Posted by: Frank G ||
02/09/2012 21:26
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#6
"Disappearing these submarines" > OOOOOOOOO, well alrighty then, new "NIS" Episode on the USA Channeeel???
The SOKORS could achieve agz NOKOR's assets what the US did, or greater, ala "OP PRAYING MANTIS" iff only Seoul could be reassured a new + nuclear Korean War wouldn't begin.
* MY READ OF PERSIAN, SELJIK/SELJUK, NOW IRANIAN HISTOIRE' AGZ WESTERN POWERS = "STRATEGIC DEFENSIVE"-MINDED IRAN WILL SWEAt + WAIT-N-SEE FOR A TIME YET. The real crux is on the Bammer-led USA, i.e. how a "perfect storm" of National, Global econ woes + geopol obstuctions, etc. will pressure the US + NATO-EU during a POTUS, Congressional election summer + year.
Remember, many Arab-Muslim Govts - pro-US or anti-US or Neutral - don't consider the Bammer as a strong or serious Leader. IFF ONE IS ANTI-US, THEN THE SAME HAS A GEOPOL STAKE IN THE BAMMER WINNING RE-ELECTION THIS YEAR. IRAN ALREADY KNOWS THAT HIS GOP OPPONENTS [save Ron Paul] FAVOR MAJOR SANCTION-N-WAR AGZ IRAN ASAP ONCE THEY GET INTO THE WH.
As per the above, iff-n-when there is any US-Iran conflict, WOULD NOT IRAN PREFER TO FIGHT A PERCEIVED "WEAK/IMMATURE" [etc?] LEADER LIKE THE BAMMER, AKA ON MSM-NET = "JIMMY CARTER II"???
A MUSLIM convert who ran a website that posted threats against the creators of the television show, South Park, has entered a guilty plea.
Jesse Curtis Morton, also known as Younus Abdullah Mohammad, was charged last year with communicating threats and has been in custody since his arrest in Morocco in October. At a plea hearing overnight in federal court in Virginia, Morton pleaded guilty to conspiracy, communicating threats and using the internet to intimidate.
Another operator of the Revolution Muslim website, Zachary Chesser, was sentenced last year to 25 years in prison. Chesser admitted he posted threats against the South Park creators for insulting the Prophet Mohammed by airing an episode that depicted Mohammed in a bear costume.
Mr Guerlain, now retired, caused offence during a TV interview in October 2010 in which he was asked to explain how he created the Samsara perfume.
"For once, I set to work like a ------. I don't know if ------- have always worked so hard, but anyway ..." he said.
Yesterday (Thurs), the 75-year-old apologised profusely as he appeared in court in Paris on charges of casting "racist insults".
He faces up to six months in prison and a 22,500 euro (£19,900) fine.
"The first part of my phrase was something I heard my entire childhood when I worked in my grandfather's garden. I come from another generation. It was a common expression at the time."
"As for the second phrase, it was an idiocy on my part. I was trying to make the interviewer laugh and I regret it." "I deeply regret it and present my excuses to the black community," he went on.
"I am anything but racist," he added, recounting how he met black GIs after the Second World War who introduced him to "chewing gum and Coca-Cola".
Mr Guerlain's remark on air had sparked angry condemnation from anti-racism groups, and a deluge of protests on Twitter with comments like "Guerlain, the parfumier who stinks".
A gang of Muslim extremists inspired to launch a deadly UK terror campaign by hate preacher Anjem Choudary were jailed for a total of nearly 95 years today.
Lynchpin Mohammed Chowdhury, 21, and righthand man Shah Rahman, 29, planned to plant a bomb in the Stock Exchange and were seen scouting other potential targets including Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye.
A handwritten hit list containing the names and addresses of Boris Johnson, the dean of St Paul's Cathedral, two rabbis and details about the American Embassy was also found at Chowdhury's east London home.
Members of the gang hoped to launch a co-ordinated shooting and bombing attack on the capital in a 'Mumbai-style' atrocity in the run-up to Christmas 2010.
Six of the nine men had been personally taught by former Islam4UK spokesman Choudary, while four were also in contact with notorious convicted terrorists Abu Izzadeen and Sheikh Faisal.
Choudary has since claimed his former pupils' plans were 'taken out of context' by police.
On the campaign trail, presidential candidate Barack Obama once called for a reset policy with Iran. Supposedly, the unpopularity of the Texan provocateur George W. Bush and his administrations inability to finesse soft power had needlessly alienated the Iranian theocracy.
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After Obama took office in 2009, we had a new Iran 2.0 policy implemented on a variety of fronts.
The result of Obamas Iran 2.0 policy?
Failure on every front. The Iranians sped up work on the bomb. They snubbed every deadline we issued. They increased weapons shipments to Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon. The Russians aided rather than blocked Iranian nuclear efforts.
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In other words, after demagoguing the old Iranian 1.0 containment strategy, the Obama administration is now trying to play 3.0 catch-up after its own failed 2.0 appeasement policy.
------------------
But the likely result of this schizophrenia will probably be an Obama 4.0 Iran policy in other words, a big war in the Persian Gulf.
Justifiable homicide in the city shot up 79 percent in 2011 from the previous year, as citizens in the long-suffering city armed themselves and took matters into their own hands. The local rate of self-defense killings now stands 2,200 percent above the national average. Residents, unable to rely on a dwindling police force to keep them safe, are fighting back against the criminal scourge on their own. And theyre offering no apologies.
We got to have a little Old West up here in Detroit. Thats what its gonna take, Detroit resident Julia Brown told The Daily.
The last time Brown, 73, called the Detroit police, they didnt show up until the next day. So she applied for a permit to carry a handgun and says shes prepared to use it against the young thugs who have taken over her neighborhood, burglarizing entire blocks, opening fire at will and terrorizing the elderly with impunity.
I dont intend to be one of their victims, said Brown, who has lived in Detroit since the late 1950s. Im planning on taking one out.
#1
Could be an all new Detroit in a few years if this keeps up.
Perhaps they'll think twice about reelecting folks who can't protect them, actively disarm them, and then treat the villians Better than the victims while grinding the city into poverty and a swamp of nanny state laws. That applies to all levels of government.
#3
This was an interesting article as well as the intense debate following re the ability to "shut down the Straits". What was missing was that evryone debated who would "win" between the military options. There is no need to do that. Strategically the aim is to reduce the economic flow of oil, all as part of sabre diplomacy. It is the insurance companies that will tell their tankers to stay away. LLoyds of London has too much to lose to either have insured tankers sunk or deal with oil spills. This can be done by threats and manipulation of those CNN guys. No need to fire a shot.
A U.S. drone fired two missiles at a house in Pakistan's northwest tribal region Thursday, killing five suspected militants, intelligence officials said. The Taliban identified one of them as a number three prominent commander who has served as a key link to al-Qaida. I wonder if he was followed from the site of yesterday's Zap. And who is being followed from today's zap...
The commander, Badar Mansoor, led a group of over 200 Pakistani Taliban fighters in the North Waziristan tribal area, the main sanctuary for militants in Pakistan, said a fellow insurgent. Do we have any significant events associated with this Mansoor guy? One never quite knows whether these purported Taliban confirmations of death are real Taliban, real death, or red herring, but might want to let the accordian player know she should warm up.
#1
Bill Roggio has now answered some of my questions:
Mansoor is known to run terrorist camps in North Waziristan that are used to train fighters to wage jihad in Afghanistan. He is also said to be the mastermind of the May 2010 suicide assault on an Ahmadi mosque in Lahore that killed scores of Pakistanis, as well as several attacks in Karachi.
Mansoor was the "de facto leader of al Qaeda in Pakistan," a Pakistani intelligence official told AFP. A US intelligence official described Mansoor as "al Qaeda's go-between with Pakistan's umbrella Taliban movement and a member of al Qaeda's leadership shura [council] in Pakistan."
"Badar Mansoor had moved between the militant groups of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, the Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda where he became a key figure," according to a report in the BBC.
#1
In their defense, these grants are waivers of attempts to recover payments or overpayments FEMA made in the first place, and do not involve known or alleged fraud by the recipient. After Katrina there was a lot of money being passed out without much documentation, and more than occassionally the recipients would not even know why they were given the money - and it was sometimes difficult-to-impossible to give it back. The money's long gone, and the overpaid recipients don't generally have any means of paying it back; attempts will just make lives miserable for the most part. I personally wouldn't forgive the payments, at least not if there is a house involved; I'd just put a claim or lien on the house against the proceeds whenever it is sold.
#2
In common law, keeping money or payments that do not belong to you can be referred to as larceny. In Georgia and many other states, $ 500. (USD) is characterized as Grand Larceny.
#1
India has now cut off Iran from its rice, because Iran hasn't paid its tab. I suspect the same will hold true for other commodities. India will only provide them for cash up front. And Iran is rapidly running out of cash.
#5
China will get a discount on Iranian oil, so India will probably do the same. Wonder if Iran is all current on their Bushehr reactor payments? Russia was calling for cash up front. They stopped a few times in construction when the MMs did not fork over the cash.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/09/2012 17:27
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Posted by: Fat Bob Unotch3711 ||
02/09/2012
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#1
I would love to see Chavez last few months stripped of power, his entire program collapsing, his allies driven out of power, and him despised by the people on the street as a loser.
Double-plus good reportage from PMSNBC; you can hear them hyper-ventilating over the wire. Of course, they and the good people at HuffPo would consider the title of 'Israel' and 'terror groups' to be redundant, but let's not try to change their world-view too much -- they're more entertaining this way.
#5
An interesting side point this pushes out is that if you support these 'terrorist' organizations, you're a TOOL OF THE JOOOZ!
Something for everyone, even if it's true.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
02/09/2012 15:10
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#6
Gee Stanley, where do you think they got the strategy?
Probably got the suggestion from some jackass ex CIA who thought running dozens or hundreds of Cuban exiles against Castro was good idea. And it's not "strategy" -- if these tactics were informed by any kind of strategy, I wouldn't be nearly as worried.
#7
This would appear to be the most effective resistance movement in Iran. Theyre Marxists who are secular on social issues (i.e. no restrictions on women, sexuality), but claim that Islams edicts are a prescription for Marxism. (Much like Democrats claim that Christian moral precepts lead inexorably to Marxism). From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Mujahedin_of_Iran
Government sources claim that over 17,000 Iranians were killed by the MKO.
...
Following the 1979 revolution, the newly established theocratic government of Ayatollah Khomeini moved to squash dissent. Khomeini attacked the MEK as elteqati (eclectic), contaminated with Gharbzadegi (the Western plague), and as monafeqin (hypocrites) and kafer (unbelievers).[48] In February 1980 concentrated attacks by hezbollahi pro-Khomeini militia began on the meeting places, bookstores and newsstands of Mujahideen and other leftists[49] driving the Left underground in Iran. Hundreds of PMOI supporters and members were killed from 1979 to 1981, and some 3,000 were arrested.[50]
The MEK responded in turn, and on 28 June 1981, bombs were detonated at the headquarters of the since-dissolved Islamic Republic Party. Around 70 high-ranking officials, including Chief Justice Mohammad Beheshti (who was the second most powerful figure in the revolution after Ayatollah Khomeini at the time), cabinet members, and elected members of parliament, were killed. The Mujahedin never publicly confirmed or denied any responsibility for the deed, but stated the attack was `a natural and necessary reaction to the regimes atrocities.` The bomber was identified as a Mujahedin operative by the name of Mohammad Reza Kolahi, who had secured a job in the building disguised as a sound engineer.[51] Khomeini accused them of culpability and, according to BBC journalist Baqer Moin, the Mujahedin were generally perceived as the culprits for it in Iran.[52] Two months later on August 30, another bomb was detonated killing the popularly elected President Rajai and Premier Mohammad Javad Bahonar. An active member of the Mujahedin, Massoud Kashmiri, was identified as the perpetrator, and according to reports came close to killing the entire government including Khomeini.[53] The reaction following both bombings was intense with many arrests and executions of Mujahedin and other leftist groups, but assassinations of leading officials and active supporters of the regime by the Mujahedin were to continue for the next year or two.
