned officers and soldiers against arranging any demonstrations, threatening to purge anyone trying to protest.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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[Iran Press TV] Terrorist groups have fired several missiles into Bab Amr district in the restive Syrian city of Homs, Press TV reports.
Heavy festivities have been reported in Homs since early on Monday.
Some reports suggest that the missiles hit a hospital in the Bab Amr district, resulting in casualties. An oil pipeline was also hit by an kaboom in the area.
Gunmen also attacked a bus carrying a group of workers in Homs, killing one and injuring six others.
According to the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 17 people have been killed in Homs on Monday.
Government troops have been fighting terrorist groups in Homs for several days.
Homs, one of the main focuses of terrorist groups fighting against the government of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... , has witnessed a number of acts of deadly violence since the beginning of the unrest in the country 11 months ago.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Tex and his new-found Indian friend were preparing a little surprise for the bandidos... gangs have killed three Syrian troops and kidnapped several others in the northern city of Idlib.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March and many people have bit the dust in the violence.
The West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of killing protesters. But Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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[An Nahar] U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... said Monday he was appalled by the Syrian government's intensified onslaught on the protest city of Homs which he called "unacceptable before humanity."
Ban joined a growing global chorus of condemnation of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... 's actions since a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria was vetoed by Russia and China on Saturday.
"The secretary general is appalled by the escalating violence in Syria, particularly at the mounting corpse count and continued onslaught on the city of Homs involving the use of heavy artillery and the shelling of civilian areas," said U.N. front man Martin Nesirky.
"Such violence is totally unacceptable before humanity."
Ban added: "The lack of agreement in the Security Council gives no license to the Syrian authorities to step up attacks on the Syrian population. No government can commit such acts against its people without its legitimacy being eroded."
At least 66 non-combatants were killed across Syria on Monday as Assad's troops pounded Homs with mortars and launched an assault on Zabadani, near the capital, activists said. Scores more have been killed in Homs in recent days.
Ban "deeply regrets" that the Syrian authorities continue to ignore "pressing" international calls to stop using force against civilians. He highlighted that the Syrian government "is accountable under international human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... law for all acts of violence perpetrated by its security forces against the civilian population," said the front man.
The U.N. secretary general called for redoubled efforts to end the violence and seek "an inclusive Syrian-led political process."
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[An Nahar] The Kuwaiti emir on Monday asked outgoing Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak al-Sabah to form a new government following a general election won by the Islamist-led opposition.
Sheikh Jaber, a senior member of the ruling al-Sabah family, submitted the resignation of his two-month-old cabinet on Sunday, as required by the constitution after a general election. The premier should form the cabinet before February 15 when the new parliament is scheduled to hold its opening session.
Sheikh Jaber, 69, was appointed premier in late November after prime minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed al-Ahmed al-Sabah, a nephew of the emir, quit following a dispute with the opposition and allegations of corruption.
The opposition won 34 seats in the 50-member parliament with Sunni Islamists, including Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... , becoming the most formidable bloc in the house with 23 members.
Women failed to win a single seat after making history in the 2009 election by winning four seats for the first time. Liberals and pro-government candidates were also big losers in Thursday's poll.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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[Iran Press TV] Romania's Prime Minster Emil Boc has resigned following weeks of public protest against IMF-backed austerity measures amid the debt crisis sweeping the European Union. ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... Announcing his resignation on Television on Monday, Boc said that he wanted to "defuse political and social tension" and to protect the stability of the country.
"We made this decision in order to alleviate the social and political situation in the country, but to not lose what Romanians have won with so much suffering, the country's economic stability," Boc said.
The resignation comes after three weeks of public demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Traian Basescu and the Boc government for imposing harsh austerity measures including a 25 percent cut in public sector wages, 24 percent increase in sales tax and a freeze on pensions.
Romania needed to implement the measures to qualify for the next installment of a 20bn euro bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Boc's resignation makes Romania the sixth European country to see a prime minister fall to the debt crisis.
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02/07/2012
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#1
An excerpt: On Sept. 11, the 10th anniversary of the infamous attack on the U.S., I visited another unit in Kunar province, this one near the town of Asmar. I talked with the local official who served as the cultural adviser to the U.S. commander. HereÂ’s how the conversation went:
Davis: “Here you have many units of the Afghan National Security Forces [ANSF]. Will they be able to hold out against the Taliban when U.S. troops leave this area?”
Adviser: “No. They are definitely not capable. Already all across this region [many elements of] the security forces have made deals with the Taliban. [The ANSF] won’t shoot at the Taliban, and the Taliban won’t shoot them.
“Also, when a Taliban member is arrested, he is soon released with no action taken against him. So when the Taliban returns [after the Americans leave in 2014], so too go the jobs, especially for everyone like me who has worked with the coalition.
“Recently, I got a cellphone call from a Talib who had captured a friend of mine. While I could hear, he began to beat him, telling me I’d better quit working for the Americans. I could hear my friend crying out in pain. [The Talib] said the next time they would kidnap my sons and do the same to them. Because of the direct threats, I’ve had to take my children out of school just to keep them safe.
#2
This shall be at the forefront of the Afghanistan conflict. The CINC does not take it serious and the mission is sketchy. Logistics thin. It deserves to be looked at seriously.
#3
The domestication of the Dendroaspis polylepis (black Mamba) would be a more realistic and attainable goal. Afghanistan is, as the author indicates, pure folly. Anyone who says differently is motivated by something other than reality.
#5
Rebuilding what was never built to begin with is folly. Ultimately the only way to beat these savages is to be savage with them, and simply kill them, families and all, in large enough numbers to exterminate the culture. If the US are not willing to salt the earth, the US should not be there other than as directly to kill specific targets, whether they are in Afghanistan or in Pakistan. When will the US learn that Pakistan is not and ever will be a friend? They are a mentally ill nation.
#6
If Al-Qaida does move it's operations to Yemen, it should be much cheaper to operate against them.
AQ has a presence in Yemen. It would be much easier to operate against AQ for many reasons: geography, logistics, access, people who are somewhat more like allies than Afghanistan and Pakistan...
#7
If i was AlQ why move when you are looked after by Iran and Pakistan
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/07/2012 18:17
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Rebuilding what was never built to begin with is folly. Ultimately the only way to beat these savages is to be savage with them, and simply kill them, families and all, in large enough numbers to exterminate the culture. If the US are not willing to salt the earth, the US should not be there other than as directly to kill specific targets, whether they are in Afghanistan or in Pakistan. When will the US learn that Pakistan is not and ever will be a friend? They are a mentally ill nation.
The best post i have read in ages.Ask any Indian about Pakistan and they all tell you the same!
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/07/2012 18:20
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#9
Ultimately the only way to beat these savages is to be savage with them,
You beat them with their own kind. You grind down the main trouble makers and then you pick a tribe and empower them with the necessary means and abilities and let them keep the far nastier ones on the run and down. It's a method that has worked before.
[Tripoli Post] To Degaddafinate is; to physically remove Qadaffy from Libya, a term invented by Libyans on Twitter. Libyans and the world made the unreasonable assumption that as soon as Qadaffy is removed from the country, it would immediately and automatically change gears from an armed rebellion into the building and construction mode; unfortunately this is not the case.
The transfer from a conflict zone into a productive trouble-free environment is in itself a challenging process because during the last year the country came to a screeching halt. So many issues need to be resolved to have everything back to working order.
The reasons for these delays are many. But I think that the largest obstacle is, that Libya is completely devoid of any governing mechanisms or civic institutions that can run the country. The tyrannical, one-band show tactics, that Qadaffy employed to run Libya, meant that once the country was degaddafinated, a large gaping power vacuum was created.
Though, the country is degaddafinated from Qadaffy's presence, the mindset that he saddled the country with still lives on. The Libyan people have suffered many horrendous injustices under Qadaffy's rule, which has made them very distrustful of any sort of authority. That is why they are not fully cooperating with the transitional authorities as much as they should, which is making life more difficult than it really is. It is proving counterproductive at a time when cooperation is desperately needed to keep the country on the right track.
One of the many survival tactics adopted by Libyans is a cloud of pessimism that completely envelopes them. That's because when you have low or no expectations there can be no disappointments.
Libyans briefly expelled their gloomy clouds during the revolution to experience a happiness that most of them have never before felt. But the many unfulfilled promises by the National Transitional Council, NTC, and the government, are causing these clouds of pessimism in the hearts and minds of Libyans.
Since the liberation of Libya, the NTC has taken the brunt of criticism from Libyans on a wide range of issues. The NTC may have made some errors, and tit is by no means perfect.
While some of the criticism is constructively valid and needs to be taken seriously, a large part of it is the backlash, of the Libyan people exercising the civil liberties they have regained after 42 year s of hijacking by Qadaffy and his cronies, a degaddafination after product.
The NTC should be regarded as a legislative vehicle to transport Libya from anarchy to democracy as part of a road map in a specified time frame. Therefore, and its performance should only be evaluated in performing that duty.
The Libyan people need to acknowledge that the NTC does not possess a magic wand to vanquish away their many troubles. It needs to assume its duties and refrain from interfering with other matters that fall into the jurisdiction of the government. Since the degaddafination, patience is hard to come by in Libya.
It's worth mentioning, that though El Keeb's is not an elected government, the Libyan people have great confidence in it's ability to run Libya until an elected government can take over.
During the Qadaffy era, Libya was suffering from a high unemployment rate particularly among young people. This is very peculiar in a country with such a low population. It was intentional, in order to demoralise the Libyan youth and prompt them, either to leave the country in search of a better life or stay in Libya and self-destruct.
