President Hugo Chavez is tightening state control over Venezuela's food supply, setting quotas for food staples which are to be sold at government-imposed prices. this will turn out well. Les Miserables in spanish. I love that play!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2009
20:21 ||
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#5
First, you get control of the government. Then, you get control of the major source of revenue. Then, you take control of the food. Then, you quiet all dissent. Yep, Chavez is leading the way and Obama is following in the same path.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/04/2009 23:38
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European banks face a US dollar funding gap of almost $2 trillion as a result of aggressive expansion around the world and may have difficulties rolling over debts, according to a report by the Bank for International Settlements. Bottom line, the USD is going to appreciate a lot more.
#2
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > A NEW PROBLEM FOR PAKISTAN: THE TEHRIK-E-ISLAM TALIBAN BALOCHISTAN [New Paki Taliban Militant Group - call-in proclaims no linkage wid TTP Group]!?
Also, TOPIX > PAKISTAN'S MILITANT VIOLENCE EXPANDS OUTSIDE OF BORDERS, + SOUTH ASIA UNDER THREAT OF BREAKUP?
...I have an idea. If these guys are so impressed with themselves, and if they are so sure of their correctness, why doesn't President Obama come on my show? We will do a one-on-one debate of ideas and policies. Now, his people in this Politico story, it's on the record. They're claiming they wanted me all along. They wanted me to be the focus of attention. So let's have the debate! I am offering President Obama to come on this program -- without staffers, without a teleprompter, without note cards -- to debate me on the issues. Let's talk about free markets versus government control. Let's talk about nationalizing health care and raising taxes on small business....
Just come on this program. Let's have a little debate. You tell me how wrong I am and you can convince the rest of the Americans that don't agree with you how wrong we all are. You're a smart guy, Mr. President. You don't need these hacks to front for you. You've debated the best! You've debated Hillary Clinton. You've debated John Edwards. You've debated Joe Biden. You've debated Dennis Kucinich. You've debated the best out there. You are one of the most gifted public speakers of our age. I would think, Mr. President, you would jump at this opportunity. Don't send lightweights like Begala and Carville to do your bidding -- and forget about the ballerina, Emanuel. He's got things to do in his office. These people, compared to you, Mr. President, are rhetorical chum.
I would rather have an intelligent, open discussion with you where you lay out your philosophy and policies and I lay out mine -- and we can question each other, in a real debate. Any time here at the EIB Network studios. If you're too busy partying or flying around giving speeches and so forth, then send Vice President Biden. I'm sure he would be very capable of articulating your vision for America -- and if he won't work, send Geithner, and we can talk about the tax code. And if that won't work, go get Bob Rubin. I don't care. Send whoever you want if you can't make it. You don't need to be leaking stories to Politico like this thing that's published today. You don't need to have your allies writing op-eds and all the rest. If you can win at this, then come here and beat me at my own game, and get rid of me once and for all, and show all the people of America that I am wrong.... It's a great idea, but he won't do it. Buck-buck-Baraaaaawk!
Posted by: Mike ||
03/04/2009
16:36 ||
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#1
I'll predict now, that even with the MSM in his back pocket, obambi will be several times more embattled by the middle of his first only term than they ever hoped for with Bush in their sickest dreams...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/04/2009 17:43
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#2
Going after Rush was always a hair-brained idea.
What do they all have in common? Most likely, none of them is getting invited to the White House Christmas party.
All three media personalities have been singled out by President Obama's press shop in the course of less than two weeks. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, in doing so, has shown an unusual willingness to spar with cable and radio hosts who take shots at his boss. The rebuttals have ranged from playful ribbing to disdainful scolding.
Talk show host Limbaugh has drawn the most ire from the White House. Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel called him out on Sunday for saying he wants Obama to fail, after Obama told Republican lawmakers not to listen to people like Limbaugh several weeks ago.
Gibbs followed up Monday, calling on conservative pundits to challenge Limbaugh on air. "Do they want to see the president's economic agenda fail? You know, I bet there are a number of guests on television throughout the day and maybe into tomorrow who could let America know whether -- whether they agree with what Rush Limbaugh said this weekend," Gibbs said. But then he took a shot at those who applauded Limbaugh during his address to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington over the weekend.
"You know, I'd like to think, and I think most people would like to think, that we can put aside our differences and get things done for the American people. We'll say, in watching a few cable clips of Mr. Limbaugh's speech, his notion of presidential failures seemed to be quite popular in the room in which he spoke," he said.
Gibbs repeated his call for Republicans to speak up on whether they agree with Limbaugh Tuesday. Limbaugh has said that while he wants Obama to fail, he doesn't want the economy to fail.
Donald Rieck, executive director at the Center for Media and Public Affairs, said the Obama team, which studies have shown received far more favorable press treatment during the campaign than its rivals, is apparently having trouble acclimating to a more critical press post-Inauguration Day. "If they're going to do this, to jump like that every time someone says something provocative about them, it's going to be an awfully long tenure for Gibbs, because there's a way to let this roll off your shoulders," he said.
Gibbs didn't stop at Limbaugh, who Democrats eagerly claim speaks for the Republican Party in the absence of a clear leader. (House Republican Leader John Boehner asserted Wednesday that the White House was intentionally elevating Limbaugh to distract from their budget.)
On Tuesday, Gibbs also responded to a question about CNBC host Jim Cramer's claim that Obama's economic policies represent the "greatest wealth destruction" by a president. "If you turn on a certain program, it's geared to a very small audience, no offense to my good friends or friend at CNBC," Gibbs said.
Gibbs tried to hedge at first, saying, "this is where I have to probably be careful," and "I'm not entirely sure what he's pointing to," and "I'm going to get in a lot of trouble."
That was almost certainly a reference to the last time he went after a CNBC reporter -- Rick Santelli. In late February, Gibbs responded at length to Santelli's on-air rant at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, in which he stirred up traders by shouting that the government was promoting "bad behavior" with its mortgage rescue plan. "This is America," he said. "How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills?"
Asked about the segment, Gibbs said: "I'm not entirely sure where Mr. Santelli lives or in what house he lives. But the America people are struggling every day to meet their mortgage."
He said Santelli argued "quite wrongly" that the plan was ineffective and concluded by inviting him to the White House for a cup of "decaf" coffee. "I would encourage him to read the president's plan and understand that it will help millions of people, many of whom he knows. I would be more than happy to have him come here and read it. I'd be happy to buy him a cup of coffee -- decaf."
The press in the room laughed at the quip, but Santelli later said he felt personally threatened by the White House.
Still, Gibbs said Tuesday he did not actually get in a "lot of trouble" for singling out Santelli. "There are very few days that I've had more fun," Gibbs said.
#1
Yup, wondered if Santelli felt that way, "I don't know what house he lives in" then lizard lick seemed ominous to me. At any rate, so what if Santelli lives in a nice house - I would trust a finance man in a crappy house as much as I would trust a thin chef.
Mr. Gibbs, think thats fun why don't you get out your bubble and visit real America and say your lines - got a great little watering hole here, I'll even buy. We'll even be a bit easy on you and keep the obama shirt wearers out - well they were wearing them up to a week ago and now they are pissed.
Let me start. Gibbs - you are talking point coward who panders to a stacked audience like groupies at a P. Diddy concert. Obama is a jellyfish avenger with his inflamatory dialogue but in comparison your 3rd rate dancing bear in the 3rd ring of a 3rd rate circus attempt to replicate what he told you to say. It is a bad imitation and you are a Peter Principle hack.
#2
...Limbaugh, who Democrats eagerly claim speaks for the Republican Party in the absence of a clear leader. (House Republican Leader John Boehner asserted Wednesday that the White House was intentionally elevating Limbaugh to distract from their budget.)
Obama is making Rush mainstream and will regret it.
#4
Get used to it, bad boy, because it's going to get worse. It won't be BDS-type criticism, either - it'll be richly-deserved, measured criticism of your boss's policies and beliefs, backed up with facts.
Posted by: OId Patriot ||
03/04/2009 20:11
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#5
Gibbs is a lightweight, sniveling pu$$y. My prediction he'll be unterbus'd within the next 30 days. Rahm says, dump da phuech'r, Barry wills it.
MOSUL, Iraq - Nooses fashioned from heavy black cables hang from the rafters, collecting dust in a smashed metal building across from an Iraqi army headquarters in this northern city.
The buildings, once used by insurgents to torture and execute those they considered infidels, stand as a monument to the sectarian hatreds that have made Mosul Iraqs most dangerous city. Increasingly, though, they also represent growing tensions among those meant to defend the city from religious extremists.
As U.S. and Iraqi forces start to make gains in one of the last urban insurgent strongholds, a war of words among the Sunni, Shiite, and Kurdish military units here is threatening to widen the divisions among Mosuls ethnic groups and to distract Iraqi soldiers and police from a crucial effort to clear the city of militants.
Pointing the finger
In the mind of Gen. Baha Hussein Abed, all of Mosuls problems stem from foreigners. Syria, Iran, Kuwait, even the United Arab Emirates are sending militants to destabilize the city, according to Baha, though no one has done more harm, he says, than the Kurds.
"There is a conspiracy," the Sunni Arab general said of his Kurdish security forces counterparts alleged plans to control the city.
Blaming local woes on foreigners is not unusual in Iraq.
But Baha commands thousands of Iraqi army troops in Mosul who must work side-by-side with Kurds and Shiites.
When pressed on how many foreigners have actually been arrested on terrorism charges, he admits there have been only two in the past four months, and no Kurds.
For good measure, though, he also throws a barb at the Shiites, the religious majority in Iraq who share a common faith with most Iranians.
"They send terrorists to us and we build embassies there," he said of Iran.
A common slur against Shiites in Iraq is to call them "Iranians," though Abed adds that he harbors no ill-will toward Shiites or Kurds in general.
In fact, U.S. and Iraqi forces believe Sunni extremists are behind most of majority-Sunni Mosuls security issues, a fact oft-repeated by non-Sunni Arab soldiers.
Brig. Gen. Azad Hawezi, who commands the Kurdish Peshmerga forces that control the northern outskirts of Mosul, goes so far as to blame Arab Iraqi army soldiers for having a hand in a recent suicide car bombing in the city that killed four U.S. soldiers, including a battalion commander, in a Humvee.
"How did that guy driving the car bomb know the commander was in the truck?" he said.
U.S. in the middle
While rival military commanders cook up conspiracy theories, Mosul remains a deeply dangerous, economically ravaged city where Iraqi security forces are the main target of daily bombings, shootings and grenade attacks. Iraqi and U.S. forces are in the midst of Operation Ninevah Resolve, a months-long, house-to-house effort to rid Mosul of insurgents.
With Iraqi forces already in the lead, at least officially, and U.S. forces set to pull back from cities and towns on June 30, it will be commanders like Baha and Hawezi who decide the long-term fate of Mosul.
The tensions threaten to spill into violence, with U.S. troops already having stepped in twice this month to defuse standoffs between Kurdish and Arab forces in and around Mosul. It puts U.S. commanders in a delicate position between two allies, and means more time not spent on efforts to root out militants.
"I will not take sides between the Peshmerga and Jaish Iraqi," said U.S. Army Capt. Matt Sucec, using the Arabic words for "Iraqi army."
But the bad blood at the top filters down to the rank-and-file soldiers and officers, and there are already reports of harassment at checkpoints targeting specific ethnicities and religions. Sucec, of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, works with local Iraqi military commanders and said its important for the U.S. to play the role of "honest broker" between the groups to stem this trickle down effect.
"It has the potential to be a sticking point for Kurd-Arab relations," he said.
Hawezi, the Peshmerga general, sits in an office high above the deep blue waters of Lake Saddam just north of Mosul and next to a giant concrete metaphor for the citys combustible ethnic mix of Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Turkmen and Christians. His men guard a creaking dam there built haphazardly on soft rock ill-suited to hold the massive structure. All day, every day, engineers pump concrete under the dam to prevent it from bursting, a catastrophe that could put Mosuls 2 million residents under 50 feet of water.
The general proclaims to harbor no ill will toward Arabs, but sounded an ominous note when talking about the possibility of Arab Iraqi army soldiers venturing into his territory.
A deep fissure in the worlds security shield runs through a bucolic valley in central Pakistan, an area about as big as the state of Delaware. There, in a region known as Swat, Taliban extremists have fought the Pakistani army to a draw. They won agreement to establish a safe-haven in Swat, just 100 miles from Islamabad, the capital. And dont expect them to stop there.
We are aware of the fact that the Taliban are trying to take over the state of Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari declared last month. We are fighting for our survival. Fighting and losing.
I.E. Rehman, head of Pakistans Human Right Commission, says the Taliban are now poised to take over the Punjab province, home to 60 percent of the population. Already, anti-government riots are consuming Punjab over the court decision last week to disqualify opposition-party leader Nawaz Sharif from elective office. The court also sanctioned his brother, Shahbaz, the provinces chief minister. If Punjab falls to the Taliban, Pakistan is lost, and that possibility should frighten everyone in the world. What would prevent the Taliban, and their Al Qaeda allies, from taking possession of Pakistans nuclear-weapons arsenal?
Already religious extremists have strong bases across" Punjab and sympathizers in all arenas: political parties, services, the judiciary, the middle class even the media, Rehman wrote in Pakistans Dawn newspaper a few days ago. For its part, the government is handicapped because of its failure to offer good governance and restore faith in the frayed judicial system.
In other words, Pakistanis know full well that their leaders are thoroughly corrupt and self-interested. To them, the court ruling on the Sharifs, Zardaris arch-rivals, is only the latest evidence. Transparency Internationals worldwide corruption index ranks Pakistan in the bottom third, in the company of Mozambique and Paraguay. When Zadari last served in government more than a decade ago, he was widely known as Mr. Ten Percent, for the bribes he extracted from most everyone.
One reason some residents of the Swat valley accepted the Taliban, they have been telling reporters, is that their courts are thoroughly corrupt. They have no justice. The Taliban, at least, mete out justice untainted by money. They order floggings and beheadings as they see fit, then describe the punishments on their illegal FM radio stations.
All of this sounds distressingly familiar. Havent we seen this play before in Cuba, Cambodia, Iran, Nicaragua? In all four states, richly corrupt governments that were ill-serving the people still received unqualified and unquestioning support from Washington. American patronage of corrupt leaders fed enthusiasm for Fidel Castros guerrilla army in Cuba, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the Islamic revolution in Iran and the Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua. Certainly each of these previous revolutions had its own unique dynamics, and one big difference in Pakistan is that Zardari won an election. The previous four were unelected dictators.
Still, the pattern is clear. Each nation faced a popular insurgency it was unable to defeat. At this point in the uprising, no one in Washington predicted that the government was in danger. But in each case, the governments response was ineffectual while government leaders insisted they had everything under control. Meantime, the protesters or insurgents grew ever-more confident as they sensed the governments weakness.
And so it was in the Swat Valley last month, when a Pakistani military offensive failed, and the army was left to fire artillery shells ineffectually from a safe distance. They had no choice but to accept the Talibans terms for a truce or surrender. The regions new rulers can impose strict Islamic law, and the military has agreed to leave them alone unless attacked.
