The world’s last flying Vulcan bomber, once Britain’s most potent nuclear deterrent, will be grounded for ever if campaigners cannot raise £500,000 in the next five days.
A dramatic 11th-hour effort has been launched to ensure the historic delta-winged jet, which was on 24-hour standby during the Cold War, can remain in the skies.
Vulcan XH558, which was built in 1960 and is now based at a wartime airfield at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire, flew for the first time in 15 years in 2007 following a £7million restoration. The money was raised by the Vulcan To The Sky Trust, but funds to maintain the aircraft are now running dry.
Hmmm, that's about $700,000 USD. So for like a million bucks and one of those rooski nukes off Ukrainian eBay, we could bomb North Korea our own selves. Just sayin'...
A U.S. journalist has been arrested in Iran, and her father said Sunday she told him in a brief phone call she was detained after buying a bottle of wine.
Roxana Saberi, 31, has not been heard from since her last call on Feb. 10, her father, Reza, told The Associated Press on Sunday. "We haven't heard anything," he said. The family decided to go public, he said, "because we wanted to get some information."
Officials in Iran have not publicly confirmed the arrest. A duty officer at the U.S. State Department said Sunday they were looking into an AP request for information on the case.
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Iran for arresting journalists and suppressing freedom of speech. The government has arrested several Iranian-Americans in the past few years, citing alleged attempts to overthrow its Islamic regime. The most high-profile case came in 2007, when Iran arrested four Iranian-Americans, including the academic Haleh Esfandiari. The four were imprisoned or had their passports confiscated for several months until they were released and allowed to return to the U.S.
Roxana Saberi is a freelance journalist who has reported for National Public Radio and other media and has lived in Iran for six years.
"She called from an unknown place and said she's been kept in detention," he said of her last phone call. He said she had already been detained 10 days by that point.
"She said that she had bought a bottle of wine and the person that sold it had reported it and then they came and arrested her," he said Sunday. "We asked others and they said 'there's no detention for that. So that's kind of an excuse," he told the AP.
Buying and selling alcohol is illegal in the Islamic republic.
A few minutes after that call, she phone again and asked "Please don't do anything because they'll release me in two days," Reza Saberi said. Reza Saberi told reporters he doesn't know where his daughter is or what charges she faces.
NPR said Iran revoked Saberi's press credentials more than a year ago but apparently let her report short news stories. An NPR spokeswoman said Sunday the latest information they had on Saberi was in the stories on their Web site.
Saberi's father said his daughter was finishing a book on Iran and had planned to return to the United States this year.
Posted by: ed ||
03/01/2009
17:25 ||
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HOLLYWOOD FINALLY DOES IRAQ RIGHT - AND (SURPRISE) GETS THE RATINGS
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2009
17:20 ||
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#1
Don't know if I'll watch it. I got the tee-shirt. Notification of Next of Kin and Survivor Assistance Officer.
Might not be able to manage it.
However, it is good to know, if there were ever any doubt, that the right kind of movie gets the viewers. And the wrong kind doesn't.
GOOD to know. Really, really good.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
03/01/2009 22:40
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#2
thanks Richard, I'll remember your.... support
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2009 23:14
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#3
your t-shirt? was it worth the silver?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2009 23:15
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Canada casts new aspersions on Iran's nuclear activities, vowing to throw its weight behind Israel in the event of a military conflict.
In his harshest rhetoric so far, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed steadfast support for Israel and claimed that the Iranian government has "evil" purposes for its technological achievements.
"My government is a very strong supporter of the state of Israel and considers the Iranian threats to be absolutely unacceptable and beyond the pale," said The Canadian prime minister, the Wall Street Journal's online edition reported.
The comments come while The Islamic Republic has long been a supporter of peace in the region and is among the states that have never invaded or threatened to invade another country.
"It concerns me that we have a regime with both an ideology that is obviously evil, combined with a desire to procure technology to act on that ideology," Harper said.
Western accusations against Iran gathered pace, after the country staged successful tests at the 1000-megawatt light-water reactor facility in Bushehr, stimulating fuel rods with lead rather than virtual nuclear fuel.
While the pilot operations were seen as a milestone in the construction of Iran's first nuclear power plant, it provoked a tidal wave of criticism from Israel and its Western allies.
The US, Israel and their European allies accuse Tehran of making efforts to develop a military nuclear program. Iran, however, dismisses the allegations, saying it will prove the civilian nature of its uranium enrichment in future negotiations.
CNN has a detail-less item about a missle strike and AP radio news said a few minutes ago that there was a strike aimed at Mullah Fazlullah. One can hope.
A U.S. missile strike on a house near Sararoha in northwest Pakistan on Sunday killed nine people and wounded three, Pakistani intelligence officials said. They said the strikes were aimed at militant targets, and local media reported the hits targeted Taliban locations. The CBS story has the strike on Murghiban, in South Wazoo. Google maps doesn't have a location for that one. Sararoha is apprently a cluster of compounds called Sararogha. Click on the name link and zoom in a little to see what it looks like prior to any strikes...
#3
Doesn't look like the strike went after taliban big turbans. Suspected US missiles kill 7 in northwest Pakistan The missiles landed in Murghiban village in the South Waziristan tribal region and also wounded three people, two Pakistani intelligence officials said. At least four of the dead were believed to be foreign militants, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
They said drones believed to be used by the U.S. were seen in the air ahead of the strike and that Taliban fighters surrounded the damaged stronghold afterward. The compound was allegedly a militant training facility, the officials said, citing field informants.
Posted by: ed ||
03/01/2009 16:12
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#4
Militant Training Facility for newlyweds. Move along. Nothing here but ded bunnies.
Ordinarily, from January to September of a new PresidentÂ’s first year, the government lives under the budget of his predecessor. That isnÂ’t the case this year. Last fall the Democratic-controlled Congress refused to act on President BushÂ’s 2009 budget proposal, gambling that by delaying ratification of the budget until the new year, they would also have the Presidency and could write the budget exactly the way they wanted: without any Republican interference.
It worked out for them like they planned. However, the 2009 budget may be a case of “be careful what you wish for.” Barack Obama and the Democrats now own the 2009 budget. Every bit of it. They also own all of the (almost certain to be an underestimated) $1.75 trillion budget deficit, an amount four times the largest deficit President Bush ever created.
If the economy turns around (click here to learn why it wonÂ’t), all will be forgiven. However, if the economy tanks, Obama and the Democrats canÂ’t even pretend that it was President BushÂ’s 2009 budget that made the difference.
#1
Obama and the Democrats can't even pretend that it was President Bush's 2009 budget that made the difference.
Of course they and their sockpuppet MSM Wormtongues will certainly try, while at the same time working damn hard to make sure that their ownership of Congress since 2006 had no impact in the accountability.
With the expiry of the stipulated seven-year time, authorities are set to declare 228 persons missing in the 2002 post-Godhra riots dead. The move will take the death toll in the communal carnage to 1,180 from 952.
“We have prepared a list of missing people and sent it to the Revenue department, which would declare the missing persons dead,” Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Balwant Singh told PTI. Details will be sent to the district collectorates for the subsequent process.
Ahmedabad Collector Harit Shukla said the final list of missing people is awaited from the police.
“Once we have the list, we will start the process of declaring them as dead, inform the civic authorities to prepare their death certificate and subsequently, compensation claims will be processed,” he added.
In the aftermath of large-scale communal carnage, 413 people had disappeared; 185 people were found later while 228 are missing. The 228 missing people also includes 24 children and 27 women.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/01/2009
12:09 ||
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China told the United States Thursday to stop acting as a human rights guardian, as it hit back angrily at US accusations that its human rights record had worsened. The spat comes just days after a visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Beijing appeared to signal a detente between the world powers on the sensitive issue.
"We firmly oppose any countries interfering in China's internal affairs under the pretext of human rights," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters. "We urge the US side to reflect on its own human rights problems, stop acting as a human rights guardian, and stop interfering in others' internal affairs by issuing such human rights reports."
Change your spots, Leopard!
Ma was reacting to a US State Department report released Wednesday charging that the attitude of Beijing's communist rulers to human rights had worsened last year. The report said China had stepped up repression in Buddhist Tibet and Muslim Xinjiang, restricting dissent and religious freedom in the two western regions, while maintaining heavy censorship of the press. "The government's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some areas," it said.
The report was issued on the same day as Tibetans began their traditional New Year amid heavy security, with their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, urging a boycott of celebrations to mourn those killed under Chinese rule. The Dalai Lama also warned Chinese authorities were plotting a crackdown of "unimaginable" force ahead of the ultra-sensitive March 10 anniversary of a failed uprising 50 years ago that led to the Dalai Lama fleeing.
However, Ma defended China's record, while also insisting Tibetans were happily celebrating their New Year. "In the past three decades, China has enjoyed sustained economic growth and made constant progress in democracy... and fully protects religious freedom," he said. "Various ethnic groups enjoy extensive rights and freedom. This is widely witnessed in the world."
China's State Council, or Cabinet, published its own report Thursday criticising the US rights record, accusing Washington of hypocrisy and double standards in dealing with the sensitive issue, the official Xinhua news agency said. The report cited widespread violent crimes in the United States as posing "serious threats to its people's lives, property and personal security," and said there was no proper protection of prisoners' basic rights, Xinhua said.
It also said racial discrimination prevailed "in every aspect of social life".
This is the 10th year in a row that China has hit back at US criticism of its human rights record with its own account of rights abuses in the United States.
Xinhua also issued a stern defence of the nation's human rights record. "The (US) report turned a blind eye to the efforts and historic achievements China has made in human rights that have been widely recognised by the international community," Xinhua news agency said. "It wilfully ignored and distorted basic facts, groundlessly assailing China's human rights conditions and making random and irresponsible remarks on China's ethnic, religious and legal systems."
The report came after Clinton's weekend visit to Beijing, when she stated that rights concerns should not be allowed to hinder cooperation between the two countries on issues such as economic cooperation. That stance won praise in Beijing, with the state-run media describing her attitude as a relief and China's foreign ministry saying her visit had helped to build mutual understanding.
#5
Too bad nobody in our government has the guts to tell them to take their money and their plastic crap and go to hell.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/01/2009 15:23
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Funny thing, a lot of Tibetans were going to refuse to celebrate New Year this year, in memorial of all the dead. The government created mass celebrations and made it mandatory for the citizenry to attend.
#7
The report cited widespread violent crimes in the United States as posing "serious threats to its people's lives, property and personal security," and said there was no proper protection of prisoners' basic rights, Xinhua said.
But, but, but...that would mean having to face 'who' actually does the bulk of violent crimes and disproportionately fills the prisons and jails for those crimes. See the Chinese can play 'speaking truth to power' too.
#21
ION CATHAY, CHINESE MIL FORUM > MAJORITY OF PLAN SUBS AND DESTROYERS TO BE BASED IN AFRICAN AND INDIAN COASTLINES/CHINA'S NAVY TO PROTECT NATION'S TRADE IN ALL AREAS OF THE WORLD [PLAN "sea frontier" based of arc of per se combat abilities = force projection].
Also, PAKSITANI DEFENCE FORUM > PAKISTAN'S GWADAR PORT MAY LOSE BUSINESS TO NEW IRANIAN PORT OF CHABAHAR.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009 20:29
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#24
I've collected oodles and oodles of box tops, and hit the tip jar as I can, but they are still clever enough not to let me be a moderator, for which we must all be grateful.
In a development that reaffirms PakistanÂ’s duplicity and its links to the top terrorist organisations in the region, TIMES NOW has learnt that one of the top bosses of PakistanÂ’s intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has held talks with Osama bin LadenÂ’s key aides in Miram Shah in PakistanÂ’s restive Federal Administered Tribal Area.
In fact, highly placed intelligence sources have told TIMES NOW that around the time when PakistanÂ’s Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi was visiting Washington and meeting officials of the Barack Obama administration and reaffirming Pakistan's determination to fight terrorism, a senior ISI official of the rank of a major-general no less was meeting Sirajuddin Haqqani considered an ally of the Taliban as also al-Qaeda Chief Laden.
Sources said that the subject of discussion in the meeting was the shifting of Haqqanis operations from North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) in Pakistan to Afghanistan in exchange for ceasefire with Pakistan Army and to halt military operations if the Haqqanis moves their operations from the NWFP into Afghanistan.
Another topic was the construction of the Khost-Gardez road being built by Indian company in Afghanistan. The ISI urged Haqqanis to sabotage efforts by the Indian government to help Afghanistan government to build the Khost-Gardez road. The meeting assumes significance because the Haqqanis are not ordinary players but hold a great deal of influence in the region and can dictate the course of the war on terror in the region. Jalaluddin Haqqani and Sirajuddin Haqqani are Pashtun warlords and military leaders with links to Taliban and al-Qaeda boss Laden.
Haqqanis have been accused by the coalition forces of carrying out the late-December 2008 bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan at an Afghan elementary school near an Afghan barracks that killed several schoolchildren, an Afghan soldier, and an Afghan guard; no coalition or USA personnel were affected. They are also supposed to have facilitated the attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul. Haqqanis were also linked to Maulvi Jabbar suspect in IC-814 hijacking. Haqqanis are linked to Maulvi Jabbar of the Peshawar Shura who was in touch with the hijackers of the IC-814 in 1999.
Haqqani is the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, one of the most feared Afghan commanders, who fought against the Soviet occupation during the 1980s. Jalaluddin, now aged and in failing health, lives in Khost and has passed the reigns of the Haqqani terror network on to his second son, Sirajuddin. Jalaluddin Haqqani once had strong ties with the CIA, according to published accounts. But now he and his son are wanted men. The US military has placed a bounty of $200,000 on Sirajuddin HaqqaniÂ’s head.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/01/2009
11:53 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
10:18 ||
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#1
GBUSMC:
Stumped?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/01/2009 10:44
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#2
Unbelieveable! Miss Helen has rendered GolfBravoUMC speechless. Me, too. Well, almost.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/01/2009 10:45
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This is the ship sunk in North Atlantic in 1941 by U-boat. Prior to our war with Germany.
Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Reuben_James_(DD-245)
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009 13:28
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#5
Also featured prominently in Clancy's Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising, for that reason, I suspect. Admiral Greer, in both books, was also named after an important WW II vessel Greer, and an earlier Admiral, too, it seems.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/01/2009 13:31
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This day in history:
1781 - The Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation.
1811 - Leaders of the Mameluke dynasty are killed by Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali. (Mameluke's source of Marine Officers sword)
1845 - President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas.
1847 - The state of Michigan formally abolishes capital punishment. (Look at them today)
1872 - Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's first national park.
1936 - The Hoover Dam is completed.
1946 - The Bank of England is nationalised. (Again)
1953 - Joseph Stalin suffers a stroke and collapses. He dies four days later.
1971 - A bomb explodes in a men's room in the United States Capitol: the Weather Underground claims responsibility. (Obama's buddy Ayers?)
2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan.
A Pennsylvania company that monitors peer-to-peer file-sharing networks discovered a potentially serious security breach involving President Obama's helicopter, Marine One, NBC affiliate WPXI in Pittsburgh reported.