#9
According to the CNN article quoted below, Clinton put the MEK on the list of terrorist groups as a sop to the mullahs in Iran. The attempt at detente fell flat on its face, and 15 years later, here we are dealing with an Iran about to go nuclear.
In 1997, the Clinton administration added the MEK to the State Department's blacklist in what a senior administration official, according to the Los Angeles Times, described as a good will gesture to Iran -- thought at the time to be moving toward a more moderate form of government. The Bush administration maintained the ban, which many saw as an effort to persuade the Iranians to abandon their nuclear weapons program. But Iran is no closer to moderation and its nuclear ambitions get closer and closer to fulfillment.
While President Obama was boasting to Matt Lauer about the creation of 250,000 jobs in January (a figure dwarfed by the number of people who dropped out of the job market entirely in November and December), the Heritage Foundation released its annual Index of Government Dependence. The index analyzes the extent to which Americans are dependent on federal government programs.
Among the cheerful findings:
¡ñ The number of individuals dependent on federal government programs grew by 7.5 percent in just two years under the Obama administration ¡ª the largest such jump since the Carter administration.
¡ñ 67.3 million Americans now rely on some federal program.
¡ñ Medicaid, housing subsidies, food stamps, and welfare account for most of the increase.
¡ñ Spending on dependency programs soaks up more than 70 percent of the federal budget.
¡ñ In 2009, 49.5 percent of Americans paid no federal income taxes, up from 14.8 percent as recently as 1984.
¡ñ 34.8 million Americans were not represented on a federal taxable income return in 1984. Today that figure is 151.7 million.
¡ñ 5.6 million fewer Americans are on the jobs payrolls than four years ago.
Now, everyone knows this administration inherited the most debilitating recession in the history of mankind. According to the study¡¯s analysis, however, the effects of the recession account for only one-fifth of the growth in dependence.
#1
I think the Admiral is letting his ambitions for promotion, probably both for himself and his forces, overwhelm his better judgment.
An essential element of what they do is anonymity, to the point where they use ad hoc unit designations, assemble units from scratch for a given mission, then disassemble them afterwards.
This covers the gamut of operational concerns, be it national "plausible deniability", operational deceptions, or even "making it look like an accident".
Often it is much like the advice given to Bender by God in Futurama: "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."
Which is hard if a reporter for CNN is standing there, illuminating your position with a camera at night, shoving a microphone in your face and asking you what you are doing here on a beach in Somalia at 3am? Remember that Charlie Foxtrot?
#2
#1 I think the Admiral is letting his ambitions for promotion, probably both for himself and his forces, overwhelm his better judgment.
Posted by Anonymoose
General Curtis E. LaMay might agree with you as well. I certainly do.
#3
Marcus Luttrell of Lone Survivor, via his Facebook page, as been asking for more silence....Doesn't think it's good for the teams.... and he is still extremely close to the teams.
#6
To say that, "The better part of valor is
discretion" is nearly to admit to the buffoonery of Falstaff, but valor is not enhanced by the lack of discretion either. LTG Vaught is right on this one.
Your son, and my son depend on OPSEC. Loose lips, sink ships, helicopters, trucks and troops.
China's most famous cop has been placed on leave for "vacation-style therapy" after a rumored U.S. asylum bid that had an American consulate surrounded by Chinese police.
This morning in China began with chatter that an incident had unfolded overnight outside the U.S. consulate in the western Chinese city of Chengdu. Pictures began to spread across Sina Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, showing Chengdu police blocking off the streets around the consulate.
A name, Wang LiJun, began to trend alongside those pictures on the micro-blogging site. By mid-morning, searches for his name soon became blocked, usually a tell tale sign of a sensitive issue.
Wang, 52, is the vice mayor of neighboring Chongqing and until last week was the city-province's top cop credited in leading a successful crackdown on organized crime. A martial arts expert, he gained reputation for his tough and sometimes allegedly legally-tenuous gang-busting ways. He even inspired a TV series called "Iron-Blooded Police Spirits" based on his exploits. According to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, Wang accumulated 20 scars from knife and bullet wounds and was once in a coma for 10 days after battling the triads.
More importantly, however, Wang, an ethnic Mongolian whose Mongolian name "Wuen Bart" means "Truth Hero" was seen as the right-hand man of Chongqing's powerful and ambitious Communist Party Secretary Bo Xilai.
It is no secret that the charismatic and often times controversial Bo has been angling for a promotion to Beijing this fall when the country's central leadership is expected to reshuffle.
Last week Wang was suddenly stripped of his law enforcement duties and reassigned to a portfolio which included educational and the environmental issues. Instantly speculation began whether Wang had fallen out with Bo.
Rumors came to a head this morning when Wang's name became linked with the police cordon outside the U.S. consulate in Chengdu.
"We can't comment on what happened in Chengdu (Tuesday) night," Richard Buangan, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing told ABC News today. Buangan told Reuters that "there was no threat to the (Chengdu) consulate yesterday and the U.S. government did not request increased security around the compound."
It is still unclear whether Wang made it inside the consulate or where he is at the moment. The day has been full of questions and unconfirmed reports.
The only allusion to his whereabouts came from his employer the Chongqing Municipal Government, which posted on its Weibo: "It is understood that Deputy Mayor Wang Lijun, who has suffered overwork and immense mental stress for a long time, is seriously indisposed physically. He is currently undergoing vacation style therapy."
ABC News calls to the Chongqing Municipality spokesperson's office Wednesday went unanswered.
Whatever transpired between Wang and his longtime patron Bo Xilai is now being seen in many circles as a blow to Bo's public image. Especially since the usually media savvy Bo rested so much of his reputation on his Wang-led anti-gang campaign. Some analysts have even begun to question Bo's own political future.
Despite being high-profiled, Wang was essentially a top city cop. If he really was seeking asylum, the move is seen as an act of desperation.
The most pressing question, however, is what exactly does "vacation-style therapy" entail? Sounds killer!
#2
I've been around there. Lots of People's Armed Police standing around looking tough. Some with German Shepherds. I doubt the guy could get in even without extra security. He would have been better going to Hong Kong and defecting there.
Vacation style therapy means a house in the middle of nowhere in the countryside with armed guards and one road in, one road out.
#3
I suspect it is something more mundane, or crime related. The Triad is truly ginormous, and as powerful as the Capone mob in Chicago at its peak, except a thousand times as large.
#10
The World-renowned N. Korean National Pyongyang Symphony Orchestra will be laying down a few riffs in a free concert in the Park, just weeks before their up-coming televised debut on norkTV--just prior to dusk on 2-14 in the year of Very Deep Kimchi.
Due to the tiny, mal-nourished and misshapen fingers of our dear musicians, only the accordion, ukulele, mandolin and San Francisco finger cymbals section will be featured at this concert. We expect that after re-unification we, and our orchestra; will expand in size.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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#1
Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Zhang Ziyi (Chicom) aka Jiao Long in "Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000)" aka Moon in "Ying xiong (Hero 2002)" aka Xiao Mei in "Shi mian mai fu (House of Flying Daggers 2004)" aka Hu Li in "Rush Hour 2 (2001)" aka Sayuri in "Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)" (age 33)
#8
There were things about House of Flying Daggers that I liked, including Ms. Zhang's work, but the plot doesn't survive the 3AM trip to the refrigerator.
[Yemen Post] Tribal leaders of Hajja province have alleged that the 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, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates.... group breached most agreements reached with them, pointing out that they use children in their fighting against tribes and Salafis.
Locals of Kushar district of Hajja reiterated that their areas witnessed relative calm after dozens of both sides were killed and maimed.
They said the Houthi group has plans to expand and control on some district of Hajja and other governorates.
On the other hand, front man of the Houthi group Mohammad Abdul-Salam denied these claims, saying that the Soddy Arabia provide the gunnies with dates and milk, and encourage them to fight the Houthis.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... tribal men said all the Houthi fighters do not belong to their areas, emphasizing that they were brought from Saada and other areas.
Secretary-General of the Nasserite Unionist People's Organization in Hajja, Zaid Arjash, told media outlets that the Houthi group surrounds some areas and deprive civilians from commodities and medicines, indicating that the group merely uses mediations and agreements as tactics.
"We tried to reach agreements with the Houthis, but they always violate them and assassinate tribal leaders and dignitaries" he added.
Arjash said that the tribal men fiercely fight to defend their areas, citing that dozens of Houthi fighters were killed and their corpses are still thrown on the mountains.
He made clear that the tribal men only have light weapons such as AK 47 and the Houthi fighters have mortars, RPG and tanks.
Arjash appealed to all human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... groups and media outlets to pay attention to the humanitarian tragedies in Hajja, affirming that approximately 5000 families were displaced as a result of the Houthi aggressions on their villages.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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[Pak Daily Times] Somali piracy cost the world nearly $7 billion in 2011, including more than $2 billion for military operations, armed guards and equipment to protect ships, a monitoring group said on Wednesday. The US-based Oceans Beyond Piracy said 80 percent of the cost is borne by the shipping industry with the remainder covered by governments. It said the most notable cost was $2.7 billion in fuel to allow ships to travel at higher speeds through high-risk areas, followed by $1.3 billion for military operations and $1.1 billion for armed guards and security equipment. Another $635 million are attributed to insurance, $486-680 million are spent on re-routing vessels along the west coast of India, and $195 million on increased labour costs and danger pay for seafarers, it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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#1
A cost shared by taxpayers (for the military ops), insurance policyholders (and increased premiums to cover the rising costs of piracy claims), and consumers who pay higher prices on goods that now cost more to transport.
Thanks, pirates.
Posted by: American Delight ||
02/09/2012 19:37
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[Dawn] India's most populous state went to the polls Wednesday in a contest pitting the scion of the Gandhi political dynasty against the ruling party of local low-caste leader Mayawati. India is the world's most populous hereditary democracy...
Rahul Gandhi, whose family has dominated post-independence Indian politics, has led campaigning for the Congress party in politically vital Uttar Pradesh (UP) in a key test of his ability to become a national leader.
The 41-year-old is widely seen as a prime minister-in-waiting, but he faces a tough task reviving the fortunes of Congress in a state where the party has been out of power for 22 years and was trounced in the last elections in 2007.
Arrayed against him is the formidable and mercurial figure of Chief Minister Mayawati, a low-caste populist who inspires a devoted following from those at the bottom of India's strict social order.
She trumpets her efforts to fight discrimination and improve the lives of the poor and marginalised, but her administration also stands accused by critics of rampant corruption and wasting public funds on vast urban landscaping projects.
She has built statues of low-caste icons -- including herself -- in huge parks in the state capital, with total expenditure estimated officially at more than a billion dollars.
Uttar Pradesh has a population of about 200 million. If it were a country in its own right it would be the worlds fifth most populous, larger than Brazil, and in places it has poverty as bad as in sub-Saharan Africa.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Three ministers belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka resigned yesterday after they were caught on TV watching allegedly pornography video clippings on their mobile phones sitting inside the state legislature.
Lakshman Savdi, C C Patil and Krishna B Palemar quit from the ministry following a meeting among top state BJP leaders.
While Savdi was holding Cooperation portfolio, Patil was Woman and Child Development minister and Palemar was entrusted with Ports and Environment responsibilities.
Savdi and Patil were caught allegedly watching porn film clips on the former's cell phone on the floor of the legislative assembly in Bangalore on Tuesday.
The ministers were caught in the act even as the House was in the middle of a heated debate.
Close up shots of the ministers watching blue films were beamed on local television channels on Tuesday evening and sparked an outrage.
The television visuals showed both the minister sitting next to each other, looking at Savdi's mobile phone and having banter.
Savdi claimed the clips were forwarded by Palemar.
Palemar, who had to pay a price for allegedly providing the blue film clippings to Savadi, said he was contemplating legal course over the issue.
Former chief minister Yeddyurappa said the ministers have voluntarily tendered resignation on moral grounds and none of the party leaders, including party President Nitin Gadkari, had any role to play.
"Inquiry will be conducted and soon truth will be out," he added.
This is for the first time the Karnataka state assembly was rocked by such a scandal.
Sources, however, said BJP had decided Tuesday night itself to take the resignation of the three ministers but was awaiting for Yeddyurappa to come back from tour of Bidar.