Then came the next scripted moment in this play: In Islamabad government officials are insisting there is nothing to worry about. This is in no way a sign of weakness, Sherry Rahman, the information minister, averred. Other officials contend that the agreement is consistent with the nations constitution. Still, on Monday Pakistan vowed to appoint Islamic judges immediately, to placate Swats new rulers.
In Washington, not surprisingly, no one seems alarmed. Asked about the Swat surrender a few days ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said only that our Special Representative, Richard Holbrooke, and others are working with the government in Pakistan to understand exactly what they intend with their recent announcement and how we're supposed to interpret it.
Meantime, the Taliban are growing cocky, and hundreds of Taliban fighters from neighboring areas are flooding into Swat, their new home base. Last week, some Taliban leaders announced an indefinite ceasefire in the Swat Valley. But the most powerful of them, Maulana Fazullah, sniffed at that and proclaimed over his FM station that he would observe a cease-fire for only 10 days.
We all know the next act in this drama. Somebody needs to close the curtain before it begins.
#1
Iran is run by preachers and is as corrupt as any other country. There is no promise of a reduction of corruption just because you put a preacher in charge of things.
#2
If it weren't for the nukes, I'd say let the talibs have that shithole. In the end, we'll have to man up and finish 'em off, wherever, however, or learn to be just like them. What fun...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/04/2009 17:18
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#3
i doubt the talibunnies would have enough since too know how too set the nuke off and if they figured it out then i'm pretty sure India would nuke them into a mirror in the moutains
PARIS: The new French special envoy to Afghanistan, Pierre Lellouche, said in an interview published Wednesday that NATO allies fighting on Afghan soil must not revert to the unilateral approach taken by former US president George W. Bush.
"It is normal that we act as co-pilots in the international strategy in Afghanistan," Lellouche told the daily Le Monde. "We must not again fall into the American unilateral excesses of the Bush administration, which provoked a deep gulf between the United States and its NATO allies.
Lellouche said Paris would "test" the dialogue proposed by President Barack Obama. "Let us hope that it works. The stakes are too great," he said, and added: "We will not stay in Afghanistan indefinitely."
French officials have repeatedly declared that they had no intention of deploying more soldiers to Afghanistan. France currently has some 3,300 troops there, including military instructors. And yet they want to be 'co-pilots' ...
However, Obama has said he intends to increase the US troop strength in Afghanistan, and has frequently asked NATO members to provide more soldiers as well.
Lellouche said that the conflict in Afghanistan was a war, and not an "international police operation", as French Defence Minister Herve Morin described it last autumn. "The proof is that France spends nearly 200 million euros ($250 million) a year on its army in that country," while spending only 11 million euros on civilian aid, he said.
#1
Have another glass of wine, Pierre. When you sober up and earn the position of copilot, then we'll talk. Better to just sleep off your fantasies for now. Nightie night!
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/04/2009 14:58
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#2
You can add this to the list of reasons (ie causes) why we will fail in Afghanistan.
#3
The term co-pilot would seem to have one believe that the pilot and co-pilot are equal. The fact is the co-pilot is subserviant to the Pilot. Deal with it, Pierre.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/04/2009 17:56
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#4
If the plane is in Afghanistan, and the French are note, how can they be the co-pilot?
President Obama, After listening to your speech on the 27th of February 2009, in which you declared your general and public understanding of the ongoing war against our people, and gave your military and the honorable people of the United States brief points on your intentions in our country, we felt the spirit of the speech that your predecessor President JFK gave on the 20th of January 1961, on his inaugural address. In this speech, he offered a turbulent world, a way out of tensions and paid with his own blood for challenging the interests of those in your consecutive governments who hold the true keys to power. Those who would do anything to preserve their interests, wealth, & power to create wars & conflict.
We mention this with great honesty in hope to spread awareness and remembrance that a new Caesar may be betrayed, by his own, if he chooses to follow a different path. We do believe, on the other hand, that the spirit of the speech was well chosen.
You have spoken to our people in part of your speech, and we thank you for these words, you have displayed a far better understanding our nation, than your predecessor, who preferred to dive deep into the oceans of illiteracy and ignorance. Despite the fact that you did not mention the Iraqi resistance in your speech, and chose to label us as terrorists along with those who arrived with your troops, we will set that aside for now, and mention a few facts for the record.
1- The people of Iraq whom you addressed, in all their sects colors and religions, refuse your occupation, and those who accept it, are those who benefit from it.
2- The Iraqis you addressed, as we truly hope, are not the ones who bathe in the riches of treason, behind your walls of the green zone, nor are they the likes of Ahmed Al Chalabi, whom your previous government conspired with and his likes from the dark alleys of 5 star hotels in the US and Europe prior to your occupation.
3- The Iraqi people you talked to, are those who never invited your occupation, and were trying their best to survive on what was possible, under the criminal sanctions that went on for 13 years only to be crowned with a foreign occupation, unmatched in criminal acts, in todays modern world.
We the Iraqi People and their resistance demand the following:
1- The fulfillment of all the conditions presented to your government through the mediators you
Sent in 2006.
2- The hand over of all the traitors & Collaborators in the green zone to the Iraqi people where
They will be dealt with as any nation would do with in cases of high treason.
3- The full & just compensation for our people for the losses they have suffered.
4- The halting of all compensations paid to those who fall under your umbrella in the region from the resources of our people.
5- The return of all land stolen from our country.
6- The departure of all foreign corporations mainly in the sectors of energy, communication, & infrastructure rebuilding, specifically those linked to Neocon interests. Our people are more than qualified to rebuild and operate our institutions.
7- The hand over of all mercenaries accused of killing innocent civilians mainly security contractors in Black Water and their CEO to be tried for murder.
8- All foreign advisors are to leave Iraq with your troops.
9- The dismantling of all militias equipped by your country and Iran together to shift the nature of battle towards the sectarian nature in order to allow your troops to concentrate on the major resistance activities in the central region of Iraq.
10- The halting of all support to the sectarian government elected in the orchestrated elections in the green zone.
11- The reduction of the influence of your Persian allies in Iraq which your previous government worked with in close conjunction and who continue to fund Al Qaeda on behalf of your intelligence agencys behalf.
12- The return to the old constitution of a unified Iraq. And the Upholding of new elections
Within 6 months of the resistance taking power of the nation, this will be supervised,
By must be conducted in the presence of a number of credible international monitors. Not the ones Sponsored by the CIA.
13- Cities and provinces are to be handed over one by one starting with the four main cities and airports of Baghdad, Basra, then Mosul and Kirkuk in the same order. The rest will fall immediately in our hands. The borders will have other arrangements.
In case anyone in Turkey is on line: hiçbir ºey için teºekkürler
ANKARA (AFP) -- Turkey's government is open to the United States using its military bases during Washington's planned withdrawal of troops from neighbouring Iraq, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said Wednesday. "We have not received a concrete request, but if a request is made to us, we will evaluate it," he said, cited by Anatolia news agency. "But frankly our attitude is favourable."
Media reports have suggested such a demand could be made when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Ankara on Saturday as part of a regional tour. Demand? Sounds more like a plea ...
"We will speak clearly about the quantity and the nature of the equipment that will transit and the time that it will take to carry out the process," Babacan said of the upcoming discussions with the Americans.
On Friday, US President Barack Obama ordered an end to US combat in Iraq by August 31, 2010. Up to 50,000 US troops are to remain under a new mission until the end of 2011. There are currently some 142,000 US troops in Iraq.
Turkey, a NATO member, refused in 2003 to open a northern front against Iraq from its territory for the United States, provoking a chill in relations between Ankara and Washington. More recently, Turkish forces have carried out raids on Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq with the help of intelligence supplied by the United States.
Most of the population in heavily Muslim Turkey is opposed to the US. We're not too happy with them, either ...
#1
looks like an attempt to get some war materials on teh cheap - hoping we'll just leave it behind for the Turks rather than shipping it home. How about "not one f*cking bullet"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2009 20:02
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#2
WORLD AFFAIRS BOARD > TURKEY, RUSSIA INK/SIGN STRATEGIC ALLIANCE.
Also on WAB/TOPIX > GUATEMALA WILL CONSIDER BUYING RUSSIAN WEAPONS IN EXHCANGE FOR FOOD.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan- Unmanned aircraft have begun targeting Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, a shift in strategy by the Obama administration that may reflect efforts to pre-empt a Taliban spring offensive against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. It's good even on general principles ...
The U.S. military avoided hitting Mehsud's forces in 2007 and 2008, during the Bush administration, when the Taliban leader waged a campaign of suicide bombings inside Pakistan and humiliated the Pakistani army in his tribal stronghold near the Afghan border. However, Mehsud formed an alliance last month with two other Taliban commanders in North and South Waziristan, a potentially significant development because territory controlled just by Mehsud does not touch the Afghan border. With the alliance, he now has an inlet to Afghanistan.
Sarfaraz Khan, a professor at the University of Peshawar, traced the new U.S. aggressiveness to the Taliban alliance. "In order to stop unifying Taliban groups from launching massive attacks against NATO and in particular newly arriving U.S. troops in Afghanistan, such attacks have become indispensable on Americans' part," he said.
On Sunday, two missile strikes suspected to have come from U.S. drones killed up to 12 people and injured scores in a Mehsud stronghold in the South Waziristan tribal zone, a senior Pakistani official in the South Waziristan capital, Wana, told The Washington Times. The missiles hit a compound in Haibat Khel village within the Sararogha area of South Waziristan. Militants loyal to Mehsud immediately cordoned off the area. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for attribution, could not confirm published reports that the dead included four foreign-born militants.
Targeting Mehsud strongholds in South Waziristan represents a shift that began shortly after President Obama took office. A Feb. 14 strike that killed more than 30 people was apparently the first to hit Mehsud's tribal homeland. Other attacks on Mehsud followers have been reported in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, including a Feb. 16 drone attack in Kurram. One of Mehsud's lieutenants, Hakimullah Mehsud, had been put in charge of that region.
CIA Director Leon E. Panetta, when asked last week whether Mehsud poses a threat to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, spoke in general terms without mentioning Mehsud by name. "Obviously, you know, we have identified those militants and terrorists that constitute a threat not only to U.S. forces and to Americans and people in Afghanistan, but also those that constitute threats to the Pakistanis, and we are working with the Pakistanis to identify those who represent common threats to both of us in our efforts," he told reporters at his first press conference since taking office. Panetta also said: "What is important is that we do everything possible to disrupt their leadership and to make sure that they are not able to come together in a way that makes them effective in terms of going after Americans."
Sararogha, where the missiles struck Sunday, is known as the site of a 2005 attempt by the Pakistani government to negotiate a truce with the Taliban.
When Pakistani forces launched an offensive against Mehsud in 2007 after the truce collapsed, his fighters captured scores of Pakistani troops and ransomed them for militants held in Pakistani jails. Both Pakistani and U.S. officials have accused Mehsud of leading the December 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud denied any involvement, and Bhutto's followers said later that they doubted he was responsible.
During the Bush administration, the apparent immunity of Mehsud and his forces from U.S. drone attacks prompted a spate of rumors that the militant leader was somehow involved with the Americans.
After Sunday's attack, local tribesmen told The Times that they expect Mehsud to retaliate by targeting U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Mehsud is the head of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organization of Pakistani Taliban, as well as the undeclared leader of the recent alliance known as the Shura Ittehadul Mujahedeen (SIM). In forming the alliance, militant commanders said they had two goals: fighting U.S. troops in Afghanistan and imposing Shariah law throughout Pakistan's tribal areas.
Syed Alam Mehsud, vice president of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party in the North West Frontier Province, told The Times that the missile strikes will have a profound impact. "It seems the Americans have come to realize that after the unification of major Taliban groups and Baitullah being its head, the TTP chief is the real threat and that is why they have started striking his strongholds with missiles from drones," he said. He added, "I think Baitullah's turn has come. The reason is the anticipated spring offensive of Taliban to start in April and the arrival of thousands of additional [U.S. troops] in Afghanistan's south."
#1
So, what is the life expectency of a Mehsud body guard? Less than mine, probably.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
03/04/2009 15:02
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#2
i thought they had thought the ahd killed this guy like 12 times already and missed using predators but there are about 2 million mehsuds in that part of the world
#3
I'm all for the USA making deal with predators to bring in that guy as a trophy skull, but, come on, shouldn't have they gone for the aliens, instead? No deals, just turn one face-hugger loose over there, and let nature follows its course.
Supporters of Pakistans right wing party Jammat-e-Islami hold a placard as they chant anti-U.S. slogans during a protest rally against the U.S. missile strikes in the Pakistani tribal areas, along the Afghanistan border in Lahore, November 26, 2008. U.S. forces in Afghanistan have carried out at least 26 air strikes by unmanned aircraft on militant targets in northwest Pakistan this year, according to a Reuters tally, more than half since the start of September. REUTERS
Posted by: john frum ||
03/04/2009 17:02
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And we have 100 of them for you. Still wanna trade?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/04/2009 18:51
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#8
they can't even get their nukes over here and we probably have a few thousand left over from the cold war for yall. and would be more than glad to give themm to you free from about 30,000 ft
Passengers are angry about being forced to fly on a new Southwest Airlines plane featuring a bikini-clad model, saying it is "soft porn" and is offensive to families.
Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli, currently dating actor Leonardo DiCaprio, is pictured lying seductively in a revealing white bikini along the length of the Boeing 737 as part of a promotional deal with Sports Illustrated.
The latest addition to the US-based airline was unveiled this month and is deployed like other aircraft in the fleet, servicing all its routes. Photos here.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/04/2009
13:24 ||
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#4
If I were a passenger, I'd be angry too! I'd want her painted on the inside of the fuselage, so I can enjoy the scenery for the entire flight.
Posted by: Dar ||
03/04/2009 14:11
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#5
If people are upset by a painting, but the advertising company wants the campaign to continue, why not look for a better way, and take the high ground? I say, glue that gal to the nose of the plane! Problem solved.
Sure they do. They go down to the redneck riviera in their bass boat and look at their ugly wives' beer guts hanging out over tops of their spandex shorts and leer at their daughters' skimpily clad teeny bopper school friends. Then they vote for huckabee, and all the rest of us lose...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/04/2009 17:13
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#10
M. Murcek, I take it you've never been to the Redneck Riveria.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/04/2009 18:35
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#11
Wonder how many 'insulted' passengers decline their Southwest seat and took another airline to their destination? /rhetorical question
There's a reason you fly Southwest. They don't compete with the other airlines, they compete with the bus company.
Ill be 63 soon. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce, and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, Ive worked, hard, since I was 18. Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and havent called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didnt inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, theres no retirement in sight, and Im tired. Very tired.
Im tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth around" to people who dont have my work ethic. Im tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy or stupid to earn it.
Im tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, Im willing to help. But if they bought McMansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the leftwing Congresscritters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them--with their own money.