Little did Qadaffy know that, it is these same youths who would degaddafinate Libya and hammer in the final nails in his coffin. The government is now providing these youths with several employment opportunities according to their qualifications and their wishes in order to reward them for their efforts and sacrifices, and also to keep them out of trouble and integrate them back into society.
Great strides have also been made by the interim government to put in place the foundations required for the country to start the the rebuilding stage, because the country has for far too long been deprived of the vital infrastructure.
Very few high level roads exist in the country, even in the capital, Tripoli, which is supposedly the most developed part of Libya. A recent survey revealed that only 40% of Tripoli has surfaced roads, and these few were constructed in a haphazard way below the required standards, most often lacking the lighting or gutters.
It is indeed shocking that a country with the resources that Libya has, could have been left in such a state of neglect.
The hospitals in Libya are also in a very dilapidated state. The nursing institution that is the spine of the medical profession does not even exist, which is indeed sad. I am confident that if a high level nursing college was to be set up in Libya many young men and women would be happy to enrol in it.
They would be most happy to support the brilliant Libyan doctors who are keen to serve their country but find themselves helpless, because all they can offer is a diagnosis as they don't have the equipment nor the nursing to help their patience. As such, they find themselves unwillingly having to refer their patients to hospitals outside of Libya.
Schools and universities are also in urgent need of an upgrade. This is year 2012, the era of the computer, yet most Libyan schools lack enough computers. If any, the ones they have are old and have been collecting dust in some corner. They are just dusted for exhibition purposes.
This means that teachers are denied the use of a great teaching tool. Students too are deprived the chance of becoming proficient in the use of a tool that is necessary for them to survive in this day and age.
Qadaffy spent dirhams on Libya but pocketed billions of dinars in oil revenue. What one of his sons would spend on a birthday bash by flying in international stars to perform on his private yacht is bigger than the whole country's budget for a year.
It was the norm in Libya, that in most government sectors workers' salaries were paid late, which is outrageous, especially when one considers the price of a barrel of oil and the millions of barrels that are sold every day.
But such delays were no surprise to Libyans if one recalls what one of the former dictator's sons, Muatassim once audaciously said, that is, that "what is below the ground, (in reference to Libya's oil) belongs to my father; and what is on the ground belongs to us'" referring to the various economical activities that were divided between himself and his siblings.
I hasten to add that I notice that the Libyan people were not included in that very unbalanced equation.
Due to lack of spending, the whole country's institutions have suffered, are in very bad shape and in urgent need of replacement or repair. You name it, it needs repair, whether it is schools, universities or government office buildings.
The few roads and bridges that the country has or airports and ports are in need of maintenance. Nothing seems to work efficiently. It is a miracle how Libyans were even surviving, in such miserable conditions.
These bad living conditions were the catalyst that prompted the people to rise against Qadaffy's tyranny and corruption, and degaddafinate their lives from his unbearable presence.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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#1
This editorial makes it seem like the Libyan spring was merely a desperate explosion of people pushed to their limits (which it was).
From another context (foreclosure fraud) I lift the following quote: Aristocracies who descend into unrestrained looting of the populace while neutering the legal system get insurgency.
#2
It seems to me that there is an underlying problem with all these revolutions based on unrealistic and muddled expectations.
Once the bad guy is removed there is an upsurge of positive feeling where people are looking for individual freedom, the ability to run their own lives. BUT, they also want a central power to provide them with their every whim.
You can't have a sudden onslaught of individualism at the same time that big government is being formed to run/control/provide everything that you need/want. This conflict results in what you see in Libya, Afghan, Egypt and all the other cesspits of the world.
As Rantburgurgers are well aware, the flip-side of individual freedom is individual responsibility and self reliance and there is no room for that under a big brother government be it bad or good. Lack of practice makes it mostly impossible to develop self reliance when the facade of government control crumbles.
The people have to band together without the government help or interference to provide the basic infrastructure elements of transportation, hospitals, sewage etc. This is what keeping your freedom requires, you want it, you do it.
You want it and don't do it yourself you are easy prey for every shyster promising nirvana if you just follow the new "big man".
[An Nahar] Gunmen blew up a cop shoppe and shot one officer in Nigeria's flashpoint city of Kano on Monday as blasts rocked a market in Maiduguri, the base of the Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie... Islamists, police said.
Boko Haram has claimed a series of recent attacks in Africa's most populous nation and top oil producer, including coordinated gun and bomb assaults on January 20 in Kano, Nigeria's second city, that killed at least 185.
A senior police officer told Agence La Belle France Presse the cop shoppe in Kano's Sharada neighborhood had been burned down by attackers armed with explosives, who also shot one officer in the leg.
There was also a shootout between police and the attackers, residents said.
"I had just arrived home in time for the curfew when I heard an kaboom coming from around the cop shoppe. Shortly, gunshots followed. From what I heard it sounded like a shootout," said Bala Salisu, 46, from Kano's Sharada district.
Authorities imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Kano following the January 20 attacks that primarily targeted the police, like many of the group's recent assaults.
Another Kano resident, Sadiq Aniyu, said he was at a checkpoint not far from the cop shoppe when he "heard a huge kaboom and gunshots."
"We all panicked and it became chaotic as people on cars and on cycle of violences jostled to escape the area," Aniyu, 30, said.
Residents reported a separate gunbattle near a suspected Boko Haram hideout on the outskirts of Kano, the predominantly Mohammedan northern hub.
Hurrah -- a hideout found! That could be the next break in the case...
A joint military and police force raided a home in the Mariri neighborhood sparking a shootout with the occupants, said locals who requested anonymity.
Separately in Maiduguri, east of Kano, residents reported multiple blasts at the Gamboru market that set several vehicles and shops on fire.
Maiduguri is seen as a stronghold of Boko Haram, the shadowy Islamist group blamed for a series of recent attacks in Nigeria that have killed more than 200 people already this year.
"I heard five kabooms around the market and plumes of black smoke... filled the air. The market is still on fire. Soldiers and policeman have taken over the whole area," said resident Aisha Goni.
Colonel Victor Ebhaleme, operations chief for the Joint Task Force in Maiduguri, a special military unit set up to crack down on Boko Haram, confirmed the kabooms at the market but declined to give details.
Security forces have faced mounting pressure to contain the Boko Haram insurgency that has involved a set of increasingly sophisticated attacks.
The spiraling violence has sparked deep concern in the international community and shaken the country, whose 160 million population is roughly divided between a mainly Mohammedan north and predominantly Christian south.
There has been intense speculation over whether Boko Haram has formed links with outside bully boy groups, including al-Qaeda's north African branch.
Analysts say the violence has been fed by deep poverty in the north, where masses of unemployed youths have little trust in government or hope for the future in a country long considered one of the world's most corrupt.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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[Tripoli Post] Libya started and then swiftly postponed court proceedings on Sunday against 41 Libyans accused of helping Muammar Qadaffy ... who is now deader than a rock... crush the popular revolt that ended in his death last year, Libyan news agency LANA said on Sunday. The trial has been postponed to February 15.
The news agency said that the decision to affect the postponement of the trial at a military base in the eastern city of Benghazi was made in the wake of listening to defence panel pleadings that argued that the military court is not a competent entity and called for referring the case to the civil judiciary.
The 41 men face charges of murder and aiding prisoners to escape.
A front man for the national Transitional Council, NTC, in Benghazi said that the delay the delay is based on the requests of the 15-lawyer defence team to review the evidence, and also on the requests of some detainees who want to hire their own lawyers.
On of the defence lawyers, who is defending five of the accused, Hussein Gheniwa, said the military court was "not competent" to handle the case.
"We hope that in the next session the question of the court's competency will be addressed. We are confident that the court will decide that it is not competent," he told AFP.
But he expressed optimism over Libya's justice system, saying "the legal proceedings will not be influenced by public opinion" which at the moment is strong given the fact that it is a trial of pro-Qadaffy men.
Libya is currently also preparing to bring to trial one of the former Libyan dictator Muammar Qadaffy's sons, Seif al-Islam who was captured by militias in November.
The International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... , ICC, has also been seeking to hold his trial in The Hague, saying that before bringing him to trial, where he could face the death penalty, Libya will first have to answer concerns, raised by activists, that Seif was being held without access to lawyers. It is also requesting Libya to provide information about his mental and physical health.
If the war crimes court rules Libya is unwilling or unable to try Seif al-Islam, who is accused of crimes against humanity over the killing of civilian protesters, it says it will take jurisdiction.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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#1
More time needed as the checks continue to clear.
[Dawn] US President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... signed an executive order imposing stricter sanctions on Iran and its central bank, saying new powers to freeze assets were needed because Iranian banks were concealing transactions, the White House said on Monday.
"I have determined that additional sanctions are warranted, particularly in light of the deceptive practices of the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks to conceal transactions of sanctioned parties," Obama said in a letter to Congress.
He said the new powers over Iranian assets deemed to be in US control, including foreign branches of American banks, were necessary because of "deficiencies in Iran's anti-money laundering regime" as well as "the continuing and unacceptable risk posed to the international financial system by Iran's activities."
Previously, US banks were required to reject, rather than block and freeze, Iranian transactions. The new executive order gives American institutions new powers to seize assets they encounter instead of just turning them back.
The US Treasury Department said the expanded sanctions would affect assets of all Iranian ministries and state-owned entities, including the central bank that processes Iran's oil revenues.
"These actions underscore the administration's resolve to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its failure to meet its international obligations," it said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Iran Press TV] Fresh festivities have erupted between protesters and security forces in the streets of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, for the fifth consecutive day amid calls for civil disobedience against the country's junta.
Security forces fired tear gas, birdshot and rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing protesters outside the interior ministry.
The protesters demand the handover of power to a civilian government, the compensation of the deaders' families and achieving social justice.