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[An Nahar] An Iranian deputy foreign minister, whose country remains an ally of unrest-swept Syria, held talks in Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... on Wednesday with Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, Syria's state news agency SANA said.
It said Muallem briefed the Iranian envoy, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, on the wide-ranging reforms being undertaken in Syria in the face of "ferocious attack ... by terrorist groups backed by foreign parties."
Abdollahian stressed Tehran's support for reforms in Damascus and "confidence that the Syrian leadership and people will be able to overcome the current events," SANA reported.
Iran on Tuesday denied any interference in the internal affairs of Syria, its Arab ally, or charges of providing aid for its deadly crackdown on anti-regime protests.
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A man was gunned down while having tea with his friends and a rubber tapper was murdered in an ambush in Narathiwat province on Tuesday morning.
Asi Masila, 39, was killed at a teashop in Narathiwat's Si Sakhon district. He was drinking tea with three friends when two unidentified men on a motorcycle shot at them with a 9 mm pistol and then fled. Asi was hit twice in the chest and died at the scene.
In Sungai Padi district, a rubber tapper was killed and his wife seriously wounded in an ambush early this morning.
Pol Lt Pongeke Chanta, duty officer at the local police station, led a team to the scene and reported finding the body of Witthaya Rattanakul, 53. He had been shot three times in the back and died on the spot. His wife, Wanna, took three bullets in her leg and hip and was taken to hospital.
Witnesses said that the couple were riding a motorcycle to their rubber farm on a rural road when gunmen hiding among the roadside trees fired on them with 9 mm handguns. The attackers then fled.
Police blamed both attacks on separatist terrorists militants.
One of the alleged culprits in the 2011 debt scandal in the Mexican state of Coahuila had his bail revoked and is likely on the run, according to Mexican news accounts.
Javier Villareal Hernandez, the disgraced head of the Coahuila tax collection service had been out on bond after he was caught by Coahuila state police agents attempting to board an aircraft leaving for the United States in late October, 2011.
Villareal, along with several others had been accused of falsifying Coahuila state documents in order to get loans from private banks. As far as news reports indicated, the attempts by Villareal to get those loans had been going on since about 2009. His role became public as Partido Accion Nacional president Gustavo Madero Munoz began in August, 2011 to make the tremendous run up of Coahuila public debt a political issue. To read Rantburg reports on the scandal, click here and here.
Former Coahuila governor Humberto Moreira Valdes had presided over that run up, and had left his post in early 2011 to lead the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). Just coming off a stunning series of wins in several state elections in July, 2011, Moreiria's role in the scandal affected the final race in Michoacan state, where, even though a PRI governor took the state, the win was by less than 40,000 votes. PRI also had a poor showing in the Michoacan Chamber of Deputies.
Moreira resigned from his post in December, 2011 after suffering near constant attacks and questions from both within and outside his political organization.
According to the El Diario de Coahuila website, a Coahuila state judge presiding over the matter revoked Villareal's bail Tuesday, and issued a rearrest warrant. Under Mexican criminal law, bail is usually very low even for serious crimes. Villareal was charged with falsifying public documents, apparently not a serious crime. News reports in late October, 2011 said that Villareal's bail had been set at MP $10.00 or about USD $0.77.
In November, 2011 when Villareal attempted flight, he was brought before the court and additional conditions were set on his bail, such as routinely checking in with the court.
News reports also indicated that Villareal and his family had purchased a number of real estate properties in Texas. The implication to those reports was that Villareal had so far dodged the far more serious crime of illicit enrichment. The purchase of real estate in the US on the salary of a public official may have been an indicator that Villareal could possibly -- though unlikely -- have been skimming proceeds, or had been paid by other parties to the transaction to make those loans.
Under Mexican law every loan contracted by a public entity such as a state must have legislative approval, and those approvals along with the loan proceeds must be brought to Mexico City to be registered. Additionally, documents showing legislative approval must be posted on the internet showing a serial number and the amount.
Villareal instead allegedly used unrelated legislative decrees, as well as those from other states to gain loan proceeds. In at least one case documented in a news report, two unidentified bank officials even travelled with Coahuila state officials -- namely Sergio Ricardo Fuentes and Jaime Rene Jimenez -- aboard official state aircraft to deliver the loan documents.
Fuentes Flores and an undisclosed number of former state officials also had their bail revoked. Fuentes Flores was formerly head of Administrador General de Politicas Publicas del SATEC, or Administrator General of Public Policy of SATEC. To see a list of other individuals allegedly involved in the Coahula debt scandal and some background material on the scandal, click here.
The El Diario de Coahuila report also says that Villareal may have run to Cuba.
I file Maldives stuff under India-Pakistain because it's a member of SAARC and we don't have a "Nowhere" category. [Dawn] Several thousand supporters of former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed clashed with police and troops in riot gear Wednesday, a day after his resignation which he blamed on a coup d'etat.
Nasheed was among the crowd that rallied in the centre of the capital Male in a square next to the police and military headquarters.
Chanting slogans in support of Nasheed, the protesters threw stones and security personnel responded with tear gas and pepper spray, finally forcing the crowd back and away from the square.
"We're not going to stop," said Mohamed Abdulla, a supporter of Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
"We'll just regroup and protest elsewhere.These people have seized our power!" another protester shouted.
Nasheed had led the crowd into the square following a meeting of the MDP leadership, which passed a resolution calling the new administration of President Mohamed Waheed illegitimate.
In an exclusive interview with AFP, Nasheed insisted that he had been forced into resigning by a group of armed rebel police and army officers who had threatened a bloodbath if he refused.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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[An Nahar] The Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, prime minister in Gazoo, Ismael Haniya, is on Friday to make a visit to Iran, which is celebrating the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic revolution, Iranian government officials said.
The Paleostinian was to be received by Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, the officials said, without giving other details or the duration of the visit.
Media said Haniya would hold talks with Iranian officials and receive an honorary degree from Tehran University.
Israel views Hamas as a terrorist group and has accused Iran of being its main arms supplier.
Iran's diminutive PresidentMahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad, who is to give a speech on Saturday to mark the day 33 years ago the revolutionaries claimed victory over the deposed regime of the U.S.-backed shah, has strongly backed the Paleostinian cause.
He has voiced Iran's longstanding policy of rejecting the continued existence of Israel and of supporting foes of the Jewish state, including Hamas.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last week called Israel "a cancerous tumor that must be removed, and God willing it will be."
Hamas this week signed a deal with its rival, Fatah, which runs the West Bank under Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , to form a consensus government ruling both Paleostinian territories.
Israel has rejected the union, and warned Abbas to choose between reconciliation with Hamas and making peace with the Jewish state.
A senior Fatah official has told Agence La Belle France Presse the new Paleostinian government would be announced in Cairo on February 18.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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[Yemen Post] Secretary General of the Yemen Journalist Syndicate Marwan Damaj has accused the National Security headed by Amar Mohammad Saleh of surrounding the state-run Al-Thawra newspaper and its staff.
He expressed his sorrow as some journalists cooperated with security services that are currently surrounding their institution, pointing out that most journalists of Al-Thawra refused to work until the removal of the gunnies.
Member of YJS, Mohammad Shobaitah, said that Al-Thawrah is still under the control of the gunnies who have surrounded the newspapers since last Thursday, urging all Yemeni journalists to stand against such violations.
YJS had stressed that the gunnies affiliated to Saleh attempt to raise turbulence and chaos with the aim of disturbing the early presidential elections scheduled for February 21.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wine tasting, Vince was about to start tasting his third quart... dozens of Yemeni journalists demonstrated on Tuesday before the cabinet, demanding to promptly take the gunnies out of Al-Thawra, expressing their solidarity with its staff.
They further demanded the interim government to send military enforcements to protect Al-Thawra and its staff, condemning threats and violations against its staff.
The Federation of Arab Journalist has condemned the "brutal attack" against the state-run Al-Thawra and its staff, considered this event as serious. It asked the Yemeni concerned authorities to immediately end the siege and arrest the gangs.
For its part, the International Federation of Journalists called the Yemeni government to act decisively to stop the diehard supporters of Saleh from perpetuating control over public media.
"This is a serious incident which also represents a test of the interim leadership's commitment to genuine change, including respect for press freedom," said IFJ President, Jim Boumelha.
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02/09/2012
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Iran's parliament on Tuesday decided to summon President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad for questioning over a long list of accusations, including that he mismanaged the nation's economy.
The summons was the first of its kind for an Iranian president since 1979. It follows a petition by a group of politicians for a review of policy decisions by Ahmadinejad, who has come under increasing attacks in recent months from the same hard-liners who brought him to power.
Another step in the power struggle between President Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Ay Pee, which adds more than a splash of hot pepper sauce to the bubbling pot of events in that part of the world.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A jacket wallah killed at least 11 people Wednesday in the war-torn Somali capital Mogadishu when he detonated an explosive-laden vehicle near the presidential palace, officials said.
"There was a heavy kaboom, a car full of explosives exploded. At least 11 people were killed and a greater number were maimed," politician Mohamed Iro said.
The bomber detonated the vehicle at a small cafe where people had gathered to drink tea, a spot also close to a hotel once popular with officials and located in the heart of the government quarter.
"It was a suicide bomber in a car -- they were trying to target the people near the hotel," said Abdi Abullahi Jama, a security official.
"There are many people dead and many maimed, we are still investigating."
The blast occurred outside the Mona hotel, where 32 people including six members of parliament were killed in an August 2010 attack by two Islamist suicide gunnies wearing government security uniforms.
No group immediately grabbed credit for Wednesday's attack, the latest in a string of blasts including roadside kabooms and grenade kabooms that have rocked the Somali capital in recent months.
The city has seen an increase in such attacks since the Al-Qaeda linked Shebab abandoned fixed positions there in August and switched to guerrilla tactics against the Western-backed government and African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Tuesday blasted the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) for saying that thousands of MILF fighters have left and joined the MNLF. Khaled Musa, MILF information deputy, said Nur Misuari, chair of a faction of the MNLF, was dividing the Bangsamoro people. Misuari served as regional governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao from 1996 to 2001. He led a bloody uprising in Sulu shortly before the 2001 regional polls, fled to Malaysia, and was eventually arrested there.
Musa said, "We call on MNLF Chairman Misuari not to engage in mudslinging to destroy us because we in the two fronts are all brothers and are fighting for the same cause -- that of pushing forward Moro-rule and self determination in Mindanao's Moro territories."
Misuari said the MILF is no longer able to launch combat against the Philippine government because so many of its followers have went over to his MNLF. He added that many MILF members have lost confidence in their organization's now 14- year peace talks with national government.
Misuari was even reported to have called "bogus" the MILF's peace overture with the Aquino administration as he accused its third party facilitator, Malaysia, of plotting with the rebel group's leader, Al-Haj Murad, to hide Malaysia's interest over Sabah, a mineral-rich state. Misuari said the Philippines never waived its claim of Sabah, which he said was owned by the Sultanate of Sulu.
Musa described Misuari's latest pronouncement as "sour-graping and show bitterness" over Malaysia for having extradited him to Manila after the rebellion in Sulu in 2001 when he was about to lose power as ARMM regional governor.
#1
The Net/Blogs still say foreign $$$, Arms + Fighters, etc. are being sneaky-sneaked = trickled into the Philippines as part of a buildup for new insurgency, includ a possib final showdown wid Manila.
Which is likely the all-but-Govt-affirmed reason why the US wants to preemptively set up mil presence wid the PHIL + AUS - the US WANTS ITS FORCES THERE ALREADY WHEN THE SEA ASIA + PHIL JIHAD DOES BREAK OUT.
[Iran Press TV] The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the Arab League chief informed him that the League is ready to resend its observer mission to Syria. Definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
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[Bangla Daily Star] Violence erupted in the Maldives yesterday as supporters of the ex-president who claims he was forced out by a coup clashed with security forces in Male and stormed cop shoppes on outlying islands.
Local officials on four atolls in the holiday paradise nation told AFP that residents overran several cop shoppes and set fire to government buildings.
The attacks followed festivities in the capital Male where protesters, some throwing stones, fought army and police in riot gear who fired tear gas and used batons to disperse several thousand people in the city's Republic Square.