Im tired of being told how bad America is by leftwing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros and Hollywood entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the religious freedom and womens rights of Saudi Arabia, the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for Gay people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. Wont multiculturalism be beautiful?
Im tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor;" of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they arent "believers;" of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery;" of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Quran and Sharia law tells them to.
I believe "a man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin." Im tired of being told that "race doesnt matter" in the post-racial world of President Obama, when its all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of US Senators from Illinois. I think its very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the emancipation proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less in an all-knowing government.
Im tired of a news media that thinks Bushs fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obamas, at triple the cost, were wonderful. That thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress, that picked over every line of Bushs military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his, that slammed Palin with two years as governor for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever.
Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox News? Get a clue. I didnt vote for Bush in 2000, but the media and Kerry drove me to his camp in 2004.
Im tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.
Im tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three-bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gores, and if youre greener than Gore, youre green enough.
Im tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I dont think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs. And Im tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.
Im tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers," especially the ones who arent working, but are living on welfare or crime. Whats next? Calling drug dealers, "Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no, Im not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic and its been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. Im willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person who can speak English, doesnt have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military. Those are the citizens we need.
Im tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people then themselves. Do bad things happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave? Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years--and still are? Not even close. So heres the deal. Ill let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt. Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then well compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.
Im tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers--bums are bi-partisan. And Im tired of people telling me we need bi-partisanship. I live in Illinois, where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats and Republicans has worked together harmoniously to loot the public for years. And I notice that the tax cheats in Obamas cabinet are bi-partisan as well.
Im tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. Im tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.
Speaking of poor, Im tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didnt have that in 1970, but we didnt know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing.
Im real tired of people who dont take responsibility for their lives and actions. Im tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination, or big-whatever for their problems.
Yes, Im damn tired. But Im also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, Im not going to get to see the world these people are making. Im just sorry for my granddaughter.
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts state senate. He blogs.
#4
No kidding - I'm going to bookmark and link like crazy. Believe me, around here in San Antonio, he wouldn't be alone in feeling like this. He'd have a lot of people agreeing with him, down to the last sentence.
Congressman Aaron Schock, at the ripe old age of 27, visited the Conservative Bloggers' Briefing at Heritage today and spoke on a range of issues, but told a particularly interesting story regarding a visit with President Obama to the Caterpillar plant in Peoria, Illinois last month.
The giant plant on the east bank of the Illinois River is home to the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines. As reported previously, CEO Jim Owens said, in response to Obama's claims of the stimulus bill's elixir-like power to create jobs: "I think realistically no. The truth is we're going to have more layoffs before we start hiring again."
The February 12th speech in Schock's home district merited a ride on Air Force One during which Schock said the President "Didn't lobby me heavily. It was really when we got in front of everone." Believing he was on friendly turf, Obama called out the young Congressman at the beginning of his speech:
PRESIDENT OBAMA: ...Congressman Schock -- where is he? He's back here. He's right here. Stand up, Aaron. This is -- (applause). Aaron's still trying to make up his mind about our recovery package.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah!
(Laughter.)
PRESIDENT OBAMA: So, you know, he has a chance to be in the mold of Bob Michel and Ray LaHood. And so we're -- we know that all of you are going to talk to him --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah!
PRESIDENT OBAMA: -- after our event, because he's a very talented young man. I've got great confidence in him to do the right thing for the people of Peoria.
"I was very surprised to be called out the way I was," said Schock at today's Briefing.
His next line drew hearty laughter from the surrounding bloggers. "The funny part was, I stuck around for 45 minutes while he was in there taking pictures...and [the Caterpillar employees] came up to me and said 'Hey Aaron, stick to your guns. This is a bad bill'. The irony was..the local...UAW did not endorse the stimulus bill."
Later, through calls and emails, Caterpillar employees continued to urge Schock not to vote for the stimulus bill. "I had fourteen hundred Caterpillar employees alone urging me to vote against it," he said.
After the rally, Schock, the President and CEO Jim Owens boarded Air Force One. Schock said he sat nervously next to Owens, having believed Obama when he said Owens supported the stimulus. "I know Jim Owens, guy's a Phd, graduate of Wharton...this guy's smarter than this. I don't think this is something he'd say. So I got on the plane and leaned over to him and said: Jim, are you really promoting this bill?"
Schock paraphrased Owen's response: "Aaron, I got ambushed. The President called me up and said, 'Jim what would it take for you to re-hire people at Caterpillar?'" Owens responded by saying if a "responsible stimulus bill" was passed, he would be able to re-hire workers.
"And so the President left that phone call and went out and said "The CEO of Caterpillar said if my bill passes--well, he made a couple of assumptions: first, that his stimulus bill was responsible--which it wasnt. And number two, that it was going to get the economy going again-which it didn't," concluded Schock.
Despite clever marketing and direct pressure from a popular President, the ugly head of economic reality refuses to hide. This Caterpillar anectdote is a perfect example of why mere spending does not equal economic growth. If government spending truly created growth, we should be borrowing and spending trillions of dollars every minute of every day, till the end of time.
But it doesn't. Incentivizing businesses and individuals by allowing them to keep their money through tax cuts does, however, create net growth and attract investment.
A new route to take cargo to American and NATO forces in Afghanistan has opened, American officials said Tuesday, providing an alternative to the primary supply route through the troubled border with Pakistan as it comes increasingly under threat.
Some of the cargo, which is made up of commercial goods, was rolling by rail through Russian territory on Tuesday, said Capt. Kevin Aandahl, the spokesman for United States Transportation Command. The cargo enters Europe at the port cities of Riga, Latvia, and Poti, Georgia. For now, the cargo will enter Afghanistan from Uzbekistan, but some is expected to travel through neighboring Tajikistan in the future, said Western diplomatic officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, following normal diplomatic protocol.
As the United States begins increasing its war effort in landlocked Afghanistan and the security in Pakistan deteriorates, the issue of supply lines has become crucial. Bagram Air Base, the main hub for forces in Afghanistan, moved over 50 percent more cargo and people in January than in the same period in 2008, the military said.
But the new route is complex, covering a diverse set of countries, some of which dislike one another and few of which have first-class infrastructure. It will also not be a replacement for Pakistan, which currently allows the shipment of between 2,000 and 3,000 containers a month into Afghanistan. The new route is expected to handle about 500, Captain Aandahl said, and the shipments will include nonlethal goods like food, water and construction materials.
#3
3dc, have you looked at the road net from western China into Afghanistan and the ex-Soviet 'stans? It's not literally non-existent, but there's not much of anything out there. It makes the Caucasus look like the Baltimore Beltway. I can't find a single goddamn road directly from China to Afghanistan on the maps.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/04/2009 14:31
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#4
There is no civil government in Pakistan. People who don't understand that don't understand Pakistan. There is the military/ISI sponsored and tolerated civilians who maintain the fiction of a civilian government. On the other side is the Taliban and their allies.
Both sides agree more than disagree. They all believe in Islam, sharia, and the 'Land of the Pure'. They believe that the Juice and the Hindooz are their mortal enemies. Both sets of leaders believe that the country should work for them.
Their disagreements are simple: they disagree on how much sharia and how quickly, they disagree on whether they should keep taking the money from gullible westerners, and they disagree on exactly who should wear the bejeweled turban and golden slippers. That's about it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2009 14:44
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#4
If I found that India was ready to go to war with me because of a terrorist attack, I might consider a false-flag attack within my own country so that I could also be perceived as a victim. This would rally my nation and idiot foreigners around me despite all the evidence that I had something to do with the India attack.
Of course I'd want to attack someone else, not my own people. That's all I'm saying.
#5
I suspect Pakistani intelligence will find out the attack was done by Tamils (despite whatever the evidence might actually show). This will work well in turning India's moslems against India in any agression against Pakistan and throw conspiratorial doubt into India's own evidence. If Pakistan is lucky India might take the bait and stomp the crap out of the Tamil Tigers. A war that nobody would care about but which they could win and make a big deal as peacemakers.
#6
I suspect the FBI will be able to produce records of cell phone conversations and email exchanges that disprove anything Pakistani intelligence might come up with... and that nobody will believe the Pakistanis except the stupids among their own citizenry.
Its official - I will not be getting a high-level appointment in the Barack Obama administration.
OK, so it was always a longshot, but now its a certainty. I just got the news in a letter from the federal government - not from the White House, but from the Internal Revenue Service.
I have completed the examination of your tax return for the year(s) shown above (2007), it began. I am pleased to inform you Im proposing no change to your tax return.
In other words, I am not a tax cheat, and Ive got it in writing.
I wasnt going to mention this until Tim Geithner, the tax-evading Treasury Secretary, came out yesterday for tax fairness - that is, higher taxes. The fact that he said it in front of Rep. Charlie Rangel, another confessed tax cheat, made his breath-taking hypocrisy even more aggravating.
Geithner, you may recall, didnt pay withholding taxes for years and years, even though he signed affidavits saying he had. Even worse, he illegally took a tax write-off for his kids overnight-summer camp. The Geithner doctrine: tax fairness for you and me, tax cheating for the Beautiful People....
Posted by: Mike ||
03/04/2009
11:25 ||
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#1
Howie's been getting audited since the Dukakis days. He makes enemies.
And I still say Geithner looks like one of those guys that Chris Hansen nails on Dateline...
Why couldn't President Obama have put on more of a show for his British guests? He looked like he simply couldn't be bothered.
Number 10 may be content that they just about got away with the visit to the Oval Office yesterday, as Andrew Porter reports from Washington.
But on this side of the Atlantic the whole business looked pretty demeaning. The morning papers and TV last night featured plenty of comment focused on the White House's very odd and, frankly, exceptionally rude treatment of a British PM. Squeezing in a meeting, denying him a full press conference with flags etc. The British press corps, left outside for an hour in the cold, can take it and their privations are of limited concern to the public.
But Obama's merely warmish words (one of our closest allies, said with little sincerity or passion) left a bitter taste with this Atlanticist. Especially after his team had made Number 10 beg for a mini press conference and then not even offered the PM lunch.
We get the point, sunshine: we're just one of many allies and you want fancy new friends. Well, the next time you need something doing, something which impinges on your national security, then try calling the French, or the Japanese, or best of all the Germans. The French will be able to offer you first rate support from their catering corps but beyond that you'll be on your own.
When it comes to men, munitions and commitment you'll soon find out why it pays to at least treat the Brits with some manners.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
03/04/2009
11:24 ||
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#1
The French will be able to offer you first rate support from their catering corps ...
That, my friends, is how you do snark.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2009 11:31
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#2
It is strange, isn't it: Gordo should be a natural ally for Bambi. He replaced Tony Blair, he's getting the Brits out of Iraq, he says all the 'right' things about global warning and the financial crisis, and he's a proven tax-raiser. You'd think Gordo and Bambi would get along famously.
And yet Bambi really snubbed him, and snubbed him openly. Couldn't do the presser because of snow? I thought Bambi was a flinty Chicagoan who laughed at snow.
It's curious. I wonder if Bambi's Kenyan blood just plain hates the Brits?
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2009 11:33
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#3
Barry will eventually have to go over there. And we all know what payback is...
#5
Sorry Nigel. You wanted him. You bought him. All sales final.
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2009 11:51
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#6
Yoicks. That *is* a bit frosty. Obama has also declined the continuing loan of an expensive bronze bust of Churchill that has graced the Oval Office since the end of WWII.
I don't like this treatment of our true ally, but I must admit that the stories we run nearly daily here at the 'Burg are giving me much confidence in the ability (or desire, frankly) of the UK to stand against the Islamist tide.
Although of course rudeness and alienation will not do much to help the Brits either.
But the saying goes that nations do not have friends, or even allies pre se, just shared interests.
And perhaps Obama percieves our interests to be ... diverging.
#8
Now, now. Gordie did get to bask in the radiance of The One for a few moments. That should have been enough for a mere mortal, right?
(Memo to our British friends, he's just indulging in a little "payback" of his own. It's for when you didn't let him have the photo op he wanted in London last summer. Remember his performance of "Triumph of the Swill" in Berlin? The French kissed the royal posterior properly and you didn't. Silly peasants should have stroked The One's ego when you had the chance....now he doesn't feel that he needs you. Now get out of the bloody Oval Office before you harsh his mellow.)
#9
Prime Minister Brown and his government have been insulting the U.S. with great enthusiasm, starting when Mr. Bush was president and continuing even after Mr. Obama took office. PM Brown has made it clear they are not fond of America, so why should President Obama treat him as if the two countries are BFFs? As ye sow, so shall ye reap, and all that. Perhaps PM Brown should start earning the kind of treatment he and the British press desire.
#10
In particular, Brown has publicly announced that the US is responsible for all Britain's financial woes - and oh, by the way, he was coming to meet Obama so that they could jointly kick off a brand new international financial regime that is more to his liking.
He's lucky he wasn't met by a Tea Party, especially since we're bailing out AIG in part to keep his banks more or less afloat.
#11
Hopefully someday soon Mr. Brown will have a choice of which successor state to These United States he wants to be friends with: the one who insults him while shovelling large amounts of money in his direction, or the one who will do neither.
#14
But... but... America needs... (wait for it) allies!
(Don't they?)
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
03/04/2009 16:14
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#15
Just read the Telegraph and the Times. Their focus is on Brown's address to Congress and calls to avoid protectionism, which you can consider veiled criticism of Obama and Dem trade protectionist sentiments.
But then Brown can and has played the competitive (currency) devaluation game in a way the USA and the Eurozone can't.
President Nicolas Sarkozy and eight other top French politicians have received death threats in letters stuffed with bullets, officials say.
Anti-terrorism police are investigating the mysterious, identical 20-line typed letters, which were full of spelling mistakes and abusive language.
So the perp could be a member of the MSM ...
Senior members of Mr Sarkozy's centre-right UMP party were targeted, along with three cabinet ministers. Justice Minister Rachida Dati and former PM Alain Juppe were among them. Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and Culture Minister Christine Albanel also received such letters.
They contained 9mm or .38-calibre bullets, officials said.
The origin of the letters is not clear, nor is the motive known.
I think the motive is pretty clear ...
The Associated Press reports that the letter speaks of a mysterious "Cell 34", mentions 1,000 combatants, and describes the recipients as the legislators of "liberty-crushing" and "fascist" laws. The letter concludes with the statement: "This letter is the last. There will be a black out. Total silence."
Presidential polls in Afghanistan cannot be held next month as demanded by President Hamid Karzai and August 20 must remain the polling day as originally scheduled, the election commission said on Wednesday. Karzai issued a decree at the weekend calling for the poll to be moved forward to April to comply with the constitution, a move that stirred up political turmoil at a time when the threat from the Taliban insurgency is steadily increasing.
"Due to the weather, security, budgetary and technical problems that we have, the elections cannot be held on the basis of the presidential decree," said Azizullah Ludin, head of the government-appointed election commission.
A period of political horse-trading will now likely ensue. Opposition leaders will demand Karzai step down after May 21, as demanded by the constitution, or at least try to extract guarantees from the president not to use his office to campaign. The United States, Afghan opposition groups and rival presidential contenders all back the original August date.