The demonstrators threatened to resort to civil disobedience if the military council fails to fulfill their demands.
"Civil disobedience should be implemented in case the military council clings to power and does not respond to the instructions of parliament," said demonstrator Hamed Almizary.
Over a dozen people have been killed since the start of the festivities last week.
The violence erupted after dozens of citizens died in riots following a football match in Port Saeed last Wednesday.
Demonstrators accuse the ruling generals of failing to establish security. Some allege that the bloodshed was a deliberate attempt by loyalists of ousted president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... to lead Egypt into chaos.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] Prime Minister 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... facing an outburst of protest against his rule, called Monday for an update of Russia's political system in response to what he said was a maturing civil society.
"We need to create a political system where people can and must speak the truth," Putin said in a wordy article which also quoted Soviet dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
"Our civil society has become incomparably more mature, active and responsible. We need to update the mechanism of our democracy. They must fit in growing public activity," Putin said in the article published on his campaign website and in the business broadsheet Kommersant.
Putin said the middle classes had become more "demanding" of politicians.
"The new demands towards the authorities, the middle classes' emergence from their narrow world of building their own prosperity is the result of our efforts. We worked on this," he wrote.
In a rare acknowledgement of the role of the Internet, which has galvanized the opposition movement, Putin called for the parliament to be obliged to discuss any public petition that manages to gather 100,000 signatures on the Internet.
Putin is battling the worst legitimacy crisis of his 12-year rule.
Tens of thousands erupted into the streets since disputed December parliamentary elections in a wave of protests unseen since the early 1990s.
Opposition activists said more than 120,000 people braved frosty weather to attend an opposition rally on Saturday, the budding protest movement's third since December.
In the piece -- his fourth campaign article -- Putin stressed that direct elections of regional governors would be reintroduced, a system he eliminated under his presidency in 2004.
But at the same time he said Russia must avoid "the temptation to simplify politics, to create a fictitious democracy" and insisted the country needed a "strong, effective and respected federal center."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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#2
I do not envy Putin. I do not envy anyone that rules Russia.
Oddly enough, Stalin had at least one good idea, which was that Russia desperately needed to be demographically decentralized. It still does, today more than ever.
The best bet would be to build new cities from scratch, designed to be family oriented, for young couples of child bearing age. Keep out those who do not reproduce or raise children, and limit most employment to paperwork shuffling for males, with females as homemakers. Limit entertainment so it is somewhat boring. Minimal pollution.
Bring in enthusiastic Russian Orthodox priests with the directive to encourage reproduction in their sermons. Lots of patriotism in schools, and other healthy activities for children, such as scouting.
Friendly police who are very firm to people who would screw things up.
The primary goal of the place is to produce high quality children. An artificial baby boom.
[Yemen Post] Yemeni Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... have said they would form a political party that would take part in the political process and empower women, a high-ranking Salafi leader, Aqeel Al-Maqtari said.
In comments to the Arabic-Speaking London-based Alsharaq Al-Awsat newspaper, Almaqtari stressed that women would participate in this new party.
"Women will have rights to vote and nomination," he added. "There were inaccurate opinions spread among the Salafi groups regarding political work, as it was thought that elections contradict some Sharaia laws, but this is not correct."
"With the eruption of the Arab Spring revolution, the fall of dictatorships and the corrupt regimes, Salafisits could present their revised studies and opinions."
He said Salifists abhor dictators and that was behind their engagement in the political process.
On the other hand, Yemen's Houthi-led Shiite groups announced last month that they formed a political party, Al-Omah Party, to play a role in the country's new political arena. The party is led by a Shiite holy man, Mohammed Miftah.
Since the protests erupted in Yemen in late January 2011, Houthi rebels are trying to expand their control over the northern provinces of Saada, Amran and Hajja.
Houthis had imposed a serious food and security blockade on students and people of a hard-liner Salafi-run Islamic school, Dar-al-Hadith , and its neighboring areas in Damaj town.
They engaged an intermittent war against the government from 2004 until a truce was reached in 2010.
In lately 2010, the Yemeni government and the Shiite group signed an agreement in Doha to strengthen a fragile cease-fire to end the sporadic battles since 2004, but the rebels' festivities with local rustics and Sunni supporters are still rocking the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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#1
Given Salafists "are ostentatiously devout Moslems " exactly what are they going to empower women to do?
Wear sacks
Stay in doors
Stay pregnant
Do as they're told by any male
[Yemen Post] Clashes broke out between security force and Southern Movement followers on Sunday in the southeastern Yemeni province of Hadramout, leaving a protester killed and 5 others maimed.
Security forces removed a tent set up by the Southern Movement protesters, who call for boycotting the upcoming presidential election, in Al-Mokalla, the scenic provincial capital of Hadramout, but the protesters tried to hold them back, resulting in festivities between the two sides.
Security forces shot one killed and maimed 5 others in the festivities, eyewitnesses and medics said.
Angry about removing their tent, which was set up in the middle of a main road, Separation supporters broke into a cop shoppe and forcibly released their captured friends.
A lot of indigenous people took to streets, cut off the roads and closed shops to protest against the killing of their fellow protester, Majed al-Hamdi, who died in a local hospital a couple of hours after being shot in the head, according to eyewitnesses.
Separation or Southern Movement refused to be involved in signing the GCC-drawn deal as they refuse to remain part of the unified Yemen. They demand to secede from Yemen and have their own southern independent state.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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[An Nahar] A British judge on Monday ordered the release on bail of radical holy man Abu Qatada, allegedly a former top aide of al-Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden, Osama bin Laden is dead.
He took two shots to the head.
That made him frown
and he had to lie down.
Osama bin Laden is dead. despite government concerns he poses a security risk.
The interior ministry condemned the decision, saying the 51-year-old is "a dangerous man who we believe poses a real threat to our security and who has not changed in his views or attitude to the UK."
Britannia has been trying to deport Qatada to Jordan for the past six years but its efforts were blocked last month by the European Court of Human Rights, which said evidence against him may have been obtained through torture.
Following the European ruling, Qatada applied to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in Britannia to be released from the high-security Long Lartin jail in Worcestershire, central England.
Lawyer Ed Fitzgerald told the commission that Qatada's detention for six and a half years while fighting deportation "has now gone on for too long to be reasonable or lawful".
"However the risk of absconding, however the risk of further offending, there comes a point when it's just too long."
But Keith Vaz, a politician who chairs parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee, said most people would be "astonished by this decision considering Abu Qatada is wanted on terrorism charges in eight countries".
"The only way to avoid the situation occurring again is a fast-tracked system in the UK and EU courts so that those who pose a threat to the British public are deported as swiftly as possible."
Judge John Mitting ruled that Qatada should be set free under "highly prescriptive terms" for the next three months.
After that the judge indicated he may release Qatada altogether unless the government had made progress in trying to deport him. "The time will arrive quite soon when continuing detention or deprivation of liberty could not be justified," Mitting said.
Once again Europeans sit in judgment of others around the world, and impose European standards on other countries. There's an old 19th century word for that, though I can't quite remember. Hmmm, 'imper...' something...
Qatada, a Jordanian of Paleostinian origin who is also known as Omar Mohammed Othman, was once labeled bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe by a Spanish judge. The father-of-five, who arrived in Britannia in 1993 claiming asylum, has been in and out of prison for the past decade and has thwarted numerous attempts by the authorities in London to deport him.
The holy man has been convicted in his absence in Jordan of involvement in two attacks and Amman has repeatedly urged London to extradite him.
The European court said however that it "finds that there is a real risk that the applicant's retrial would amount to a flagrant denial of justice" -- a violation of Article 6 of the Convention on Human Rights.
Interior minister Theresa May is now seeking assurances from Jordan that evidence gained through torture would not be used against Qatada.
If the Jordanians aren't to be allowed to jug him, why would they want him?
A front man for the interior ministry, known as the Home Office in Britannia, added: "This is not the end of the road and we are continuing to consider our legal options in response to the European Court's ruling."
The judge said it would take "between a few days and about a week" for Britannia's domestic intelligence service MI5 to check Qatada's proposed bail address, which was not revealed in court, before he could be released.
The holy man will subsequently be under a 22-hour curfew, prohibited from using the Internet or any electronic communications and he will be electronically monitored. His visitors and movements will also be restricted.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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#1
Make him wear a tracking device that provides his location to all Google Maps users. I think the situation will work itself out.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/07/2012 0:15
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#2
A .30 Hole in his forehead would look sooo good.
.50 woul be bettr.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/07/2012 1:43
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#3
Make the "judge" wear a tracking device too. He's a fucking danger to the entire country.
#6
Perhaps they should deport him to the sacred precincts of the European Court of Human Rights. I would suggest that the British guards handcuff him to the desk of the senior judges clerk, then quickly exit the building.
#7
Make the "judge" wear a tracking device too. He's a fucking danger to the entire country.
Impeachment and removal from office ought to cover that problem. Not that Cameron the squish would ever exert himself to do anything controversial like that.
#8
a muslim Henry Waxman with all the personality and charm included. An axe handle to the face every waking morning would be my tracking device. Can't walk? We know where you are
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2012 21:23
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#9
The judges are a mix of nationalities, but the ECHR is in Strasbourg. Drop him off there. Betcha French courts wouldn't stand for this shit.
The International Monetary Fund warned Pakistain Monday over its widening fiscal deficit and slow growth, saying the economy remains deeply at risk to both internal and external shocks.
The IMF said Pakistain's economy would speed up to a 3.4 per cent growth pace in fiscal 2011-2012, which runs to June 30, compared to 2.4 per cent last year.
But that was less than half the pace needed to absorb two million new workers in the market every year, it said, while unemployment and underemployment remain higher than the official 6.6 per cent rate.