Sensitive information about Marine One was reportedly found by Tiversa employees at an IP address in Tehran.
Tiversa CEO Bob Boback said a defense contractor in Bethesda, Md., had a file sharing program on one of their systems that contained highly sensitive blueprints for Marine One and financial information about the cost of the helicopter. "We found a file containing entire blueprints and avionics package for Marine One," Boback said.
Boback said the issue most likely stemmed from someone downloading the file-sharing program without realizing the problems that could result. "When downloading one of these file-sharing programs, you are effectively allowing others around the world to access your hard drive," Boback told WPXI.
"We found where this information came from. We know exactly what computer it came from. I'm sure that person is embarrassed and may even lose their job, but we know where it came from and we know where it went," Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, an adviser to Tiversa, told WPXI.
To start with, maybe. I doubt you know where it migrated to after that.
#3
but we know where it came from and we know where it went," Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, an adviser to Tiversa, told WPXI
as usual, Mr. Ineffective overestimates himself
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2009 10:40
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#4
We found where this information came from. We know exactly what computer it came from. I'm sure that person is embarrassed and may even lose their job,
MAY loose his job? May? This is bullshit. The person should be fired (at least) and blackballed from _any_ government or sensitive job in the future.
This is simple, basic, network security folks. And no, I am not a security expert, didn't play one on TV and didn't stay in a Holiday Inn last night.
Of course with that idiot Wesley Clark 'advising' them maybe they didn't know (or were told not to worry about) basic network security.
#7
but we know where it came from and we know where it went
This is unf***ing believable. Fine you know where it went the first time. Do you know where it went from there? Did someone dump it on a CD and make copies? Did they put it on a jump-drive and fly to Moscow? of Beijing? or Pyongyong?
We have a troop of incompetent buffoons running things now!!!!!
It's just a matter of time before Wesley Clark raises his visibility again as a replacement for SECDEF Gates as Secretary of Defense, General Petraeus retires and there's a major shake-up in the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2009
Collision Course
Perhaps this was inevitable. Gareth Porter of the Inter Press Service is reporting that President Obama and his CENTCOM Commander, General David Petraeus, are on a collision course over Iraq. Mr. Porter's recent scoop was reprinted by the World Tribune:
CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus, supported by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, tried to convince President Barack Obama that he had to back down from his campaign pledge to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months at an Oval Office meeting Jan. 21.
But Obama informed Gates, Petraeus and Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen that he wasn't convinced and that he wanted Gates and the military leaders to come back quickly with a detailed 16-month plan, according to two sources who have talked with participants in the meeting.
Obama's decision to override Petraeus's recommendation has not ended the conflict between the president and senior military officers over troop withdrawal, however. There are indications that Petraeus and his allies in the military and the Pentagon, including Gen. Ray Odierno, now the top commander in Iraq, have already begun to try to pressure Obama to change his withdrawal policy.
A network of senior military officers is also reported to be preparing to support Petraeus and Odierno by mobilising public opinion against Obama's decision.
Petraeus was visibly unhappy when he left the Oval Office, according to one of the sources. A White House staffer present at the meeting was quoted by the source as saying, "Petraeus made the mistake of thinking he was still dealing with George Bush instead of with Barack Obama."
You can almost hear the White House source chuckling as they relayed their version of events. It sounds vaguely reminiscent of Mr. Obama's "I won" comment, during a meeting with Congressional Republicans last week. As the new decider-in-chief, President Obama will chart our policy in Iraq (and other global hotspots).
But dismissing the advice of senior generals is usually a bad idea, as Mr. Obama will eventually discover. If Gareth Porter is correct--and no one has come forward to dispute his version of events-- then President Obama is facing a potential revolt among his senior military advisers. Mobilizing public support is not something that flag officers particularly enjoy, given their collective distrust of the media-- the mechanism that will be used to (quietly) convey their dissatisfaction.
More disturbingly, Mr. Obama's preferred withdrawal plan flies in the face of current realities in the Middle East. As Bret Stephens notes in today's WSJ, Iraq is becoming a U.S. bulwark in the Middle East. The gains achieved by the troop surge are holding, and Iraqi forces are assuming a lead role in securing the country. Last weekend's election was a stunning success, and a model for the Arab world.
Still, the situation in Iraq is not irreversible, one reason that Mr. Gates, General Petraeus and General Odierno favor an extended American draw down. Mr. Stephens observes that American "pillars" in the Middle East have met the test of time. In some cases, the bulwark of yesteryear (think Iran) is today's despotic regime that threatens regional security. Other long-standing American allies, including Pakistan and Turkey) face an uncertain future, at best.
In other words, the U.S. needs all the stable, friendly regimes it can find in the Middle East. But Mr. Obama seems more intent on placating his supporters on the liberal fringe, who've been clamoring for an American pullout since 2003. The President seems willing to risk progress paid for in blood and treasure to fulfill a campaign promise-- with less regard for what happens 17 months down the road.
If this sounds familiar, it should. Just days into his presidency, Mr. Obama signed an executive order to shut down the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay by next year. Just where those suspects will be incarcerated (or face justice) has not been determined. Maybe the administration should change its mantra from "Change We Can Believe In," to "Don't Sweat the Details."
***
ADDENDUM: We should also note that the Obama-Petraeus collision has a political component. General Petraeus's successful strategy in Iraq caused a fair amount of consternation for Obama and his fellow Democrats. Kicking and screaming, they had to finally admit that the troop surge worked, and was eminently preferable to their "cut and run" approach. With the Democrats now in the White House, they can finally tell General Petraeus to "shut up and color."
The friction in the Oval Office is also a prelude to 2012. In some GOP circles, Petraeus is already being mentioned as a potential Senate or Vice-Presidential candidate in four years. By forcing a showdown over Iraq, Obama can tarnish the general's reputation, force him to resign, or even engineer a dismissal. Any of those scenarios would damage the general politically, a calculation that isn't lost on the White House.
#11
Why is there not a separate system for machines that convey classified information? That was the case in all the work areas I was in, including a civilian work area. NOTHING from the outside was supposed to be able to be used on the classified system. There wasn't even a physical connection to the Internet. Security has gone to hell in the last 20 years...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/01/2009 16:18
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#12
Thumb drives Pappy, it's the bloody thumb drives that hates us!
#14
Gareth Porter, the reporter, is an anti-war journalist of smelly repute. Whatever he writes or has written, from the Viet Nam days to the present, is done to forward a left wing agenda.
India's non-inclusion in United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's [Images] first overseas trip to Asia has elicited diametrically opposite views from two South Asia experts. While one argues that China's inclusion in Clinton's itinerary is a clear indication that for the Obama [Images] administration, New Delhi [Images] is not in the same league as Beijing [Images], the other contends that her itineraries are not illustrative of the priorities that the administration attaches to particular countries.
Besides China, Clinton's trip to Asia included visits to Japan [Images], Indonesia and South Korea.
Stephen P Cohen, who heads the South Asia Programme at the Brookings Institution, told rediff.com, "I think this administration is not quite sure about their map of Asia and India doesn't seem to be part of it."
"There are a lot of signs, which are quite, I won't say alarming, but, interesting," he said, and added, "The way in which they have put India in the National Security Council under China. The same guy who is in charge of matters concerning China also looks at Indian issues, even though he is from East Asia, not South Asia."
Jeff Baden, a specialist on China, heads the Asia Division in the NSC. So far, no one has been appointed as the director for South Asian affairs in the White House.
Cohen acknowledged that including India on Clinton's trip to Asia would have had a significant symbolic value. "It is really impressive that India doesn't seem to figure at all in the American foreign policy," he said. "They certainly don't seem to have taken any special interest in India, as compared with the Bush administration," he added.
Cohen pointed out that so far, "Nobody has raised the issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal with India. It sort of has simply vanished from the screen. So we'll see what happens. But I am not encouraged by the first couple of weeks."
When reminded that the administration's Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, had also visited India during his trip to South Asia, Cohen retorted, "He went there because of Afghanistan and Pakistan (to include India in any regional agreement), not because of India."
Dismissing the argument that America's relations with India were on track and didn't need immediate attention, he said, "You can make that argument but they (the Obama administration) are worried about their immediate priorities. India doesn't seem to be able to help them out in Afghanistan or Iraq and certainly not in the case of Pakistan."
"India is not making trouble, but I think that's the way it's going to be -- that India is unable to help America in the short-term, in its short-term strategic objectives," he analysed.
Cohen added that Clinton visiting China and not India clearly proved "China's growing power -- and so much for Chindia! India was overblown by the advocates and now it's going to be undersold."
"The Chindia metaphor didn't correspond to reality," he argued, adding that, "In terms of economy, military power etc, China is miles ahead of India."
However, former assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs in the Clinton administration, Karl F Inderfurth, who was a foreign policy adviser on South Asia to the Obama campaign, disagreed with Cohen's views. He stressed that absolutely nothing should be read into the fact that India was not included in Clinton's Asia itinerary.
Inderfurth, who is currently a professor of international relations at George Washington University, told rediff.com, "You can only do so much at one time, and this trip has a certain coherence and consistency to it."
When queried if India's exclusion in Clinton's itinerary meant that it had been relegated to the second tier in Asia for the Obama administration, Inderfurth asserted, "Absolutely not."
"I don't think one can judge the itineraries of secretaries of state as being definitive statements about the priority countries have in terms of foreign policy," he argued. "I believe this was a good opportunity for her to travel to Asia. Clearly, her first stop in Japan was to send a signal to those who have sometimes been of the view that Japan is sort of dropping in order of importance to the United States. This was meant to reinforce the importance of Japan as an ally of the US in Asia."
He reiterated, "There is absolutely no reason for India to feel slighted. This administration will not need to be reminded of the importance of India because Hillary Clinton knows that directly from her own experience as First Lady, as Senator and the role that President Bill Clinton [Images] had in getting this new relationship going in the right direction."
"So, I look forward to seeing her in South Asia and India many times. I know that this is one region of the world that she has been fascinated with," he said.
Inderfurth's views were echoed by US Ambassador [Images] to India David Mulford, during an interaction at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, with a few select journalists, think-tank analysts and scholars, diplomats from the subcontinent and some mid-level administration officials.
Taking strong exception to the contention that India is being ignored by the administration, Mulford said, "The new administration understands the importance of the US-India relationship."
He said, "It is quite clear to me that India will be every bit as important a priority to them as it was to the previous administration."
Mulford acknowledged, "That doesn't mean they'll handle every issue the same way. But there's no doubt about the fact that it's important to them."
He added, "You have to give some space to the Obama administration because it's a new administration. They are very challenged, they are very busy, they have got a lot of other things to do. The fact that they haven't done some things first with India may reflect the fact that they think the relationship is in such good shape that they don't have to address it immediately."
Mulford assured his audience, "I have no doubt that the relationship will be every bit as important, and I wouldn't really worry about that -- I wouldn't think it's worth speculating about really."
Posted by: john frum ||
03/01/2009
09:43 ||
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#1
I don't think Bambi is 'ignoring' India, I think he dislikes India.
India made a turn away from socialism. It's much more capitalist then it was 20 or 30 years ago. The Hildebeast will make nice with China because she can't ignore China, especially as long as Kimmie bangs his nuclear rattle on the high chair. But she and Bambi, and the American Left in general, have a dislike for India, and so I think they'll give India a cold shoulder.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009 11:19
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#2
Not politically important at home. 2% of electorate in 08 were Asian. Of that, 63% voted for Obama. The biggest block was White at 73%. Screw the ones you love. Makes sense, no?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/01/2009 11:32
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#3
I guess Indian goverment don't sleep night worrying about being snubed by the One.
#1
It gives you a little bit of apprehension about who you trust," the elder Turbi said. "Makes you think twice about what you say; what if people misunderstand you?""
"I mean, if I say: 'Death to infidels, Kill the Jooos, Islam should rule America', what to say someone won't take it out of context?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2009 10:50
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#2
If there getting chilly then move to a warmer climate that embraces you "gutter religion".
#4
FBI surveillance has a chilling effect, ya say?
Combats global warming.
*rimshot* *goes to corner*
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/01/2009 16:19
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#5
Not monitoring them enough: CAIR Fifth Columnists and Multiculturalists
On June 5th, the Los Angeles chapter of CAIR sponsored a community town hall meeting at the Islamic Center of Irvine (ICOI), a mosque that propagates venomously anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric. In a Khutbah (sermon) given at the ICOI last month, entitled ‘The Abuse of a Religion to sustain a Racist State,’ the ICOI’s Director of Religious Affairs, Sadullah Khan, stated, “Jews who came [to Israel] brought with them a Western arrogance…” In the sermon, which is found on the ICOI website, Khan liberally quoted alleged neo-Nazi William Baker and described Zionism as “racist,” “diabolical” and “sinister.”
Posted by: ed ||
03/01/2009 16:45
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#6
Sadullah Khan, stated, "Jews who came [to Israel] brought with them a Western arrogance..."
Truly. That whole "all men are created equal" thingy. Western Christians and Westerners with other beliefs share that arrogance. So live with it gracefully or move to Dar al Islam, my dear Mr. Khan. In the meantime, that chilling effect you're feeling is clearly the first impetus to good manners. Perhaps later you'll learn not to beat your wife (singular) or murder your daughters.
#7
The Afghanistan-born Niazi, 34, is scheduled for arraignment this month on charges of perjury, naturalization fraud and other acts related to lying about ties to Al Qaeda.
How ways do I have to say, "Go the H*ll back to Afghanistan." I don't want you or you jihadi-loving friends breathing good O2 on this side of the dateline. It's bad enough that good marines like my son have to go in harm's way to protect me from the likes of you. Why don't you go back and get in the cross-hairs of a Predator?
The bullnecked president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die.
Ramzan Kadyrov said the women, whose bodies were found dumped by the roadside, had "loose morals" and were rightfully shot by male relatives in honor killings. "If a woman runs around and if a man runs around with her, both of them are killed," Kadyrov told journalists in the capital of this Russian republic.
The 32-year-old former militia leader is carrying out a campaign to impose Islamic values and strengthen the traditional customs of predominantly Muslim Chechnya, in an effort to blunt the appeal of hardline Islamic separatists and shore up his power. In doing so, critics say, he is setting up a dictatorship where Russian laws do not apply.
Some in Russia say Kadyrov's attempt to create an Islamic society violates the Russian constitution, which guarantees equal rights for women and a separation of church and state. But the Kremlin has given him its staunch backing, seeing him as the key to keeping the separatists in check, and that has allowed him to impose his will. "Kadyrov willfully tries to increase the influence of local customs over the life of the republic because this makes him the absolute ruler of the republic," said Yulia Latynina, a political analyst in Moscow.
Kadyrov's bluster shows how confident he is of his position. "No one can tell us not to be Muslims," he said outside the mosque. "If anyone says I cannot be a Muslim, he is my enemy." Few dare to challenge Kadyrov's rule in this southern Russian region of more than a million people, which is only now emerging from the devastation of two wars in the past 15 years. The fighting between Islamic separatists and Russian troops, compounded by atrocities on both sides, claimed tens of thousands of lives and terrorized civilians.