The constitution says the president's term ends on May 21 and polls must be held at least a month before that.
Which makes you wonder why they weren't ready to run the polls when specified ...
Rival leaders had agreed with Karzai 11 months ago that it was impractical to hold an election in the spring because that would mean organizing it during the harsh Afghan winter.
We do local Chicago elections in February ...
But when the polls were set for August 20, those same opposition leaders began to raise doubts about Karzai's legitimacy to remain in office after May 21.
Given the huge security problems in Afghanistan, few think polls can be organized in little over a month, so Karzai's move effectively called the opposition's bluff. His decree is seen as a way of forcing opponents to recognize his legitimacy after May 21 and allow him to retain the advantages of office while he goes on the election campaign.
Ludin said at a news conference that, given the other factors and the commission's lack of preparedness for setting up polling stations on time, the elections would have to be held on August 20.
The United Nations special envoy to Afghanistan swiftly hailed the commission's decision, saying the original polling date was important for the political stability of the country and the legitimacy of its constitution. The date would also provide the time needed by the commission and part of the international community involved in helping the polls with funding and security for it, a statement quoted envoy Kai Eide as saying.
Again, why didn't the UN push last year to make sure the constitution was followed for a spring election?
This is absolutely NOT receiving any attention and need a lighthouse type light shining on it We've been following here at the Burg but the MSM is keep this very quiet ...
Charles Freeman is a career diplomat, a Saudi apologist, and a savage critic of Israel. He also argues that Beijing did not strike down the Tiananmen Square protesters with sufficient swiftness. Barack Obama proposes to make him head of the National Intelligence Council. It's an abominable appointment.
The National Intelligence Council is, as its website says, "a center of strategic thinking within the U.S. Government, reporting to the Director of National Intelligence . . . and providing the President and senior policymakers with analyses of foreign policy issues that have been reviewed and coordinated throughout the Intelligence Community." The NIC plays a crucial role in determining what specific intelligence the president consumes from the torrents of information gathered by 16 different agencies. As chairman, Freeman will decide how that intelligence is framed. So how does he view the world?
Freeman is a career foreign-policy savant, with several stints in the State Department and one in the Clinton Defense Department. He has distinguished himself as a rabid Israel-hater who regards the Jewish state's defensive measures as the primary cause of jihadist terror. He is a shameless apologist for Saudi Arabia (where he once served as U.S. ambassador) despite its well-documented record of exporting terrorists and jihadist ideology. And he is a long-time sycophant of Beijing, where he served as Richard Nixon's interpreter during the 1971 summit and later ran the U.S. diplomatic mission. Sounds like this guy needs to be given a globe and asked to point to the country he works for
His Chinese associations are alarming. Since 2004, Freeman has sat on the international advisory board of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, which is owned by the Communist government. Its 2005 attempt to purchase Unocal, the American oil giant, was thwarted by Congress for national-security reasons.
Brutal as his benefactors in Beijing have been, Freeman wished them more brutal still: The Weekly Standard has unearthed a 2006 e-mail in which Freeman faults Chinese authorities for not moving swiftly enough in 1989 to crush democracy demonstrators. "The truly unforgivable mistake of the Chinese authorities," wrote Freeman, "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." If America had moral courage we'd erect a life-sized bronze of the 'Goddess of Democracy' that the Chinese people had built in Tiananmen Square, and we'd put that bronze in the most public place we could in California.
With that in mind, it is unsettling that Freeman will play a key role in determining what intelligence the president sees -- and what he doesn't. As NIC chairman, he will have a strong hand in the production of National Intelligence Estimates, reports that are pivotal in determining the direction of U.S. policy. An errant NIE can be a dangerous thing. Recall the disastrous 2007 NIE that concluded, against the evidence, that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program in 2003. Though quickly abandoned, that NIE helped soften our national resolve to prevent Iran's development of nuclear weapons, even as the mullahs ramped up production.
Three of the major foreign-policy challenges the United States faces today involve the survival of Israel, the Saudis' promotion of radical Islam, and the ambitions of China. To navigate them, Obama has chosen a fierce critic of Israel -- our only reliable ally in the region where threats to the United States are most immediate -- whose track record is one of kowtowing to our enemies in the Mideast and our rivals in Beijing.
Freeman has an irrepressible instinct for the appalling. In a public forum in 2002, Freeman decried "America's lack of introspection about September 11." What commanded Freeman's attention was not the jihadist ideology that brought about the murder of nearly 3,000 of our fellow citizens, but what he described as "an ugly mood of chauvinism" in the United States. Americans, he maintained, "should examine ourselves" as we consider "what might have caused the attack." So we didn't ask ourselves 'why do they hate us' with enough fervor ...
The post of NIC chairman is an executive-staff appointment, meaning that Freeman, though an intimate Obama adviser, is not subject to vetting through Senate confirmation hearings. But what we already know is reason enough for alarm.
#5
This guy is the personification of the bad guy federal employee (CIA, State Dept, Black Hat secret whatever) that the liberals like to put in TV shows as the villain. Now he is BHØs nominee for head of the NIC!!
#6
It's been discussed at length in the Jewish press, and emails have been flying through the ether. This is a problem for Jewish liberal;, they were so very emphatic that the appointment of Rahm Emmanuel proved that Barack Obama really had loved Israel all along, and that evidence of his close friendships with open racists and antisemites thus proved nothing. I look forward to the next presidential election.
#8
"freier" is yiddish for "suckers" and has been adopted into Israeli Hebrew slang.
"nabel" is Hebrew (singular) for a fool with no potential to understand his foolishness. It is the 4th Hebrew word of Psalm 14 (or the 2nd word if you don't count the introductory two words "Lamnatzaich David" [a song of David]; I suppose nabelim would be the plural (I assume the gender of the noun is masculine because the verb that goes with it in the sentence is masculine but you never know)
#1
Tell a lie enough times and it becomes the truth...Joseph Goebbels
The brown shirts have arrived.
Is a "Krystal Nacht" for Republicans next?
All hail big brother?
A cult of personality, demonization of the opposition, discrediting religion and attacking the nuclear family....Lenin couldn't have done it better himself.
Posted by: James Carville ||
03/04/2009 10:44
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Sounds like Russian scholars are right up there with Islamic scholars...
MOSCOW -- If you're inclined to believe Igor Panarin, and the Kremlin wouldn't mind if you did, then President Barack Obama will order martial law this year, the U.S. will split into six rump-states before 2011, and Russia and China will become the backbones of a new world order.
Panarin might be easy to ignore but for the fact that he is a dean at the Foreign Ministry's school for future diplomats and a regular on Russia's state-guided TV channels. And his predictions fit into the anti-American story line of the Kremlin leadership.
"There is a high probability that the collapse of the United States will occur by 2010," Panarin told dozens of students, professors and diplomats Tuesday at the Diplomatic Academy -- a lecture the ministry pointedly invited The Associated Press and other foreign media to attend. Enthusiastically accepted, I'll bet... Dr. Prognosticator didn't mention that Russia would go down three months before we do ...
The prediction from Panarin, a former spokesman for Russia's Federal Space Agency and reportedly an ex-KGB analyst, meshes with the negative view of the U.S. that has been flowing from the Kremlin in recent years, in particular from Vladimir Putin. Putin, the former president who is now prime minister, has likened the United States to Nazi Germany's Third Reich and blames Washington for the global financial crisis that has pounded the Russian economy.
Panarin didn't give many specifics on what underlies his analysis, mostly citing newspapers, magazines and other open sources. He also noted he had been predicting the demise of the world's wealthiest country for more than a decade now. Wow. Credible or what? Don't kill the job, Igor.
But he said the recent economic turmoil in the U.S. and other "social and cultural phenomena" led him to nail down a specific timeframe for "The End" -- when the United States will break up into six autonomous regions and Alaska will revert to Russian control. ...and if it doesn't, he'll just revise the timetable. Like those "End of the World" guys.
Panarin argued that Americans are in moral decline, saying their great psychological stress is evident from school shootings, the size of the prison population and the number of gay men. America collapses: Prison Inmates, Gays Hardest Hit...
Turning to economic woes, he cited the slide in major stock indexes, the decline in U.S. gross domestic product and Washington's bailout of banking giant Citigroup as evidence that American dominance of global markets has collapsed. "I was there recently and things are far from good," he said. "What's happened is the collapse of the American dream." How's the "Russian dream" working out these days?
Panarin insisted he didn't wish for a U.S. collapse, but he predicted Russia and China would emerge from the economic turmoil stronger and said the two nations should work together, even to create a new currency to replace the U.S. dollar.
Asked for comment on how the Foreign Ministry views Panarin's theories, a spokesman said all questions had to be submitted in writing and no answers were likely before Wednesday. Look's like some closet Commies are still around in the Foreign Ministry.
It wasn't clear how persuasive the 20-minute lecture was. One instructor asked Panarin whether his predictions more accurately describe Russia, which is undergoing its worst economic crisis in a decade as well as a demographic collapse that has led some scholars to predict the country's demise. Panarin dismissed that idea: "The collapse of Russia will not occur." Kinda like when the Soviets were gonna bury us...
But Alexei Malashenko, a scholar-in-residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center who did not attend the lecture, sided with the skeptical instructor, saying Russia is the country that is on the verge of disintegration. "I can't imagine at all how the United States could ever fall apart," Malashenko told the AP.
#1
One instructor asked Panarin whether his predictions more accurately describe Russia, which is undergoing its worst economic crisis in a decade as well as a demographic collapse that has led some scholars to predict the country's demise.
Which is why I find it so funny that the now-mainstream of the french wingnuts grasp so desperately at the idea of the russians and the slavs being the new Hope and Change for Europe and the whites, against the Empire and assorted catchphrases that wouldn't stand out in a leftist speech (like the one I can't stand, the "hyperclass" to describe the shadpwy globalist fatcats)...
I agree the West is in a pretty bad shape (a pretty decent part of it due to the efforts of... the russians, or at least, their soviet predecessors), but I don't see exactly how you can look at putin's russia and see it as a model and a beacon, on every level, unless you only see the one you imagine.
#2
And his predictions fit into the anti-American story line of the Kremlin leadership.
And, according to more lucid french wingnuts pundits (who frequently happen to be long time free-market advocates and/or anti-communists, as opposed to the crypto socialist and anti-capitalist overall feel of what's left of the french "right"), this goes along with an effort at rehabilitating stalin, whitewashing his crimes (remember the russian historian who not so long ago claimed that millions of americans had died of hunger during the Great Depression, and that those deaths were unacknowledged by the official history? Dude, that cancel the Holodmor!), blaming russia's woes on being perpetually under siege by hostile foreign forces (stalin was only defending the Motherland, really), and a nasty "messianical" worldview with orthodxy again used as a State vehicle, pure russia against the corrupted West, IE, the third Jerusalem.
#5
There might be some truth to this, given the way the Congress and President are spending so far. I'm beginning to wish that we had all voted for Kerry in 2004. A bad as it would have been, it might have avoided this.
#6
he predicted Russia and China would emerge from the economic turmoil stronger and said the two nations should work together, even to create a new currency to replace the U.S. dollar.
Did he mean to say that, unlike the U.S. dollar, neither the ruble nor the yuan (if I recall the names of foreign currencies correctly) are strong enough to stand alone?
#7
Politically the US is unlikely to divide. That's wishful thinking from an expert in an ethnically divided nation who doesn't understand America. We might hit a depression but we're not gonna divide.
On 25 February Andrei Illarionov testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The hearing was titled From Competition to Collaboration: Strengthening the U.S.-Russia Relationship. Illarionov is a Russian citizen presently employed by the Cato Institute. He began his testimony with a brief explanation: For a number of years I worked at different posts in the Russian government and Administration of the Russian President. According to Illarionov the Russian regime is a KGB regime, and the United States policy toward this regime is worse than appeasement. It is best characterized as retreat.
That doesn't even work as science-fiction. The only way the Russians are taking Alaska back is if they muster up the forces to invade and kick the hypothetical rump-forces out. They don't have the sealift capacity to mount a sustained amphibious operation against an armed shore, and you can be damned sure that one of his hypothetical rump-states would fight for Alaskan oil and gas.
In short, this is crap speculative history, the sort of wish-fulfillment rubbish which would have been tossed right back over the transom by any self-respecting SF editor.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/04/2009 15:35
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#10
"In short, this is crap speculative history, the sort of wish-fulfillment rubbish which would have been tossed right back over the transom by any self-respecting SF editor."
But it makes the America-hating Leftists feel so good, Mitch.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/04/2009 16:42
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#11
"He also noted he had been predicting the demise of the world's wealthiest country for more than a decade now."
Yeah, I remember when he was saying this stuff last year....
#17
more lucid french wingnuts pundits (who frequently happen to be long time free-market advocates and/or anti-communists, as opposed to the crypto socialist and anti-capitalist
Jeeebus K... do you like use a Yarn and Squares Database? Sound's awfully complex.
In one of his disturbing spells of passivity, President Obama decided not to fight Congress and live up to his own no-earmark pledge from the campaign.
He's been lecturing us on the need to prune away frills while the economy fizzles. He was slated to make a speech on "wasteful spending" on Wednesday.
"You know, there are times where you can afford to redecorate your house and there are times where you need to focus on rebuilding its foundation," he said recently about the "hard choices" we must make. Yet he did not ask Congress to sacrifice and make hard choices; he let it do a lot of frivolous redecorating in its budget.
He reckons he'll need Congress for more ambitious projects, like health care, and when he goes back to wheedle more bailout billions, given that A.I.G. and G.M. and our other corporate protectorates are burning through our money faster than we can print it and borrow it from the ever-more-alarmed Chinese.
Team Obama sounds hollow, chanting that "the status quo is not acceptable," even while conceding that the president is accepting the status quo by signing a budget festooned with pork. I never thought I'd live to type these words without a gun to my head, but: Maureen Dowd is right.
It may just be this once, but still ...
This sin't one of those "signs of the apocalypse" they keep talking about, is it?
Posted by: Mike ||
03/04/2009
09:49 ||
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#1
I am having hallucinations or does it look like MoDo is sliding towards hostility to Obama?
#5
MoDo is a writer and columnist. She's the best high school newspaper columnist ever to appear in the Times.
That said, she needs to write, and she can't forever write her usual gushy, slurpy, syncophantic, hormonal praise of The One. It all sounds the same after a while, and when you're a writer that's no good. Pinchy might decide to recycle her columns and eliminate her position.
So she has to do something. Writing some mild criticism -- and urging Bambi to the left -- is at least new copy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2009 11:47
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#6
She's the best high school newspaper columnist ever to appear in the Times.
Ooooh! That's gotta hurt. Steve takes no prisoners!
#8
She's getting too old to be one of the cool kids. Blame Bushy for a little bit more, examine the 401K, pray for some sort of life after who cares about Moo.
Liberal bloggers and media chin-strokers are aghast at Limbaughs statement that he hopes Barack Obama fails.