At the same time, loose money policies by the State Bank of Pakistain, meant to help the economy grow, continue to feed double-digit inflation.
The economy is "highly vulnerable with few buffers to absorb shocks," the Fund said in an annual report.
It noted that political resistance has prevented a needed effort by the government to increase revenues to cover its budget shortfall, with the result that the deficit will expand to about 7.0 per cent of gross domestic product this year from 6.6 per cent last year.
The country's foreign balance is weakening, with exports expected to fall in US dollar value by 1.8 per cent percent, partly due to falling cotton prices.
Meanwhile the central bank's intervention to support the rupee had led to a $2 billion fall in reserves in the past six months, the fund said.
The IMF warned of "considerable downside risks to this already difficult baseline," citing both the challenging global economic environment and, inside Pakistain, coming senate and parliamentary elections.
In their comment on the report, the IMF executive directors urged the government to boost revenues and tighten its "too accommodative" monetary policy.
"Central bank financing of the budget needs to be curtailed, and greater operational independence of the central bank needs to be secured."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
A country run by the mafia where terrorism and extortion is their main income.
Cut aid and let this God forsaken country implode.
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/07/2012 7:07
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[An Nahar] A rocket fired by Paleostinian Islamic fascistifrom the Gazoo Strip hit southern Israel late on Monday causing no casualties or damage, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.
"A Qassam rocket hit an open field in the Sha'ar Hanegev regional council," the spokeswoman told Agence La Belle France Presse.
On Friday morning, two Gazoo residents were maimed by a series of Israeli air strikes in response to rocket fire at southern Israel on Wednesday night.
The Israeli strikes came hours after U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... was in Gazoo as part of a visit to Israel and the Paleostinian territories aimed at persuading the two sides to continue meetings, as the international community seeks a way to kick-start direct negotiations.
Since the beginning of 2012, more than 20 rockets have been fired into Israel from the Paleostinian enclave controlled by the Islamist Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement, according to army figures.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#4
Even if the system crashes, they have the factories and the work force used to working, and we don't.
Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain
We HAVE the factories! Just take Amtrak from Manassas, VA to Atlanta. It only travels about 35mph due to track conditions. Easy (but tearful) viewing. You'll see the backside of dozens of crumbling mills, factories, and businesses this time of year. Not so during the spring and summer months... as they are over grown with vegitation and hidden from view. Every Washington politician should make this journey.
#9
and any internal demand for the goods those factories produce?
Internal demand requires internal purchasing power. China probably has tens of millions of people with the purchasing power of developed country consumers. But the developed countries (US, EU, Japan) have almost a billion of them.
[Dawn] President Barack Obama Why can't I just eat my waffle?... said the US has a "very good estimate" of when Iran could complete work on a nuclear weapon, but cautioned Monday that there are still many unanswered questions about Tehran's inner workings.
"Do we know all of the dynamics inside of Iran? Absolutely not," Obama said. "Iran itself is a lot more divided now than it was. Knowing who is making decisions at any given time inside of Iran is tough."
Obama said that while he believes the standoff with Iran over its nuclear program can still be resolved through diplomacy, the US has done extensive planning on a range of options.
"We are prepared to exercise these options should they arise," Obama said during an interview with NBC that aired on the "Today" show.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
You bet - like previously on Iraq and Afghanistan...
Morocco's King Mohammed has issued pardons to several leading Islamists, signalling a less hardline approach after moderate Islamists came to power in an election last year. The prisoners covered by the pardon included leading figures in Salafia Jihadia, an Islamist group authorities say helped orchestrate a wave of suicide kabooms in Casablanca in 2003, which killed 45 people.
But that was before leading Islamist thinkers decided that the hard jihad of the sword is much too dangerous when the kaffirs bring big guns to the knife fight, and decided to go for the soft jihad of the law instead. So perhaps this will work out for the king...
International human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... groups say after those attacks, hundreds of Islamists were tossed in the clink on fabricated charges, sometimes after being tortured.
[Iran Press TV] A massive kaboom, suspected to have been carried out by bully boyz has hit a key railroad in Pakistain's southwestern province of Balochistan, ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Press TV reports.
Early Monday, explosives were reportedly used by suspected tribal bully boyz with the intention of blowing up a railway track in the Put Feeder area of Dera Murad Jamali District of Balochistan.
Pak sources have not reported any casualties so far. No group has yet grabbed credit for the incident.
Over recent months, similar attacks on gas and electricity lines have been common in the gas-rich area.
There has been a surge in cut-thoat attacks in Pakistain over some past years.
Despite the Pak government's operations against TTP bully boyz and associated groups, they have still been able to spread their influence in various regions of the country and have killed thousands of people.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The Norway gunman who killed 77 people in twin attacks in July asked an Oslo court Monday to immediately free him and demanded the country's highest military award, sparking derision from survivors.
Showing no sign of remorse, 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik said the massacre was "a preventive attack against state traitors" who were guilty "ethnic cleansing" due to their support for a multi-cultural society.
"I do not accept imprisonment. I demand to be immediately released," the rightwing thug told the court before it ordered that he be held in detention until his trial opens on April 16.
He also asked to be decorated with a bravery medal, saying: "I want the Norwegian army to recommend me for a War Cross with three swords."
Hollow laughter erupted in the rows where several dozen survivors and families of the victims were seated, when Behring Breivik twice demanded his immediate release.
Wearing a dark suit and pale blue tie, Behring Breivik entered the courtroom and touched his heart with his handcuffed fists, then lifted them straight out toward those seated in the courtroom, in what his lawyer Geir Lippestad described as a "right-wing thug salute."
"He wanted to show the far right that he is one of them," Lippestad said.
With his blond hair parted on the side and a thin strip of beard along the jawline, Behring Breivik refused to plead guilty but admitted to committing the acts he said were necessary to "defend the ethnic Norwegian population."
"We, the Norwegian resistance movement, will not just stand by and watch while we are made a minority in our own country," he said, adding that he had acted "to defend his people, his culture, his religion."
He also asked to be decorated with a bravery medal, saying: "I want the Norwegian army to recommend me for a War Cross with three swords."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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#1
What if you used a rail gun-like mechanism to propel the cross through his chin and out the back of his head?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/07/2012 0:11
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The leftist Norwegian government is obviously terrified of him and his ideas. With good reason. He, likely with the help of unknown others, planned and executed a military quality operation, which has likely changed the future course of Norway.
Norway has only 2.7 million people, and has long been a target of leftist internationalism. A primary goal of this is to encourage so much immigration, on the condition that the immigrants politically support the far left, so that the Norwegian people become a minority in their own country. This is a common motif in western Europe, but to which Norway is particularly sensitive.
And, more to the point, the purpose of doing this is so that the far left will have, in effect, a single party socialist state in perpetuity.
The origins of this scheme are old, as the Workers' Youth League (Norway) was founded in 1927 as a socialist-communist response to the creation of the Hitler Jugend in 1922, the purpose of both organizations to create an ideologically pure generation of fanatics to replace the party founders.
The difference being that the WYL had loyalty only to the party and the internationale, not to their nation.
The utter ruthlessness involved in this is striking, but not seen in the WYL, because they are also profound believers in "gradualism". Were Hitler to not have engaged in aggressive war, and only authorized the extermination of a few thousand Jews every year, in a quiet and methodical manner, he could have had his Holocaust and still projected an image of peaceful democracy.
And while the public sees Breivik's victims, they do not see the hundreds of Norwegian innocents who have been raped and killed by immigrants.
But Breivik has thrown a monkey wrench into this scheme. He wiped out the next generation of socialist-communist party leaders in Norway, who have spent years learning precise, ideologically pure ideas. They are irreplaceable.
As such, it almost guarantees that Norway will remain Norwegian, that the socialist-communist left in the medium term will both be handicapped and in political variance from the goals of the internationale, that is, not ideologically pure, and more willing to let reason and common sense, instead of rigid doctrine, control their actions.
And if instead of being declared insane, and put into a drug induced stupor for the rest of his life, Breivik is instead sent to prison, his victory will be complete. Even if he is murdered in prison he will be a martyr for the extreme right, and if not, he will likely still be able to get his ideas out to those of his kind.
And more importantly, to the Norwegian on the street who is only partially aware of increasing numbers of oppressive and criminal foreigners.
#4
Can't see what the problem releasing him is. Surely he has as much rights as the misunderstanders of religion of peace have, who are apologetically released on a regular basis along with a large damages payments to compensate them for the insult to their "ooman rites" they've had to endure. Doesn't Norway realize they live in a multicultural society where even the natives have as much rights as the exotic imports. They don't want to be seen as judgmental, do they? Surely all cultures are equal, as they are constantly preaching.
Why should he be held to a higher standard than the jihadi are?
[Yemen Post] Yemeni Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi met on Monday with the United Kingdom's Deputy National Security Advisor, Oliver Robins, in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a.
During the meeting, they reviewed the latest developments on the Yemeni arena - particurlarly the GCC-brokered power transfer deal, which was signed in November in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
Hadi has expressed his appreciation and gratitude for the incredible amount of support UK has showed for the country during this difficult period, as well as, its efforts in defusing tensions between the Yemeni conflicting parties.
"We are looking forward to even better relationships with England in the future," Hadi said.
"We are approaching the upcoming presidential elections, which will be the start of a new era for Yemen in which a modern and civil state will be build."Hadi added.
The acting President, vowed that there will be major developments in his rein at all levels, and briefed the UK official the developments of the festivities between security forces and al-Qaeda gun-hung tough guys in the southen province of Abyan.
He underlined the importance of the international community support for Yemen in this critical period for the government to be able to exit the current ugly crisis.