It is the worst unrest since festivities in 2003 following the death of an inmate at the hands of security forces, an event which sparked the process of democratic change on the islands in the Indian Ocean.
Mohamed Nasheed, the country's first elected president who resigned on Tuesday, told AFP he suspected new president Mohamed Waheed had known about a plot to overthrow him involving rebel army and coppers.
"I am afraid he's always entertained an idea to become the president... When the opportunity was available to him, he took it," the 44-year-old said of his former vice president -- from a different party -- who denies the allegation.
The ousted president said he was forced out of power at gunpoint and urged his successor to step down.
"Yes, I was forced to resign at gunpoint," Nasheed told news hounds after his party meeting a day after his resignation.
"There were guns all around me and they told me they would not hesitate to use them if I did not resign," he said.
Nasheed, 44, was later injured along with other senior members of his Maldivian Democratic Party during a rally in the capital, with family members saying he was beaten by police.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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Duplicate from yesterday but we like the comments :-)
A federal judge dismissed on Wednesday a lawsuit filed in San Diego by PETA against SeaWorld, alleging the park's performing killer whales are being held in captivity as slaves, in violation of the U.S. Constitution's 13th Amendment. "only counting as 3/5ths of a white for voting, too, your honor!"
Judge Jeffrey Miller dismissed the lawsuit two days after hearing an hour of arguments about the case's merits. Miller ruled that the 13th Amendment, adopted in 1865, applied only to humans, and the lawsuit could not proceed. "So, you see, you're clearly nucking futs. Dismissed. Counselor? I'm recommending you spend 2 or 3 hours in the tank to discuss the appeals with your 'clients'"
A lawyer for PETA said the group has not decided if it will appeal the ruling but vowed the fight on behalf of the whales will continue. they need to pay the Sea World Atty's costs and court's time
"We'll look at the order closely and see where we go from here," said lawyer Jeff Kerr. "We're concerned only with the well-being of the orcas and trying to end their enslavement." "Nobody knows...the trubble I seine"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/09/2012
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#1
Proof we need to bring back slavery.
Any idiot that comes up with this idea and the idiot that files it for the court just NEED to be sent to the spice mines.
#6
It used to be a legal principal that courts would only hear cases based on subjects involving the law, not a judge's whim that he wanted to be entertained by something interesting.
The US has some 3,600 federal judges, any one of whom can now whimsically hear cases for their entertainment. And they do. Unfortunately there is no organization other than congress that can say, "No, that is stupid. Quit wasting taxpayer money and log-jamming your court with b.s. like that."
#8
That's OK - PETA will just appeal to the "9th Circus" which will rule in their favor.
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
02/09/2012 10:53
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#9
Since it appears we now have lawyers doing stand up comedy, perhaps we should declare a ten year moritorium on graduating lawyers from school and just send them all to Ringling Brothers?
I believe the ruling took a long time because the judge broke his hip falling out of his chair laughing at the poor barristership of the plantiff. Even Namu was shaking his head at the thin porridge in the brief.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/09/2012 11:34
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#10
Bill: Wouldn't that be terribly cruel to people who suffer from Coulrophobia?
"A clown is coming to get you!"
"Eeek!"
"A clown who is also a lawyer!"
"Eeek! Eeek!" (faints)
(There are too many 'evil clown' pictures to choose from on GIS.)
A US drone aircraft killed 10 suspected gun-hung tough guys in the North Wazoo region near the Afghanistan border on Wednesday, security officials and residents said, the fifth such strike this year.
A drone fired two missiles at a house suspected of being a terror hideout in Thapi village, 15 kilometres east of Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... . The building was completely destroyed and 10 suspected bad boyz were potted, security officials said.
"Almost all the men were burnt beyond recognition," a villager said after visiting the destroyed house. "Dozens of gun-hung tough guys arrived later and took over rescue work. They pulled out nine bodies," he said, requesting anonymity. Security officials and villagers said the dead included imported muscle, but they did not specify their nationalities.
The unacknowledged Central Intelligence Agency drone programme was apparently halted after a November NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... air attack from across the Afghan border killed 24 Pak soldiers. The US resumed attacks with the missile-firing drones in northwest Pakistain on January 10.
While the Haqqani faction says it no longer needs a sanctuary in North Waziristan and has made enough battlefield gains in Afghanistan to stay there, it is known to still operate in the Pak border region.
A Pashtun tribal elder said gun-hung tough guys usually avoided gathering, limiting groups to three or four people to minimise losses in the event of a drone attack. But they had dropped their guard recently.
"It has been freezing cold in the last few days and then there were no drones for some time. That's why the gun-hung tough guys started living together and suffered heavy losses," the elder, who declined to be identified, told Rooters.
The use of the unmanned aircraft over Pakistain is opposed by most members of the public and Pak politicians, who regard the attacks as violations of illusory sovereignty that produce unacceptable civilian casualties.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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#1
"Almost all the men were burnt beyond recognition,"
Isn't that unusual for drone missiles?
[An Nahar] The European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... is making contingency plans in case it needs to evacuate EU citizens from Syria and is mulling a ban on flights into and out of the country, bigwigs said Wednesday.
The suspension of commercial flights is among a raft of new sanctions being debated by the EU in the face of an unrelenting crackdown on opponents in Syria after Russia and China vetoed a U.N. resolution to end the violence.
"We're trying to make things change," a senior EU official said, voicing concern that the violence could last a long time. "We're facing a wall, and we have to find a way of climbing over that wall and moving ahead."
The 27-state bloc is also discussing whether to ban the import of phosphates from Syria, freeze the assets of the Syrian central bank and suspend trade in gold and other gems in order to dry up the regime's funds, diplomats said.
The new sanctions against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike... 's regime could be adopted at the next meeting of EU foreign ministers on February 27.
"We will get in the end new sanctions against Syria. I have no doubt about that. What will be the exact shape of sanctions is what remains to be seen," the official said.
Germany proposed a flight ban but some countries have voiced reservations, noting that keeping planes aloft may be needed in case of a humanitarian emergency, officials said.
The EU is making contingency plans for the "worst case scenario," reinforcing delegations in Amman and Beirut to deal with any influx of EU and other citizens fleeing Syria, said another bigwig.
Thousands of Europeans are believed to be in Syria but governments are trying to determine the exact number.
The EU and members states will have a "coordinated discussion on the security in the country, on security for citizens and on contingency planning," the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
Gelareh Bagherzadeh, 30 yo Iranian student and "activist" was shot and killed in Houston's Galleria district : "No evidence suggests that her death was linked to her background or political views, but officials are still exploring that as one of many possibilities."
Absolutely no mention of this in anything other than the Chronicle nor that she had converted to Christianity, joining the Persians for Jesus at a local Baptist church. Any bets this was an honor killing?
[Pak Daily Times] Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... -Ideological (JUI-I) central leader Maulana Abdul Ghani was bumped off in Nayabad area of Chaman on Wednesday. According to 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... Levies, Ghani was on his way home when unidentified gunnies riding a cycle of violence opened fire on him. An injured Ghani was admitted to the District Headquarters Hospital. He was later referred to a Quetta hospital where he succumbed to the injuries. A large number of party workers gathered and protested outside the hospital on receiving the news of Ghani's killing. The motive behind the killing had not been ascertained until the filing of this report, as no one had grabbed credit. Balochistan Levies started the paperwork but haven't done much else against the attackers and launched an investigation. Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase... the JUI's Maulana Muhammad Hanif condemned the killing of Ghani and announced a shutter-down strike in Chaman today (Thursday). Ghani was assassinated as at least four people, including a child, were maimed in a hand grenade attack on Zarghoon Road area near the Saryab Bridge of the picturesque provincial capital on Wednesday. According to police, unidentified persons riding a bike hurled the grenade, injuring four passers-by and damaging three vehicles.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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[An Nahar] Russian leaders under fire for a U.N. veto Wednesday rejected outside interference in the Syrian conflict, with 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... warning against behaving "like a bull in a china shop." Because Syria is so full of such fine china, of course.
"Of course we condemn violence from whichever side it comes, but we must not behave like a bull in a china shop. We need to allow people to decide their own fate independently," Putin said in televised remarks.
The Russian strongman, who is standing for a third presidential term on March 4, spoke after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... for talks in Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... on Tuesday.
Talking to religious leaders during his presidential campaign, Putin warned that intervention in Syria could lead to a situation similar to that in Libya after the overthrow of its leader Muammar Qadaffy ...whose instability was an inspiration to dictators everywhere, but whose end couldn't possibly happen to them... "I know very well the quality of the regime in Libya and it was talked about a lot. But today for some reason no one shows or talks about what is happening in Sirte and other cities that supported the former leader," he said.
"Terrible crimes are happening there ... These are the awful consequences of outside interference, most of all when it is armed."
"No doubt we should give the peoples of these countries an opportunity to decide these problems independently," he was quoted as saying, referring to both Syria and Libya.
"Our task is to help them do it without any outside interference," he said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev later Wednesday urged further efforts to find a solution to the Syrian crisis, including at the United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... Security Council.
Medvedev stressed "the necessity of continuing -- including at the U.N. Security Council -- a search for coordinated approaches to help the Syrians regulate the crisis themselves" , the Kremlin said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#5
The vast majority of Syria's 2m Christians (excluding the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians sheltering in Syria) are Orthodox. Russia sees itself as the protector of Orthodox Christians around the world. And a Syria under Sunni Arab rule would be far worse for Christians, Druze, Kurds and Alawites alike, which is why the 40% of the population that isn't Sunni Arab is mostly standing with Assad. While some self-anointed representatives of these minorities are being very vocal about supporting the Sunni Arab Islamist-led opposition, the actual minorities themselves have read the writing on the wall with respect to Sunni Arab rule, and are sticking with the devil they know - Assad.
Sunni majorities ar not known for religious tolerance/protecting minority faiths (See Pakistan,Saudi and Eygpt for examples)
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/09/2012 14:06
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#8
If Sunni are the problem it would seem possible to divide Syria. What's the point of forcing people who hate each other to live together because Europeans drew lines long ago.
#10
Excellent analysis by both Zhang and Rjschwarz. Is partition a viable solution? Let the Sunnis stew in their homogenous broth while a rival multi cultural minority state prospers???
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/09/2012 17:54
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#12
they don't even get on with other-clan Sunnis
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/09/2012 20:49
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#13
Nations do what they perceive to be in their own national interest. Syria is the last warm water port "ally" that Russia has. Does that explain it a bit?
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is expected to have a large presence in Afghanistan after complete withdrawal of US combat troops from Afghanistan, Washington Post reported.
They will contribute in operations by US Special forces in Afghanistan.
US officials have said that the agency's paramilitary capabilities are seen as tools for keeping the Taliban off balance and protecting the government of Kabul.
CIA's Kabul stations which have as many as 1,000 employees will expand its collaborations with the Special forces when the drawdown of the conventional troops begins.
"I have no doubt that Special Operations will be the last to leave Afghanistan," said Navy Willaim McRaven, the Special Operations Commander who led the operation that killed the late Osama bin Laden ... who no longer has to waste time and energy breathing... last year.
The number of the CIA presence in Afghanistan in the next several years has yet to be determined.
In some scenarios, the CIA and Special Operations troops could share territory and lists of Taliban targets with Afghan forces.
The CIA Paramilitary operatives were the first US personnel to enter Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks; linking up with Northern Alliance fighter's weeks before US military commandos arrived.
The agency controls counterterrorism pursuit teams made up of dozens of Afghan fighters funded and trained by CIA.
CIA will concentrate to hold Kabul and Bagram Airbase rather than having remote outposts. The death of seven CIA employees and contractor in a suicide kaboom by a double agent at a CIA base in Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... underscored the vulnerability of remote outposts.
"We can lose the countryside, but I don't think we are going to lose Kabul and Bagram," a former CIA officer said.
The US government plans to pull out around 22,000 troops from Afghanistan decreasing the overall number of US troops to 68,000. This comes the US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... said that the withdrawal process will accelerate and US could end up combat operations by mid 2013.
The CIA and Special Forces who remain behind will continue to do their share of killing people and breaking things. But it won't be, you know, combat.