Well, given what Obama wants to do, I hope he fails too. Of course I want the financial crisis to end who doesnt? But Obamas agenda is much more audacious. Pretty much every major news outlet in the country has said as a matter of objective analysis that Obama wants to repeal the legacy of Ronald Reagan and remake the country as a European welfare state. And yet people are shocked that conservatives, Limbaugh included, want Obama to fail in this effort?
What movie have they been watching? Because I could swear that conservatives opposing the expansion of big government is what conservatives do. Its Aesopian. The scorpion must sting the frog. The conservative must object to socialized medicine.
Besides, since when did hoping for the failure of ideological agendas you disagree with become unpatriotic? Liberals were hardly treasonous when they hoped for the failure of George W. Bush's Social Security privatization scheme.
Regardless, the war on Limbaugh from the left is a tired rehash. In 1995, Bill Clinton tried to blame the Oklahoma City bombing on Rush. In 2002, then-senator Tom Daschle, the leader of the Democratic opposition, claimed that Limbaughs listeners werent satisfied just to listen. They were a violent threat to decent public servants like him.
In just the last month, Obama suggested that Republicans were in thrall to Rush. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has anointed him the GOPs leader. Rep. Barney Frank complained that Republicans didnt give Obama enough standing ovations during his address to Congress because they are afraid of Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
Does anyone think that Republicans, absent fear of Limbaughs lash, would be throwing flower petals at Obamas feet as he sells the Great Society II? If thats true, I say thank goodness for Limbaughs lash....
Posted by: Mike ||
03/04/2009
09:31 ||
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#1
Though I like my local public servents, its because of their policy and voting record not which party they are in.
If this spat between Rush and Steele is a way to begin dialogue and make a united front for 10 and 12, great..if its a BMOC thing than the GOP needs to get its act together. I would register R in a heartbeat if they just get back to their party platform and actually follow through.
Either way I oppose socialism - its the Paris Hilton of government. Not gonna get started on communism.
#2
Sorry, he's right, Superzero MUST fail, or the United States ceases to exist, I personally am hoping for a recall election long before he "Succeeds" and we disappear from history.
#4
...I personally am hoping for a recall election...
And just how would that be accomplished? There is no Constitutional basis for the recall of a President, only impeachment. Personally I'm praying for the Military to go and reread their Oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, domestic and foreign. Then, act accordingly.
Posted by: Dar ||
03/04/2009 14:39
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#8
In 2002, then-senator Tom Daschle, the leader of the Democratic opposition, claimed that Limbaugh's listeners weren't "satisfied just to listen." They were a violent threat to decent public servants like him.
That's exactly right, Tom. They used ballots as weapons and they blew your ass right outta the Senate.
The state is trying to shut down a New York City doctor's ambitious plan to treat uninsured patients for around $1,000 a year.
Dr. John Muney offers his patients everything from mammograms to mole removal at his AMG Medical Group clinics, which operate in all five boroughs. "I'm trying to help uninsured people here," he said.
His patients agree to pay $79 a month for a year in return for unlimited office visits with a $10 co-pay. But his plan landed him in the crosshairs of the state Insurance Department, which ordered him to drop his fixed-rate plan - which it claims is equivalent to an insurance policy.
Pro'ly is, but that's not the point of course ...
Muney insists it is not insurance because it doesn't cover anything that he can't do in his offices, like complicated surgery. He points out his offices do not operate 24/7 so they can't function like emergency rooms. "I'm not doing an insurance business," he said. "I'm just providing my services at my place during certain hours."
He says he can afford to charge such a small amount because he doesn't have to process mountains of paperwork and spend hours on billing. "If they leave me alone, I can serve thousands of patients," he said.
Plenty of other doctors have figured this out. Try it sometime with your private doctor: offer them $50 cash for a routine office visit versus doing the usual insurance paperwork.
The state believes his plan runs afoul of the law because it promises to cover unplanned procedures - like treating a sudden ear infection - under a fixed rate. That's something only a licensed insurance company can do. "The law is strict on how insurance is defined," said an Insurance Department spokesman.
And the Insurance Department is creative in how it applies a strict law ...
A possible solution that Muney's lawyer crafted would force patients to pay more than $10 for unplanned procedures. They are waiting to see if the state will accept the compromise. Still, Muney is unhappy because, he said, "I really don't want to charge more. They're forcing me."
One of his patients, Matthew Robinson, 52, was furious to learn the state was interfering with the plan. "The whole point is, he [Muney] found a way of paying his rent, paying his workers, and getting to see patients for the price," said Robinson. "How can the state dictate you've got to charge more?"
Boy howdy, there's the question. And the answer with the current government is obvious.
I don't know who originally said this but it's true: nothing, nothing moves faster than a bureaucracy that has been threatened.
#1
Many doctors are now "jumping ship" from HMOs, Medicare, Medicaid and insurance bureaucracies, because they have found they can charge 50% less and make more profit by offering cash services.
But the bloated bureaucracies don't like competition.
#2
The US needs an amendment to the constitution that allows a 2/3rd majority of states to suspend another state for callous and reckless behavior against the taxpayers of the 2/3rd majority. Under this rule NY would be the first state left standing alone...providing ample opportunity for the other states to admit one of the Mexican provinces...preferrably one with a Carribean view.
Venezuela said it will seek to renegotiate contracts with oil-service companies and force food producers to make basic items covered by the government's price-control policies -- moves that point to increased economic strain.
More than 90% of Venezuela's hard currency comes from its oil production, which populist President Hugo Chávez has used to fund a splurge in consumer imports and underwrite social spending programs.
In the past few months, Mr. Chávez also spent freely on a political campaign to persuade Venezuelan voters to scrap term limits and allow him to run for president as many times as he likes. He won that referendum last month.
But as oil prices have plummeted, Mr. Chávez is increasingly hard-pressed to pay for his programs. Adding to woes is falling production at state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA.
Oil Minister and PDVSA President Rafael Ramirez said in a statement that the company planned to cut its spending on oil-service contractors by 40%. He didn't say how much money it intended to save. The company has built up huge debts with more than 6,000 contractors and suppliers, some of which have stopped work until they are paid.
On another front, the Venezuelan government, which has been bedeviled by more than 30% inflation, issued new regulations that force the country's food producers to make products governed by Venezuela's severe price-control regime.
For years, Mr. Chávez has been battling private food manufacturers and farmers, whom he blames for periodic shortages of foods ranging from chickens to coffee. Food producers blame the government's price-control regulations, which the producers say force them to sell items for less than they cost to make.
Now, producers of 12 key food staples, including rice, sugar, milk, pasta, coffee and cooking oil, will have to make sure that at least 70% of their production is composed of products whose prices are controlled by the government.
With the new regulation, the government is trying to counter what it says are efforts by food producers to avoid price controls by using basic food inputs, such as raw milk, to make low-fat milk rather than price-controlled whole milk.
Indeed, last weekend, Mr. Chávez announced the Venezuelan government would take over the country's rice mills, which he said were making flavored rice instead of price-controlled white rice.
#2
Hey Hugo, how about closing your borders so the peasants can starve w/o bothering the rest of us? Ask the Russians or Norks for technical advice.
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2009 12:02
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#3
Hugo has a problem.
He destroyed his tax base and is running out of companies to seize. His test of columbia's borders didn't go well, so he won't be able to acquire by conquest.
Oil is his best card, so expect him to screw around with pricing and delivery.
#4
He destroyed his tax base and is running out of companies to seize. His test of columbia's borders didn't go well, so he won't be able to acquire by conquest. Oil is his best card, so expect him to screw around with pricing and delivery.
MS-13 (or Mara Salvatrucha) was formed by Salvadoran, mostly illegal immigrants in the 1980Žs, during El SalvadorŽs civil war. While the gang was originally made up exclusively of Salvadorans, they now accept all Central Americans as well as Mexicans. MS stands for Mara (slang for mob), Salva (El Salvador), Trucha (slang for on-guard).
MS-13 began in Los Angeles and as members moved deeper into the country, more loosely structured gangs or cliques were formed. However, these cliques continued to communicate with one another, and the network was formed. Difficult to believe it all began in Los Angeles.
Over the years, MS-13 has become more well structured, the FBI believes that the gangŽs L.A. members have a higher status amongst the group. The gang typically targets high school and even middle school students for recruitment.
Initiation into the gang usually consists of the recruit committing a brutal attack on either a rival gang member or even upon an unsuspecting civilian. On November 26, 2008, Jonathan Retana was convicted of the murder of Miguel Angel Deras, which was part of an MS-13 initiation.
MS-13 has aligned themselves with the Mexican Mafia, which has a large presence not only on U.S. streets, but is widely viewed as the most powerful prison gang. The smaller MS-13 pays the Mexican Mafia for protection, while their members are incarcerated.
According to the FBI, there are at least 70,000 MS-13 gang members operating between Central America and the United States. The FBI also reports that the gang currently operates in 42 states as well as the District of Columbia. The highest concentrations are in California, the District of Columbia, New York, and Virginia. MS-13 set up shop in Northern Virginia during the 1990s, lured by the region's fast-growing Salvadoran population, later expanding into the Maryland suburbs of Langley Park and Gaithersburg.
An example of how widespread the gangŽs tentacles have become was seen in March 2005, when a nation-wide sting operation targeting MS-13, nabbed 103 gang members. All 103 were in this country illegally. The arrests were made in Baltimore, New York, Newark, Dallas, Los Angeles, as well as the District of Columbia.
The FBI's National Gang Task Force Director Robert Clifford, said: "The migrant moves and the gang follows. If you follow the construction trade, that is where a lot of these immigrants go." Construction trade, like Fannie & Freddie backed track home developers previously operating here in the Atlanta area
MS-13 engages in a wide variety of criminal activities including drug distribution, murder, rape, prostitution, robbery, home invasions, human smuggling, kidnapping, and carjacking. The gang is infamous for machete and grenade attacks. They have also been known to behead their enemies. Most are undoubtedly registered Republicans.
In addition to their other criminal activities, MS-13 also apparently acts as paid assassins, with the target being U.S. law enforcement.
#2
The gang typically targets high school and even middle school students for recruitment.
However, educational professionals and governors are more concern with the 'evils' of sugar being within reach of the kiddies than expounding on real world threats like these thugs. Corporations [evil], Multiculturalism [good].
Posted by: Mike ||
03/04/2009 13:28
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#6
I still think the Government, if it wants to spend a lot of money and get people working should create a work program to build a Great Wall along our southern border. Has to be easier than FDRs dams and if done right it can become a tourist attraction afterwards. A massive, stone, wall. Say its for the jobs, and to keep people from dying and becoming lost in the desert.
Then move a lot of our military bases to the desert land on the US side of the wall. Sell the bases near to big cities to the gready developers and build nice camps with adequate housing. If folks want to sneak over the wall they can also sneak past the base fences and sentries.
Yeah bases won't cover the whole way but they'll limit the section of wall that the border patrol has to watch.
#8
ION CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > GATES AND CIA WONDER: WILL MEXICO IMPLODE [ever-escalating violence].
Also on CMF > POSTERS = PINOYS [Philippines/Filipinos] INVADE OUR LANDS [disputed islands] TIME TO KICK THEM OUT, + PINOYS OCCUPY 10 OF OUR PRC CHINA ISLANDS.
* REDDIT > IRGC COMMANDER SAYS IRAN'S BALLISTIC MISSLES CAN HIT ISRAELI ATOM SITES.
#3
These outposts are not R&R centers, they are combat engagement networks. Build them, man them, let the INDIG know you're not leaving anytime soon and the little phuechs will come. Employ persistent surveillance, ground sensors, OP's, search & destroy, sniper teams, pre-planned mortar and arty fires, attack helos. Pull the bastards out! Only then can you KILL them properly! Stay behind the Hesco barriers and lose. General Petreaus is all about the offense and sucking the bastards into the kill zone.
... And then of course theres the news. I think we enjoy the weekends so much these days because its a respite from the grand parade of craptacular stories that run M-F. Really: on Sunday night I get that sinking feeling when I realize that Monday will bring more horror stories. Its our leading export!
Im content for the moment to let other bloggers be furious on my general behalf, but I am damned tired of losing money, knowing I will have less money in the future, and what I do have will be worth less because of inflation. All of which means I save less, invest less, spend less, and give less. But thats fine, since we all went mad Mad MAD in the last ten years, and now we have to atone. Its the Guilted Age.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/04/2009
06:29 ||
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"I dub thee Sir Rhosis!"
Veteran US senator Ted Kennedy, 77, is to be awarded an honorary knighthood. The Queen has agreed the honour for the brother of former US president John F Kennedy for services to the US-UK relationship and to Northern Ireland.
Gordon Brown is to formally announce the award during his address to both houses of Congress on Wednesday. The prime minister's speech comes on the second full day of his visit to which featured brief talks with President Obama on Tuesday.
Mr Kennedy, who has been a senator for his home state of Massachusetts for more than 46 years, is being treated for a brain tumour. The most senior living member of the famous Irish-American political dynasty, he was diagnosed with brain cancer in May last year after being rushed to hospital with stroke-like symptoms. He has since had chemotherapy and radiation to treat the malignant glioma, an aggressive type of brain tumour.
The father-of-five was elected to the US Senate as a Democrat in 1962 following the election of his brother as president.
Apart from his famous family connections, he is probably best known in the UK for his work on the Northern Ireland peace process. He has been intricately involved in politics there, meeting Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and other politicians during and beyond the Good Friday agreement.
He famously snubbed Adams during the latter's St Patrick's Day trip to the US in 2005 following the brutal killing of Robert McCartney. The IRA, closely allied to Sinn Fein, was accused of involvement in his murder.
Mr Kennedy joins a select band of overseas nationals given an honorary knighthood. Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, former president George Bush senior, former mayor of New York Rudolph Giuliani and the film director Steven Spielberg have also received the honour. I am sure he will do just swimmingly in that crowd.
#2
First he will spend an entire night veiling the arms and praying. Then he will kneel in front of the queen and will be handled two vigorous blows with the flat of his sword. The he will mount on his horse and will go looking for damsels in distress to save and the wine in the Holy Grail to drink.
#4
Question: if they removed everything malignant in Teddy, would he still exist? I normally refrain from mocking the dying, but in his case, especially with his attempts to install his wife in his seat, I make an exception
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2009 8:57
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#5
So it a nutshell a Knighthood means exactly nothing. Next in line: Sir Jesse, Sir Billy, Sir Barney, and Lady Nancy. Well done UK.
#6
During Vietnam, Teddy once demanded that the US withdraw, then invade Northern Ireland to drive out the British army.
Old Joe Kennedy so hated England that as a reward from FDR, he was made ambassador to England prior to US entry into the war. He kept a known German agent on his staff, as an intelligence pipeline of US-British diplomacy, straight to Berlin.
#9
Just out of curiosity I googled "joe kennedy gerry adams". Interesting. One of the first things I found is that there are some conservative MPs who are none too happy about this.
#15
Can a serving member of Congress *accept* this sort of faux ennoblement? It seems vaguely unconstitutional... let me see, Article 1, Section Nine:
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.