Kadyrov describes women as the property of their husbands and says their main role is to bear children. He encourages men to take more than one wife, even though polygamy is illegal in Russia. Women and girls are now required to wear headscarves in all schools, universities and government offices.
Some Chechen women say they support or at least accept Kadyrov's strict new guidelines. "Headscarves make a woman beautiful," said Zulikhan Nakayeva, a medical student whose long dark hair flowed out from under her head covering, her big brown eyes accentuated by mascara.
But many chafe under the restrictions. "How do women live in Chechnya? They live as the men say," said Taisiya, 20, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of retribution. She was not wearing a headscarf while shopping in central Grozny, which she said was her way of protesting.
Most women now wear headscarves in public, though the scarves rarely fully cover their hair and in some cases are little more than colorful silk headbands. Women who go out without a headscarf tend to tuck one into their bag for use where headscarves are required.
Many people suspect Kadyrov is branding the seven late November slayings honor killings to advance his political agenda. He said the women were planning to go abroad to work as prostitutes, but their relatives found out about it and killed them. Few Chechens believe that.
"If women are killed according to tradition then it is done very secretly to prevent too many people from finding out that someone in the family behaved incorrectly," said Natalya Estemirova, a prominent human rights activist in Grozny. Estemirova said two of the women were married, with two children each. Their husbands held large funerals and buried them in the family plot, which would not have happened if the women had disgraced their families, she said.
Kadyrov's version also has been contradicted by federal prosecutors in Moscow, who have concluded relatives were not involved. No arrests have been made and the investigation is continuing. Kadyrov's office refused to comment on the investigators' conclusion. The Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that some of the women worked in brothels frequented by Kadyrov's men. Many Chechens say they suspect the women were killed in a police operation. The truth of the killings may never be known, given how much Kadyrov is feared.
Rights activists fear that Kadyrov's approval of honor killings may encourage men to carry them out. Honor killings are considered part of Chechen tradition. No records are kept, but human rights activists estimate dozens of women are killed every year.
"What the president says is law," said Gistam Sakaeva, a Chechen activist who works to defend women's rights. "Because the president said this, many will try to gain his favor by killing someone, even if there is no reason." Sakaeva also said she worried that Chechen authorities would now be less willing to prosecute men suspected of killing women.
Kadyrov inherited his position from his father, Akhmad Kadyrov, a Muslim cleric and former rebel commander who fought the Russians during Chechnya's war of independence in 1994-1996. Shortly after war broke out again in 1999, the elder Kadyrov switched sides and brought Chechnya back into Moscow's fold. Ramzan Kadyrov worked as the head of his father's security force, which was accused of kidnapping, sadistic torture and murder. After Akhmad Kadyrov was killed by a terrorist bomb in 2004, power passed to his son.
Vladimir Putin, then president and now prime minister, embraced the younger Kadyrov, who has succeeded in ending a wave of terror attacks that haunted the early years of Putin's presidency. But as Kadyrov has consolidated his power, many of his critics and political rivals have been killed. Some have been gunned down on the streets of Moscow, including journalist Anna Politkovskaya, whose death in 2006 shocked the world. In one of the most recent killings, a Chechen who had accused Kadyrov of personally torturing him was shot last month as he walked out of a grocery store in Vienna, Austria. Kadyrov has denied any involvement in the killings.
The Kremlin appears willing to continue allowing Kadyrov to rule as he wishes, as long as he prevents another outbreak of violence. And Kadyrov has won the grudging respect of many Chechens for bringing a measure of peace and stability. "People want to believe that things are getting better," said Sakaeva. "They are tired of war."
#1
The Kremlin appears willing to continue allowing Kadyrov to rule as he wishes, as long as he prevents another outbreak of violence.
Key phrase here. Eventually somebody's gonna decide that ol' Ramzan just ain't Islamic enough when it comes to those Lesser Satan Russians next door, and Putie will have to go medieval on them again.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/01/2009 11:14
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#2
Killing seems to come easy to these psychopaths. What goes around comes around and payback is a b*tch.
Iowahawk's resident social tick, Dave Burge, is back! ;-)
Thanks to the new housing bailout plan, happy days are here again for America's sub-prime borrowing community -- but Iowahawk's Dave Burge warns that national recovery is now threatened by deadbeat tax protesters who failed to understand the rules of the game...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2009
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#1
Excellent! No known cure for WASP Escalade envy.
This is the reality that the NPR metrosexual crowd does not want to acknowledge. In their inverted reality, subsidizing bad behavior makes said bad behavior go away.
The Iowahawk site is a treasure.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
03/01/2009 12:00
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In January, artist Roman Genn spent seven days embedded with U.S. Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Regiment at an isolated forward operating base near Gulistan, a small village of mud huts in Farah province in central Afghanistan. In an area known for kidnappings and drug trafficking, the troops provide both security and humanitarian aid. Here [at link] are his drawings and captions from the trip; click on the thumbnails for larger images.
Malaysia has vowed to help the Philippines resume stalled peace talks with Muslim separatist rebels in the troubled southern region of Mindanao, a Philippine government official said Sunday. National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made the assurance during a meeting with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the sidelines of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders' summit in Thailand.
Gonzales said Arroyo asked Badawi to do something so that the negotiating panels of the Philippine government and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) would meet again as soon as possible. "President Arroyo asked for Malaysia's continued help in our peace talks," Gonzales told reporters. "The president wants the negotiations to resume and she asked Malaysia to take steps so that the two panels meet."
Gonzales said Badawi responded favorably to Arroyo's request. "Prime Minister Badawi said Malaysia is always willing to help so they will help," he said. "They will try to facilitate (the resumption of peace talks), They will help in making sure the two panels will meet."
Malaysia had been facilitating the negotiations between the Philippine government and the MILF since 2004. It also led an international team of peacekeepers monitoring a ceasefire between the two sides. But in November 2008, Kuala Lumpur pulled out its forces from Mindanao amid fighting between the MILF and the Philippines military. It expressed frustration over the slow progress in the peace negotiations.
Peace talks between the two sides have been suspended since August 2008 when MILF rebels launched a series of deadly attacks in Mindanao, which triggered fighting with the military. More than 200 people were killed in the hostilities, which also forced more than 500,000 people to flee their homes.
The guerrillas launched the attacks to protest a Supreme Court decision stopping the signing of a key agreement between the Philippine government and the MILF, which would have expanded a Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao. The government eventually scrapped the agreement, and called for continued talks with the MILF to come up with a new deal. But the MILF is insisting that the agreement was already signed and should be implemented.
Police and soldiers Sunday rounded up five Muslim men on charges of killing and beheading two Buddhist villagers last week. About 100 police and soldiers were deployed to search Lapae village and Anae village in Tambon Bongor in Rangae district at 6:30 am and arrested the five suspects. They arrested Masanusi Duerama, 40, Abdulsaman Ali, 42, Maroning Baga, 44, Abdullateh Saleh, 35, and Nurasi Musoh, 38.
#5
I've got a suggestion, too. Plant 'em over a living root knot of bamboo, and water generously for several days. Sit there and ask 'em questions about others in their group. When they don't answer, pour some more water over them. It's not "waterboarding", but the results will prove satisfactory.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/01/2009 14:28
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#1
Tedesco, the writer of the article, misses the point. The Canadian banks are not healthy because of government control but because the banking lending policies were conservative. Our lending institutions were not, mostly due to liberal lending policies initiated by the democrats and continued by both parties. Consolidation of and control of the US banks would not change a thing as long as foolish policies are still in place as required by the Congress and the President.
#3
I think we should revisit this topic later in the year when the Canuck government has to rescue its banks because of the banks' excessive exposure to Canuckistan's commodity and real estate bubbles. This is more of the usual stupidity and ideological posturing from the New York Times.
#4
BTW, Canadian banks aren't solvent - they're just late to the party, buoyed by a commodities bubble whose bursting is only in its early stages. Later in the year, investors in Canadian banks will look back upon today's 50% haircuts as the good old days.
#6
It's a little strange. I read all about the problems of the big US banks. Then I drive around my village and see that all the local community banks are building new branches. They're doing well. I think it's because they were small enough they couldn't grab a piece of the CDO pie, swaps, tranches, etc. But if I needed a loan (and I don't) I could go to them and get one (since I'm creditworthy).
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009 11:06
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#7
Generally speaking, the further you get from the big cities, the healthier the banking institution. It's pretty easy to check them out. Here is a helpful link. Bankrate.com
#8
There are 8400 or so banks in the US. Just a small number of the regionals [The FDIC is only taking over a few a week] and a handful of the largest banks are in trouble in the same way that a handful of the mono lines and insurance companies are in trouble but they are the biggest and offer the systemic risk which is the current threat. But the regulators could make the problem worse. I was talking to my banker a week ago. They are a small regional bank which acquired for TARP money because "everyone was doing it". I suspect they will remove the application now. But the point he made was that the regulators are talking about increasing the current reserve requirement from 10% to 12%. That would cause a reduction of 20% in their lending capacity. Consequently they are taking it slowly until they know what is happening. That is the case with most banks. So while congress berates them from supposedly not lending [which in fact is not true anyway] the regulators are putting the clamps on them. It is the shadow banking sector which has stopped and despite the talk the Fed has not been able to restart it.
Iraqi security forces say they have captured 11 members of the country's al-Qaeda network, including the group's self-styled "oil minister".
Ali Mahmoud Mohammed and 10 other suspected insurgents were detained on Saturday in a village in Iraq's volatile Diyala province, reports say. He is suspected of planning attacks on oil tanker trucks.
al-Qaeda in Iraq used the self-proclaimed ministerial titles to refer to key members of their organisation. Iraq's interior ministry described Ali Mahmoud Mohammed as the organisation's "oil minister".
The latest raids come just a week after al-Qaeda in Iraq's self-styled "irrigation minister" and "finance minister" were arrested in another operation on 21 February.
The head of al-Qaeda in Iraq is said to be known as the group's "war minister".
Much of al-Qaeda's support comes from the area around Diyala and in the province of Nineveh. Although its capacity for staging attacks has been reduced, it is still viewed as a major threat in Diyala and around the northern city of Mosul.
#12
oil minister, irrigation minister, finance minister
I await the capture of AQI's "prime minister" with bated breath.
/Ok, I don't, because I turn blue fairly quickly. But still, congratulations to the Iraqis are in order. They are doing their best to be ready for the time when there are officially only 50,000 or so American troops remaining in-country.
CHICAGO – Paul Harvey, the news commentator and talk-radio pioneer whose staccato style made him one of the nation's most familiar voices, died Saturday in Arizona, according to ABC Radio Networks. He was 90.
Harvey died surrounded by family at a hospital in Phoenix, where he had a winter home, said Louis Adams, a spokesman for ABC Radio Networks, where Harvey worked for more than 50 years. No cause of death was immediately available.
Harvey had been forced off the air for several months in 2001 because of a virus that weakened a vocal cord. But he returned to work in Chicago and was still active as he passed his 90th birthday. His death comes less than a year after that of his wife and longtime producer, Lynne.
"My father and mother created from thin air what one day became radio and television news," Paul Harvey Jr. said in a statement. "So in the past year, an industry has lost its godparents and today millions have lost a friend."
Known for his resonant voice and trademark delivery of "The Rest of the Story," Harvey had been heard nationally since 1951, when he began his "News and Comment" for ABC Radio Networks. He became a heartland icon, delivering news and commentary with a distinctive Midwestern flavor. "Stand by for news!" he told his listeners. He was credited with inventing or popularizing terms such as "skyjacker," "Reaganomics" and "guesstimate."
"Paul Harvey was one of the most gifted and beloved broadcasters in our nation's history," ABC Radio Networks President Jim Robinson said in a statement. "We will miss our dear friend tremendously and are grateful for the many years we were so fortunate to have known him."
In 2005, Harvey was one of 14 notables chosen as recipients of the presidential Medal of Freedom. He also was an inductee in the Radio Hall of Fame, as was Lynne. Former President George W. Bush remembered Harvey as a "friendly and familiar voice in the lives of millions of Americans. His commentary entertained, enlightened, and informed," Bush said in a statement. "Laura and I are pleased to have known this fine man, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family."
Harvey composed his twice-daily news commentaries from a downtown Chicago office near Lake Michigan. Rising at 3:30 each morning, he ate a bowl of oatmeal, then combed the news wires and spoke with editors across the country in search of succinct tales of American life for his program.
At the peak of his career, Harvey reached more than 24 million listeners on more than 1,200 radio stations and charged $30,000 to give a speech. His syndicated column was carried by 300 newspapers. His fans identified with his plainspoken political commentary, but critics called him an out-of-touch conservative. He was an early supporter of the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy and a longtime backer of the Vietnam War.
Perhaps Harvey's most famous broadcast came in 1970, when he abandoned that stance, announcing his opposition to President Nixon's expansion of the war and urging him to get out completely. "Mr. President, I love you ... but you're wrong," Harvey said, shocking his faithful listeners and drawing a barrage of letters and phone calls, including one from the White House.
In 1976, Harvey began broadcasting his anecdotal descriptions of the lives of famous people. "The Rest of the Story" started chronologically, with the person's identity revealed at the end. The stories were an attempt to capture "the heartbeats behind the headlines." Much of the research and writing was done by his son, Paul Jr. Harvey also blended news with advertising, a line he said he crossed only for products he trusted. In 2000, at age 82, he signed a new 10-year contract with ABC Radio Networks.
Harvey was born Paul Harvey Aurandt in Tulsa, Okla. His father, a police officer, was killed when he was a toddler. A high school teacher took note of his distinctive voice and launched him on a broadcast career.
While working at St. Louis radio station KXOK, he met Washington University graduate student Lynne Cooper. He proposed on their first date (she said "no") and always called her "Angel." They were married in 1940 and had a son, Paul Jr. They worked closely together on his shows, and he often credited his success to her influence. She was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997, seven years after her husband was. She died in May 2008.
Palestinians fired two advanced Kassam rockets probably Grad-style that were made in iran in pieces and reassembled in Gaza
at Ashkelon on Saturday Feb 28
morning, in an attack that saw one projectile tear through an empty school, destroy classrooms, and spray shrapnel in all directions.
The two rockets, which were retrieved and analyzed by police sappers, had a 170-mm. diameter, which allowed for a greater amount of explosives to be packed inside.
Police on Saturday said 65 rockets and mortar shells have hit the South since the end of Operation Cast Lead on January 18, leading to four light injuries.
#5
Bam-Bam is taking his time. He is going to do this the right way and not rush in without both strategy and forces. I think this is what is forcing Hamas to pre-empt with Kassam's. That and the Mullahs want to see some actual field tests. I am hoping and praying he takes the initiative while Hillary is on her next mission to the area. I'd love to see him pre-empt Hillary's folly.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/01/2009 10:54
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#6
How many Ksssams will another 436 million euros buy?
Not as many as the $900 million Obama is giving them.
#7
How many Ksssams will another 436 million euros buy?