For his part, Robins has expressed his country's happiness for the progress made in the political scene, stressed the importance of holding the presidential elections in its scheduled time as it represents the only viable exit of the crisis, and pledged support for Yemen in the transitional period at the political, economical and security levels.
Cooperation on fighting terrorism between the two countries was also touched upon in the meeting.
Among the attendences was British ambassador, Nicholas Hilton.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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In his first full-length newspaper interview, General Mustafa al-Sheikh, who has taken refuge in Turkey, gave an apocalyptic insider's view of the state of the regime – despite its attempt to reassert control this weekend.
He said only a third of the army was at combat readiness due to defections or absenteeism, while remaining troops were demoralised, most of its Sunni officers had fled, been arrested, or sidelined, and its equipment was degraded.
"The situation is now very dangerous and threatens to explode across the whole region, like a nuclear reaction," he said.
The failure of President Assad to keep a tight grip even on the towns and suburbs around Damascus, some of which have driven out the army for periods in recent weeks, has led to a reassessment of his forces' unity.
When Gen Sheikh fled over the border from his town in the north of the country in the second half of November, he thought the army could hold out against a vastly outnumbered opposition for a year or more. Now, he said, attacks by the rebels' Free Syrian Army were escalating as the rank and file withered away due to lack of belief in the cause.
The Assads' increasing reliance on loyalists from their own Alawite minority meant Sunni officers had fled, were under house arrest or at best marginalised and distrusted.
"The army will collapse during February," he said. "The reasons are the shortage of Syrian army personnel, which even before March 15 last year did not exceed 65 per cent. The proportion of equipment that was combat ready did not exceed that, due to a shortage of spare parts.
"The Syrian army combat readiness I would put at 40 per cent for hardware and 32 per cent for personnel. They are sending in elements from the Shabiha (militia) and the Alawite sect to compensate, but this army is unable to continue more than a month. Some elements of the army are reaching out to the FSA to help them to defect."
Gen Sheikh is not an impartial observer. He is negotiating with the Syrian National Council and the FSA over his future role in the offensive against President Assad.
Even now, few analysts or diplomats would agree with his view, believing that the regime, though weakened, has the resilience to cling on to power for months, if not years.
"That the government's days are numbered can no longer be in serious doubt, but just how many it has left remains an open question," Yezid Sayigh, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment, wrote this week . "The regime cannot win, but it certainly can resist and prolong the conflict."
Gen Sheikh said he had battled with his conscience before fleeing, mindful of his 37 years' service and of possible retribution against his extended family. He said the final straw had been a sexual assault by soldiers who took turns to attack a young bride at a village near the town of Hama. He believes the army has become a 'crazy killing machine', and that without a solution within a fortnight, "the whole region will flare up".
"The region is strained to the limits because of the role of Iran," he said. "The Syrian regime has helped transform it into a base for Iranian conspiracies."
He said that some of the possible solutions – buffer zones, humanitarian corridors – were no longer relevant, even in the unlikely event of United Nations security council backing.
"There is no time," he said. "There is a serious acceleration under way due to the collapse of the army and the security system.
"We want very urgent intervention, outside of the security council due to the Russian veto. We want a coalition similar to what happened in Kosovo and the Ivory Coast."
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
"We want very urgent intervention, outside of the security council due to the Russian veto. We want a coalition similar to what happened in Kosovo and the Ivory Coast."
On the one hand, Assad's army won't last through the end of February. On the other, foreign intervention is an absolute necessity. Sounds like the Sunnis are simultaneously panicking and hoping that they can scare the Alawites into handing them the keys to the kingdom, given the lack of foreign appetite for a direct intervention. That could be difficult, given the sectarian atrocities perpetrated against Alawites, something that Sunnis around the world have proven both willing and able to orchestrate against non-Sunnis on a large scale.
#3
It should be interesting to see if Turkey jumps in and what happens if Russia intervenes. Under Bush, NATO backed off over the Russian invasion of Georgia. Would Obama square off with Russia over Syria? The Turks have been using a lot of aggressive rhetoric lately. Are those words a substitute for deeds or a prelude to them?
Real information on the Syrian unrest - as opposed to partisan propaganda - is almost impossible to get these days (if it ever was available prior to the unrest). But based on this general's pronouncements, Assad should last out the month. Baghdad Bob General Mustafa al-Sheikh will have months, if not years, to repeat his assertion about the impending fall of the Alawite regime. And one of these days, assuming he lives that long, he'll be right.
[Iran Press TV] The United States provided an anti-Iran terrorist group with the bomb used to assassinate Iranian scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan last month, a report has revealed.
Two bombs were handed over to the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) in the Iraqi city of Arbil by the Americans, the Resalat daily reported on Monday.
The first bomb killed Ahmadi Roshan, but the second one was discovered by intelligence and security personnel around Resalat Square in the capital Tehran, the report said.
On January 11, Ahmadi Roshan was killed after a motorcyclist attached a magnetic bomb to his car in Tehran. Ahmadi Roshan was a chemical engineer and served as the deputy director of marketing at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility.
The slain scientist was not the first Iranian nuclear expert targeted by a terrorist attack.
In November 2010, Majid Shahriari, was killed in a terrorist attack and Fereydoun Abbasi, the current head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, sustained injuries in another attack.
Professor Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, a scholar at Tehran University, was also assassinated by a booby-trapped cycle of violence in the Iranian capital in January 2010.
The US and its allies have resorted to various terrorist tactics to stop Iran's peaceful nuclear program, which is under full observation of the inspectors of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
If it was an American bomb, the US wasn't involved. We would have used one of their own. I'm sure that we have disabled enough of them.
It is possible that our old policy of not using our own munitions for that type of work may be out the window. I'm not sure how Fast and Furious got an OK from the lawyers.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/07/2012 0:09
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The big bad Americans "killed" a "director of marketing" and a "professor". Oh really? Could it be these guys talked to U.N.officials about Iran's nuclear program?
#6
Fast and Furious got the ok from DOJ lawyers. Holders' lackeys. Civilians. CYA up and down the chain, backed up by arguments that have increasing traction in federal courts. Especially certain judges who share the same mindset - like journalists who aren't much into investigating details or reporting on their comrades misdeeds. A "post-rule-of-law" climate in which they were pretty sure they could get away with it, is how F&F got the ok. Issa is the only unknown quantity.
China's anxious leadership has warned security and government officials struggling to control restive Tibetans to be on their "highest guard" ahead of this month's Tibetan New Year festival.
Following recent sporadic, deadly riots and a series of self-immolations by monks and nuns in Tibet and Tibetan communities in the country's western provinces, Beijing fears the potentially volatile holiday period – which begins on the 22nd – could muster coordinated and widespread anti-Chinese rule riots.
"Officials must put all their efforts into maintaining a stable, unified social situation in our region. They must have a clear head and fully recognise the extreme importance and urgency of the job of maintaining stability," a Communist Party notice said in the state-run Tibet Daily newspaper.
"Government departments must unstintingly carry out all measures designed to maintain stability, " the notice ordered.
The diktat did not detail what measures should be deployed to quell any further unrest. But with the fifth anniversary of the large-scale March 2008 Tibet uprising also looming, the message to strike hard and stamp out any signs of mass revolt was clear.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2012
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#1
Must be serious when even the legendary SHAOLIN = SIL LUM TEMPLE is suffering a recent decline in tourists???
* ION WORLD NEWS > JOHN MCCAIN RUFFLES BEIJING'S FEATHERS [PRC VFM Zhang Zhijun] BY SUGGESTING "THE ARAB SPRING IS COMING TO CHINA".
* SAME > CHINA NOW CALLS THE SENKAKU ISLANDS [China = Daoyus/Daoyutai] ITS "CORE INTEREST".
* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > CHINA RESPONDS TO REPORTS OF US ARMY [Military = USDOD] PRESENCE, in the Philippines.
Sends the "wrong signal" as per resolution of SCS Disputes.
ARTIC > MANILA BASED LEFTIST GROUP = BAYAN MUNA REP. TEDDY CARINO - PHIL DECISIONS PROVE AQUINO ADMIN. IS WEAK IN FINDING UNILATERAL SOLUTIONS TO SINO-PHIL SCS DISPUTES.
* WORLD MIL FORUM > PLA EXPERTS: US TROOP PRESENCE IN OKINAWA, AUSTRALIA, RETURN TO THE PHILIPPINES PROVES CHINA'S STRATEGY OF STRIKING THE US AIRCRAFT CARRIER BEFORE IT ENTERS EAST ASIA. EXPANSION OF PLAN SUB FLEET, ANTI-NAVAL STRATEGIC BOMBERS, IMPROVEMENTS TO DF-21D ASBMS TO ATTACK THE US AIRCRAFT CARRIER BEYOND THE "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN". "SECOND, THIRD ISLAND CHAIN" ATTACK.
Egypt on Monday released the names of 19 Americans who face trial over foreign funding of activities of their non-profit groups in Egypt, a case that has soured US-Egypt relations.
One of the 19 is the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Sam LaHood and five other Americans are in Egypt while the others have left, according to a statement from the Egyptian prosecutor's office. Altogether, 43 people face trials over illegally operating in Egypt and receiving funds from abroad without permission from Egyptian authorities for their human rights and pro-democracy groups. Egypt charges that they fund and support anti-government protests. The groups deny that.
Washington has reacted angrily to the case, which started with raids last month on the offices of the groups. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has warned it could jeopardise U.S. aid to Egypt, which amounts to more than $1 billion a year.
You do wonder if the generals priced that in before authorizing the warrants...
On Monday the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said the US citizens involved in the dispute have been working to build a more democratic society in Egypt and "have done absolutely nothing wrong."