Yep. Definitively unconstitutional, unless they're waiting on his retirement, or Brown's going to fucking ask Congress for permission during his verkakte speech.
Monarchist wanker son-of-a-bitch!
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/04/2009 16:15
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#16
If nobody sues he will get away with it. If somebody, some organization does (eg the Repunlican Party) then the court will have to enforce the law.
NEW DELHI: India test fired the land attack version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile at the Pokharan range in Rajasthan Wednesday, six weeks after its failed test on Jan 20, an official here said. "The analysis of the parameters of the missile flight will take some time," a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) official said while confirming the test firing of the missile.
The BrahMos missile, a joint venture of India and Russia, failed its test trial on Jan 20 by missing the target.
Since cruise missiles fly at low altitudes, they have the ability to evade enemy radars and air-defence systems. They are also easier and cheaper to operate as precision strike weapons.
The Indian Army has already begun inducting the land-fired version of the BrahMos, with the first battery entering service in June 2007. Each battery is equipped with four mobile launchers mounted on heavy 12x12 Tatra transporters. The army plans to induct three more such batteries.
The anti-ship naval version has also been inducted into service with its integration on the destroyer INS Rajput, with two other ships of the same class to be similarly equipped. The missiles will also be mounted on the three 7,000 tonne Kolkata class destroyers currently being constructed at Mumbai's Mazagon docks.
The missile, which takes its name from the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers, has a nearly 300 km range and carries a 300 kg conventional warhead. It can achieve speeds of up to 2.8 Mach or nearly three times the speed of sound.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/04/2009
05:41 ||
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#1
"The Block II BrahMos missile was successfully launched at 1030 hours this morning,"
The missile "took two-and-a half-minutes to strike its target in the Pokhran firing range in Rajasthan,"
"The new seeker system is unique and it will help us to hit the targets, which may be insignificant in terms of size, in a cluster of large buildings.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/04/2009 5:47
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#2
Informed sources described it as a difficult mission because the target was just 50 km away instead of the normal range of 290 km. Besides, the missile had to perform a discriminatory role: it had to hit the desired target out of a cluster of small targets, resembling a factory-type situation. The time given to the missile to perform manoeuvres and hit the target was much less than the normal flight. But these constraints were overcome with the Global Positioning System (GPS) update coming in correctly and the missile homed in on the desired target, sources said.
The missile flew at a velocity of Mach 2, twice the speed of sound. The normal version flies at Mach 3.
Last time the missile failed to hit the target as the GPS did not have time to correct the error in the inertial navigation system (INS). So the GPS update did not come in. This time, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) ensured that even if the GPS update did not flow in, the missile would hit the target. Modifications were made in the software and simulation runs conducted.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/04/2009 17:33
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#3
Supersonic land attack cruise missiles were one of my favorite toys as a kid, which is probably why I got in trouble with the law so often.
Terrorists Seperatist militants shot and killed two Muslim civilians in Thailand's restive south, where an jihad insurgency has been raging for the last five years, police said Wednesday. The men, one of whom was a defence volunteer, were caught in an ambush as they rode their motorcycles from a forest in terrorized troubled Narathiwat province late Tuesday, said police.
In a separate incident, rescue workers on Tuesday recovered the bodies of a marine sergeant and a Thai Buddhist village defence volunteer after their patrol boat capsized in neighbouring Yala province, they said.
IANS: Four suspects were arrested here on Tuesday for alleged involvement in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, a media report said. Geo TV reported that police in Model Town had arrested four suspects after the attack. "Arms have been recovered from two of them," the report said. The police also seized an explosive-laden jacket and weapons from a rickshaw.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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THE HAGUE: Sudan's president was warned by prosecutors Tuesday that strong evidence has been compiled of his involvement in war crimes in Darfur, on the eve of a decision by judges over whether to seek his arrest. While President Omar al-Bashir said he would regard any decision by the International Criminal Court as worthless, the ICC's chief prosecutor said he had dozens of witnesses ready to prove the veteran leader's guilt.
If the warrant is granted and an arrest carried out, the 65-year-old would become the first sitting head of state to be hauled before the ICC since the UN court opened in 2002.
"We have strong evidence against Bashir," chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters in The Hague, the seat of the court. "We have more than 30 different witnesses who will present how he managed and controlled everything," Moreno-Ocampo added.
In July last year, Moreno-Ocampo asked a pre-trial chamber to issue a warrant for Bashir's arrest on 10 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in a decision that triggered outrage in Khartoum.
Moreno-Ocampo reiterated his allegation Tuesday that genocide was being committed in camps for people displaced from their villages in Darfur where a six-year conflict has cost several hundred thousand lives.
"The weapons in the camps are rape and hunger. Five thousand people are dying each month." As for witnesses, Moreno-Ocampo said some were being protected "because we foresaw what is happening now: they are attacking people who they believe could be our witness." The decision of the judges is set to be announced at 1300 GMT on Wednesday.
However on Tuesday Bashir said any decision by the ICC on whether to seek his arrest would be disregarded.
"Any decision by the International Criminal Court has no value for us," Bashir said at the inauguration of a dam on the Nile north of Khartoum. "It will not be worth the ink [with which it is written]."
"The Western world is targeting Sudan in order to stop ... its development projects but we absolutely don't care," Bashir said. "We will respond to all these decision with new development projects."
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03/04/2009
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#1
So...who do they plan on sending down to serve the warrant? The UNPD? The ICCPD?
Bashir appears to be asking the same question. And reaching the same conclusion.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has informed that the government has withdrawn most of cases against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain. Addressing a news conference here on Tuesday, Shah said the government has taken this step as part of its policy of national reconciliation. Â"The cases have been withdrawn. It is now up to Altaf Hussain whether he returns to country or not,Â" he said.
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Three Arab nomad and Touareg tribes in northern Mali and Niger agreed to support government efforts against al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, El Khabar reported on Tuesday (March 3rd). Tribal leaders will reportedly fight al-Qaeda emirs Abdelhamid Abouzaid and Yahia Djouadi if terrorists fail to release two kidnapped Canadian diplomats and four European tourists. A Malian military officer disclosed Monday that a Mauritanian citizen alleged to be one of the al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for abducting the 6 foreigners was arrested last week, Echorouk reported.
This article starring:
ABDELHAMID ABUZAID
al-Qaeda in North Africa
YAHIA DJUADI
al-Qaeda in North Africa
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
looking for the handouts like pakistain has been getting for years for nothin
Some Malian forces have been US trained, mostly at the battalion level and below. They've gotten some support equipment, like radios. They just got done fighting against some Touareg elements; their securing agreements with the tribes is laudable and of their own doing.
Frankly, you'd be better off sticking comments about legalising marijuana. Judging by your posts, at least you'd be talking as an expert.
The Swat peace deal was dealt a serious blow when suspected Taliban ambushed a security vehicle, killing two troops and injuring an officer on Tuesday as pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Muhammad threatened to abandon his 'peace mission'.
"We suffered two casualties in the unprovoked ambush on our convoy in Matta tehsil," military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told Daily Times over the telephone from Rawalpindi. He said the provincial government had been told of the attack.
Responsibility: According to the AP news agency, a Taliban spokesman took responsibility for the attack. "Security forces are making movements without any prior information, which force Taliban to carry out attacks," said Muslim Khan. "We do reserve a right to defend ourselves," he added.
"We had an agreement that whenever (the) army wanted to move, they should inform us, so that we can alert our men not to feel threatened," Muslim Khan told the AFP news agency.
According to AFP, another security official claimed the soldiers were attacked by men loyal to commander Ibne Ameen, who has opposed the peace agreement.
Threat: The attack on the security convoy came as Sufi Muhammad -- credited with brokering the peace deal with the Taliban and the government on the basis of the implementation of shariah in Malakand division -- also accused the government of violating the truce. "I will abandon efforts for peace if the security forces and the government continue violations of the peace accord," Sufi said at a press conference.
He said he was satisfied with the way Mullah Fazlullah, Sufi's son-in-law, was leading the Swat Taliban. "The Taliban are doing nothing wrong ... the government is responsible for violations."
Denial: Spokesman Abbas, however, denied that the army had violated the truce. "We did inform the peace committee about our movement, but it cannot accompany us everywhere," he said.
Local sources said security forces fired at Taliban positions after the ambush, and a person was unofficially reported killed.
Official sources in Peshawar said certain quarters within the Swat Taliban "do not support the truce, and Sufi Muhammad is unlikely to succeed against those who are still armed".
"There are elements with the Taliban who are unhappy with what Sufi Muhammad is doing for peace. We are concerned by their ability to harm the chief of the banned Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi chief," the sources told Daily Times.
Meanwhile, suspected Taliban kidnapped NWFP Anti-Corruption Department head Yamin Khan, but freed him a few hours later, officials in Mingora confirmed to Daily Times. Earlier, Swat DCO Khushal Khan was kidnapped by the Taliban.
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This day in History:
51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth). (Pedophile/NIMBLA)
1493 - Explorer Christopher Columbus arrives back in Lisbon, Portugal
1519 - Hernan Cortes arrives in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization and their wealth.
1634 - Samuel Cole opens the first tavern in Boston, Massachusetts. (Cheers?)
1789 - In New York City, the first United States Congress meets, putting the Constitution of the United States into effect.
1797 - In the first ever peaceful transfer of power between elected leaders in modern times, John Adams is sworn in as President of the United States, succeeding George Washington.
1837 - Chicago becomes incorporated as a city. (First official day of corruption, 3 murders)
1887 - Gottlieb Daimler unveils his first automobile
1911 - Victor Berger (Wisconsin) becomes the first socialist congressman in U.S. (Wisconsin still represented by Socialist)
1944 - First U.S. daylight bombing of Berlin
1980 - Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe's first black prime minister. (The first day of Zimbabwes plunge into the Abyss)
Newly appointed BDR Director General Brig Gen Md Mainul Islam said yesterday video footage taken during the massacre in Pilkhana shows movement of some unknown people wearing BDR uniforms. Talking to The Daily Star over phone, he said the border guards who fled the BDR headquarters during the mutiny are being allowed to enter it after confirmation of their identity.
The DG said 6,124 BDR men have been allowed to enter the headquarters since they began to report back. Of them, around 5,000 were allowed only yesterday. "We are checking and verifying their identity carefully so that no outsider can enter," Mainul said.
The BDR personnel are kept at different places in the headquarters and supplied with foods. They are being allowed to join regular parade, but no official activities, he added. Replying to a query, he said only those BDR men who reported back within the stipulated time were considered for entry to the headquarters.
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Interior Adviser Rehman Malik on Tuesday said Pakistan was in a state of war and he suspected that foreign elements were involved in the Lahore terrorist attack. Talking to reporters at the Parliament House, Malik, however, declined to name any country without having substantive evidence. He said a few arrests had been made and intelligence agencies had gathered sufficient information about the terrorists. Malik said a major breakthrough would be achieved in the next few days. The interior adviser did not comment on the possibility of India's involvement in the attack, denying reports that weapons recovered from the crime scene were Indian. But he said the technique of the terrorists in Lahore appeared similar to those involved in the Mumbai attacks.
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#7
Pakistan is doing everything it can to find something to blame India for, to take the pressure off them to make changes in their government. We'll continue to see things like this fairly often, I'm afraid.
Posted by: OId Patriot ||
03/04/2009 13:12
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Yesterdays attackers struck at 8:30 a.m. as motorcycle police and a truck of the police anti-terrorist Elite Force escorted the bus to Gaddafi Stadium for the days Test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. A rocket fired at the bus missed and the team escaped as the gunmen and security forces exchanged fire. All 12 attackers escaped, according to police.
The gunmen were very cool, firing and then moving and then firing again, said eyewitness Habib Akram, the bureau chief of Pakistans Samaa television news channel. Akrams office overlooks the Liberty Chowk traffic circle. There was hardly any return fire from the police.
Chris Broad, the former England batsman and referee for the match who came under fire in the attack, said the presidential style security promised by the Pakistani authorities had not lived up to its billing. The driver of his minibus was killed and another passenger seriously wounded.
Im extremely angry that we were offered high-level security and in our hour of need that security vanished, Broad said in a televised press conference on his return to the U.K.
Questions need to be asked of the Pakistan security forces, he said. They left the scene and left us to be sitting ducks.
#10
sound like cowards. Must've been Pak regular Army
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2009 19:50
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the "presidential style" security promised by the Pakistani authorities had not lived up to its billing.
India protected the English cricket team in Calcutta with 5000 policemen, snipers all along the route and at the stadium and a bodyguard of 300 commandos from Delhi.
Pakistani security for the Lankan team was a bus with Police?
Posted by: john frum ||
03/04/2009 21:16
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NEW DELHI - The International Cricket Council will urgently review 2011 World Cup plans after gunmen fired on the Sri Lankan team bus in a deadly attack in Pakistan on Tuesday.Indias independent Times Now television quoted ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat as saying the ICC would review the World Cup plans within 48 hours after the attack in Lahore raised new doubts about the willingness of foreign teams to play in Pakistan.
Pakistan is scheduled to co-host the next World Cup with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
An ICC spokesman later said that there was no timeframe yet for the review. Were obviously going to have a review, but no decision on when has been taken, ICC spokesman Brian Murgatroyd told The Associated Press. Murgatroyd said any decision on the World Cup would be taken by the ICCs high-powered executive board, which is scheduled to meet next month. He said it was possible for the ICC to bring the meeting forward.
India and Pakistan jointly hosted two World Cups in 1987 and 1996, with Sri Lanka coming in as a third host in 96.
Since deciding the hosts for the 2011 World Cup, the ICC has witnessed deteriorating stability in Pakistan with several nations refusing to send their teams due to security concerns. Amid mounting criticism of the security situation, the ICC was last year forced to postpone the biennial limited-overs Champions Trophy tournament, which was scheduled to be held in Pakistan. The ICC has now decided to shift the Champions Trophy to another country, but is yet to name the new host.
Sharad Pawar, an Indian lawmaker who is also the ICCs president elect, said Monday that Pakistan will now find it difficult to host World Cup matches. In the current situation, its very difficult for Pakistan to co-host the 2011 World Cup, Pawar was quoted as saying by independent New Delhi Television.
Pawar heads the four-nation organizing committee for the 2011 World Cup, but each national board will have its own committees for organizing matches.
Reacting to possibility of missing out on hosting World Cup matches, the Pakistan Cricket Board said all talk about the World Cup was premature. Weve received a message from the ICC, but its just to support us in this difficult time, said Salim Altaf, chief operating officer of the Pakistan board. The World Cup is still two years away, but reservations among foreign teams may have increased.
At a meeting of the organizing committee in New Delhi two weeks ago, Lorgat said the four joint hosts should consider shifting matches from one city to another, or from one country to another, if the situation required. Eight of the 15 host cities nominated for the World Cup are in India, four in Pakistan, two in Sri Lanka and one in Bangladesh.
Some real choices there: Pak-land, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka? You'd almost think the ICC has a death-wish ...