#1
>"We can lose the countryside, but I don't think we are going to lose Kabul and Bagram," a former CIA officer said.
BS flag down on this one. They don't have enough SOF operators NOW! Where are even more going to come from?
Suicide bombers and Chinese 103's will be raining down on both. Notice he did NOT mention Kandahar. The Taliban Shadow Government Government in Exile is waiting just across the border in Pakland. The fall of Saigon will look like a well organized withdrawl compared to what is likely to happen in Afghanistan.
#2
Who will stop the orcs when they cross from Pakistan?
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/09/2012 7:07
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#3
I think a Congo War solution is in order. The US could snap its fingers and the place would be up to its eyebrows in mercenaries overnight. Then just pay the mercenaries a bounty for Taliban penises.
#4
Just need to provide CIA/SF assistance to the tribes and clans that have reliably killed Taliban and their allies. Keep the buggers busy enough that they don't have the time and resources to do anything meaningful outside of the next village again.
#5
Procopius2k,
You are assuming the Barack Obama wants to win this thing. I see a Laos solution whereby the CIA and a bunch of "sheep dipped" military conduct a shadow war until the Pak army moves in and takes over.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/09/2012 12:29
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#6
Don't go there, Moose. Steven Pressfield already did in The Profession, and how that ends ain't pretty...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2012 12:43
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[Pak Daily Times] Two Khasadar Force officials were killed and another was injured when an kaboom took place during routine patrolling in the Safi Tehsil of Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... Agency, officials said. The official sources said that two men who were killed were part of the Khasadar Force who were on routine patrolling in the Alenger area. The injured was shifted to a hospital. The kaboom seemed to be the result of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). The Safi Tehsil was considered to be the homeland of the Taliban in Mohmand Agency prior to the security forces operation that cleared the area.
Or didn't clear it, as the case may be.
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02/09/2012
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The European Union on Wednesday urged the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to sign a peace agreement to end their conflict. EU envoys went to Cotobato to meet Philippine and MILF representatives and encourage them to intensify their negotiations and "reach a settlement at the earliest possible moment."
An EU statement said, "The EU believes that the timing is right for a decisive push towards an agreement and that such an opportunity must not be missed. The parties need to constantly remember that the conflict has an enormous cost on the region and that economic development will only be possible with peace."
#1
Iff what I'm reading on the MSM-Net proves correct, it'll be the US-VS-CHINA-VS-NUCLEAR?-ISLAM in a threeway for control of GUAM-CNMI-WESTPAC REGIONS = PACOAS.
"... ... and Beyond" AMAP AFAP, wid lotsa Nukie Love.
[Bangla Daily Star] Two Chittagong University students were killed and around 40 others injured in fierce festivities between Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... and Bangladesh Chhatra League ... the student wing of the Bangla Awami League ... activists on the campus yesterday.
While Shibir, a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... student organization, claimed both the victims to be its members, BCL said one of them was an activist of the pro-Awami League student body.
The dead, Masud bin Habib, a student of English, was the general secretary of Shibir's Suhrawardy Hall unit and Mujahidul Islam, a student of Zoology, was an activist.
Shibir has called a half-day hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... in the port city today to protest the killings.
Fearing further tension on the campus, the CU authorities shut the university till February 16 and ordered all resident students to vacate the halls by 11:00am today.
It all began with an altercation between Shibir activist Al-Amin and BCL activist Sharier Shahin, both second year students of Islamic history, teachers and witnesses said. At one stage of the squabble, Al-Amin slapped and punched Sharier, pushing him to the ground.
On information, Shibir and BCL men -- both groups equipped with sticks, iron rods and machetes -- started bringing out processions from different dormitories at 12:30pm, each side chanting slogans against the other.
When the Shibir men reached Suhrawardy Hall around 1:00pm, BCL activists swooped on them with iron rods, sticks, machetes and other local weapons. The Shibir men counter-attacked with similar weapons, campus sources said.
It was then that the violent festivities spread to Gol Chattar, Amanat Hall and the areas adjacent to Shah Jalal Hall, leaving many activists of both the groups badly injured and turning the campus into a battle zone.
Among the injured is CU Proctor Nasim Hasan, who was hit when he tried to calm both the groups. He was taking treatment at a private clinic.
Several sounds of gunfire were heard during the on-and-off running battle that continued till about 4:00pm, although none was immediately reported to be hit by bullets.
Many panic-stricken women students fell unconscious while others ran for their lives, said Madhap Dweep, a teacher of communication and journalism.
The injured students were initially taken to CU Medical Centre. Of them, 15 were shifted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital where Masud and Mujahidul were declared dead. "They're dead, Jim!"
Their bodies bore marks of injury all over, including from beating and stabbing, police said.
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[Dawn] IT has been a decade of bans and lists. As the world of terror revealed itself to be more and more amorphous, nation states have fought back collecting the names, identifying the leaders and eliminating the followers of terror groups.
There are lists of banned ...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organizations in Pakistain and lists of people not permitted in America. Along with lists there are typologies and profiles; the richer the nation, the more detailed the conjured portraits of terror.
In one of the latest episodes revolving around terror and terrorists, Malik Ishaq, leader of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... , was recently released from detention from Kot Lakhpat jail.
A few days later, he attended a rally in Multan organised by the Difa-e-Pakistain Council, seen as a new motley coalition of groups such as the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... , Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (formerly known as Sipah-e-Sahaba), Maulana Samiul Haq's faction of Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam ...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability... and others.
Malik Ishaq was not the only freed terrorist present at the rally. Also in attendance was Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat... , head of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... . Under the new rhetorical flourish of 'defending Pakistain' each emerged in public, untouched by previous sins committed under old names.
The massacre of Shia Hazaras in Mastung and the horrific attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team that left this country humiliated all seemed to be forgotten in view of the latest indignities imposed by the United States, the desecration of Mohammedan corpses by 'infidel' soldiers and the absolving magic of a new patriotic name.
The name game -- the coining of new names as one agenda for hatred morphs into another -- and the painstaking tracing of genealogies of terror by American experts has become such a well-oiled cycle that both ends follow practised sequences enacted with well-rehearsed outrage.
As per this worn script, two days after the rally the US ambassador to Pakistain reportedly warned that aid disbursements to Pakistain would be ceased unless action was taken against the two individuals.
Also as per the stage instructions, Pak heads nodded and made responsive motions, yet the curtain fell on January with no conclusions and no catharsis.
Adequate room was left by all involved for sequels that capitalise on the same plotlines with mildly altered angles and slight variations of dialogue. There are many critiques of course: everything written on either side of this issue; the inadequate denunciation and pursuit of terror on one end, the imperialist overreach and illegality of secret wars and surreptitious killings on the other.
Neither is able or willing to see the new pathology spawned by the entrenchment of these roles. Paks and Americans as well as their respective governments are unable to see terror except in the limited shades of this scripted tragedy.
The challenges of labelling terror as endemic and the terrorist as a criminal, his pursuit and apprehension as an act of law enforcement rather than war-mongering at the American end rest on two issues.
First is the fact that the American criminal justice system rests on the precept of innocence until guilt has been established in a court of law and robust scepticism towards pre-emptive punishment even in situations where individuals pose a significant risk of future criminal activity.
Because the core of the ongoing war on terror is largely pre-emptive, there is resistance to the prosecution of alleged beturbanned goons in American criminal courts or as the passage of the National Defence Authorisation Act reveals, the creation of a parallel system that permits acts such as indefinite detention that would otherwise be deemed unconstitutional.
The second factor has been the United States' long-standing reticence to join the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... , established in 2002 through the Rome Statute to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The first creates a perception of terror as something finite, existing in particular times and contexts and with a distinct end. The second leaves a vast gap in the transnational legal tools available to prosecute crimes beyond national jurisdictions.
Cumulatively, both leave the issue of terror to foreign policy experts and military strategists, both of whom conceptualise the elimination of terror and the terrorist as a linear task with finite parameters accomplished via bombs and assassinations.
On the Pak end, there is the inability to conceptualise terrorism as a moral issue with dimensions beyond imperialism, nationalism and illusory sovereignty.
As a result, people appear at rallies where known terrorist leaders are present; mobs collect and enact fatwas that punish religious minorities, and any failing to echo the populist rhetoric of denouncing America and railing against the West.
On the basis of this dynamic, the end of the war on terror and the withdrawal of the US and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... forces is equivocated with the end of terror itself, possibly even the end of all scourges leaving a pristine Pakistain untrammelled by want or famine or disaster.
The beneficiaries of these delusions -- American and Pak -- are Hafiz Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... and Malik Ishaq, who can discard their banned outfits for new fashions of populism, managing to dupe both those in Pakistain and those in America.
The former invest these chameleons with the bravado of facing down a bossy superpower; the latter believe that the terrorist is a product of ideology, demography, faith and a smattering of other variables.
Neither seems to understand that terror, like crime, is an ugly fact of life, the result of the failure of conscience and a detriment to all human beings. It will never go away, not with the exit of a superpower or the elimination of a terrorist leader.
Its denunciations must rest not on strategic calculations, the disbursement of aid, the passage of shipments, the counting of corpses and ruined lives and destroyed futures, its biggest casualty is our universal loss of faith in the possibility of justice.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
The Pakistani right is what we are fighting in Afghanistan.
Pak+Saudi+Iran=Axis of evil/Islamism
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/09/2012 6:59
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#2
One would think the Pakistani right would support the return to feudalism and perhaps even the reestablishment of the Moghul princely line, wherever they might be.
[Iran Press TV] Anti-Syria states are reportedly planning to hold a meeting in Turkey to discuss ways to topple the government of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... , Press TV reports.
Ankara decided to hold the meeting after Russia and China vetoed a United Nation Security Council resolution against Syria.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said that his country supports the Syrian opposition and groups fighting against the Assad government and that Turkey will cooperate with countries working against the Syrian government.
Informed sources say Turkey, one of the harshest critics of President Assad's government, plays a key role in a US plot to overthrow the Syrian government.
Turkey is also accused of leading a smear campaign against Syria by trying to portray government troops as being responsible for the violence in the country since last March despite Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... saying that gangs are waging an insurgency in the country.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch, Butch and the Kid finally brought their horses under control... political analyst s Stephen Lendman says the US and its allies would continue their plan for a military intervention in Syria even without the UN Security Council approval.
"Washington and key NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... partners plan intervention with or without Security Council cover," Lendman wrote in his article "Heading for War on Syria" on Global Research.
"Doing so violates fundamental international law that prohibits interfering in other countries' internal affairs, except in self-defense if attacked," he added.
The analyst said Western powers are trying to replicate Libya's model in Syria. Lendman believes the recent military interventions are part of Washington's "New Middle East" project, which aims to control North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia to Russia and China's borders.
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Christian conservative Rick Santorum ...candidate for president and former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania. He was a lawyer before becoming the Representative for suburban Pittsburgh in 1991. He lost his Senate seat in 2006 to Bob Casey, a Democrat machine politician and political dynast. Santorum is a social conservative whose primary attraction is seemingly that he is neither Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich... reignited his White House bid Tuesday, claiming an unexpected trio of state wins that raised new question marks over Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney. ...whose real first name is actually, no kidding, Willard, was governor of Massachussetts and is currently the front-runner for president on the Publican ticket. He is the son of the former governor of Michigan, George Romney, who himself ran for president after saving American Motors from failure, though not permanently. Romney's foot is in an ideological bucket because of Romneycare, a state-level experiment that should have been a warning against Obamacare if anyone had been paying attention. Romney's charisma is best defined as soporific, which is probably why he is leading the Publican field... Santorum, written off only a few weeks ago, won caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado and a primary in Missouri -- a clean sweep that represented another stunning turnaround in this topsy-turvy Republican presidential race.
The established wisdom was that Santorum was surging in the Midwest and could take Minnesota and Missouri thanks to support from evangelical Christians, but no one expected him to win out west in the Rocky Mountains.
It was a bitter blow for Romney, who romped home in Colorado during his 2008 bid, scooping more than 60 percent of the vote.
"The Romney bandwagon just went in the ditch," CNN analyst David Gergen said, as pundits scratched their heads and struggled to explain the loss.