She told "CBS This Morning" that U.S. officials have been in close touch with the Egyptian government, including "in the last days and hours." She said the situation "has serious consequences for our bilateral relationship."
Egyptian Cabinet minister Mohammed Amr said the government cannot interfere in the work of the judiciary.
Nope, nope, never done it before, never, can't do it now. Why the very thought of the government interfering with the judiciary in Egypt is just unthinkable...
"We are doing our best to contain this but ... we cannot actually exercise any influence on the investigating judges," he reporters at a security conference in Munich, Germany on Sunday, before the announcement that charges would be filed against the foreign activists.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2012
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#1
I think the Egyptian government has decided to save the American taxpayers over $1B a year.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/07/2012 0:17
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SH, if adults were in charge, I would agree, but we have the Architect of the US Apology and Bow tour in charge. I fear that the $1B will be increased in order to show our sincere apology for this affront to their dignity. ( or some such drivel)
#5
I have the impression that much of the bureaucracy is running about unsuperpervised, making decisions beyond the control of the generals. And quite possibly the generals are willing to let this happen so that the peepul will turn to them to be rescued from the anarchy, not to mention the assaults on women by unrestrained gangs of unemployed young men.
Just change out generals with Democrats and it works fine.
Dear AlanC,
I meant there. Here the bureaucracy is closely supervised by all those czars and recess appointments to produce the effects desired by those in charge of running things. That a great many are in full agreement with both goals and tactics is a side issue, or so it seems to me.
#11
Agreed up to a point, but, the Czars and RAs are in fact bureaucrats themselves. The chaos and harm they inflict will need some "strong leader" to control, no?
Of course said "strong leader" does desire the exact same things as the bureaucrats as long as he gets more power.
#13
but, the Czars and RAs are in fact bureaucrats themselves.
I believe bureaucrats are the salaried professionals who stay on the job regardless who was elected. The Czars and RAs were hired directly by the president to act as senior department managers. They serve at his pleasure and will leave when he does.
Britain on Monday recalled its ambassador to Syria in protest at the continued onslaught against civilians by Bashar al-Assad's regime, as the United States closed its embassy in Damascus and withdrew its staff amid fears for their security.
With diplomatic pressure intensifying on Syria, William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, also summoned the country's ambassador in London to express his "abhorrence" at "violence that is utterly unacceptable to the civilised world".
Addressing the House of Commons on the crisis, Mr Hague said Simon Hollis, the British ambassador, had been withdrawn "for consultations" though diplomatic ties would not be severed completely at present.
"This is a doomed regime as well as a murdering regime. There is no way it can recover its credibility internationally or with its own people," he said.
The Government would now push for fresh European Union sanctions against Syria, he said, adding that Russia and China had committed a "betrayal of the Syrian people" by vetoing a resolution in the UN Security Council calling for a democratic transformation in Syria.
Mr Hague revealed that Britain will work to create a "Friends of Syria" international coalition, an initiative also backed by France and Germany. "The aim of such a group will be to coordinate intensified diplomatic and economic pressure on the regime, and to engage with Syrian opposition groups committed to a democratic future for the country," said Mr Hague.
The group will be similar to the "contact group" that coordinated international opposition to Col Gaddafi's regime but, facing repeated questions on the issue, Mr Hague stressed that the Government was not aiding the Free Syrian Army, the armed rebel group, or considering the creation of a no-fly zone as was enforced in Libya.
President Barack Obama also stressed that the West was not ready to use force again, while reiterating his call for Mr Assad to step down. "It is very important for us to try to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention," he told NBC. "And I think that's possible."
However with Mr Assad intent on obliterating rebel areas and a high cost of civilian lives, Western allies and the Arab League could soon feel obliged to give greater consideration to providing material support to the FSA, a group consisting of poorly equipped army defectors.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former Conservative foreign secretary, became the first prominent voice to call for assistance to be extended to armed rebels. "We should be talking about logistical, communications, intelligence and advice. It might not add up to a vast amount, but don't underestimate the impact on the morale of these extraordinarily courageous people in Syria," he told the Daily Telegraph.
European powers are already liaising regularly with civilian opposition groups such as the Syrian National Council and have provided training on reporting human rights abuses. But arming the opposition is a task likely to fall first to Qatar, which played a similar quiet but effective role with the Libyan opposition in Benghazi. Sir Malcolm said it "would be no surprise if some of our allies in the Arab world" were not already supplying or close to supplying the FSA.
Mr Hague said the British embassy in Syria would be kept open for the time being, as it provided a valuable source of information on the ground and a useful channel to "impress on some members of the regime the gravity of the situation".
He said the location of the embassy made its security easier to enforce compared to the American mission.
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Do you sometimes get the sense that many different parts of the world are under stress at the same time?
Fabian Picardo's office is surrounded by guns. In the courtyard sits a huge black cannon, while the entrance is protected by two more gold plated monsters, glinting in the sun. But the newly-elected Chief Minister of Gibraltar hopes that he will find a peaceful way of protecting the Rock – despite an escalation in the war of words with Madrid.
"We are always hopeful that Spain will follow us into the 21st Century and drop its claim on our land," said Mr Picardo, in his first interview with a British newspaper since winning the December election. "The Spanish government are playing to their constituency of support and concentrating more on the theory of their claim, rather than the realities on the ground. And that is a tragedy for people of both sides of the frontier."
If Mr Picardo, 39, was expecting a gentle introduction to the 300-year-old tussle over the sovereignty of Gibraltar, then he has had a brusque awakening. Just as the newly re-elected Cristina Kirchner in Argentina has made a diplomatic push against British "colonisation" of the Falkland Islands a key policy of her government, Spain's ruling Partido Popular (PP) – itself freshly in power, following the November general elections – has been pushing sovereignty over Gibraltar up the agenda.
Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, has abandoned the tripartite talks over areas of co-operation between Spain, Britain and Gibraltar. Instead, on Wednesday, Madrid formally asked Britain for bilateral talks over the sovereignty of Gibraltar – much to the fury of the excluded overseas territory's residents.
"They want to turn me into a Spaniard, but not one part of me is Spanish," said Martin Pickford, a small businessman, as he drove through the winding streets in the shadow of the Rock. "My ancestors were from Malta. Many more are descended from Genoese merchants or Italian sailors. No one here wants to be suddenly told they are Spanish."
The publication of former Europe minister Peter Hain's memoirs last month, in which he told how Tony Blair came close to agreeing joint Spanish-British sovereignty, has further raised hackles in Gibraltar. The territory was ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and has been resolutely British ever since.
Mr Rajoy is set to meet David Cameron in London at the end of this month, but the authorities in Gibraltar are trusting that the British prime minister will defend their interests.
Yet Mr Picardo knows that he must remain on his guard. And inside his office just off Gibraltar's Main Street, the Oxford-educated lawyer told The Sunday Telegraph that he is determined his government will not be intimidated by sabre-rattling from Madrid.
"We are seeing what appears to be a more proactive desire by Spain to raise the sovereignty issue," he said, criticising Madrid's decision to cease tripatrite talks.
"The Spanish government does not best serve the interests of its people, especially those in the local area, by snubbing an international agreement to which it has subscribed in principle. And with five million or so people unemployed, it seems to me the Spanish have other more important priorities than historic claims over my people."
Certainly the dire economic situation across the border, with the highest unemployment in the eurozone – one in two young people have no job – has renewed focus on Spain's booming British neighbor. New luxury developments are still springing up alongside the sparkling marinas, and the Lord Nelson pub and Marks and Spencers are doing a roaring trade.
Growth this year is expected to be comfortably over four per cent, and the colony's 30,000 inhabitants enjoy almost full employment. Gibraltar makes its money through offshore finance, tourism, its port and online gaming – and an enticingly low corporate tax rate of 10 per cent has brought businesses flocking to their shores.
Shades of Hong Kong...
"We believe we can attract the sort of investors that the rest of Europe would be welcoming with open arms," said Mr Picardo. "You have to remember the scale of the economy here. Gibraltar has a GDP of just over £1 billion. A £100m investment here goes a long way, whereas a £100m investment in Greece, Spain or the UK for instance is a drop in a drop in an ocean. So the highs and lows of the Spanish economy might not affect the bottom line as it could do, given our physical proximity."
Across the border, in the windswept Spanish town of La Linea, residents gaze wistfully at their thriving neighbor.
"Just look at it. It is obviously part of Spain, and it's crazy that it isn't accepted as such," said Pepe, 60, a retired hotelier, who did not want to give his surname. "I think it's absolutely right that Mariano Rajoy speaks to Britain about the issue."
His friend Paco, 65, added: "What hurts me most is that they are laughing at us from across there. During the World Cup they even supported Germany instead of Spain! It's not right."
Ah, jealously.
In the pretty Andalusian plaza in the centre of town, others complain that Gibraltarians use the low-tax business regime to secure deals on mainland Spain. Smuggling of cheap Gibraltarian tobacco into Spain is also a problem.
"I am Spanish and I defend Spain, but they insult it," said Inmaculada Floria, 36, warming her hands on a coffee beneath a sculpture of flamenco dancers. Like 7,000 other Spaniards, until recently she crossed the border daily to work in Gibraltar.
"The people there are really scared of the PP – they associate the party with Franco, who blockaded Gibraltar for 13 years. They should be talking about ways of improving co-operation, not just saying 'No, no, no'."
Her husband Tomas Rodriguez, 39, a civil servant, said: "It's true that a lot of Spaniards aren't interested in Gibraltar. But here it affects us directly. For instance, a coffee in La Linea costs the same as in Madrid, and we are pushed out of the property market. It needs to be sorted out."