Pakistan didnt play a test match for 14 months, with foreign teams withdrawing from tours. India canceled its proposed tour this year in the midst of growing political tension between the two nations. The Sri Lankan tour was hastily arranged to replace India.
Board of Control for Cricket in India president Shashank Manohar said Pakistan may now struggle to attract foreign teams. Teams may not want to go to Pakistan forever another four or five years, Manohar told New Delhi Television. The ICC will have to ponder over the chances of playing World Cup matches in Pakistan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2009
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#1
Had the actual team members been killed, there would be no question about cricket in Pakland for the next century.
But they *didn't* kill the team, although they winged a couple of the players.
They managed to kill a lot of cops, but threw grenades that didn't asplode and had a car bomb ready to go that they didn't use.
Just enough mayhem to cause a ruckus, but prolly not *quite* enough to earn permanent sanctiions.
Then they can come back and kill more infidels in 2011, when everyone's forgotten...
Authorities are questioning 15 suspects in connection with the attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team on Tuesday, officials told Daily Times.
Witnesses claimed police arrested a mysterious armed suspect near Liberty Market minutes after the attack. They said a police vehicle arrested the man only 150 yards from the crime scene when he was apparently trying to flee.
Police officials said the man was being questioned along with four others at the Model Town CIA police office. "It is too early to say whether he was involved," Capital City Police Officer Habibur Rehman said.
Firdous Market police held 10 students from a Gulberg hostel where they found a bloodstained shirt and a grenade in a washroom.
Punjab IG Khawaja Khalid Farooq showed reporters three rocket launchers, six suicide jackets, 25 hand grenades, 17 time bombs, and guns and ammunition from 14 locations after the attacks.
Civil Defence official Ghulam Ahmed said a suicide belt, a gun and five grenades were found in a bag seized from a rickshaw parked near a Hussain Chowk fuel station.
Four grenades and two suicide belts were found in a house facing Firdous Market, and a bomb and three grenades in a Gulberg-III house. A bag found outside a supermarket carried five grenades. Another five grenades were found in a bag in a trolley parked near Hajvery University.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
That's a lot of hardware to leave lying around. Someone might get hurt.
(APP): Governor Punjab Salman Taseer has said that some clues into attack on Sri Lankan team here this morning have been found but no allegations would be levelled against anybody without solid proofs. Addressing a press conference here Tuesday night, he said, "Progress has been made into the gruesome incident and preliminary investigation would be completed within 48 hours and if any security lapse is found, strict action would be taken against those to be found responsible."
He said thorough investigation would be conducted with cool mind in professional and methodologically way by taking all concerned agencies on board instead of making accusations without solid evidence.
Commenting on the remarks of Indian Home Minister that the incident was result of major security lapse, he said,"Our police officials reacted immediately and saved lives of Sri Lankan players by laying down their lives and we are proud of them while in case of Mumbai attacks Indian commandos had reached seven hours after terrorists struck ."
He said, "We don't compare efficiency of personnel of our law enforcing agencies with that of India but Indian leaders must avoid giving suck remarks. Unlike India, we do not want to level allegations without solid proofs. "
Lamenting statements by PML‑N Leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif about the incident, he said, politicising such a sensitive issue involving national security and prestige is regrettable and condemnable.
He said a number of terrorist incidents occurred during Mian Shahbaz Sharif's tenure as Chief Minster, "But we never politicised the same."
Underling the need for national unity to face the monster of terrorism, he said,"It is huge challenge and we have to face it by forging national unity.However, regrettable,some opportunist politicians give such statements,just for their petty political gains, which amount to playing in the hands of anti‑state elements."
Express Dismay over the statement of Nawaz Sharif that the incident occurred because governor was busy in horse trading, he said, he (Nawaz Sharif) had been Prime Minster twice and it did not behove of him.
He said though some high level transfers and postings had been made in the province following disqualification of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif by the court but home secretary was not changed to ensure continuity of the security system.
Expressing sympathy with Sri Lankan players, people of Sri Lanka and their Cricket Board on behalf of government and people of the Punjab, he said "We are greatly shocked and grieved over the incident."
He thanked the government of Sri Lanka for sending its team for playing here when no other country was ready to send its team to Pakistan.
He recalled that after World Cup 96, when West Indies and Australia had refused to visit Sri Lanka due to blasts there, Pakistan and Indian Cricket Teams had visited to play matches there.
He said immediately after the incident, he visited the Sri Lankan team "they were in shock but save. They are going back to their country tonight. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has asked me to see them off and I would go to the airport to bid them farewell."
To a question, he said, attackers were highly trained and equipped with sophisticated weapons but valiant police officials by laying down their lives foiled their bid to inflict heavy losses on visiting team.
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As US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was meeting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem late Tuesday night, Gaza terrorists fired two Kassam rockets at Israeli civilian areas. One rocket landed south of Ashkelon, while the second struck the Sha'ar Hanegev region. No casualties or damage were reported in either attack.
On Tuesday afternoon, seven people were wounded when the IAF bombed six smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza's Philadelphi Corridor, Palestinians reported. The army said there were large secondary explosions following one of the strikes, proving the presence of weapons and munitions.
The IDF said the air raid was a response to the recent rocket attacks on southern Israel and that the casualties were apparently smugglers. Despite the rocket fire, over 200 humanitarian aid trucks carrying food and medical supplies, as well as 440,000 liters of fuel, crossed into Gaza Tuesday via the Kerem Shalom and Karni crossings.
According to additional Palestinian reports Tuesday, Navy gunships fired at targets in the Sudaniya area, northwest of Gaza City. On Tuesday morning, IDF soldiers foiled an apparent attempt by Palestinian terrorists to plant a bomb along the Gaza border near Kissufim, the army said. The soldiers spotted several suspicious people approaching the fence and fired warning shots in the air, causing them to flee.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
the IAF killed a boss terrorist from the Islamic Jihad after dark (but still on Mar 4)
#3
Vogons are described as officiously bureaucratic, a line of work at which they perform so well that the entire galactic bureaucracy is run by them.
On Vogsphere, the Vogons would sit upon very elegant and beautiful gazelle-like creatures, whose backs would snap instantly if the Vogons tried to ride them. The Vogons were perfectly happy with just sitting on them. Another favorite Vogon pastime is to import millions of beautiful jewel-backed scuttling crabs from their native planet, cut down giant trees of breathtaking beauty, and spend a happy drunken night smashing the crabs to bits with iron mallets and cooking the crab meat by burning the trees.
(PTI) The Sri Lankan cricket team, which came under a brazen terror attack here leaving six of its players injured, today returned home by a special chartered plane dispatched by Colombo. A Pakistan cricket Board official present at the airport said the flight left with all the Lankan players and officials. "A senior Sri Lankan government official had come with the special flight to accompany them back home," the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
That's it. Without international cricket, why would anyone go to Pakistan?
The United Arab Emirates has begun implementing a strategic plan to build a new port for exporting crude oil in order to counter Iranian threats to hinder marine traffic by closing the Strait of Hormuz.
The emirates of Abu Dhabi and Fujairah started in January constructing a port through which 70 percent of Abu Dhabi's crude oil will be exported.
The step came in the wake of Iranian threats to close the vital strait a move that could deal a massive blow to the oil market since 40 percent of the world's oil is shipped by sea and 20 percent of all oil shipments pass through the strategic passage. The seven-kilometer (three mile) waterway is the only marine entrance to the Gulf.
Once completed, the port will transport up to 1.8 million barrels of crude oil daily, Moussa Mourad, the manager of the Port of Fujairah told the UAE's Emirates Business 24/7 newspaper. "The port will be equipped to receive gigantic oil tankers and crude oil will reach Fujairah through a pipeline and will be stored in warehouses near the port," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Huh? Iran gets 60% of its gasoline needs from UAE and Saudi Arabia. Iran's bluster is just bluster. Take out their diesel and gas production capacity, and their war plans are gonzo. When German generals planned the Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge) they forced infantrymen to carry syphon hoses because they knew they would run short of fuel. In fact, US commanders - facing Tiger tanks with smaller Shermans - used maneuvreablity to force the enemy to burn fuel. It worked. Abandoned Tigers were used in Hollywood movies after the war. No fuel; no combat.
Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces on Tuesday arrested four wanted men in the southwest of Kirkuk, a source from the joint coordination center said.
"Acting on intelligence information, police forces waged a crackdown operation in al-Riyadh district in al-Huwaiyja, southwest of Kirkuk, where they arrested four wanted men," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that they were arrested for security reasons.
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THREE children were killed and five others wounded when a leftover mortar shell exploded in the southern Philippines on Tuesday, a local official said. The children were playing in a rice mill in Buldon town in the southern island of Mindanao when they unearthed a mortar shell which then exploded, said Alex Tumawis, mayor of a neighboring town. Three of the children were killed and five were wounded, two of them critically, said the mayor, who arrived at the scene shortly afterwards.
It was not known where the mortar shell came from but Buldon town has been the site of fierce fighting between the military and Muslim separatist rebels.
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The Sri Lankan military on Tuesday claimed its troops had entered Puthukkudiyirippu, the last town under the control of the LTTE in Wanni, after intense fighting.
With the fall of Puthukkudiyirippu, the LTTE is entirely confined to some jungle pockets in Mullathivu and as per military estimates, the area under it is now below 50 sq. km. The Ministry said troops were now consolidating defences in the area, while intense fighting was reported further east of Puthukkudiyirippu and northwest at Iranapalai.
Separately, the Navy said it assisted the evacuation of 157 civilians, including patients under the ICRC flag. The Navy provided safe passage to the patients for urgent medical treatment at the Tricomalee government hospital.
Meanwhile, the pro-LTTE TamilNet claimed the plight of people herded into the narrow strip of safe zone assigned by the government was growing worse each day as vegetables, food items, and milk powder for babies were scarce.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Is that anywhere near WORCISTER-CISTER-CISTER-CISTER-SHIRE [Worcestershire - BUGS BUNNY toon]???
Two Tajik antidrug officers have been killed and three Tajik border guards injured near the Tajik-Afghan border.
Local officials told RFE/RL's Tajik Service that some 30 gunmen attacked the border crossing at Sari Ghor in the Dashti Jam area of the southern Khatlon Province bordering Afghanistan on the night of February 27, killing the officers and injuring the Tajik border guards. Officials say the murders may have been a retribution attack by drug smugglers.
Tajik border guards killed six Afghan drug smugglers and confiscated a large amount of drugs several weeks ago. But local officials said they have no idea who the attackers were because they left nothing behind and returned to Afghan side of the border.
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A Pakistani minister blamed arch-rival India for a brazen attack on a visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in the northeastern city of Lahore on Tuesday, March 3, that killed seven people and wounding others, including five players. "This is an attack on Pakistan," Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Nabeel Gabol told IslamOnline.net. "There is no doubt about Indian involvement in this terrorist attack."
That doesn't make a bit of sense ...
According to eyewitnesses and police, twelve militants carrying heavy weapons, including rocket launchers, attacked the convoy near the Gaddafi stadium. The militants fired rockets, hand grenades and automatic weapons during a 25-minute gunbattle with security forces. They were seen creeping through trees, crouching to aim their weapons and then running onto the next target.
The militants were able to flee the scene, triggering a giant manhunt. "The weapons and rocket launchers used in the attack are Indian made," said Minister Gabol. "Indian media and politicians have been demanding for targeting Pakistan in retaliation of Mumbai attacks. And today, they have targeted us," added the minister. "We will not take it lightly. Every option and forum will be used to expose India."
The Indian government, which blames Pakistan for the Mumbai attacks that killed 165 people, has pressed Sri Lanka to cancel the cricket tour, a request turned down by Sri Lanka. The Indian government has lodged an official protest with the Sri Lankan government for not canceling the tour. The visit was seen as a reciprocation for a friendly gesture by the Pakistani cricket team back in 1995 when all cricket teams had refused to visit Sri Lanka fearing terrorist attacks by Tamil Tigers.
Mumbai-like
The sophistication of the Lahore attack is raising eyebrows, with experts saying it bore the hallmarks of the tactics used in the Mumbai attacks. "This is a totally different modus operandi adopted by the attackers," Kamran Khan, a Karachi-based senior defense and security analyst, told IOL. "It is true that in most of the terrorist activities, local extremist elements are involved, but they use suicide bombings to hit their targets. In this case, the attackers have used a different modus operandi, which is identical to Mumbai attacks."
He believes this is a re-play of the Mumbai attacks in November last. "No doubt, we have to wait for the result of investigations, but for sure it cannot be disconnected from the Mumbai attacks. There is no doubt in my mind that this is sequel of Mumbai attacks."
Khaled Farooq, chief of police in Punjab province, also believes the attack carries the hallmarks of Mumbai tactics. "The attack resembles the Mumbai attacks," Farooq told reporters. "That was also a commando action and this is also a commando operation," Farooq said when asked how the attack resembled Mumbai. "They were trained terrorists and they attacked in a planned manner."
Khusro Pervez, commissioner of Lahore, agreed. "It appears that the attackers were fully trained and they used lethal and sophisticated weapons."
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VIENNA - U.N. nuclear watchdog governors on Tuesday approved a deal allowing extra inspections of Indias atomic industry, a condition of a U.S.-led deal allowing New Delhi to import nuclear technology after a 33-year freeze. Passage of an Additional Protocol somewhat expanding the International Atomic Energy Agencys monitoring rights in India came a month after New Delhi signed a basic nuclear safeguards accord opening its civilian nuclear plants to U.N. inspections.
The Additional Protocol would give IAEA inspectors more information on Indias nuclear-related exports, imports and source material, diplomats familiar with the issue said.
But some members of the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors joined the consensus vote only with reluctance, they said. Sceptics felt that while heightened U.N. safeguards were a net gain for a country outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty, they could have been stronger had there been more time for negotiations, they added. Switzerland, South Africa, Ireland and Cuba protested that the agreement was handed to the board only two days ago, too late to thoroughly assess whether it will really contribute to disarmament, one diplomat in the closed-door meeting said.
It doesnt because there are no provisions to ensure India cannot divert into its military nuclear sector nuclear materials and know-how it obtains abroad for the civilian sector.
The protocol would give inspectors wider access to Indias programme but not as much as in states that have signed the NPT.
IAEA oversight was stipulated when the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group agreed in September to lift a ban on nuclear trade with India, imposed after its first nuclear test in 1974 and for its refusal to join the NPT. India, Pakistan and Israel are the only countries never to have never signed the NPT.
Washington pushed through the NSG waiver because this was indispensable to implementing its own 2005 nuclear cooperation pact to supply India with nuclear technology. U.S. officials said the deal, a major plank in former U.S. President George W. Bushs foreign policy, would forge a strategic partnership with India, help it meet rising energy demand and open up a nuclear market worth billions of dollars.