The Republican battle to be the nominee to take on President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... is in a interesting repositioning phase ahead of "Super Tuesday" on March 6, when 10 states vote at once and almost a fifth of all delegates are decided.
A clutch of seven February contests, including the three held on Tuesday, will not alter the fact that Romney goes into that day the frontrunner, but they could boost Santorum's challenge and put added pressure on the favourite.
The surge by Santorum, a former US senator, arguably places him back out in front of former House speaker Newt Gingrich ...former Speaker of the House, author of the Contract with America. Gingrich gave the country welfare reform and a balanced budget and the Publicans a landslide House victory in 1994. On the downside, he has a roving eye and a loose fly, he's opinionated, and he's abrasive despite his ability to work with the other side of the political aisle... , whose campaign has slumped in recent weeks, making a mockery of his claim to be the obvious "anti-Mitt."
With nearly all of the precincts reporting in Missouri, Santorum was the big winner with 55 percent of the vote, more than double Romney's 25 percent.
In Minnesota, Santorum won 45 percent of the vote, easily defeating Texas congressman Ron Paul at 27 percent. Romney was a distant third at 17 percent, with 85 percent of precincts reporting.
The biggest shock of the night was in Colorado, where Santorum won 40 percent of the vote, edging out Romney on 35 percent, according to official party results.
"Wow, what a night for Santorum and a disaster for Mitt," Charles Franklin, cofounder of pollster.com and a professor at Marquette University Law School, told AFP.
"This certainly raises the stakes for Super Tuesday and the burden on Romney to start winning like a frontrunner should. It's a great second chance for Santorum to replace Newt as the top alternative."
Romney and Gingrich will take solace in the fact that none of Tuesday's contests are binding votes but for Santorum it is all about momentum, media attention and maybe some more cash to fill up his depleted campaign coffers.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I've been telling locals that the GOP race agz the Bammer was still wide open despite Mitt's early wins, ala NEWT-VS-MICHELLE'S-BOYZ.
#2
George Washington would have a difficult time running agains the Food Stamp President. I fear we have four more years of the Manchurian. I am planning for the worst.
#3
Ok. I will say it. From a Canuck perspective looking over our Southern border, the US electoral system seems, well, a bit weird - like it was designed by Constantly Nattering Ninnies (CNN) to sell "news". LIke John King whining when he had his short one slapped -not really news but there it is. Rather than afulsome airing of conservative views, it looks like each of the conserv runners are trying to take each other out at the knees, or going hi-lo on each other. The demos do not need an advertising campaign. They can just do reruns of the slammers against whoever is the last man standing for the Republicans. Maybe I just dont get it.
#4
From a Canuck perspective looking over our Southern border, the US electoral system seems, well, a bit weird
Seems that way from here, too. But consider the ability of folks to travel back when it was developed in the late 1700s. Also, just imagine what would happen if the popular vote alone decided the race. They would run in the big cities and that would be the end of it. Liberals would love the popular vote. At least this way the votes in flyover country aren't ignored.
#5
The biggest changes happened in about the '60s. It used to be that the party organization picked the candidate with just a few primaries to see what kind of chops the candidate had. JFK basically won the nod on the basis of the West VA primary.
The primary process has devolved now to the point where it's a popularity contest with very limited gravitas. The idea of anyone Dem or Repub voting in any primary is bizarre in the extreme.
#6
From a Canuck perspective looking over our Southern border, the US electoral system seems, well, a bit weird
That's because so many ignore the name "United States". How do you get 13 former colonies, now autonomous governments to agree to a federal system? You certainly don't do it by arranging things that allow a couple of them to dominate all of them. That still applies today. As gorb points out, other than the usual suspects, no one wants 10 states with major metro areas to tell everyone else how to live. Buried in the contract, the Constitution, is the escape clause by State's Convention which permits 3/4ths of the states to tell the remaining 1/4th with all those metro areas to stick it if they push a centralized autocratic agenda too far.
#7
From a purely practical perspective, the primary system could use some tweaking. Any process that could produce nominees like Dole, McCain and Romney when 40% of the electorate self-describes as conservative is either malfunctioning or designed to be something other than what it appears to be. One obvious indication of the latter is the VA GOP changing the rules at the last minute so that only Romney appears on the ballot (Paul was approved before the rule change).
#9
Gallup did a mid-year poll in 2010 which found that 42% of those polled were conservative, 35% moderate, and 20% liberal. This poll is fairly consistent with other polls.
One would think that we would get a conservative POTUS and Congress more frequently. All I can figure is that a high percentage of moderates vote with the liberals. Or people have distorted views of what they claim to be. Or that there are more liberals out there and they are ashamed to claim being liberals.
#12
Any process that could produce nominees like Dole, McCain and Romney when 40% of the electorate self-describes as conservative is either malfunctioning or designed to be something other than what it appears to be.
One major problem is that the nominee often isn't really the choice of the Majority. Often smaller states (IOWA, NH) are given a far greater amount of influence over the nomination process while other,often much larger, states get none.
In addition, due to the long, drawn out process, the media is allowed to practically pick the winner by attacking real conservatives (like we've seen this season).
And, IMHO, it is designed that way by the republican leadership.
Iran today warned it is capable of carrying out military strikes on U.S. interests around the world if America attacks the Islamic Republic. The U.S. has tried to force Tehran to scrap sensitive nuclear work through sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and Iranian government assets. But Iran's ambassador to Moscow said on Wednesday that the U.S. would be making a mistake akin to suicide by risking a military strike on them. Translation: We know we can't do squat agains the Continental USA, so we will threaten all your overseas interests instead! Because we're so awesome. Or so sucky. Whatever....
'The Americans know what kind of country Iran is,' Ambassador Seyed Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi said. 'They are well aware of our people's unity. And that's why Iran is fully able to deliver retaliatory strikes on the United States anywhere in the world,' he added through an interpreter.
'The issue of a military attack from America on the Islamic Republic of Iran has been on the agenda for several years,' Mr Sajjadi said, adding Iran would never strike first.
#3
I'm sick of their threats. if we had a real leader he would say... " if any of our assets around the world are attacked, short-round's nuts will be for sale on e-bay" or words to that effect. it's time we show them what a real retaliation is like.
#5
Mullah Omar and the Taliban managed to do more than 'squat' against the ConUS.
Afghanistan ended up with a huge reward. The US and NATO are begging Omar and the Taliban to come to the negotiating table, accept Western danegeld and return to power in Afghanistan.
Operation "Enduring Freedom" poses no danger to the "not enemy per se's" nuts. Operation "Infinite Justice" which might have was cancelled after a couple of days lest the enemy take offense.
Why should a rational but hostile Iran realistically fear Western retaliation after the 9/11 precedent?
#9
Bambi's already succombed to the blackmail by ignoring them, pulling out troops, and trying to bridle Israel--they aren't just saber-rattling before the election. We might be prepared for some sort of proxy retaliation over increased sanctions and the job insecurity of nuke scientists just to prove their cowardly point...especially if they really start confiscating Iranian assets under US control, including foreign branches of banks (one of the few things Obama has actually done that may be effective):
"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.
#10
Iran fears Israel more, because they know that unlike the US if it comes to that moment, the Israelis will kill them, and are not afraid to make the rubble bounce if that is what it takes to halt aggression and an existence threat. And the Israelis will hunt down the leaders forever. Ask the relatives of Mohammed Safady and Adnan Al-Gashey, Mohammad Yusuf al-Najjar, Kamal Adwan, Kamal Nassir, Ali Hassan Salameh (1979) and even Atef Bseiso (in 1992) about מבצע זעם האל (Mivtza Za'am Ha'El).
#12
You know sometimes I think that if the Embassy of a foreign nation is national territory, then how hard would it be to blow every single Iranian embassy apart in every nation of the world just because we were sad that the Iranians don't understand worldwide domination.
[An Nahar] Police said Wednesday a mob had stormed the Maldives national museum and smashed Buddhist statues, an act of vandalism which former president Mohamed Nasheed blamed on Islamic radicals.
"A mob entered the museum yesterday (Tuesday). They smashed many statues. This included some statues of Buddha," police front man Ahmed Shiyam told Agence La Belle France Presse.
In an interview with AFP, Nasheed, who resigned the presidency on Tuesday, said the vandals included Islamist hardliners who had attacked the museum because they believed some of the statues inside were "idolatrous".
Islam is the official religion of the Maldives and open practice of any other religion is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
Islam is the official religion of the Maldives and open practice of any other religion is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
The museum in the capital Male boasts a large collection of historical artifacts, ranging from stone objects to fragments of royal antiquities from the country's Buddhist era to the rule of Islamic monarchs.
"I can tell you that the damage is very big," a museum official told AFP by telephone, asking not be named because police had requested him not to speak to the media.
"A team of coppers are here and are investigating," he added.
Police front man Shiyam said the building had been sealed off to allow a proper assessment of the damage.
Religious radicals, who had painted Nasheed and his administration as un-Islamic, had taken part in three weeks of anti-government protests that led to the president stepping down.
Alleging that Nasheed was under the influence of Jews and was trying to bring Christianity to the Sunni Mohammedan nation, they had attacked him over flights arriving with Israeli tourists and "improper" social conduct on island resorts.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
To paraph SGT. SCHULTZ > "Copts in Egypt, Christians + Druze in Lebanon, now Buddhists in Maldives - SQUASHED FLAT LIKE A PANCAKE"!
[Dawn] Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday barred the government from appointing a new defence secretary, DawnNews reported That seems to be in practice the prerogative of the Mighty Pak Army and the ISI...
The Pakistani version of separation of powers.
The court accepted the petition for a formal hearing of ex-defence secretary Lt-Gen (r) Naeem lodhi against his removal.
Justice Azeem Khan Afridi also issued an interim order to the acting Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi to continue her office till further orders.
The court would now issue its verdict after assessing the constitutional and legal standing of Lodhi's sacking.
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[Dawn] More than 120 people were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock in police raids across London on Wednesday by a new unit set up to combat gang violence following riots which rocked England last summer.
The suspects were picked up in more than 300 raids across the capital since dawn as hundreds of Metropolitan Police officers erupted into the streets to track down and arrest suspected gang members.
The arrests concerned suspected assault, robbery and the supply of drugs, with police seizing "significant amounts of crack cocaine, heroin and cash", according to the police.
The 1,000-strong Trident Gang Crime Command has been created to monitor gang activity and work with London boroughs.
The unit, thought to be the largest in the country, has 19 dedicated gang crime task forces.
The Met, or the MPS, said in a statement: "As part of the MPS crackdown on gang crime, 109 warrants have been executed so far, resulting in 121 arrests for a variety of offences including, the supply and possession of drugs and gang related violence.
"A significant amount of cocaine and cannabis has been seized at various addresses across the capital."
Ten thousand pounds were found at another address.
Violence destroyed London in August, sparked by the death of a black man in a police shooting.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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#1
Operation Trident=Black gangs!
Posted by: Paul D ||
02/09/2012 7:01
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#2
Notice what wasn't said, that the police also probably confiscated a huge arsenal of guns, in gun-free London.
It used to be said that an "Irish king" was a man with a sword and two followers. Today it's a gun and two followers.
[Dawn] Police registered cases against more than 200 protesters on Tuesday for blocking Hangu road at Muhammadzai area and damaging government property.
The protest was staged by students on Monday after arrest of a teacher of government high school in a terrorism case.
The protesting students, who were joined by residents of the area, had blocked Kohat-Hangu road five hours and burnt a police checkpost.
The protesters had damaged armoured personnel carrier of police and smashed windscreen of vehicles.
They also burnt the furniture of an under construction checkpost at Zawaki Banda and took away its doors and windows. A policeman was also injured in the incident.
The teacher was locked away for allegedly running a parallel policing system and attacking the alleged illegal occupants, belonging to Bezote tribe of adjacent Orakzai Agency ... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers... , of the village's land.
The highway, which was closed soon after the arrest of the teacher at 8am, was opened by the protesters after five hours following successful negotiations between the police and elders of the area.
The SHO of Cantt cop shoppe, Aqeeq Hussain, told Dawn that the locked away teacher, Azmat, was a runaway and his name was present in the list of wanted people.