But those within Gibraltar's ancient fortress walls argue that the territory actually does a huge amount to help the local area. A study by the Chamber of Commerce found that almost 20 per cent of all jobs in the Campo de Gibraltar area – from Tarifa in the west almost up to Estepona in the east – were provided by Gibraltar. Furthermore, Spanish workers in Gibraltar earned £43m in 2007 – the most recent data available – which would be repatriated to Spain, while Gibraltar businesses imported £174m worth of goods from Spain.
"Gibraltar and Spain have a symbiotic relationship and we can do a lot more to work together," said Edward Macquisten, chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce.
"But if Madrid continues to clamp down, then it won't help anybody."
Beneath Mr Macquisten's office, Roy's Cod Plaice is doing a brisk trade. "Last year was the best I've had in 24 years here," said Roy Walker, 62, the owner. "Life is good here; the economy is good, weather is lovely, and there is very little crime. "But there is constant hostility from the Spanish authorities, from the head of the government all the way down. Not from the people, but from their government.
"I live in Spain and come here every day, as do all my workers. The border queues are sometime two hours – why can't it just be open like with Portugal or France? But I'm pleased David Cameron is standing up for us and saying sovereignty is our decision. And we want to stay as we are."
It is a view shared by 98 per cent of Gibraltarians, who in a 2002 referendum voted resoundingly to maintain the status quo. And it is something that Mr Picardo is determined to defend.
Is the cannon outside his office pointing in the direction of Spain, I ask?
"It's pointing in the direction of the governor's residence opposite – at the representative of the British Foreign Office!" he laughed. "But that is totally unintentional as in any event it is decorative. We are confident in our position here.
"Gibraltar's arsenal is intellectual."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
So, I'm assuming Spain is in the process of returningCeuta to the Moroccans?
#4
Britain had Gibralter to protect its shipping fleet, both civilian and military. For practical purposes it no longer has a fleet, so doesn't need Gibralter. It costs money and provides nothing but a little nationalistic pride - which is no longer 'acceptable'. Pragmatically, they should sell it to China or Russia. Most likely they'll give it to Spain.
#5
Gibraltar is the Cayman Isles of Europe. A lot of cash flows through it and probably enough makes its way back to the UK to make hanging on to it worthwhile.
BTW, a surprisingly small place. Apart from the Rock, its not much bigger than Central Park.
#6
Sounds like the residents of La Linea ought to be agitating to be annexed by Gibraltar and not vice-versa. Everything about the territory they're jealous of will go away as soon as the morons in Madrid get their sweaty palms on the Rock.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/07/2012 9:07
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#2
How come it's always the "Eve of Destruction"? Couldn't we have destruction in the morning? Is there some rule that apocalyptic conflicts start after 6 pm?
[Iran Press TV] Informed sources have uncovered a US plot entailing a Turkish incursion and a full-scale Israeli strike to overthrow the government of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... The sources said aspects of the plan such as rejecting calls by Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... for 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... meeting over the crisis in the country, recognizing of the Syrian opposition as the "legitimate" government of the country and granting them offices in Turkey to work against the Syrian government, have already been carried out.
As part of the plan, Syrian embassies and consulates would be attacked in several countries and the diplomatic offices would be used as bases to inflict heavy blows on the Syrian government.
According to the sources, the other parts of the US plot which are in process or expected to happen in the near future include:
Firstly the Syrian government will be demonized as a war criminal and its case will be taken to The Hague and international human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... bodies.
Washington will then task Turkey with sending troops across the border into Syria to incite internal friction and civil war within the country by arming Syrian civilians and the opposition against the government.
In the next step, Washington will arm Wahhabi fighters and members of the Fath al-Islam in Tripoli, supported by the Qatari army and Libyan fighters, and order them to attack Syrian border villages.
Israel will jump into the fray by expressing readiness to carry out military operations against Syria. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently announced he would be visiting the US next week. He is expected to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Henry Kissinger ... , US senators and other bigwigs.
Officials close to Lieberman were quoted by Israel sources as saying that the he will ask the US government to increase international pressure against Syria, urging Washington to go beyond sanctions in line with efforts to overthrow the Syrian government.
Jordan, another Syrian neighbor, will also announce its readiness for military intervention in Syria upon receiving the US green light order.
Al-Qaeda snuffies stationed near the Iraqi-Syrian borders will also start operations inside Syria after receiving a US-Qatari order.
Syrian Television channels will then be removed from Nilesat and Arabsat satellites to prevent the Syrian government form airing its side of the developments.
New Syrian passports will be issued and Syrians who do not obtain the new document will not be allowed into Western and Arab countries.
One necessary condition for the success of the plot to topple the Syrian regime, according to the informed sources, will be the defection of Syrian armed forces and the prime factor in the conspiracy will be the liquidation of the Syrian president.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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#1
What a glorious suggestion! Now we know how the Iranians would take down the Syrians if they were in our shoes.
If al-Qaeda, Qatar, the US, the Israelis, the Jordanians, and the Turks could all agree to attack Syria at the same time, the Ba'ath would *deserve* to be overthrown. Good God, that plot sounds like a transcript of a particularly wild round of Illuminati.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/07/2012 9:02
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#3
See also TOPIX > SYRIA RAISES PROSPECTS OF PROXY CONFLICT FOR US, RUSSIA.
Arabs-N-West, versus Iran-N-Russia [other?]???
versus
* SAME > [Nasrallah] HEZBOLLAH: IRAN WILL NOT ASK IT TO ATTACK ISRAEL | HEZBOLLAH SAYS THEY GET SUPPORT, NOT ORDERS, FROM IRAN.
Israel repor wants to base IDAF jets on CYPRUS, ostensib to help protect its new Energy contracts there but IMO to also give better protection to its Missle-Armed Submarines.
Gordon Duff, a senior editor at Veterans Today journal says Obama staged the killing of the late Osama bin Laden ... who had a brief but splitting headache... in order to "prevent General Petraeus from claiming credit" for the murder.
"General Petraeus has presidential aspirations, and as long as they kept the long-dead bin Laden still pretended to be alive, Petraeus could claim credit for that," Duff told Press TV's U.S. Desk in a phone interview on Monday.
"It was a theater, nothing more than theater, which later of course as you know turned into tragedy, as theater often does," he added.
Many believe that bin Laden died in 2001 on natural causes.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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#4
Well, it's kinda like the birth certificate,isn't it? I know we're not supposed to talk about that on this blog bug, dammit, why couldn't they just release the pictures of the dead bin Laden? Why can't this president do anything right?
[Yemen Post] Fierce festivities flared up in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah between Shiite al-Houthi followers and Sunni tribal alliance fighters, claiming the lives of at least 55 and wounding scores of others.
Al-Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran Governorate, Al Jawf Governorate and Hajjah Governorate.... rebels carried out an offensive on Sunday and Monday on some Sunni-held posts in Kashar area of Hajjah; however, the rustics expected the attack and, therefore, managed to repel it, a local source told Yemen Post.
"The festivities continued for more than non-stop 10 hours, leaving at least 40 Houthis as well as 15 rustics killed. Not to mention the large number of the unspecified causalities from the two sides," said the local source, who requested to remain anonymous.
Al-Houthi rebels have reportedly come in large number to Hajjah to reinforce their fighters based in the province, following the huge prophetic cradle ceremony they held on Saturday, which was attended by tens of thousands of Shiite supporters from across the country.
Sectarian violence in Hajjah and Sadda between Salafis and Shiites has broken out when the latter sought to expand its sway in the area.
Al-Houthis took over Sadda lately, taking advantage of the recent unrest the fragmented-state is currently experiencing.
Sadda has witnessed six wars between Army troops and al-Houthi Shiite fighters, leaving thousands killed from the two sides, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes, and triggering a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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[Dawn] The Supreme Court on Monday ordered Inspector General of Police Sindh to take all necessary steps in tracing out and arresting the culprits who had been involved in murder of wife and daughter of Mir Bakhtiar Domki, a member of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... provincial assembly.
The court also ordered Advocate General of Sindh and Inspector General of Police Sindh to appear in-person on next date of hearing.
A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez issued directive on a constitutional petition moved by Shakeel Hadi, former president Balochistan High Court Bar Association, over law and order situation in Balochistan and a suo motu notice taken on murder of wife and daughter of Mir Bakhtiar Domki in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... on January 30.
The bench in its order pointed out that it was one of the most sensitive incidents, having its repercussions on the situation prevailing in Balochistan.
At the outset of proceedings, Attorney General for Pakistain Molvi Anwarul Haq appeared and in response to a query said that in pursuance of Court's earlier order, he could not procure reports from the Military Intelligence (MI) and Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) regarding situation prevailing in Balochistan and requested for further time.
Advocate General Balochistan Abdul Fatah Malik also submitted a daily situation report and did not claim any confidentiality over it.
IGP Sindh Mushtaq Ahmed Shah apprised the bench that they were making efforts to trace out the culprits in Domki family's murder case but could not give assurance over time frame.
To bench's query, he replied that the case was not of simple robbery as the circumstances in which the females had been killed showed a deep vengeance.
He said the surviving maid in the incident could not record the statement.
He said that they could not take any help from the CCTV footage, yet they were hopeful to trace out the real culprits.
The chief justice told him that they had already passed a supportive order on Bloody Karachi unrest situation and empowered the law enforcement agencies to maintain peace but prima facie, the IGP was not showing results.
He observed that the judgment was endorsed by all segments of society.
"The Court has no guns and bullets to go after criminals, we can support you with our verdicts," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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[Iran Press TV] The Senegalese ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... have held another demonstration in the capital Dakar against octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade's decision to stand for a third consecutive term in office.
As campaigning for the February 26 presidential election officially kicked off on Sunday, hundreds of protesters gathered in Dakar's Obelisk Square, the epicenter of the months-old protest movement against Wade.