That was my thought too. I'm guessing about half gets skimmed off the top with the 36 mill & change for 'misc. expenses'. That only leaves 200 million to spend on actual armament.
#4
Given the tone of the article, makes me wonder whether the Chinese are going to play the Taiwan card on Bambi, expecting him to cut the Taiwanese off from further military purchases.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009 11:00
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#5
The Chicoms do face genuine security challenges, but my gut tells me that they see weakness in the new Administration, and opportunities to make inroads, just like it was done under the Clinton Administration.
We are suckers and the Chicoms know this. Wonder what the Chicoms are doing in the port facilities that Hutchinson Wampoa administers at both ends of the Panama Canal?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/01/2009 15:21
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VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez on Saturday ordered the army to take control of all rice processing plants in the South American nation in a spat over prices.
"I have ordered the immediate intervention in all those sectors of agro-industry, intervention by the revolutionary government," Mr Chavez said before ordering soldiers to take control of rice processing plants.
Major rice processors in Venezuela include privately owned U.S. food giant Cargill and Venezuela's main food company Polar.
Mr Chavez's socialist Government imposes price controls on basic products and frequently accuses private companies of hoarding food.
Mr Chavez, who has nationalised large swathes of the Venezuelan economy, did not explain whether the government intervention would be a temporary measure of a long-term expropriation.
Venezuela grows enough rice for domestic consumption and exports a small amount.
#4
ditto with tipover's comment. Hoogo will take a working system, grind it into failure, and be a huge rice importer in a year or two. At least his supporters will have his delicious bolivarian revolution to fill their empty stomachs
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2009 8:09
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#5
Everyone (who hasn't left the country) is equally starving*!
*May not apply to those who have the difficult and strenuous job of more and more fixing of the economy!
Ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra has decided to cancel a speech in Hong Kong planned for next week after Thailand threatened to extradite and jail him, his spokesman said Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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A high level meeting was held here in Aiwan-e-Sadr with President Asif Ali Zardari in Chair on Saturday, Geo News reported. According to sources, during the meeting, the attendees discussed many options to tackle the prevailing political turmoil including reconciliation with PML (N). The meeting was convened by President Asif Ali Zardari to look into options for successfully overpower political crisis including extending contacts with PML (N), sources added maintaining that PML (Q) was also playing a major role in this connection but it does not want to form government with PPP. PPP will wait to come to any conclusion until PML (Q) announced to form government in Punjab, sources claimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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Hezbollah demanded on Saturday the freeing of four Lebanese generals who have been held without trial for years in connection with the 2005 murder of former premier Rafiq Hariri. Their continued detention "is for political reasons ... given that they have not even been questioned in three years," said a statement from the powerful Shiite movement. "That confirms the arbitrariness of their detention."
They sound .. unhappy ...
The statement calls on investigating judge Sakr Sakr to "take the right decision of freeing the four generals as quickly as possible and not give in to political pressures."
On Friday, two days before a UN tribunal into the assassination opens in The Hague, Sakr rejected demands to free the generals for the second time this week. A similar request was rejected on Wednesday on the grounds that the authorities had not completed their investigation, a source close to the case told AFP.
But Sakr on Wednesday did free on bail three other suspects held in connection with Hariri's murder in a February 2005 car bombing.
The generals are the former head of the presidential guard Mustafa Hamdan, security services director Jamil Sayyed, domestic security chief Ali Hajj and military intelligence chief Raymond Azar. They were arrested in August 2005, six months after Hariri's assassination. He was killed along with 22 other people when a massive car bomb exploded as his convoy passed by near the Beirut waterfront.
Their lawyers have repeatedly argued that their detention is "illegal" and "unfounded" and that their clients are being held on false testimony that was later retracted.
After those who gave were 'persuaded' ...
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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#1
The devil has spoken, so you know the opposite is true.
#2
Was it yesterday that we had a report here that Iran was taking over Hizb'allah because there had been no volunteers to take over for the assassinated operations emir? It sounds like Hizb'allah preferred semi-independence to the new situation.
Palestinian militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired five rockets at Israel on Saturday, according to the Israeli military, further straining a fragile month-old ceasefire. No one was killed or wounded in the attacks, with two of the rockets striking near the Israeli town of Ashkelon, around 21 kilometres (13 miles) from the impoverished territory.
Palestinian militants have fired more than 100 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel since the fragile January 18 truce that ended Israel's massive military offensive on Gaza, which killed more than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
Israel has in turn carried out several air raids targeting alleged militants, weapons caches and smuggling tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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To stand on the windswept ridge atop Yucca Mountain is to wonder how on earth a place so remote and desolate could have inspired one of the nation's most contentious and longest-running political battles. Yucca Mountain was singled out by the federal government as the permanent repository for the nation's nuclear waste in 1987. Political squabbling and gamesmanship, however, have delayed even the first shovel from breaking ground to construct the facility. It's anyone's guess when, or if, it will ever open. The uncertain resolution of this battle means an uncertain future not just for Yucca Mountain, but for America's current nuclear power revival as well.
Not much happens at Yucca Mountain, located in the Mojave Desert about a two-hour drive from Las Vegas. More a mound than a soaring peak, it appears indistinguishable from the countless hills and buttes that can be spied for hundreds of miles. But it is this particular location's specific and peculiar degree of nothingness that places it at the forefront of the debate over nuclear power.
The 12-million-year-old mountain is among the most geologically stable locations identified by the U.S. Geological Survey. The water table sits 2,000 feet below the top of the mountain, and 1,000 feet below where the waste would be buried. The area's groundwater is part of the Death Valley hydrologic basin, separate from the Las Vegas area aquifer. The risk that well-sealed and well-secured nuclear waste could seep out to damage far-off population centers is negligible, but even that overstates the hazard. It is precisely because nothing happens at Yucca Mountain that it is an ideal locale to entomb the radioactive waste produced by the United States' 104 commercial nuclear reactors. Nevada's political class, most notably Senate majority leader Harry Reid, disagrees.
That there is any controversy over the proposed site is ironic, given the Silver State's nuclear history. Yucca Mountain sits on the western edge of the Nevada Test Site, a 1,350 square mile federal preserve that served for decades as the proving ground for America's nuclear weapons arsenal. Starting in the 1950s, the federal government detonated close to 1,000 atomic weapons on the site, or roughly half of all known nuclear explosions the planet has endured. Fully 100 of these were above-ground nuclear explosions, many far greater than the blasts that ended World War II. Yet other than craters formed by the atomic bombardment in this lunar-like landscape, southern Nevada seems none the worse off. The fallout from routinely detonating nuclear bombs 90 miles from Las Vegas had little impact on the town as it grew from a sleepy, mobbed-up gambling outpost to the spectacular Sin City of the present day.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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#1
One of my friends went to work on this project in 1978 or so. He retired in 2006 having worked 28 of his 36 year career on a project which still hadn't been approved.
#2
Ok, pulling the pin and tossing the grenade out, the issue most of us out west have is when this happened our feds decided out west is where it should go, away from the US population base. The west is not the nations garbage dump, yet it get treated that way. Damn I hate to agree with Reid, but picking Nevada was for the same logic as the article, southern Nevada seems none the worse off and that is just crap, check the cancer rates of down wind areas. The land where they tested is lost, forever. They are trying to force the west to take the toxic trash of the east coast, again a forever event. Let the states deal with their own waste. I'm sure NY has a mountain high above the water table they can drill into and store their radioavtive garbage. We don't get power from their grid, yet we will get all the waste, just flat wrong. The agruement way back was that there are less people out west and less risk, F^&k them, my family is not an acceptable risk and just as important as any other family on the East coast!
Ok, I have my dragon skin on, awaiting the responce! LOL
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/01/2009 0:45
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#3
I agree with you completely. The store the crap in downtown New York for all I care.
#4
If this is the best engineering decision I am for it. Let Harry stew in his own greedy juices. Note: I grew up and live downwind of Hanford with a bit of Nevada thrown in. Nuclear detonations are NOT the same as Nuclear waste. A good bit of it is contaminated tools and clothing. Much better to store it in a properly engineered environment than outside the Nuclear Plant a few miles form some city. You have to power those electric cars with something and Øbama doesn't like coal or oil.
If you think this is bad you should have lived 150 years ago. No power, refrigeration, antibiotics. If you were not rich or royal you died young. It is only in the last 60-80 years the working stiff (and his spouse) have not been considered expendable.
Richland Wa. "The Atomic City" and home to 140 60+ year old underground vats of bubbling radiative gooo and the Columbia River glow fin, three eyed catfish! Only kidding Tipover, it's a damn nice town and one of the few where you can send your eight year old off to school on his bike without a worry. Or at least of few years ago you still could.
#7
Except the reality is that they store it someplace. One of those 'someplace' is Los Alamos which was really fun a couple of years back when the forest service decided to burn undergrowth as a preventative measure in the area. Of course they choose a day when winds were high and it got out of control, burning good portion of the town and parts of the site. We got off lucky and the old bunkers held, but the reality is that where they're stored at now is no where as physically secure as anything near what Yucca mountain provides. I hear you about dumping on Western states, but in places like Nevada the federal government still owns large tracks of land, most of which will never be settled or developed like the east or the west coast. Make lemonade out of the lemons. If you end up with these things, they're usually something that can't be closed down either which means a constant redistribution of income into the state. When you can get leverage that incoming operational money [vice pork] to exceed tax money going to Washington, you've made good on a less than taste situation.
#8
Mr.Pan,
Speaking as a prisoner of one of the bluest of the blue, I am in total agreement- if you produce it, you keep it! For me ,Cape Cod would seem ideal- low pop., far out to sea...(smiles)
#9
I have to agree that if Yucca is the best solution from an engineering standpoint then fuck Reid. But I think there is a bigger fish to fry here from the anti nuc crowd. If the waste issue ever gets solved then nuclear becomes a viable solution. And we can't have that.
#10
Look, nuclear waste treatment and storage is a political issue - not technical. In fact, the technology has basically been around for over 4,000 years. Its called vitrification. The Egyptians first used it IIRC. Yucca Mountain was not picked because its in Nevada and is isolated from population centers or because it was a way to screw Reid, etc. It was chosen over other areas and sites because of its unique geology - welded tuff. So, its either here or you start up again someplace else and waste 20 to 30 more years while the spent fuel sits in the 109 or more Nuclear plants around the country waiting to be picked up. They are all running out of storage room and when they do they will have to shut them down and we will lose base load power to be replaced by what? Solar? Geothermal? Wind? Coal? Or heavy crude from Chavez? Or better yet sweet crude from Saudi? And while we contemplate this - how secure will the spent fuel be from "sharing" with our Islamic fascist buddies? Choices and more choices.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/01/2009 11:04
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#11
Since we are becoming France, how do they store their nucleur waste?
#12
There is a lot of stuff that no one wants in their back yard, but everyone has to pull their weight.
For Nevada it is Yucca.
For me (for example) it is the rail line about a half-mile from our house that is being upgraded as the major rail bypass around Chicago; traffic is supposed to go up five-fold and the rail line will now be certified for hauling hazardous stuff like chlorine tankers, etc. The usual people are complaining.
Everyone has to take something in their backyard if modern society is going to work.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009 11:13
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Oh, you mean you want to get RID of Yankees ... come on, spring training isn't all that long and the Yanks do bring in some tourism bucks, even if ARod is such a jerk he deserves Madonna.
That's the lamest argument I've heard on the topic. Ever. The stuff has to go somewhere. Tell me a place better than an isolated, unpopulated, stable geological site buried deep beneath a mountain. That such a site happens to be in the west is so irrelevant I have to assume you are just trolling.
If we don't get a permanent site for nuclear waste then nuclear energy in this country is over. That's what Reid is about.
#17
Pan, there's a massive difference between storing nuclear waste in a secured facility underground in a mountain and detonating a nuclear bomb above ground. It's kinda like saying noone should build a coal plant because coal dust could be used to make a massive FAE.
I'd _like_ to have a system set up to recycle most of the waste instead, but you'd still need people to be rational about the 1% that remains.
Knee jerk responses based on "it's nuclear, so it's just like a nuclear bomb" are part of what gave Clinton the political cover to cancel the reactor design that would have allowed burning most of the waste.
#18
Nuclear waste needs to be reprocessed. It is not waste, but more of an untapped resource. Burying it in a mountain on a 10,000 year bet is shortsighted and stupid. This is the solution that you get when you combine science with politics. Radioactive bullsh*t, I call it.
The French use pressurized water reactors based on Westinghouse designs. They recycle their waste. What is left is not a lot. They thought about burying it, but people went apesh*t. So they talked about places to sequester it and monitor it.
So the answer is to look at waste not as waste but as a resource. For example, it was not that many years ago that you saw teepee burners for sawmill waste in California, Oregon, and Washington. They wasted heat and they polluted the air. Now the wood waste stream goes to products, like chips and pellets, or to heat to make steam to generate electricity and to heat drying kilns.
We are caught in the problem with nuclear waste because we have an uninformed electorate and stupid politicians. We do not have a nuclear waste problem. We have an ignorance and a stupidity problem. That is the one we must first solve, because it affects everything from the economy to energy to nuclear waste.
My two cents.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/01/2009 14:29
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#21
Agreed, lotp. But IMHO, the incompetence and stupididy issue in Washington is the problem that prevents us from solving the problems at hand, all across the board.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/01/2009 14:55
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#22
Yup. And it's self-reinforcing. Decent, smart and hardworking people find it hard to function in that environment.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
03/01/2009 16:43
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#24
ow, never been called a trool before, Im honored. LOL First, to compare the test sights with waste storage was the authors example, I was trying, pooly done, to point out how stupid that comparison is. But to the bigger point, and it's not lame. If this country is going to use nuclear power, and I'm ok with that and not some tree hugger, we must learn how to process and recycle it. Just stuffing it into the ground, because the geology seems right is short sighted if not stupid. Washington DC will never deal with it if they can hide it away. Then there will come a time where we as humans WILL have to figure it out. Hanford is a wonderfull example. It is a mess. A wonderfull group of communities but the waste is leaking and they are finding traces in the Columbia river. Granted, this is an emotional issue, but we as a nation are looking for the easy way out. When I see solar panels on every rooftop and our scientific community working to figure out how to process it then Nevada as a temp storage and recycling facility might be ok. Untill then no.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/01/2009 19:23
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#25
AP is right. If the waste is "hot", use it to boil water (or whatever) until it is "cool".
#26
Heh... the though of 49 Pan Tree Hugger makes me laugh.
:)
A question: What do you think of burying it way the hell deep in North Florida? Wouldn't bother me at all, just curious. Of course it would scare away deh Yankees (and ARod fans) but that's a side issue.
#27
Low level Nuclear waste is just that. Low Level It consists mainly of pieces of equipment, clothing, tools, and othe odds and ends as well as liquid low-level waste. Some of this liquid waste can be treated with an ionic exchange process that cleans out the radioactive particles. These particles are 99% alpha and beta particles which can be blocked by thin pieces of paper and are not enough to consist of a critical mass. Your fears are unfounded.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/01/2009 20:43
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#28
I thought this was about spent fuel rods, low level waste is minor and your right, not a big deal.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/01/2009 20:56
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Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal's deputy, Moussa Abu Marzouk, entered the Gaza Strip on Thursday night for the first time in almost 20 years, a number of news reports on Saturday. The London based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported that Marzouk, who was headed a Hamas delegation in Cairo for Palestinian reconciliation talks, visited Gaza as a result of progress in negotiations with Israel on a cease-fire, and the release of captured soldier Gilad Schalit.