He had been booked under sections 324,395,452,427, 148 and 149 of Pakistain Panel Code, registered on December 10, 2011.
Wanted on several planets, 'e wuz -- and not the nice ones..
He and other members of Muhammadzai Welfare Organisation had injured coppers, who asked them to surrender during patrolling of the area last year, he added.
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[Dawn] Pakistain's High Commissioner to Britannia Wajid Shamsul Hasan said that Pakistain would be left with no option but to support Iran if Israel attacks it. Looking forward to takin' on dem Jooze...
In an interview to a British newspaper The Sun published Wednesday, Hasan expressed his concerns over the United States' "Drone Wars" that have taken the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians in Pakistain.
"We know the damage -- destroyed schools, communities, hospitals. They are civilians -- children, women, families. Our losses are enormous," the newspaper quoted him as saying.
"I think time is running out until the Pakistain government can take a stand. They will have to at some stage take punitive actions to stop them. They have got means to take such actions to defend their own frontier and territories," Hasan further added.
Hasan urged British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... to convince the US that the drone attacks were counter-productive, making the American "the most hated people in the minds of the people in Pakistain."
Talking about Iran, he said: "We wouldn't like to be seen as part of Israel's campaign against any country. If Israel attacks Iran, it will have an impact on Pakistain as well."
"We will have to safeguard our own interests. We also have a Shia population in Pakistain who will not take it lying down."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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#1
Nice try, Wajid, but no Subway Hoagie for you today - AFGANISTAN, CENTASIA, + CAUCASIA, i.e sovereign lands once controlled by ancient Persia + Seljiks, etc., is IMO more in danger of being territorially used by contempor Iran as a new, physical anti-US Nuke-WMDS "Ho Chi Minh Trail" than distant Pakistan is.
PAK is at best a secondary or minor support front unless a US-Iran War expands outside of Iran proper.
OTOH, PAK'S LR NUKES + PRO-IRAN ISLAMISTS IN GOVTSHARE WOULD BE MOST USEFUL TO TEHRAN, ESPEC IN DETERRING US-NATO STRIKES AGZ DEFENDING IRANIAN MIL + BASIJ FORCES BOTH DOMESTIC + OUTSIDE OF IRAN.
#7
Personally I do not wish to breath Israeli fallout.
But, oh well.... There are worse things.
Yesterday I had the pleasure(?) of talking with a fellow form Hamburg. It was informative to learn that Hitler is alive and well.
Posted by: kelly ||
02/09/2012 18:19
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#8
D *** NG IT, no way Hitler can still be alive - I times met Him long ago + he was already massively overqualified for AARP + Social Security as a [eloquent] Super-Senior Citizen.
[Yemen Post] Fierce festivities continued on Tuesday between al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons and army troopers in the southern trouble-torn province of Abyan, leaving at least four killed.
Al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons carried out an offensive on an army unit stationed in Abyan's bustling provincial capital of Zinjubar, however, the army managed to repel the attack and incur al-Qaeda great losses, military source told Yemen Post, requesting anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.
The army used heavy weapons in the festivities, including artillery and tanks, the source added.
The initial accounts indicate that at least 3 faceless myrmidons were killed in the festivities, but locals assert that Yesterday's corpse count is much more.
Al-Qaeda has strengthened its foothold in the southern provinces of the fragmented-state, apparently taking advantage of the distracted government.
Elsewhere, an army trooper was killed and another badly maimed in a passerby shooting by al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons in the southern Province of Lahj.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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[An Nahar] Egyptian judges probing alleged illegal foreign funding of non-governmental organizations on Wednesday accused domestic and foreign groups, including American ones, of illegally meddling in politics.
The NGOs are operating "without license," and their work "constitutes pure political activity and has nothing to do with civil society work," Judge Sameh Abu Zeid told a presser.
The judge said December raids on 17 offices of local and foreign NGOs as part of a probe into illegal funding had been conducted "according to the law."
"It is a very large and complicated case involving hundreds of people and organizations, Egyptian and foreign," he said.
He said dozens of people had been referred to trial because there was deemed to be enough evidence.
Among them are 19 Americans, a fact that prompted a trio of leading U.S. senators to warn Egypt that the risk of a "disastrous" rupture in ties had "rarely been greater."
Abu Zeid said "there is much evidence, including witness accounts, expert accounts and confessions. There are 67 items of evidence," Abu Zeid said.
The groups being investigated include the U.S. International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House and the German Konrad-Adenauer Foundation.
"The foreign organizations are not civil society groups but branches of organizations based abroad," said Abu Zeid.
He said security agencies had repeatedly refused to register the NGOs who "have been working in Egypt for years on tourist visas.
"They received orders from abroad to do this and were told not to get work permits. They also violated Egyptian tax laws."
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02/09/2012
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[Dawn] Local police rounded up 60 students, mostly Afghans, on suspicion of terror links during a raid on a religious seminary Tuesday morning and jugged them in the nearby Yakatoot cop shoppe. I thought Yakatoot was 20 minutes' flying time from Nome?
Dozens of irate students and teachers of the seminary later blocked the City Circular Road near Yakatoot cop shoppe but bravely ran away after police baton-charged and teargassed them to clear the road to the traffic.
Police said they raided Jamia Zubairia seminary near Science Superior College in Yakatoot area on a tip-off that some terror suspects had taken refuge there and placed in durance vile 60 students.
According to them, personnel of the city's different cop shoppes cordoned off the area during the raid to quell possible trouble.
A police official said the seminary raid was part of the investigation into the recent blasts and kidnappings for ransom in the city. He said the 'seminary operation' remained successful as many suspects, including Afghan nationals illegally living in the country, were taken into custody. The official said the placed in durance vile seminarians had been kept under surveillance.
As the news of the raid and arrests spread, locals and families of the jugged seminarians showed up.
Along with other students and teachers, they later blocked the City Circular Road near the cop shoppe, where detainees were kept, and linked their dispersal to release of 'innocent children' amidst sloganeering against police and the government.
They claimed that police had denied food and water to the captured seminarians in illegal confinement.
A protestor said the detainees were aged between 10 and 15 years and had nothing to do with terrorism. Seminary teachers accused police of raiding the premises without prior notice.
"We will contact people at other seminaries and Wafaqul Madaris (a seminary watchdog) to take up the matter with the government," a teacher said.
As protestors blocked the road, a police inspector called in their representatives for dialogue but they refuse to show up and continued with the blockade demanding unconditional release of seminarians. Later, police baton charged and teargassed protestors, who decamped to clear the road.
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02/09/2012
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[Dawn] Mansehra police have booked 12 holy men on charges of instigating people to create a law and order situation during Eid Miladun Nabi.
Police said FIR was lodged by SHO city police Mohammad Khursheed Tanoli after meetings of district coordination officer, district police officer and representatives of other law enforcement agencies the other day.
In the first information report, SHO Khursheed Tanoli stated that leaders of certain groups delivered hate speeches and instigated people to attack opponents on Karakoram Highway.
The FIR also revealed that one of the groups blocked KKH for over eight hours causing inconvenience and disturbance for passengers and other people at Ghazikot.
Maulana Faizul Bari, Maulana Abdul Munan, Maulana Shafiqueur Rehman and Maulana Aftab of Sunari Mosque group were booked under sections 341, 427, 147 and 149 of Pakistain Penal Code.
But, so far no arrests have been made.
While Umer Farooq Saeedi, Saleem Qadri, Maulana Habibul Malik, Maulana Qudratullah Qadri, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Salkheen, Nazar Shah and Mohammad Altaf of rival group were booked under sections 341, 147, and 149 of the PPC. But, so far no arrests have been made.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Tex and his new-found Indian friend were preparing a little surprise for the bandidos... DCO Mansehra imposed ban on use of loudspeakers except Azan and Friday sermons in the district.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the advocate will "serve as a point of contact for individuals, including those in immigration proceedings, NGOs and other community and advocacy groups, who have concerns, questions, recommendations or other issues they would like to raise."
The agency part of the Homeland Security Department said Andrew Lorenzen-Strait will be the first advocate.
But Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, And in very deep trouble from his sponsorship of SOPA and PIPA.
said that meant elevating the concerns of illegal immigrants.
Its outrageous Outrageous, I say, outrageous!, said Captain Renault.
that the Obama administration has appointed a taxpayer-funded activist for illegal and criminal immigrants who are detained or ordered deported.
The administration all too often acts more like a lobbying firm for illegal immigrants than as an advocate for the American people, Mr. Smith, A wholly owned subsidiary of the RIAA and MPAA.
Texas Republican, said.
Mr. Smith said that when Congress created the Homeland Security Department, it specifically created an advocates position for those in the legal immigration process, but it declined to create one for illegal immigrants, who the courts have regularly ruled are not entitled to the same protections as citizens and legal residents.
#1
All i see from Congree is ranting and wailing. sounds more and more like the UN with strongly worded letters and wringing of hands; Will somebody in DC please grow some balls and challenge Bambi and his minions before we are all royally phuqued? like cut off funds to whatever office has these illegal czars?
#6
The sad part is the only reason Smith is speaking against this, the reason *only* Smith is speaking, is because he is in deep political trouble, and facing a well funded primary opponent; no other Republican gives a hoot, or would care if Obama appointed a dozen (more) prostitutes to 'Czar' jobs.
#9
Its outrageous that the Obama administration has appointed a taxpayer-funded activist for illegal and criminal immigrants who are detained or ordered deported.
Hire a Special Counsel. Spend the rest of the year issueing Subpoenas, draggin all of his Czars before Congress and the nation to testify regarding the White House openly supporting criminal activity.
[Yemen Post] 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... will return to Yemen to vote in the early presidential elections due to be held on February 21, the state-run 26 September newspaper said on Tuesday.
The newspaper said Saleh received a number of Yemenis at his residence in New York, pointing out that Saleh's health becomes better and he would be in Yemen before the polls date.
It further said Saleh thanked all officials, military and security commanders, and tribal leaders who contacted him to reassure his health.
The remarks of Saleh,s return came after a protester threw his shoe at Saleh, outside a hotel on Central Park South.
Yemeni protesters criticized Saleh's presence in the United States in which he receives treatment for injuries he suffered when a bomb went kaboom! in the mosque of the presidential palace last June.
Yemeni analysts said the reports stated about the return of Saleh was a response to a recent address of Vice President Abdu Rabu Masour Hadi in which he did not mention Saleh.
Vice President launched on Tuesday his electoral campaign and delivered a speech in which he did not commend Saleh as he used to do in previous addresses. Following the address, news headlines of Yemeni media outlets focused on Hadi's ignorance to Saleh.
In the launch ceremony attended by leaders of Yemeni parties, officials and foreign diplomats, Hadi praised the Yemeni protesters who took to streets to demand the ouster of Saleh.
Hadi warned of challenges Yemen faces, indicating that he would do best to overcome. "People are no longer able to be patient over the suffering that has lasted longer that it should have," the vice president said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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[An Nahar] Syrian forces pressed a relentless assault on the protest city of Homs Wednesday, with dozens of civilians reported killed.
The barrage of gunfire, mortars and shells was launched at daybreak and continued during the day. State television said a car boom had destroyed the central city, killing and wounding civilians as well as security officers.
The blast hit the neighborhood of Bayada, the television reported, blaming "armed terrorist gangs." If confirmed, the attack would be the first of its kind in Homs.
Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said at least 62 people were killed across the country on Wednesday, including 50 in Homs.
Among those killed in the beleaguered city were three entire families slain overnight by pro-regime thugs known as Shabiha, he said. They included at least three children aged five, seven and 15.
The most intense shelling was in Baba Amr, where at least 23 buildings were completely destroyed, including a home hit by a rocket that killed a little girl.
Activists in Homs said the widespread shelling was a clear bid to pave the way for a ground assault on Syria's third city.
"Since dawn the shelling has been extremely intense and they are using rockets and mortars," Omar Shaker, reached by satellite telephone from Beirut, told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"They have destroyed all infrastructure and bombed water tanks and electricity poles. The humanitarian situation is extremely dire and food is lacking.