"The goal is to be united for the start of the electoral campaign," said Cheikh Tidiane Dieye, an opposition leader with the June 23 Movement (M23) that called for the demonstration.
"This is not your typical campaign... We are going to ramp up the struggle for the withdrawal of Wade's candidacy," he added.
Eight of the 13 opposition candidates, who are united under the M23, joined Sunday evening's demonstration.
Tensions escalated in the West African nation on January 27 after the Constitutional Council, appointed by Wade and known as the "five wise men", gave the 85-year-old president the green light to run in the February election.
The legality of Wade's bid for a third term has been challenged. Wade, who was first elected in 2000, ending 40 years of rule by the Socialist Party, revised the constitution in 2001 to impose a two-term limit for the president. He argues that he is exempt because he was elected before the new law was drafted.
In the court's ruling, the judges stated that Wade's first term under the new constitution should be the one that started when he was first re-elected in 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#3
From Willy's link to the law firm: In addition to Baker, the firm includes former Georgia governor Zell Miller, who initially appointed Baker to the attorney-general post, as well as Howard Dean, a former Democratic presidential candidate and governor of Vermont.
French is the language for Govt paperwork and education. Wolof is the largest common language; it's the language for dickering in the market and hailing a taxi. Senegalese French has a heavy African flavor. I presume that neither former governor is fluent in Senegalese French; so presumably the firm is not relying directly on them.
Wade (pronounced WA-day) is 86 years old. Natural "term limits" should kick in soon. However, he is probably buying time for Wade Junior (I forget his proper name) to get into position to take over the office. Wade Junior is in his 50s, and was raised in France. He doesn't speak much Wolof, which puts him at a serious disadvantage. He is decidedly not popular.
#4
An article from Seneweb (www.seneweb.com) says that Wade has availed himself of various sorcerers and charlatans to assure victory in the next election. Per Google translate (which doesn't know any more than I do what the Wolof words embedded in the text are):
Wade wants to win the 2012 presidential election. The incumbent of the presidential majority was paid for the services of great gurus and charlatans. Master Wade wants to surround himself with all the guarantees to win the battle of 26 February next. Wade has secured the services of great wizards who have recommended him many sacrifices and offerings made to it during the day and night of Saturday, Feb. 4.
A covert operation from our colleagues at the Observer, 87 oxen slain in the blue, 32 radios available to both sexes, thousands of liters of water available for gamou and to top it off the screen mystical palace . The candidate of fal does not stop with the, the gurus have even conducted a ritual "bunkerisation" of pronouncing the name of some presidential candidates still inform our colleagues at the Observer.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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#1
Yup, push up for sure.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/07/2012 1:39
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#2
Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Gloria Talbott aka Kay in "All That Heaven Allows (1955)" aka Marge Bradley Farrell in "I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958)" aka Isabelle Ducotel in "We're No Angels (1955)" aka Susan Winter in "The Cyclops (1957)" aka Sally in "The Leech Woman (1960)" aka Ruth Red Hawk in "Oklahoma Territory (1960)" aka Princess Irawanie in "Alias Jesse James (1959)" aka Nora Bawdre in "The Young Guns (1956)" (Died in 2000 at age 69)
[An Nahar] Syrian forces rained rockets and shells down on protest hubs on Monday, activists said, as another 66 civilians died in the regime's crackdown on dissent.
The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said the regime was surrounding Homs with tanks ahead of "a major offensive" and warned of a "genocide" in the central Syrian city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 42 non-combatants were killed in Homs alone, and warned that the corpse count was likely to rise because many of the dozens of maimed were at death's door.
State media reported the deaths of three soldiers and said a "terrorist group" blew up an oil pipeline in Homs.
The army also launched an assault on the Zabadani area near Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... with heavy tank shelling, killing at least three people, said the Britannia-based Observatory.
It also reported civilian deaths in Rastan, Houla and Qusair, all towns in Homs province, as well at Sarghaya, near Damascus, in the northern city of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... and in Idlib, northwest Syria.
A resident of Homs told Agence La Belle France Presse the latest assault began shortly after 0400 GMT, with unprecedented barrages of rockets, mortar rounds and artillery shells.
"What is happening is horrible, it's beyond belief," said activist Omar Shaker, reached by telephone as loud detonations were heard in the background.
"There is nowhere to take shelter, nowhere to hide," he said. "We are running short of medical supplies and we are only able to provide basic treatment to the injured."
One video posted on YouTube apparently showed a field hospital hit by shelling in the Baba Amro district and maimed patients lying on stretchers on the floor amid pools of blood and shattered glass.
Footage shot by a BBC undercover team in Homs showed buildings ablaze in rebel neighborhoods as regime forces pounded them with heavy weapons. Plumes of white smoke billowed into the sky.
Damascus blamed the bloodshed in Homs on "terrorist gangs" using mortars.
The violence comes as Western powers seek new ways to punish Damascus amid growing outrage over the veto by Russia and China of a U.N. resolution condemning Syria for its deadly crackdown on nearly 11 months of protest.
Saturday's double veto handed Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's The Scourge of Hama... regime a "license to kill," the SNC said.
Damascus does not recognize the scale of the protest movement that erupted in mid-March, insisting it is fighting "terrorist groups" seeking to sow chaos as part of a foreign-hatched conspiracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2012
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Is that like thirty-five in real numbers? What a mob, to be sure.
have gathered in front of a luxury hotel in Manhattan, where Yemeni outgoing President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... is staying, at the hear of New York to protest against granting the tyrant a temporarily haven and letting him receive medical treatment in USA soil.
As Saleh along with UN Yemeni representative and several security guards exited the hotel a Yemeni-American, Ameen al-Maroot, who was placed in long-term storage later by US security gaurds, threw the autocrat with his show, which almost hit him.
"Send Saleh to the Hague," and" NYC cries fear, Saleh is here." The protesters banners read.
"Shame on Ritz, hosting a criminal," "ICC not NYC," and" Saleh, oh thug, we will come for you, we will get you." They chanted.
"The group plans to stage protests through out this week and will and on Friday the organization will march across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall," Wall Street Journal quoted Ibrahim Qatabi, the spokesmen for the Yemeni American Coalition for change, as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Just over a month after the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops from Iraq, the United States plans to sharply cut the number of U.S. diplomatic personnel and contractors in the country. The move comes as Yahoo News has learned that the recently withdrawn U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, is being considered to succeed Jim Jeffrey as the next U.S. Ambassador to Iraq.
Lawmen say Matthew Wong, 50, watched the door of his wife's apartment early Monday, waiting for her to walk into a trap.
Chicago: A Pak-American, charged with sending money to the now-believed-to-be-dead al Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri, has pleaded guilty before a court here for providing money for terrorist activities in Jammu and 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
George Galloway
[Yemen Post] Yemen Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi will launch Tuesday the electoral campaign of the early presidential elections scheduled for February 21 under the title "We build Yemen together."
Federal ministers, suspended from parliamentary membership by the apex court, became advisors to Prime Minister 
Walid 
[Iran Press TV] Paleostine's resistance movement 
[Yemen Post] Yemen Prime Minister Mohammad Salem Basindwia along with other ministers of the interim government failed to persuade judges of ending their protests, well informed sources said.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Romania's Prime Minster Emil Boc has resigned following weeks of public protest against IMF-backed austerity measures amid the debt crisis sweeping the 
[Tripoli Post] To Degaddafinate is; to physically remove Qadaffy from Libya, a term invented by Libyans on Twitter. Libyans and the world made the unreasonable assumption that as soon as Qadaffy is removed from the country, it would immediately and automatically change gears from an armed rebellion into the building and construction mode; unfortunately this is not the case. 
Libyans briefly expelled their gloomy clouds during the revolution to experience a happiness that most of them have never before felt. But the many unfulfilled promises by the National Transitional Council, NTC, and the government, are causing these clouds of pessimism in the hearts and minds of Libyans.
It's worth mentioning, that though El Keeb's is not an elected government, the Libyan people have great confidence in it's ability to run Libya until an elected government can take over.
It is indeed shocking that a country with the resources that Libya has, could have been left in such a state of neglect.
But such delays were no surprise to Libyans if one recalls what one of the former dictator's sons, Muatassim once audaciously said, that is, that "what is below the ground, (in reference to Libya's oil) belongs to my father; and what is on the ground belongs to us'" referring to the various economical activities that were divided between himself and his siblings. 
cycle of violence
International Criminal Court
[Dawn] US President 
Prime Minister 
Yemeni 
[Yemen Post] Clashes broke out between security force and Southern Movement followers on Sunday in the southeastern Yemeni province of Hadramout, leaving a protester killed and 5 others 
[An Nahar] A British judge on Monday ordered the release on bail of radical 
The International Monetary Fund warned Pakistain Monday over its widening fiscal deficit and slow growth, saying the economy remains deeply at risk to both internal and external shocks.
President 
The Norway gunman who killed 77 people in twin attacks in July asked an Oslo court Monday to immediately free him and demanded the country's highest military award, sparking derision from survivors.
Yemeni Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi met on Monday with the United Kingdom's Deputy National Security Advisor, Oliver Robins, in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a.
On January 11, Ahmadi Roshan was killed after a motorcyclist attached a magnetic bomb to his car in Tehran. Ahmadi Roshan was a chemical engineer and served as the deputy director of marketing at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility. 
Informed sources have uncovered a US plot entailing a Turkish incursion and a full-scale Israeli strike to overthrow the government of Syrian 
The 
Syrian forces rained rockets and shells down on protest hubs on Monday, activists said, as another 66 civilians died in the regime's crackdown on dissent.
Tens of Yemeni-Americans