According to the report, the rest of the delegation returned to Damascus, where Marzouk is based.
A Reuters report quoted Palestinian and Egyptian officials confirming that Marzouk crossed into the Strip. They said he entered via Rafah, on the border between Gaza and Egypt, and left after only a few hours.
Just dipping his toes into the water ...
The Jerusalem Post could not immediately confirm the veracity of either report, and Reuters said that Israeli officials declined comment.
Earlier this month, meanwhile, Marzouk told The Guardian that captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit would only be released in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Regarding the soldier's exact location, the Hamas official reportedly said that "it's good that they [the Israelis] don't know where he is, otherwise they would have killed him."
Marzouk reportedly reiterated statements made by his group that the issue of Schalit would not be linked to the cease-fire with Israel. "Israel and Egypt and Hamas have known for two years that the Schalit file is completely separate from other issues. We are ready to start negotiating about Schalit, but the issue is not linked to any other as far as we are concerned," he was quoted by the British paper as saying.
This article starring:
Moussa Abu Marzouk
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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#1
Every time they say "Shalit" we should print "Dead Man".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/01/2009 14:51
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Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) members who are absent from their workplaces without any leave or permission following the mutiny were asked to report to the BDR headquarters or the nearest sector headquarters or battalion headquarters or police stations by 24 hours.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has called for elections to be held by 21 April, a move in keeping with the country's constitution.
It conflicts with a decision by the country's electoral commission to hold elections by 20 August.
Mr Karzai's presidential term is due to end on 21 May, creating the potential for a constitutional crisis if polls are held much later.
The president has no power to unilaterally choose election dates. According to Article 61 of the country's constitution, elections should be held 30 to 60 days before 22 May, the end of Mr Karzai's five-year term.
International monitors had said it would be difficult to hold a fair election so soon, because of security concerns, bad weather and the logistical challenges of getting ballots.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said there was a contradiction between the constitution and electoral law which meant the president could stay in power until October - five years after he won the last election - or December, five years after he took his oath of office, Reuters news agency reported.
Hamid Karzai has been under considerable pressure over the delay and has been accused of using it to illegally extend his rule in breach of the constitution, says the BBC's Ian Pannell in Kabul.
Now he has put the onus for deciding when the vote should be held, and ultimately who runs the country in the event of a delay, back at the feet of the commission and his opponents, our correspondent says.
The US and other members of the international community supported the IEC's recommendation for an August poll, as the 17,000 foreign troops expected to bolster peacekeeping forces can be used to secure voting stations from the Taleban, reports say.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius this afternoon accepted President Obama's request to become his Health and Human Services secretary, stepping into a central role in the new administration's ambitious effort to overhaul the nation's health care system. Sebelius's nomination comes just days before the White House is scheduled to convene a summit on health reform, an early step in the president's ambitious plan to vastly expand the government's grip reach of the nation's health care system. A formal announcement of her nomination will come on Monday.
Sebelius, the 60-year-old daughter of a former Ohio governor, served as state Insurance Commissioner before winning the 2002 governor's race. She is halfway through a second term. She is known for reaching across the aisle in her Republican-dominated state, and in her first gubernatorial bid, she chose a former Republican businessman as her running mate.
Raised Roman Catholic in Ohio, Sebelius has endured fierce and often personal criticism from anti-abortion activists largely because she vetoed a bill that would have required doctors who perform late-term abortions to report a reason for the procedure. The archbishop of Kansas City asked Sebelius to stop taking the sacrament of Communion after the veto.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Let me be the first Kansan to show her the door. I think she'll be a great addition to the Obama adminstration as she pays her taxes. As far as universal health care, I'm happy she'll head it (she's no hard charger). As a governor she was mostly a seat warmer until last year when she veto'd a $1 billion powerplant for Holcomb KS. So don't let the door hit you on the way out, Katy.
#5
The power plant is back on the table in Topeka and Katy couldn't stop it this time around. Also her popularity is nile and she had no chance to become a Senator. Unfortunatly now that she is Obama she will be able to stop the power plant with federal regs. The states are losing their federalist rights, and that ain't good.
WaPo and the New Republic realize that Bambi isn't all he's cracked up to be ...
By Jon Chait
Most of President Obama's "missteps" to date have been Washington peccadilloes of the "let's find something to complain about" sort. But Obama has made one major mistake that has attracted little public attention: his appointment of Charles Freeman as chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Freeman was attacked by pro-Israel activists, but the contretemps over Freeman's view of Israel misses the broader problem, which is that he's an ideological fanatic.
That may sound like an odd description for a respectable bureaucrat and impeccable establishmentarian such as Freeman. What's more, he's not an ideologue of the sort who draws most of the attention. When most people think of foreign policy ideology, they mean neoconservatism, which dominated the Bush administration. Broadly speaking, neoconservatism is obsessed with the moral differences between democracies and non-democracies. At its most simplistic (which, alas, it nearly always is) neoconservatism means supporting the "good guys" and fighting the "bad guys." As most of us have seen, neoconservatism has trouble recognizing that the good guys aren't perfectly good and that the bad guys aren't comic book villains.
Freeman belongs to the camp that's the mortal enemy of the neoconservatives: the realists. Realist ideology pays no attention to moral differences between states. As far as realists are concerned, there's no way to think about the way governments act except as the pursuit of self-interest. Realism has some useful insights. For instance, realists accurately predicted that Iraqis would respond to a U.S. invasion with less than unadulterated joy.
But realists are the mirror image of neoconservatives in that they are completely blind to the moral dimensions of international politics. Realists scoffed at Bill Clinton's interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo, which halted mass slaughter. Realists tend not to abide the American alliance with Israel, which rests on shared values with a fellow imperfect democracy rather than on a cold analysis of America's interests.
Taken to extremes, realism's blindness to morality can lead it wildly astray. Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, both staunch realists, wrote "The Israel Lobby," a hyperbolic attack on Zionist political influence. The central error of their thesis was that, since America's alliance with Israel does not advance American interests, it could be explained only by sinister lobbying influence. They seemed unable to grasp even the possibility that Americans, rightly or wrongly, have an affinity for a fellow democracy surrounded by hostile dictatorships. Consider, perhaps, if eunuchs tried to explain the way teenage boys act around girls.
Freeman praised "The Israel Lobby" while indulging in its characteristic paranoia. "No one else in the United States has dared to publish this article," he told a Saudi news service in 2006, "given the political penalties that the lobby imposes on those who criticize it." In fact, the article was printed as a book the next year by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in New York.
The most extreme manifestation of Freeman's realist ideology came out in a leaked e-mail he sent to a foreign policy Internet mailing list. Freeman wrote that his only problem with what most of us call "the Tiananmen Square Massacre" was an excess of restraint:
"[T]he truly unforgivable mistake of the Chinese authorities was the failure to intervene on a timely basis to nip the demonstrations in the bud, rather than -- as would have been both wise and efficacious -- to intervene with force when all other measures had failed to restore domestic tranquility to Beijing and other major urban centers in China. In this optic, the Politburo's response to the mob scene at 'Tian'anmen' stands as a monument to overly cautious behavior on the part of the leadership, not as an example of rash action. . . .
"I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be. Such folk, whether they represent a veterans' 'Bonus Army' or a 'student uprising' on behalf of 'the goddess of democracy' should expect to be displaced with despatch [sic] from the ground they occupy."
This is the portrait of a mind so deep in the grip of realist ideology that it follows the premises straight through to their reductio ad absurdum. Maybe you suppose the National Intelligence Council job is so technocratic that Freeman's rigid ideology won't have any serious consequences. But think back to the neocon ideologues whom Bush appointed to such positions. That didn't work out very well, did it?
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
The central error of their thesis was that, since America's alliance with Israel does not advance American interests
Barring a Muzzi nuclear reactor, or two, the alliances USA made with various Arab States by promoting "Peace Process", and all the "American" R&D performed in Israel.
#2
Is "realist" the latest word the Left wants to hijack, after the likes of "liberal" and "progressive".
"For instance, realists accurately predicted that Iraqis would respond to a U.S. invasion with less than unadulterated joy." That was just the 'realists'? I could have sworn pretty much everyone expected the military overthrow of Saddam to be the easy part.
Re Freeman, it sounds as though his sympathies merely lie with the other side. Like most others in Obama's circle.
#3
I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be
Are we sure that this guy isn't going to be in charge of "Homeland Security" at the point where there are mass demonstrations against Obambi Fascism?
#5
Somehow, this realistic ideology can be compared to egocentric thinking:
Egocentric Thinking Patterns of Disturbed Characters
When the disturbed character wants something, he doesn’t necessarily think about whether it’s right, good, or legal — or whether his pursuit of it might adversely affect anyone. He only cares that he wants it. His incessant concern for himself and the things that he desires creates a pattern of thinking which embodies an attitude of indifference to the rights, needs, wants, and expectations of others.-
#6
If this ""I do not believe it is acceptable for any country to allow the heart of its national capital to be occupied by dissidents intent on disrupting the normal functions of government, however appealing to foreigners their propaganda may be.
is the belief of the Obamanation then, as the tea parties persist and expand, will prove the extent of their preferrence for tyranny.
#7
Until and unless these protests (tea parties) attract some serious participants I think Bambi and his minnions will view them as harmless. Just sayin', ya' know.
#8
I am wondering if this is not a little devious trick on the part of Obama to see how strong the AIPAC is currently in DC. You foist up Freeman like a red cape to a blood thirsty bull and see if the Jew lobby matador has any cajones left to spar with The One! Lets say AIPAC wins on this and the senate rejects Flashy Freeman. Does that show enough strength to Obama to go with Bam-Bam when he decides to take out Iran threat? Or, if AIPAC fails somehow to stop this does it give Obama a reason to throttle up discussions with the Mullahs and neutralize Israel while then winning hearts and minds of Hamas and Hizbollah? People want to know.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/01/2009 11:19
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#9
actually most of obama's missteps have been not vetting tax cheats - the mark of a real amateur - not - these little peccadilloes of finding things to whine abt.
#11
Now thant some weirdness JohnQC. Kinda agree, except thompsn and kesyey are door knob dead, Ima not certain about ginzburg, but I think him dead too.
American International Group Inc is close to a deal with the U.S. government that would ease the terms of its bailout, provide a further equity commitment and help it pay down debt, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday. The revision would be the latest sign of how federal regulators are having to tweak bailout packages for financial institutions deemed too big to fail as the economy and markets worsen.
The board of the troubled insurer is due to meet on Sunday to vote on the deal, which could be announced when AIG reports its quarterly results on Monday, the source said. That would be just days after the government agreed to boost its equity stake in Citigroup Inc to as much as 36 percent in a bid to bolster another financial giant that taxpayers had already poured billions of dollars into.
The revised AIG agreement is expected to include an additional equity commitment of about $30 billion, more lenient terms on an existing preferred investment, and a lower interest rate on a $60 billion government credit line, the source said. The new equity commitment would give AIG the ability to issue preferred stock to the government at a later date, the source said.
The London Interbank Offered Rate floor on the interest rate AIG pays on the government's credit line is expected to be removed under the new terms, which would save the insurer about $1 billion a year, the source said. The company currently pays 3 percentage points above Libor.
AIG will also give the U.S. Federal Reserve ownership interests in American Life Insurance (Alico), which generates more than half of its revenue from Japan, and Hong Kong-based life insurance group American International Assurance Co (AIA) in return for reducing its debt, the source said.
The insurer had been trying to sell Alico and a part of AIA in a bid to raise money to pay back the government.
AIG may also securitize some U.S. life insurance policies and give them to the government to further reduce its debt, the source said.
Last year, AIG said it plans to sell all assets except its U.S. property and casualty business, foreign general insurance and an ownership interest in some foreign life operations, to pay back the government. While the company has announced some sales, it has been difficult for it to find buyers and get a good price for assets amid the financial crisis. Credit for deals remains difficult to arrange due to the crisis and many would-be buyers are struggling with their own problems.
Both the Federal Reserve, and AIG, once the world's largest insurer by market value, declined to comment.
A new deal would come as the insurer struggles to sell assets amid the financial crisis and prepares to post the largest quarterly loss in corporate history. AIG is expected to post a roughly $60 billion fourth-quarter loss on Monday, produced in large part by write-downs on certain tax assets and commercial mortgage backed securities, the source said. The loss -- which works out to about $460,000 per minute -- is mostly non-cash, the source said.
The revised bailout would allow the insurer to avoid a credit ratings downgrade that could have had serious ramifications on the insurer's liquidity and hurt its businesses, the source said.
I'm not sure I believe everything written here, but it's in MSNBC fergawdsakes ...
Bars in Abu Nawas Street are popular again -- even with U.S. troops
BAGHDAD - The American soldier stepped out of the Baghdad nightclub. In one hand, he clutched his weapon. In the other, a green can of Tuborg beer. He took a sip and walked over to two comrades, dressed as he was in camouflage and combat gear.
Inside the club Thursday night, U.S. soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division ogled young Iraqi women who appeared to be prostitutes gyrating to Arabic pop music. A singer crooned soulfully through scratchy speakers to the raucous, pulsating beat -- an action that Islamic extremists have deemed punishable by beheading.
Twenty minutes later, several drunk men coaxed an American soldier to dance. He awkwardly shuffled his feet, wearing night-vision equipment and a radio, joining the women and boisterous young men in an Arabic chain dance around tables covered with empty beer bottles.
For most of the past six years, U.S. troops and other Westerners in Baghdad have barricaded themselves behind blast walls and traveled the streets in armored cars, fearing attack or capture. Time spent in what Americans call the Red Zone -- all of the capital except for a protected part of central Baghdad -- invited and often brought calamity. U.S. troops do not leave their bases or outposts unless they are on duty.
The soldiers on Abu Nawas Street said they were visiting the club to talk to the manager about security, but they were socializing publicly with Iraqis in a way that was unimaginable even a few months ago. The scene reflected the increasing sense of security in the capital and many parts of Iraq, but it was impossible to know how many U.S. soldiers in Baghdad have the opportunity or the inclination to drink a beer while on patrol, apparently in violation of rules banning alcohol consumption in combat zones.
#2
Ever noticed that when conservatives are run out of office for scandalous/illegal behavior they rarely try to come back? The lefties always come back since shame is not in the vocabulary.
#4
"Our moral standards are derived from history and from what one does in society. Winnie is a grassroots person. She does a lot of community work - more than any of us," he said.
Well bless my sjambok (pronounced SHAM-buk), this must surely be the age of the Community Organizer?
BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament pushed back voting Saturday on this year's budget and could be forced to make further cuts because of falling oil prices. The latest delay in trying to ratify the current $64 billion budget proposal highlights the financial squeeze facing Iraq as declining oil revenues cut into reconstruction plans such as new roads and improved utilities — which the Shiite-led government hopes to use as showcases in national elections later this year.