"We are trying to set up a field hospital but we have no medical supplies."
The shelling intensified as tanks were reportedly moving toward the city from Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... , said Hadi Abdullah, another activist.
"We fear a new massacre," he told AFP by satphone.
Ali Hazouri, a doctor in Baba Amr, said a field hospital had been hit and several physicians were maimed, some critically.
"One rescuer from the Red Thingy had both legs blown off in the shelling," he said. "We have shut down the hospital and are treating the maimed in their homes."
Gay Paree-based aid agency Doctors Without Borders accused the regime of persecuting medics who treat the maimed, as well as denying medical care to opponents.
As the regime forces tightened their grip, severing power, communications and other supplies, state media reported "terrorists" attacked Homs' oil refinery.
The authorities frequently blame "terrorists" for attacks on infrastructure, while its opponents accuse the regime of carrying them out to punish centers of resistance.
The Observatory has reported several hundred civilians killed since the onslaught on Homs, a central junction city of 1.6 million inhabitants, was launched overnight Friday.
In southern Syria on Wednesday, troops used heavy gunfire after an army officer and 17 soldiers defected in the Daraa region, cradle of the uprising against Assad's 11 years of iron-fisted rule.
Rights groups estimate more than 6,000 people have died in nearly a year of upheaval in the country, as Assad's hardline regime seeks to snuff out the revolt that began in March with peaceful protests amid the Arab Spring.
Western and Arab efforts to address the violence have met resistance from Russia, whose foreign minister said after meeting Assad in Damascus on Tuesday that the Syrian leader was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2012
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#1
The numbers don't add up. During the massacre at Hama, between 300 to 900 people were killed daily during a month-long artillery and tank barrage. Given the Sunni tendency towards exaggeration (exemplified by Baghdad Bob and Egypt's war museums dedicated to its military "victories" over Israel), 60 dead might be closer to 20 - not at all consistent with "barrages of gunfire, mortars and shells".
#3
Note that Homs has a population density similar to NYC - between 40K to 60K per sq mile. A daily 10 minute artillery barrage involving 100 rounds should kill hundreds of people easily, probably thousands, if targeted at apartment buildings. Bottom line is that Assad is probably going after rebels, but indiscriminate shelling is not his methodology.
#5
It is if you're trying to convince the population to not stray from the fold.
Actually, the Syrian rebels are trying to convince the West to provide air support so they can defeat Assad. Given that the Ikhwan-led regime that replaces him will arguably be more dangerous than he was, to our interests, I am suggesting that (1) if we intervene in Syria, it ought to be on Assad's side, and (2) we need to be wary of Sunni Arabs who level charges of atrocity - they are religious psychopaths who view the killing of every Sunni Muslim terrorist to be an atrocity and the grisly torture and execution of infidels to be merely a down payment on what all infidels have coming to them.
#6
"I am suggesting that (1) if we intervene in Syria, it ought to be on Assad's side"
I'm suggesting we butt out.
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/09/2012 23:18
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#7
I'm suggesting we butt out.
That was a rhetorical statement. Despite their inferiority in numbers, the Alawites should be able to take care of themselves, short of a NATO no-drive zone.
[Yemen Post] Three al-Qaeda inmates managed to escape the central prison in the southern trouble-torn province of Abyan.
Of course. Prisons in that part of the world are for escaping from.
Three inmates placed in durance vile on charges of having links to the terror network of al-Qaeda managed on Monday to break out of Lawdar prison in Abyan, local source told Yemen Post.
One of the inmates was badly maimed as the prison security guards fired on them to prevent them from escaping, the source added.
Parliamentary Mediation Committee has been formed to broker a ceasefire between the bully boyz and the army troopers.
On Monday, al-Qaeda followers have submitted their demands to the Committee, including withdrawing the army personnel and vehicles to barracks and establish a local rule in the province based on Islamic teachings, which the army considered unachievable.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay called Wednesday for urgent international action to protect civilians in Syria, as troops continued to shell the city of Homs, a center of protest in the country.
"I am appalled by the Syrian government's willful assault on Homs, and its use of artillery and other heavy weaponry in what appear to be indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas in the city," said a statement from Pillay.
"The failure of the Security Council to agree on firm collective action appears to have fuelled the Syrian government's readiness to massacre its own people in an effort to crush dissent," it added.
Pillay, the United Nation's High Commissioner for Human Rights, stressed the "extreme urgency for the international community to cut through the politics and take effective action to protect the Syrian population."
Syria's army has sharply increased its use of tanks, helicopters, mortars, rockets and gunfire to attack civilians in Homs, according to accounts from local sources, her office said.
There are reports that hospitals are now overwhelmed or inaccessible and people have set up makeshift clinics throughout the city, the statement said.
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02/09/2012
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#1
We've gotta protect our phoney baloney jobs! We must do something about this immediately! Immediately! Immediately! Harrumph! Harrumph!
I would send a strongly worded letter to the Organization of Islamic Nation Kingdoms, certainly suggesting that they re-send in observers..after deliberation and committee of course.
Good. Now, if the Chilian Bass is not here within five wafts - with the crushed dill/almond batter golden - I'm gonna lose it.
[Dawn] Senators from both side of aisle on Wednesday condemned brutal killing of Mir Bakhtiar Domki's wife and daughter 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... and called for early arrest of the killers involved in this crime.
Speaking on a Point of Order, Shahid Bugti said that Mir Bakhtiar Domki's wife and daughter were bumped off when they were retuning home after attending wedding ceremony of his son in Bloody Karachi.
He said that they had no enmity with any one and women and kiddies are never targeted both in Baloch and Pakhtun society.
Hasil Bizenjo said that killing Balochi innocent women and kiddies would mar the situation in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... and would encourage those who talked against the country's interests.
Abdur Rahim Mandokhel strongly condemned the killing and said it was unfortunate that now women were being killed for political gains. He said that they were struggling for the last 64 years for the supremacy of law and constitution.
Prof Khursheed Ahmed said that it was a deplorable act and demanded immediate arrest of the killers. He said that situation in Balochistan was getting worse and time has come to work collectively for bringing normality there.
Zahid Khan said that prudent policy should be devised to improve the situation.
Sherala Malik condoled Domki's wife and daughter deaths and said that all political parties should join hand and devise a strategy to stop such tragic incidents.
Naeem Hussain Chatta said that it was a brutal act of terrorism peace must be restored in Bloody Karachi and Balochistan. He said that Nawab Akbar Bugti was among those politicians who fully supported creation of Pakistain and always struggled for strong federation.
He said that Chief Justice of Pakistain also took suo moto notice of the incident which was a positive development.
Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri ...Central Secretary General of JUI-F, member of the Pak senate, formerly provincial minister of Balochistan. He has a master's degree in Islam and runs a madrassah... said that practical steps should be taken to arrest the culprits behind this crime. He said that almost three days have been passed but no culprit was incarcerated so far.
Abdul Nabi Bangash, Haji Adeel, S M Zafar, Sabir Baloch, Kalsoom Parveen, Seemi Sadiqi, Maulana Saleh Shah, Najma Hameed and Haroon Akhtar also condemned the incident and called for early arrest of the killers.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... Leader of the House Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukhari said that those forces who wanted to destabilise Balochistan would be unearthed.
He said that the issue should also be brought before the Parliamentary Committee of National Security.
He said that both Federal and Sindh governments were trying to arrest the culprits involved in this heinous crime. He said that we equally shared sorrow and grief over the dear departed family, and termed the incident a condemnable act.
He said that Pakistain's integrity was top priority of the government.
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[Iran Press TV] Russia has dismissed a forced regime change in Syria, stressing that Syrian people must decide about Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... not the international community.
Addressing a presser after a meeting with the Syrian president, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned foreign interference in Syria's internal affairs, describing Syrians as the only legitimate authority to decide about the fate of Assad.
He also said that Assad is ready for talks with opposition parties to end the months-long violence and that the Syrian President was "fully committed" to stopping the unrest in the country.
Lavrov visited Syria on Tuesday days after Russia and China blocked a UN Security Council resolution against the country for the second time. Moscow said the resolution which called on Assad to step down would have forced regime change on Syria.
Syria has repeatedly said that negotiation is the only way to end nearly 11 months of violence in Syria. Opposition groups, however, have rejected negotiation proposal.
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 overtly fascist regime in the world... blames ''outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups'' for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A U.S. drone fired two missiles at a house in Pakistan's northwest tribal region Thursday, killing five suspected militants, intelligence officials said. The Taliban identified one of them as a 
[Yemen Post] Tribal leaders of Hajja province have alleged that the 
Somali piracy cost the world nearly $7 billion in 2011, including more than $2 billion for military operations, armed guards and equipment to protect ships, a monitoring group said on Wednesday. The US-based Oceans Beyond Piracy said 80 percent of the cost is borne by the shipping industry with the remainder covered by governments. It said the most notable cost was $2.7 billion in fuel to allow ships to travel at higher speeds through high-risk areas, followed by $1.3 billion for military operations and $1.1 billion for armed guards and security equipment. Another $635 million are attributed to insurance, $486-680 million are spent on re-routing vessels along the west coast of India, and $195 million on increased labour costs and danger pay for seafarers, it said. 
[Dawn] India's most populous state went to the polls Wednesday in a contest pitting the scion of the Gandhi political dynasty against the ruling party of local low-caste leader Mayawati.
[Bangla Daily Star] Three ministers belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka resigned yesterday after they were caught on TV watching allegedly pornography video clippings on their mobile phones sitting inside the state legislature.
A powerful 
[Dawn] Several thousand supporters of former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed clashed with police and troops in riot gear Wednesday, a day after his resignation which he blamed on a coup d'etat.
The 
Mahmoud 
[Yemen Post] Secretary General of the Yemen Journalist Syndicate Marwan Damaj has accused the National Security headed by Amar Mohammad Saleh of surrounding the state-run Al-Thawra newspaper and its staff.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A 
Violence erupted in the Maldives yesterday as supporters of the ex-president who claims he was forced out by a coup clashed with security forces in Male and stormed 
A US drone aircraft killed 10 suspected 
"Almost all the men were burnt beyond recognition," a villager said after visiting the destroyed house. "Dozens of 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
...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...
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is expected to have a large presence in Afghanistan after complete withdrawal of US combat troops from Afghanistan, Washington Post reported.
Mohmand
[Bangla Daily Star] Two Chittagong University students were killed and around 40 others injured in fierce 
[Dawn] IT has been a decade of bans and lists. As the world of terror revealed itself to be more and more amorphous, nation states have fought back collecting the names, identifying the leaders and eliminating the followers of terror groups.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Iran today warned it is capable of carrying out military strikes on U.S. interests around the world if America attacks the Islamic Republic. The U.S. has tried to force Tehran to scrap sensitive nuclear work through sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and Iranian government assets. But Iran's ambassador to Moscow said on Wednesday that the U.S. would be making a mistake akin to suicide by risking a military strike on them.
[An Nahar] Police said Wednesday a mob had stormed the Maldives national museum and smashed Buddhist statues, an act of vandalism which former president Mohamed Nasheed blamed on Islamic radicals.
Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday barred the government from appointing a new defence secretary, DawnNews reported
More than 120 people were 
Orakzai Agency
[Dawn] Pakistain's High Commissioner to 
David Cameron
[Yemen Post] Fierce 
[An Nahar] Egyptian judges probing alleged illegal foreign funding of non-governmental organizations on Wednesday accused domestic and foreign groups, including American ones, of illegally meddling in politics.
Local police rounded up 60 students, mostly Afghans, on suspicion of terror links during a raid on a religious seminary Tuesday morning and 
[Dawn] Mansehra police have booked 12 
Outgoing President 
[An Nahar] Syrian forces pressed a relentless assault on the protest city of Homs Wednesday, with dozens of civilians reported killed.
Three al-Qaeda inmates managed to escape the central prison in the southern trouble-torn province of Abyan.
Russia has dismissed a forced regime change in Syria, stressing that Syrian people must decide about 
Lavrov visited Syria on Tuesday days after Russia and China blocked a UN Security Council resolution against the country for the second time. Moscow said the resolution which called on Assad to step down would have forced regime change on Syria. 