The pinch has also brought calls by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for proposals to diversify Iraq's oil-dependent economy with expansion of agriculture and other trade. But Iraq's plans for this year have been dragged down along with the price of oil, which is now less than $45 a barrel after hitting highs last summer of $150 a barrel.
A Sunni lawmaker, Ayad al-Samarraie, predicted the budget will face more trimming after several previous cuts from its original $79 billion. The current budget is based on a $50 a barrel projection. "We don't expect that oil will reach this price," said al-Samarraie, a member of the chamber's financial committee. He urged lawmakers to take a comprehensive look at all spending, suggesting that more money go to electricity and other public projects at the expense of deeper cuts in other areas.
Shatha al-Mousawi, the Shiite member of the finance committee, called for possible sharp reductions in the National Security Adviser office, which was established shortly after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. She said it has 377 employees and suggested cutting it to just 16. "The studies and reports show that the falling oil prices will continue for two or three years," she said.
It was unclear when the budget could eventually come for a vote.
Army Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, commander of Multi-National Security Transition Command, told The Associated Press that the budget crisis would force Iraq to make some very difficult decisions about how to grow its security forces. "They are many, many hard decisions that they are going to have to make," he said.
He said U.S. military advisers have been making recommendations to the Iraqi security officials on possible ways to deal with the shrunken budget. An example, Helmick said, could be reducing the number of Abrams tanks sought by Iraqi forces. He said essential services such as Iraqi police and military payroll, electricity and water could not be cut.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009
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An example, Helmick said, could be reducing the number of Abrams tanks sought by Iraqi forces. He said essential services such as Iraqi police and military payroll, electricity and water could not be cut.
#2
You've a big surprise coming, general. Posted by: g(r)omgoru
I don't think it's a surprise, Grom. The military knew as soon as the election was final they would be put in a severe bind. The question isn't whether the defense budget in this country is cut, but how much and where. Democrats HATE the military - it's made up of leaders, not sheep.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/01/2009 15:08
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China is very likely to move to sanction North Korea if the latter goes ahead with its missile launch, an influential U.S. expert on North Korea said. Scott Snyder, director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy of Asia Foundation, said if North Korea decides to fire the missile despite the international opposition, China will perceive it as “influencing a critical national interest,” and is likely to impose sanctions on Pyongyang to send a “message” of warning to it, RFA reported Friday.
However, Snyder predicted the Chinese sanction won't be severe. “It's not going to be a sustained sanction regime,” he said.
The Chinese leadership is quietly working hard to prevent the NorthÂ’s missile launch. For example, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei visited Pyongyang last week. It is not immediately clear whether China, perceived as having the most influence on North Korea than any other countries, will be able to deter North KoreaÂ’s planned act.
Kim Myung-gil, a North Korean representative to the United Nations, said Thursday in a forum held in Atlanta that North Korea would launch a “satellite” as planned. If the North goes ahead with the missile launch, a U.N. sanction appears inevitable. Snyder noted that he sees that China will join the sanction as long as it is not something harsh.
China also reportedly told Snyder that even if it is the closet ideological ally to North Korea, but business is business. “If we have any action to take toward North Korea, we would immediately carry it out without giving a prior notice to it,” a Chinese diplomat reportedly told Snyder.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009
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#1
as long as it isnt harsh.
*F**K! That is the point. To make it harsh.
The Norks are just an evil catspaw for the Chicoms, who want to know just how capable the US anti-missile systems are, and hope to draw us out with their foolishness.
Simply destroy their entire launch complex with a couple B-1s of SDBs. It is very important to make an example of the Norks, who are very weak, to keep other bad actors in line.
#5
Maybe AB will bring Dave back to help out. Haven't seen Dave in a while. Last time I saw him he was under a bar stool. He was peaceful there so I didn't want to bother him but he was snoring loud enough to wake the dead. But Dave could always bus the tables or something.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009 11:01
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#6
Yeah Dave D. bussing tables. Now dammer that is a for sure sign of the end times. Dave been cooped up too much in deh cities... him needs the wide open spaces and room to roam. Srsly. And he should carry his camera with him.
BRUSSELS - The European Union's executive office said Friday it would pledge $556 million at an international donors' conference for Palestinians, including support for rebuilding Gaza. The pledge will be presented formally Monday in Egypt at the donors' meeting, which is to focus on gathering international aid to rebuild the Gaza Strip. Israel's three-week offensive there, which ended last month, caused widespread damage.
The executive's pledge is just part of the EU's total pledge to the Palestinians. The 27-member bloc's individual nations were expected to announce their own pledges at the conference. The EU as a whole is the largest donor to the Palestinians. EU officials said just over half the executive's pledge will go toward reconstruction and humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's external relations commissioner, said the priority of donors, including the EU, was to "adequately respond to the disastrous humanitarian situation in Gaza."
Aid will be targeted to what she called early recovery projects, such as removal of rubble and unexploded bombs left after Israel's offensive in the Hamas-controlled territory. The funding will also focus on a cash-for-work program and providing special care for children traumatized by the fighting, the commissioner said.
It's all 'for the children' ...
She added that the EU hoped the extra aid would lead to Israel agreeing to open more crossings into Gaza regularly and predictably, for the flow of humanitarian and commercial goods as well as people.
Remaining funds will also help back the Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas.
Because that'll fix the problem, by gum, giving money to kleptos and hacks ...
The aid will be channeled through the United Nations and a special fund overseen by the World Bank to ensure reconstruction money does not end up in the hands of the Hamas. The fund bypasses Hamas, which is listed as a terror group by the 27-nation EU and the United States and is boycotted by major international aid donors.
Abbas is to request a total of $2.8 billion for Gaza at the donors' conference.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009
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#3
Who are the bigger suckers? The $556M or $900M sucker?
Posted by: ed ||
03/01/2009 16:15
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#4
Don't understand why anyone feels the urge to help Palestinians. If the urge is charitable, there are many more worthy recipients. Palestinians are truly unredeemable vermin. Feeding them allows them to continue to procreate at several times the rate of Europe and swell a population that cannot exist without external charity. Giving them money just exacerbates an already bad situation.
LONDON (Reuters) - Conservative leader David Cameron said on Saturday the sudden death of his young son had left his family with a "hole in our life so big that words can't describe it."
Cameron made the comment when he thanked well-wishers for their support after the death of Ivan in hospital on Wednesday after being taken ill during the night. Ivan, 6, had suffered from severe cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
In an email to Conservative party activists and staff, Cameron expressed gratitude for the letters, cards, emails and flowers his family had received and paid tribute to his son's memory.
"Bed time, bath time, meal time - nothing will feel the same again," Cameron wrote. "We console ourselves knowing that he won't suffer anymore, that his end was quick, and that he is in a better place. But we all just miss him so desperately."
Cameron said he felt lucky to have been the father of "such a wonderfully special and beautiful boy."
Ivan was Cameron's eldest child and had required round-the-clock care on account of his disabilities. He has two other children, Nancy, 5, and Arthur, 3.
The Queen and Prime Minister Gordon Brown both offered condolences to the family on Wednesday.
Condolences to the Cameron family.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/01/2009
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#1
What annoyed me was that the whole parliamentary system stopped for the day.
I hoped that MPs understood that their job was bigger than themselves, that they let the "show stop" demonstrated that they didn't. Because they let their guard down, they let "Mandy" get some unpopular legislation through the lords.
#3
frankly, I wish our Congress would take a week or 20 off right now. Condolences to the Cameron family - I have never had to deal with the loss of a child, but I think it would be devastating to me
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2009 8:03
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If you ran a company with a thousand odd staff that stopped work for the day every time one of the staff had a tragedy then it wouldn't do a damned thing*.
Tradgedy for Cameron yes, not for other MPs.
* That might be the best thing to do if all you do is mess things up but...
#6
As a father of a 5 year old I can only pray hard for Cameron and his family and say "but for the grace of God, go I". There is nothing in this world like love of a child and watching them grow and become larger than you emotionally, mentally, intellectually and spiritually. This is a fate everyone who is a parent dreads - a child passing before you do. He has to be one hard man to keep his emotions and heart in check. I wonder where he and his family goes now?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/01/2009 11:10
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No doubt, I have young children, I feel horrible for anyone that loses a child. Easily my worst fear. OTOH, our congress can take the rest of the yr off (w/pay) and I'd be happy w/it.
The first signs of a Pakistani footprint is showing up in the bloody mutiny that shook Bangladesh this week. As mass graves continue to spew forth more bloody tales - 10 more bodies have been recovered, bringing the toll to 76 - what is emerging slowly is a larger design behind the apparently senseless killing over the past couple of days.
The preliminary interrogation of some of the rebels has thrown up the name of Salauddin Qadeer Chowdhury, a well-known shipping magnate and reportedly very close to the Pakistan military-intelligence complex and the opposition BNP. According to sources monitoring the situation, about one crore taka has already changed hands to help the mutiny along.
Chowdhury, a close associate of opposition BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia, was closely connected to the Chittagong arms drop case of April 2004 - the arms were apparently intended for ULFA. The ships were caught carrying the arms.
Salauddin Chowdhury, belonging to an old Chittagong family, has been close to Pakistan for decades.
Trouble continues to brew in Dhaka, where the army cadres, particularly mid-level officers, are spoiling for a fight with the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) cadres. So far, the Bangladesh army leaders, led by army chief Moeen Ahmed, have kept the officers in check, which is making the present situation slightly different from 1975.
According to the fire service operations chief, Sheikh Mohammad Shahjalal, 50 officers are still missing. "We have so far removed 10 dead bodies. They are badly decomposed and many are mutilated," he said. "They not only shot them dead but some bodies were badly mutilated with bayonets," Shahjalal said.
It is increasingly clear that the chief targets are the army chief Moeen Ahmed and prime minister Sheikh Hasina who, reports say, has been moved to an army guest house for her personal safety.
In fact, a number of plots are surfacing, all intended to create confusion while the real targets would have been attacked.
Sources are also pointing to the scale of the brutality of the murders, the mutilations, etc, which they say are tell-tale signs of the Islamist ideologies that have infiltrated the lower cadres of the BDR, thanks to their extensive Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) connections.
Behind the mutiny is the war crimes tribunal that Sheikh Hasina promised to set up for the trial of Pakistani collaborators or razakars from the independence war. This had created trouble inside Bangladesh and Pakistan as well. In fact, Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari sent an emissary to Sheikh Hasina, Pervez Ispahani, to persuade her to put off this trial as it could embarrass the Pak army considerably.
After the dust has settled down, Sheikh Hasina and Ahmed are likely to launch a purge of their own in the army, which is likely to create its own tensions. In any case, it promises to keep Sheikh Hasina off balance for a while, as Bangladesh joins other tottering nations on India's periphery.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/01/2009
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#1
Breaking sports news:
"This just in. Bengalis 1 - Punjabis 0. Film at 11".
Now back to our regular programming: The Man from SWAT.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/01/2009 10:48
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#2
Are they going to charge Congress for the Social Security ponzi scheme? Or was that the reason the Donks sneaked in the 'managed' [aka government universal] healthcare into the Porkout Act of 2009, so that they'll administrate the elderly out of life sustaining care and into shorter life expectancy, in order to avoid future prosecution?
#3
And in other news.... The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that a fund of hedge funds run by Vice President Joseph BidenÂ’s son and his brother, James, through New York-based Paradigm Global Advisers was marketed exclusively by companies controlled by Stanford.Muckety
MALAYSIAN police on Saturday used watercannons on ethnic Indian demonstrators and arrested 17 protesting the ill-treatment of a detained rights group leader, an opposition politician said.
Lawmaker Gobind Singh Deo said nearly 400 supporters of banned Indian rights group Hindraf had gathered at a police station in the capital when police hit the crowd with chemical-laced water. 'I have spoken to the district police chief and I can confirm that 17 people have been arrested by the police, including a member of parliament,' Mr Singh said. 'Three people, a woman and two men, have also been sent to hospital as they were injured when police carried out the attack,' he added.
He said those arrested were being held for failing to disperse under police orders but he did not know if they would be charged.
The police could not immediately be reached for comment.
Hindraf leader R. Thanenthiran, who was later detained, said he and opposition lawmaker S. Manickavasagam were negotiating with police in filing close to 50 police reports when they were hit. 'All we were trying to do is file police reports over the government's lack of medical treatment for detained Hindraf leader P. Uthayakumar and the police watercannoned us,' he told AFP.
Uthayakumar was arrested in 2007 under the Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial, after organising an anti-discrimination rally that saw over 8,000 people take to the streets. He has since complained of a lack of medical treatment for his diabetic condition while in custody and his lawyer says there is a fear that he may lose his leg because of a lack of access to medical care.
The authorities have denied the claim, saying he has been treated by government doctors.
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03/01/2009
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The chief of UN humanitarian efforts urged Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Friday to let tens of thousands of civilians leave the war zone, saying there are "credible reports" that some people trying to flee have been shot.
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President Robert Mugabe told followers yesterday at his lavish birthday party to respect the new power-sharing government but vowed to press on with seizures of white farms. The extravagant celebrations were held against a backdrop of economic ruin and came weeks after the veteran leader joined a unity government with long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai.
"Under this arrangement I want it known, as some of you were thinking we are no longer in power, we have an inclusive government with the president at the top, followed by the two vice-presidents, then the Prime Minister Tsvangirai and two deputy prime ministers. "This is a result of the vote in which we did not do well. Let us not complain too much about it. Let's accept things as they are," said Mugabe, who turned 85 on February 21.
But he also stressed that his controversial land reforms policy launched nearly 10 years ago and involving the seizure of farms from whites for redistribution to landless blacks, would not be forsaken. "There are farms which have been designated in accordance with our land acquisition laws and offer letters given to the new farmers, let not the original owners of the farm refuse to vacate those farms," Mugabe told thousands gathered to celebrate his 85th birthday.
An offer letter is the document given to successful applicants who have applied to take over farmland.
"We are not going to listen to the excuse that some farms went to the SADC (Southern African Development Community) tribunal. That's nonsense. We have our own courts here," he said.
Mugabe lost the simultaneous first-round presidential poll but won a later run-off unopposed after Tsvangirai pulled out citing violence against his supporters. The veteran president, who has ruled Zimbabwe non-stop since independence in 1980, blamed former colonial power Britain for his party's poll defeat. "They (British) imposed sanctions which resulted in some basic commodities being unavailable so that the people would be disgruntled with the party.
"Some of you thought about your tummies and children and sold out the country," he blasted.
Mugabe supporters raised more than 250,000 US dollars (200,000 euros) for Saturday's celebrations which included a birthday cake weighing 85 kilogrammes (187 pounds). The party was held north of the capital Harare in the town of Chinhoyi in Mugabe's home province of Mashonaland West. Crowds arrived in lorries, singing songs in praise of Mugabe, while banners proclaimed him a "great leader who never lets his people down."
Mugabe's old foe and current prime minister Tsvangirai, who has been rallying the donor community for five billion dollars in aid and investment, was not at the celebrations despite initial reports he would attend. The country desperately needs money to rebuild schools, hospitals and sewers after a decade of economic collapse compounded by country's long political travails.
Several members of Mugabe's ZANU-PF party have farms in Mashonaland West and conditions are considerably better than the rest of the shattered country with a university and one of the best-equipped state hospitals.
Zimbabwe's healthcare system has fallen apart with over 83,000 people affected by a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 3,800.
The country is also battling severe food shortages amid hyperinflation which has rendered the Zimbabwean dollar useless. The World Food Programme reported last month that the number of people without food was estimated at 6.9 million -- more than half the population.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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#1
Well, it should be respected at least as much as the old government.
The government is committed to ensuring quick trial and exemplary punishment of those who were involved in killings, plunder and murder of women and children in the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny, a senior minister said yesterday.
"There will be quick trial and exemplary punishment... the government is committed to implementing that," LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam told a press briefing at PID conference room last night. This was the first official reaction since the mutiny began at the BDR headquarters in Pilkhana on Wednesday.
The minister said each of the culprits would be trapped and brought to justice. To ensure their punishment, new law would be enacted, if need be, Ashraf added.
He said the government does not have detailed information as many documents have been damaged at the BDR headquarters and those are yet to be recovered.
"The accurate information is not coming. We don't have accurate information about exactly how many personnel were there, how many came for parade and how many attended darbar on February 25," said Ashraf.
"We can't accurately give you information about dead bodies right now. We can't say how many bodies have been recovered so far. Because new graves are being unearthed and bodies are being recovered. But we have the number of bodies sent for post-mortem."
The minister however said the government is trying to retrieve the information. "The government's information has to be accurate. The government cannot speculate."
He said the nation is now in a period of transition. Terming the Pilkhana incident an unfortunate one, he said the nation never thought of it. But it happened on February 25 when the new government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was working hard to implement its pledges made to the people.
"The whole nation is shattered, regretful and angry for this. We strongly condemn and protest such heinous incidents," said the LGRD minister, adding those who are involved would be brought to book.
A probe body has been formed headed by the home minister. The committee will submit a primary report on the basis of which further investigations will be launched to find out all the culprits. "Wherever they hide, they will be traced out. No-one will be spared."
The minister said such atrocities would not have taken place had there been proper trial of Bangabandhu murder case, four national leaders murder case and other killing cases. "If we could exemplary punish the culprits of those killing cases, this incident would not take place," he regretted.
But Ashraf assured that the government will create an example by trying and punishing the culprits of BDR mutiny and the atrocities that followed. "This case will not be delayed like the ones in the past."
On the premier's general amnesty, he said it is not for those who were involved in killings and plunder. "The general amnesty is for the bystander BDR personnel," he added.
He said the whole nation is mourning for what happened in the BDR mutiny.
The government will hold briefing every day to give official information regarding the incident, Ashraf told the journalists.
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(AKI) - Immigrants in the northern city of Padua were due late on Friday to begin street patrols, offering their own response to a recent wave of violent crime including rapes allegedly committed by immigrants against Italian women. The patrols are the initiative of Egyptian-born journalist Ahmed Mohamed and the first ones were due to set off from the headquarters of local La9 TV station and head for Padova's high-immigrant Stanga district.
Friday's patrol was due to be led by representatives from the local Romanian, Bulgarian and Moroccan associations. Many of the rapes and other violent crimes against women that have recently shocked Italy have allegedly been committed by Romanians and Moroccans.
"It should be known that foreigners want the government to show zero tolerance to illegal immigrants and those who commit crimes - they damage the reputation of those of us who live respectably," Mohamed told Adnkronos International (AKI). "We are among immigrants who want more security and more of a sense of identity. We don't just want rights but also a sense of duty towards our host country," he added.
"Security must be guaranteed to all and crime does not have a particular skin colour. For this reason we want more safety on the streets and more legality," Mohamed concluded.
In an tough emergency security decree issued last Friday, the conservative Italian government authorised unarmed patrols of 'concerned citizens'. The controversial measure has stoked fears among the opposition that it will encourage gangs of vigilantes to roam Italy's streets.
The emergency decree also provides for a mandatory life sentence for the rape of minors or attacks where the victim is murdered. It allows illegal immigrants to be kept in preventative custody for up to six months instead of two months previously.
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(AKI) - The European Commission is to announce 436 million euros in aid for the Palestinian people at a conference in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday. The EU is the largest donor to the Palestinians and the EU executive announced the donation on Friday.
The 'Conference in support of the Palestinian economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza' will be co-chaired by Egypt and Norway and representatives of all international donors to the Palestinians will attend it, the European Commission said.
Other members of the Quartet of Middle East peace mediators: United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg will also attend the donor meeting.
EU funds earmarked for the Palestinians in 2009 will be spent on humanitarian aid and the rapid reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, which was devastated by Israel's three-week military offensive which ended on 18 January. The commission says rubble and and unexploded ordinances urgently need to be removed from the coastal strip, while further assistance is needed for children left traumatised by the conflict.
The commission said the EU will also support a "cash for jihad work" scheme, as well as small repairs of shelters that were damaged during the military attack.
It will also continue supporting the Palestinian Authority in implementing overall Palestinian Reform and Development Plan as well as programmes carried out by the UN's Palestinian refugee agency.
"Our priority today is to adequately respond to the disastrous humanitarian situation in Gaza," said EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. "By offering a substantial aid package we confirm our generosity and commitment towards the Palestinians."
She stressed that the ending of Israel's crippling blockade of the aid-dependent Gaza Strip was a major priority. "In the aftermath of the crisis, a clear priority remains the immediate and unconditional reopening of all Gaza crossings on a regular and predictable basis, for the flow of humanitarian and commercial goods as well as people,"Ferrero-Waldner stated.
She said she would urge donors at the Sharm el-Sheikh conference to use the EU's PEGASE financial mechanism to transfer aid rapidly to Palestinians in Gaza. PEGASE is currently used to provide fuel for electricity generation, for the payment of social allowances to 24,000 vulnerable families and the salaries of over 28,000 civil servants and pensioners.
The mechanism has enabled aid worth 421 million euros from the EU and 130 million euros from other donors to reach the Palestinians since it was set up in January 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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#1
btween that and osama aid they should be able too build shang gri la
#2
If they gave out the money to the individuals in Gaza to be collected somewhere else (the EU? They deserve those refugees) then most of the population of Palestine would disappear. Would have worked for New Orleans too.
#4
Reward a behavior and you will get more of the same.
Hamas supports terrorism, fires rockets at Israel, refuses to negotiate in good faith, teaches children to hate, loses the battle, and this is what they get: well over a billion dollars from the EU and the US.
#8
ION EURO-ZONE,CHINESE MIL FORUM > HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER WARNS [EU] OF ECONOMIC DIVISION IN EUROPE. ECONOMIC "IRON CURTAIN" THREATENS TO DIVIDE EUROPE.
#9
Don't they have a banking crisis at home to deal with? I wonder how soon Britain, France and Germany inform the commission they won't be providing funds for such adventures for the nonce.
ONE November night in 2005 a Jaguar saloon carrying two animal rights activists and their getaway driver turned into an estate of executive homes in Surrey. Their target: a comfortable, mock-Tudor house behind a screen of trees.
The Myanmar government has said it will take back ethnic Rohingyas who have fled to neighbouring countries. But it will only do so if they identify themselves as Bengali, as it refuses to recognise the Rohingyas as one of its official minorities.
Tens of thousands of Rohingyas have left Myanmar (former Burma) in recent years and washed up in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
In December, the Thai military began dragging boats of Rohingya asylum seekers to sea and setting them adrift. The policy has provoked widespread condemnation.
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Pakistani Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani yesterday appealed for calm among the protesters ransacking public property since a court banned the top opposition leader from contesting elections.
Protesters are heeding a call from former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who leads the second largest party in Pakistan, to rise up after the Supreme Court Wednesday barred him and his brother from holding public office. Following disqualifications, the federal government imposed its rule in the province by suspending the provincial assembly for two months to dislodge the government of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N).
Gilani "has appealed to those taking to the streets to show restraint and calm and use elected forums for expressing their views", a statement issued by his office said.
The premier "has deplored the ongoing violence and loss to public property in various parts of the country," it added. "The Prime Minister also asked the leadership of PML(N) to dissuade their political activists from giving way to their anger on the streets and creating a law and order situation."
Sharif's brother, Shahbaz, addressing a press conference in Lahore also called for calm. "I appeal to people that they should keep their protest peaceful and there should not be any violence and damage to public property," Sharif said.
Meanwhile police and protesters clashed again on Saturday in Islamabad on the main highway towards the international airport, a police official said, adding that no one was arrested.
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Three days into the end of mutiny at BDR headquarters, rescuers could not yet trace some 50 army officers. They however discovered three more mass graves in the compound yesterday and recovered 10 bodies including that of the slain BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmed's wife Naznin Shakil.
As of last night, the body count was 72. Of those confirmed dead, 59 are army officials deputed to the paramilitary force. So far, 29 officers are found to have survived the bloodthirsty revolt by border guards.
Meanwhile, the authorities could not yet say exactly how many army officers were at the headquarters when the mutiny erupted in darbar hall at around 9:00am.
According to rescuers and army information centre at Pilkhana, the people who could provide the information have died or been missing. Rescuers said the registry book that is supposed to contain the number does not show anything about attendance at Wednesday's programme.
Besides, it has become difficult to check back with 12 sectors and 46 battalions across the country as they are at present lacking officers who could cooperate with the capital.
"It seems there might have been 138 army officers and 30 BDR officers at the Darbar Hall Wednesday," said a rescuer. As 29 army officers have come out alive and 59 have been found dead, it leaves 50 on the missing list.
Colonel Gulzar Uddin Ahmed, who earned fame for his robust role as a Rab official in drives against militants, especially those of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, is among those still missing. He joined BDR in Sylhet early this month.
Before being promoted as additional DG of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), he was in led the intelligence wing of the elite crime busters, and conducted some major investigations. He was in charge of the operation that netted JMB operations commander Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai.
Gulzar's family drew a blank in their search for him among the bodies retrieved so far. In the last three days, his sister Dilruba Khatun and some other relatives have visited Mitford Hospital, Dhaka Medical Hospital morgue and the sewers coming off BDR headquarters for their beloved Gulzar.
A shattered Dilruba yesterday said, "Several times we were told that his body had been found. But that didn't turn out true. None of the bodies recovered is my brother's. It pains me to think of how a man of his stature still remains untraced. He had discharged some very important responsibilities for the state. They should at least let us know if he is dead."
It was soon after the madness set in Wednesday that Gulzar's friends at Rab heard from him last. In his first call at around 9:00am, he sought help for him and the other officers under attack. His last call came at around 10:00am. He said that he was "done" and told his friends to take care of his family.
Meanwhile, rescuers said that besides ransacking the houses and properties of the army officers at Pilkhana, the mutineers vandalised the offices at BDR headquarters including that of the DG. It appears they fired at will inside these offices.
This article starring:
Siddiqul Islam
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Saturday land seizures from white farmers would continue and vowed to press ahead with plans for locals to take majority stakes in foreign companies operating in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe, Zimbabwe's sole ruler for nearly three decades, is holding on to power despite economic and political turmoil that have forced him into a unity government with the opposition. "There is no going back on the land reforms. Farms will not be returned back to former [white] farmers. That work will continue, but those farms have to be used properly.
"Again I want to say, the farmers who owned these farms, which now have been designated and offered to new owners, must respect that law. They must vacate those farms, they must vacate those farms, they must vacate those farms."
Thousands of Zanu-PF supporters in party regalia turned up for Mugabe's 85th birthday rally at a sports field at Chinhoyi University about 100km west of Harare.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was not at the venue, despite earlier indications he would attend the rally. Mugabe's spokesperson George Charamba said Tsvangirai had opted out of the event after realising it was organised by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. "People should not read this as a snub. He [Tsvangirai] excused himself," Charamba told Reuters.
Mugabe told the crowd the Southern African Development Community (SADC) tribunal, which last year ruled in favour of a group of white farmers whose farms had been targeted for seizure, had no right to rule on the land seizures.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Beatings will continue until morale improves.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/01/2009 12:37
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Sherry Rehaman, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, on Saturday termed Governor-rule in Punjab as Â'indispensable' to fill constitutional vacuum developed after the ineligibility of former Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif. Federal Minister was talking to mediamen outside National Assembly here. Â"No political party or democratic element can ever turn in favour of Governor-ruleÂ" she declared but insisted, Â"Unfortunately, it could not be avoided.Â" Opposition has indulged in blame game soon after SC ruling but we are looking forward to avoid confrontations, as it will help derail democracy here, she maintained urging that the opposition had remained involved in taking oath under former President Pervez Musharraf's administration.
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Aswat al-Iraq: A car bomb attack left al-Maamoun police chief and wounded 10 others in western Baghdad on Saturday, a police source said. "The car bomb, which went off near al-Sayer restaurant in al-Mansour neighborhood, western Baghdad, killed Lt. Colonel Mohammed Ghazi and wounded 10 others," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He did not give more details. Earlier in the day, a police source said a car bomb blast left one man killed and three others wounded in al-Mansour.
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The US has boosted aerial espionage against North Korea in recent months amid escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula, a report says.
Unnamed military sources told the official KCNA news agency that spy planes had violated the country's air space for at least 180 times just in a single month. The sources claimed the planes belonged to the US and South Korean armies.
"Their intentions of invading the DPRK (North Korea) have reached an extremely reckless phase," the report said.
The report comes as North Korea is gearing up to transport a satellite into orbit with a rocket. The move has alarmed the international community where it is believed that Pyongyang is preparing to test-fire a long-range missile, believed capable of reaching US territory.
The US Pacific Command has reacted to the situation by saying the military was "fully prepared" to shoot down any North Korean ballistic missile. "We will be fully prepared to respond as the president [Obama] directs," Adm. Timothy Keating said in an interview with ABC News on Thursday.
Tensions between the two Koreas have risen to the highest level in a decade after the conservative South Korean government of President Lee Myung-bak announced joint exercises with the US.
South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-Hee earlier warned that a limited naval clash may break out around the two countries' disputed border in the Yellow Sea -- where bloody clashes occurred in 1999 and 2002. North Korea, however, accuses President Lee of using "nonexistent nuclear and missile threats" from Pyongyang as a pretext for an invasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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#5
TheUS Pacific Command has reacted to the situation by saying the military was "fully prepared" to shoot down any North Korean ballistic missile. "We will be fully prepared to respond as the president [Obama] directs," Adm. Timothy Keating said in an interview with ABC News on Thursday.
yeah, rigghhhttt. Like the zero will grow a pair
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2009 10:33
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#6
And I thought the election of the Obamessiah meant group-hugs all around.
#9
A hundred eighty flights in one month? With what? That's 6 sorties a day. We could map all of North Korea to a scale of 1:1 with that many sorties. I don't doubt there are RC-135s flying in international airspace around Korea, with the best sensors we can devise, but I doubt they're EVER in North Korean airspace.
Fred, I'm amused by that photo - a Navy P-2V with Army markings? Now just where did that bird fly?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/01/2009 13:57
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#10
Actually, it occurs to me that the whole "shoot down the missile thing" could be a setup to give zero what he wants. N. Korea shoots a missile at the middle of the Pacific between Hawaii and Alaska, we shoot an antimissile at it and it fails, and Zero's "proven" that missile defense doesn't work.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday said that a Palestinian unity government with Hamas must support a two-state solution, reiterating a call by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Islamic group to recognize Israel.
In a Ramallah speech, Abbas said progress was being made toward establishing a Palestinian unity government "that will be committed to our values and will respect agreements previously signed by the Palestinian Authority," Army Radio reported.
However, Hamas official Aiman Taha reportedly stressed that his group rejects any kind of preconditions and noted that Abbas's speech was lowering the prospects that the reconciliation talks between the Fatah and Hamas will succeed.
"Hamas will never agree to sit in a government that recognizes Israel," he reportedly said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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#1
One state for Paleos originating in Egypt (Gaza), and one state for Paleos originating in Syria (West Bank)?
#3
The Paleos already have a state, Jordan. These guys remind of a quote from the collapse of European African colonies in the 60's. A rioter was asked what "Uhuru" meant to him. He said "it means we take the white man's house, his land, and his women." The Paleos just want Israel because the Israelis have improved the property. If every Israeli were to miraculously disappear, the Paleos would turn the prosperous land into a a Mediterranean Zimbabwe in about 5 years. They are locusts, consumers rather than creators, a plague on mankind.
The relatives and family members of slain army officers had to apply alternative ways to identify the decomposed body of their near and dear ones, retrieved from three mass graves discovered at BDR headquarters yesterday, three days after the mutiny.
Six of the bodies were identified as BDR DG Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed's wife Naznin Shakil Shiplu, Maj Mosharraf, Maj Hossain Sohel Shahnewaz, Maj Syed Mohammad Idris Iqbal, Maj Mahbub and Maj Mokbul.
The rest bodies were kept at Dhaka Medical College Hospital's (DMCH) morgue where tissues of the bodies were colleted for DNA test. They could only identify six out of 10 bodies after recognising them by their various spots and other marks.
Witnesses said the new three mass graves were discovered in a vegetable garden, western side of the garage set up for 13 battalion of BDR and about 50 metres away from Friday's mass grave found near the mortuary of BDR Hospital.
Four bodies were retrieved from two mass graves each while two others, including the body of the DG's wife from another grave. Hands, legs and eyes of at least five bodies were tied with ropes in the graves while the body of the DG's wife was found wrapped up with a window cover of her residence.
Abdur Rashid, deputy director of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said "After seeing flies which were flying around the graves and smelling stink, we dug soil and found the bodies."
Kamrunnahar Lipi, wife of deceased Maj Mosharraf, his mother, sister and brother could not identify the decomposed body of their dear ones even after one and half an hour efforts.
Maj Mosharraf's wife Lipi along with her four-year-old child was also held hostage inside Pilkhana and rescued on Thursday.
Maj Gen Shakil Ahmed wife's body was identified by her relatives after they recognised her short hair and the window cover.
Meanwhile, family members of slain Maj Syed Mohammad Idris Iqbal identified his body after recognising his feet at DMCH morgue after five hours of their frantic efforts while the body of Maj Hossain Sohel Shahnewaj was recognised with his teeth and a spot of the appendicitis operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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The Pakistani military has defeated the Taliban insurgents in a strategically important region on the Afghan border, a commander says.
Major-General Tariq Khan, who is commanding military operations in Bajaur agency, said Saturday his forces had largely restored "a reasonable state of stability," a Press TV correspondent reported.
Bajaur is considered a crucial hub for the Taliban insurgents due to its access routes to neighboring Afghanistan and the rest of Pakistan. "They have lost. They have lost their cohesion here," Khan said. "The resistance has collapsed."
The Pakistani general added that the bulk of troops would remain in the region until the peace is fully restored. There was no independent verification of the military victory.
The military began its operation in Bajaur last August and has used it as proof of its commitment to tackle the Taliban in the restive north-west bordering Afghanistan. The Bajaur Agency has been the scene of some of the worst fighting between Pakistani forces and Taliban-linked militants in recent months.
The tribal regions along the shared border between Pakistan and Afghanistan have become a safe haven for al-Qaeda and Taliban militants after a US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Are the girls' schools open and safe? Is it safe to be a barber or music and DVD dealer?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/01/2009 8:49
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#2
Try rolling your pants cuffs down and we'll see...
A rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip exploded near a school in Israel on Saturday, causing damage but no injuries, Israel's military said.
The rocket, one of three fired from the coastal territory on Saturday, landed in the courtyard of a school in the Israeli city of Ashekelon, some 12 km (7 miles) north of the Gaza border. Shrapnel flew into classrooms. Authorities said the school was empty for the weekend. Israel has responded to similar attacks with air strikes.
Egypt has been trying to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas to take the place of a shaky Jan. 18 ceasefire that ended a 22-day Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. There have been almost daily exchanges of fire since then. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday's rocket fire.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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#8
"Crashes into School" Since when do exploding rockets "crash?" Sounds like Rocketman unsuccessfully landed his craft, or gramps was trying to park the minivan when he hit the gas rather than the break.
Posted by: regular joe ||
03/01/2009 13:42
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#9
I hope this doesn't affect the Peace Processor. Chunks of rocket casing and dead schoolkids tend to jam the spinning blades.
Newly appointed BDR Director General Brig Gen Moinul Hossain yesterday said their immediate task would be to 'regain the command structure' of the paramilitary force. "Steps are being taken to restore morale and discipline among the ranks," he told reporters after a meeting of the six-member probe body that began investigation yesterday into the bloody mutiny at the BDR headquarters at Pilkhana.
Initiatives have already been taken to boost confidence of the paramilitary force but it will take some time, he said.
The DG of BDR also assured that all the country's borders are secure.
Moinul, also a member of the committee, said they would question everyone suspected of perpetrating the carnage and also the survivors as part of investigation. Besides, the BDR men detained while trying to flee the BDR headquarters and the residents around it would also be questioned, he added.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Sahara Khatun, who leads the probe body, yesterday hoped that they would be able to submit report within a week. After the meeting, the committee members visited the BDR headquarters and asked police officials to preserve all evidence for proper investigation.
The committee yesterday discussed the details to get to the bottom of the mutiny. It will sit again today at the home minister's office.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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ONE of three Red Cross workers being held by militants in the southern Philippines has re-established contact more than a week after the group was last heard from, a report said on Saturday.
Filipina Mary Jean Lacaba, 37, said life in captivity was tough for her and colleagues Eugenio Vagni of Italy and Andreas Notter of Switzerland and called on government negotiators to step up efforts to secure their release.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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Army officials yesterday said they are in profound grief over the massacre of army officers and their family members by rebel BDR jawans at Pilkhana but being members of a disciplined force they have to control their emotions.
"It was a carnage. So it is natural that there will be pent-up anger among us. But, being members of a disciplined force, we can control our emotion," said Director of Military Intelligence Brig Gen Mahmud Hossain at a press briefing at the army headquarters in Dhaka cantonment.
He said the crisis was solved politically following the prime minister's directives although they made all preparations to carry out military operations at the BDR headquarters.
Mahmud said of the 63 bodies retrieved so far, the identity of 47 could be confirmed as of 8:00pm yesterday. He also said 31 army officers managed to survive the carnage while 72 army officers are still missing.
The director of Military Intelligence said certainly all BDR members did not take part in the mutiny but those involved in it need to be identified through investigation. "I cannot say what should be the process of trial. But whatever it is, we demand a speedy trial," he said.
Whatever might be the reason behind the mutiny, the BDR jawans should not have expressed their anger through such brutal killings.
Lt Col Salam and Maj Istiaque, who survived the massacre, at the press conference narrated the brutalities committed by the BDR jawans. Replying to a query, Salam said a group of jawans were involved in the killings and some of them were very aggressive.
He also urged the media to broadcast or publish reports more objectively.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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#1
we need more anger at killling muslims not reigning it in
#3
I'm sure there will be a purge of the Bangladesh military. Anyone suspected of having too close a ties to militant groups will find themselves on the street. The thought that this is being orchestrated from Phakestan isn't terribly surprising, since they've never given up hope of retaking Bangladesh. Getting rid of Phakestan would go a long way toward reducing the militancy in India and the surrounding area.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/01/2009 16:28
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#4
LOL - they should try and retake Pakistain first
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2009 16:47
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#5
don't know grom personally just as a fellow commenter, you don't have too agree with me but don't bitch when you are facing Mecca 5 times daily for your prayer service
North Korea yesterday warned US troops stationed in South Korea to stop "provocations" in the buffer zone dividing the two Koreas or face a "resolute counteraction."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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#4
TOPIX > TAIPEI TIMES > FROM SOUTH KOREA, US LOOKS AT REST OF REGION [US regional "Strategic Flexibity" in various Asia-Pacific regions down to Guam to Australia, etc.].
ALso on TOPIX > IRAN SUPPLY SA-14 [Manpads-SAMS]TO TALIBAN.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered yesterday that presidential elections be held by April, months earlier than a date of August 20 set by the voting authority because of security and logistic issues.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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Aswat al-Iraq: Police patrols in Thi-Qar on Saturday defused two roadside bombs to the north of Nassiriya city, according to a release issued by the province's police directorate. "The roadside bombs were found on the banks of the al-Gharaf river, in al-Refaee district (80 km north of Nasseriya)," said the release that was received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "One of the bombs weighs 7 kg and the other weighs 5.5 kg," it added. The release pointed out that the two roadside bombs were defused without causing any damage or casualties.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Saturday.
The meeting came after he toured the Gaza Strip on Friday - the highest ranking European official to visit the territory since it was overrun by Hamas in June 2007. Solana did not meet with Hamas leaders, who are boycotted internationally as a terror group.
Solana's tour comes amid a flurry of talks on an Israel-Hamas truce, reconciliation between Palestinian factions and donations for the territory's reconstruction.
"I came to express solidarity with the people of Gaza and to tell them that we will be helping them in the reconstruction process," Solana said, standing at the ruins of the American International School of Gaza, destroyed during the IDF's recent counter-terror operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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Colombian security forces have clashed with a Marxist rebel group and captured one of its most notorious kidnappers. Soldiers fought Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) rebels in the central province of Cundinamarca, killing 10 and capturing another eight. Among those taken was a leader known by the alias "El Negro Antonio", whom authorities have been seeking for well over a decade. One soldier was killed in the combat and a kidnap victim rescued.
"El Negro Antonio" is a Farc guerrilla with 33 arrest warrants outstanding against him.
The operation took place in the mountain range of Sumapaz in Cundinamarca province. It is a severe setback for the Farc, not just because of the number of rebels killed and captured, but because it hinders its plans to reopen a movement corridor into the capital, Bogota. It was along this corridor that El Negro Antonio used to move kidnap victims out of Bogota and into the rebel-controlled lowland jungles.
Under their new leader Alfonso Cano, the Farc rebels have been seeking to retake the initiative snatched from them over the last five years by the US-backed military. The rebels are seeking to bring their four-decade-old war back into the cities, particularly Bogota, where their attacks have far greater impact than in the countryside.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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Israel Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman said that while he was capable of holding every government portfolio, he would like to serve as Israel's foreign minister.
"I think I can hold every portfolio-defense, finance and Foreign Ministry. I think personally I'd like the foreign office," Lieberman was quoted as telling Newsweek in an interview published on Saturday.
Asked whether he would continue the peace process if he joined Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu's government, Lieberman replied that while he is committed to peace, gradual steps were important.
"You can't start with Jerusalem or the evacuation of the settlements. You must start with the security and the economy. You must strengthen the Palestinian Authority," the Israel Beiteinu leader reportedly said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday saw eye to eye on the need to turn over a new leaf and usher in an a new stage of relations serving both neighbors' peoples, according to Iraq's ambassador in Tehran.
"President Talabani met on Saturday evening with Supreme Leader Khamenei at his office in the capital Tehran in a friendly constructive atmosphere and discussed vistas of bilateral cooperation at all levels," Mohammed Majeed al-Sheikh told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
"President Talabani appreciated Iran's role in support of Iraq and said that Iraq is looking forward to having developed bilateral ties with Iran," he added.
Talabani had arrived in Tehran Thursday night coming from the South Korean capital Seoul where he paid a four-day visit for talks with South Korean officials. He met on Friday with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2009
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Their private thoughts were no doubt much more interesting.
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.
The bullnecked president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die.
Malaysia has vowed to help the Philippines resume stalled peace talks with Muslim separatist rebels in the troubled southern region of Mindanao, a Philippine government official said Sunday. National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made the assurance during a meeting with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the sidelines of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders' summit in Thailand. 
Police and soldiers Sunday rounded up five Muslim men on charges of killing and beheading two Buddhist villagers last week. About 100 police and soldiers were deployed to search Lapae village and Anae village in Tambon Bongor in Rangae district at 6:30 am and arrested the five suspects. They arrested Masanusi Duerama, 40, Abdulsaman Ali, 42, Maroning Baga, 44, Abdullateh Saleh, 35, and Nurasi Musoh, 38.
Iraqi security forces say they have captured 11 members of the country's al-Qaeda network, including the group's self-styled "oil minister". 
VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez on Saturday ordered the army to take control of all rice processing plants in the South American nation in a spat over prices.
Palestinian militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip fired five rockets at Israel on Saturday, according to the Israeli military, further straining a fragile month-old ceasefire. No one was killed or wounded in the attacks, with two of the rockets striking near the Israeli town of Ashkelon, around 21 kilometres (13 miles) from the impoverished territory.
Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal's deputy, 
American International Group Inc is close to a deal with the U.S. government that would ease the terms of its bailout, provide a further equity commitment and help it pay down debt, a person familiar with the matter said on Saturday. The revision would be the latest sign of how federal regulators are having to tweak bailout packages for financial institutions deemed too big to fail as the economy and markets worsen.
The government is committed to ensuring quick trial and exemplary punishment of those who were involved in killings, plunder and murder of women and children in the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny, a senior minister said yesterday.
The US has boosted aerial espionage against North Korea in recent months amid escalating tensions in the Korean peninsula, a report says. 
The Pakistani military has defeated the Taliban insurgents in a strategically important region on the Afghan border, a commander says. 
A rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip exploded near a school in Israel on Saturday, causing damage but no injuries, Israel's military said.
North Korea yesterday warned US troops stationed in South Korea to stop "provocations" in the buffer zone dividing the two Koreas or face a "resolute counteraction."
Colombian security forces have clashed with a Marxist rebel group and captured one of its most notorious kidnappers. Soldiers fought Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) rebels in the central province of Cundinamarca, killing 10 and capturing another eight. Among those taken was a leader known by the alias "El Negro Antonio", whom authorities have been seeking for well over a decade. One soldier was killed in the combat and a kidnap victim rescued. 