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03/04/2009
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Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces found 18 missile pads and a Strela missile in eastern Falluja, a senior police officer said on Tuesday. "Policemen found 18 missile pads and a Strella missile in al-Maamel region in al-Subeihat village in al-Karma district in eastern Falluja," Colonel Saad Abbas told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The pads were settled by unknown gunmen to attack the al-Foursan police station in the region," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A new trial of jailed Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky began Tuesday with the former Yukos chief facing charges of crimes that could keep him jailed into old age. Khodorkovsky and fellow defendant Platon Lebedev shook hands as they took their places inside a bulletproof transparent booth in the heavily guarded courtroom.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
Coming soon to America. Probably someone like John Thain. Not Standford or Angelo because they track back to the Dems. Thain is the ML CEO who gave out the bonuses before BoA took them over. Obama is going to need a public lynching to really get his way with his budget and tax increases.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/04/2009 12:19
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#2
See also REDDIT > seems RIVAL RUSSIAN POL or GOVT FACTIONS have begun serious infighting over "DWINDLING" STATE $$$ RESERVES, wid PUTIN = VALDVEDEV caught in the middle???
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said conspiracy and evil designs are still being hatched after the bloody BDR mutiny in a bid to foil the country's democracy, independence and sovereignty.
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A TOP communist rebel leader blamed for extorting 'revolutionary taxes' from businessmen in the Philippines has been arrested, the army said on Tuesday. Eduardo Sarmiento headed the regional party committee in the central Visayas region for the Communist Party of the Philippines New People's Army (CPP-NPA) and had standing arrest warrants for various crimes, the army said. 'Mr Sarmiento was arrested alone and in possession of high explosives and fake identification cards,' the army said in a statement.
It said that Sarmiento was arrested on February 24 following a tip off by former cadres. It added that Sarmiento headed a 'nationwide extortion syndicate' operated by the CPP-NPA, which has been waging a Maoist rebellion since 1969 in one of Asia's longest-running communist insurgencies. 'We expect more arrests soon, in our unrelenting campaign to crush this criminal organisation,' the army said.
The group frequently targets power and telecoms infrastructure owned by firms that refuse to pay illegal 'revolutionary taxes' demanded by the rebels.
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Two soldiers were gunned down by militants in scenic Swat valley on Tuesday. According to Swat Media Center, soldiers were martyred when they were carrying water tanker.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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Aswat al-Iraq: Eight Katyusha rockets hit the U.S. base in southern Mosul on Tuesday, a police source said. "The rockets landed on the U.S. base in al-Ghezlani region in southern Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
"U.S. choppers were seen hovering over the area after the attack," he added, without giving further details.
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#1
Special request for "not this shi* again" graphic please.
(PTI) The Pakistani leadership today expressed its sincere apologies to the Sri Lankan people for the "very unfortunate incident" in which seven players from the Island nation were injured when masked terrorist attacked the players' convoy in Lahore today.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari today telephoned President Mahinda Rajapaksa today in Kathmandu to strongly condemn the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers, injuring seven players and killing eight policemen and others.
Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani had also telephoned President Rajapaksa to condemn the attack by gunmen near showpiece Gaddafi Stadium where the player were being taken at 9 am ahead of the third day's play in the second Test against Pakistan.
Both the President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan conveyed their sincere apologies to the people and the Government of Sri Lanka for the harm caused to the Sri Lankan players by terrorists in Pakistan, a Sri Lankan foreign ministry said.
"They expressed their profound sympathy and concern for the welfare of the injured cricketers and assured President Rajapaksa that Pakistan is determined to combat terrorism and will work with the international community and Sri Lanka to defeat terrorism, it said in a statement.
Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, who has been asked by Rajapaksa to rush to Pakistan, was associated with the President during the telephone discussions, the ministry statement said.
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Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal called on Tuesday for a joint Arab strategy to deal with the "Iranian challenge" at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in the Egyptian capital. "In order to cement Arab reconciliation we need a common vision for issues that concern Arab security and deal with the Iranian challenge," including its nuclear drive, he said.
The relationship between Sunni-ruled Arab states in the Gulf, including oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia, and Shiite Iran has long been strained amid concern about Tehran's nuclear program.
" In order to cement Arab reconciliation we need a common vision for issues that concern Arab security and deal with the Iranian challenge "
Prince Saud al-Faisal
At the U.N. General Assembly last year, the Saudi prince urged Iran to comply with its nuclear obligations to spare the Middle East "devastating conflicts, futile arms races and serious environmental hazards."
Last Thursday, Faisal said he wanted to build "healthy" new ties with Syria, two days after his Damascus counterpart paid a landmark visit to Riyadh delivering a message from the Syrian president. "There will be other visits between Syria and Saudi Arabia," the prince told reporters following talks with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner.
"We hope for reconciliation between Syria and Saudi Arabia on healthy foundations," he said.
"Divergences on Arab issues are behind us, buried," said the Saudi minister, who described Tuesday's visit by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem as "very positive."
Ties between Damascus and Riyadh nosedived after the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, a Saudi citizen and protégé, in a bombing widely blamed on Syria but denied by Damascus.
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In a top secret mission, a team of the Research and Analysis Wing tracked down an absconding accused in the Bangalore serial blasts case in Muscat, and sneaked him out of Oman, since India doesn't have an extradition treaty with that country.
Sarfaraz Nawaz, 32, who allegedly played a major role in financing the Bangalore blasts, had sought refuge in Muscat. Investigating officials told rediff.com that a RAW team managed to track down Nawaz in Muscat. They added that Nawaz was 'smuggled into' Bangalore on a chartered aircraft.
The entire operation was so secretive that even the Air Traffic Control was taken aback when they received a message to help the chartered aircraft land at the Bengaluru International Airport. After landing at the airport, officials of the RAW and the Intelligence Bureau called top Central Industrial Security Force officials and directed them to escort the passengers in the aircraft.
The officials handed over Nawaz to the Bangalore police, who are currently questioning him. Abdul Sattar, the prime accused in the case, had revealed Nawaz's role in the serial blasts during his interrogation. Nawaz was reportedly close to Riyaz Bhatkal, a key Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative, who later took over the charge of the Indian Mujahideen. With Nawaz's arrest, the Bangalore police are hopeful of tracking down the remaining suspects, who might have fled the country after the Bangalore blasts.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/04/2009
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#1
I'll bet he had a cell phone and a computer when captured. India has plenty of clever computer and phone boffins who'll be happy to play with them... and they already have friends at the FBI. More missiles will no doubt be flying from the drones in the near future. Happy hunting, guys!
True that Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif have been disqualified by a controversial Supreme Court decision but there are possibilities that the script for their political elimination was written outside Pakistan. Never picked up on that, didja? They are a subtle lot, I'll give 'em that.
And one of the reasons could be their public perception as rightist politicians opposed to the American designs for South Asia. Or maybe it's because nobody can stand Uncle Fester...
Evidence is increasingly available in the Western writings that Washington and London "induced" former president Parvez Musharraf to facilitate the return of Benazir Bhutto in 2007 after spending over a year in secret diplomacy. Benazir was the voice, or at least the face, of sweet reason, especially when compared to the rest of Pakistain. People tried to overlook the fact that she was married to Mr. Ten Percent and surrounded by as rapacious a bunch of crooks as most people could imagine.
But more important part of the US-UK plan was to make sure Nawaz Sharif did not return to Pakistan lest he jeopardised the ascendancy of Bhutto to power. Most people noticed that when Benazir was invited back and not Uncle Fester.
Writing in the latest edition of Survival, the International Institute for Strategic Studies' bimonthly magazine, former British high commissioner to Pakistan Hilary Synnott revealed that the American and British governments were concerned to protect their interests in Afghanistan and in countering terrorism, especially after Musharraf sacked his chief justice in March 2007 and suspended some 60 judges. Oh, yeah. That was brilliant, wasn't it?
"The ensuing militant protests by the judiciary, being neither religious nor party political activists, introduced a new and unusual dimension to the political crisis. "When Musharraf rashly declared a state of emergency on 3 November, it became clear that his days are numbered." Perv yanked the lever on himself with that one...
The US and the UK, according to Synnott hoped they could still promote democracy while maintaining Musharraf in power and that was why both Musharraf and Bhutto were encouraged to come to an accommodation despite their deep mutual antipathy. Nawaz, meanwhile, was hustled back on the plane when he showed up uninvited...
"Musharraf was induced to arrange for the criminal charges against Bhutto and her husband to be dropped so as to allow her to lead her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in the general elections due in late 2007. That doesn't mean they weren't guilty as sin, just that the charges were dropped. There's a diffo.
The plan was that, with the aid of the so-called "king's party" (Pakistan Muslim League-Q), which backed Musharraf, the PPP would assume the prime ministership while Musharraf remained as president, having first stood down as chief of army staff. We knew they weren't gonna let Perv retain both offices, even if the presidency was a ceremonial position. Zardari's occupying the same post, and it's not ceremonial.
"Sharif, however, would not be allowed to return to Pakistan from his forced exile in Saudi Arabia, which would severely disadvantage his Pakistan Muslim League-N, Pakistan's only other significant national political party, which might otherwise threaten Bhutto's ascendancy." I don't think Benazir was ever in real danger of losing to Nawaz, though I'm sure there were lotsa ballot boxes waiting to be stuffed. He was too recent a memory, smelled too strongly of Kargil, and just as corrupt as the Bhutto's. Benazir was a whiff of the romantic past, her father fondly if inaccurately recalled, and better looking than Uncle Fester.
In his essay "What is happening in Pakistan", the former British envoy analysed that Pakistan could experience more violence and disorder unless greater attention was paid to its challenges but "it is unlikely that the country is on the brink of state failure". I'da said it went over the brink about the time Benazir was murdered. And I'm not positive Gomez was uninvolved in that.
His reasons for optimism lie in relatively stable areas including the Punjab, which have weathered many storms in the past and are unlikely to disintegrate into chaos. Precisely where in Punjab is it relatively stable?
But diplomatic sources are concerned that the present Zardari-Sharif episode can turn ugly in coming days when the lawyers march towards Islamabad with overt support from Sharif loyalists. Gomez and Uncle Fester play the violin and the clarinet, respectively, whilst Peshawar burns.
But analysts like Hilary Synnott were ready for such eventualities even before the Pakistaní apex court saw the Sharifs as unfit to partake in electoral politics. Was he, by Gad? Good olde Hilary! Always on top of things Pakistained...
His pre-Supreme Court decision advice for Pakistanís international friends was to avoid prescribing solutions to the mess the country is getting into. "In the light of past experience, the friends of Pakistan would do well not to be too prescriptive in dealing with Pakistan's complex political scene. If Zardari's political star will fall, the current working assumption is that his leadership, in some form or other, would be replaced by that of Nawaz Sharif." Or that of Baitullah Mehsud. My personal opinion is that they're gonna squabble and bicker and "long march" and stage shutter-down strikes until both sides are too exhausted to lift their snouts out of the trough, at which point there'll be another coup and both will be packed off to London or Riyadh again.
The former diplomat reasons that Nawaz Sharif of 2009 could be different from the one Pakistan experienced in the 1990s. "In view of the failings of Sharif's previous leadership, there are grounds for concern. Responding to popular sentiment, he may be expected to be cautious about alignment with the United States and, as in the past, have closer relationship with religious groupings than does the centre-left PPP. Nor can there be any certainty that he has learned from the mistakes of the past. My guess is that he hasn't. And he's been on the other side ever since he got back.
"But that is equally true of Zardari, about whom there are grounds for concern. He's the slicker of the two, but I'm not sure he's the greedier.
"For all his past and possibly present shortcomings, Sharif is no revolutionary and may be expected to adopt a pragmatic approach. They said that about Khomeini, too. And Brezhnev. And Assad the Younger. They probably said it about Attila: "Aye! Yon princeling's no so mindlessly ferocious as the old man! He's much more pragmatic! You can deal with him if you approach him right, Aetius!"
"His stated priorities for the issues, which need attention and reform, exhibit a clearer focus than in the past and offer some hope that his leadership would extend beyond mere politicking and the maximisation of power."
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The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany said Tuesday in a rare joint statement that they were ready for direct talks with Iran to resolve a long-running nuclear standoff.
Speaking at a U.N. nuclear watchdog meeting, the six voiced serious concern at Iran's atomic advances and increasing restrictions on U.N. inspectors trying to keep track of them but did not mention toughening sanctions as a way to rein in Iran. "We remain firmly committed to a comprehensive diplomatic solution, including through direct dialogue," the so-called P5+1 nations said in a joint statement read to a closed-door meeting of the IAEA board of governors.
The countries--Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States--called on "Iran to take this opportunity for engagement with us and thereby maximize opportunities for a negotiated way forward."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
Talk with Iran, or lay down the law with Iran?
Posted by: Albert Snesh5991 Really Redneck Jimmy nym refuses to stay put ||
03/04/2009 20:17
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LAKELAND, Fla. -- Officers fired 110 rounds of ammunition at the man suspected of killing a sheriff's deputy, killing the suspect, according to an autopsy released by the sheriff's office. Angilo Freeland -- who was suspected of fatally shooting the deputy after being pulled over for speeding Thursday -- was hit 68 times by the SWAT team members' shots, the examination released Saturday showed.
"I suspect the only reason 110 rounds was all that was fired was that's all the ammunition they had"
Sheriff Grady Judd
He also was suspected of wounding a deputy and killing a police dog.
Freeland's death ended a nearly 24-hour manhunt that forced schools to lock down and families to stay indoors as about 500 officers scoured the woods. The wounded deputy had pulled Freeland over for speeding and became suspicious of his identification. The suspect got nervous and bolted into the woods, officials said.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said he was not concerned by the number of shots fired. "You have to understand, he had already shot and killed a deputy, he had already shot and killed a K-9 and he shot and injured another deputy," Judd said by phone Saturday. "Quite frankly, we weren't taking any chances."
Ten SWAT officers surrounded Freeland on Friday as he hid beneath brush and a fallen tree in a rural area. Authorities say he raised the gun belonging to the deputy he had killed, prompting nine officers to fire.
"I suspect the only reason 110 rounds was all that was fired was that's all the ammunition they had," Judd said. "We were not going to take any chance of him shooting back."
Also released Saturday were autopsy results for the deputy, Vernon Matthew Williams, 39, which showed he had been shot eight times. He was not wearing a protective vest, but shots hit him in his right leg and behind his right ear, among other places. Diogi, his German shepherd police dog, was also killed. The dog had been shot once in the chest.
Authorities said deputy sheriff Doug Speirs, also 39, was fired at several times and shot once in the leg. A sergeant and an officer from the Lakeland Police Department were also fired at, authorities said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2009
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#1
Police nullification of jury nullification.
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2009 0:44
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#2
9 officers, most of which had automatic weapons if I remember this right, fire 110 rounds. That's just 12 rounds each. And considering they hit him 68 times is pretty good shooting for cops.
#3
"Suspected cop-killer"
Now that he has been so thoroughly ventilated, I sincerely hope he was the actual cop-killer.
Note also the link to an earlier story:
"Florida Authorities Kill Armed Gunman Who Shot Cop to Death"
I guess it wouldn't do to shoot an unarmed gunman.
#4
Considering they were probably packing rifles by that time, they didn't even empty the mags on them. Probably had to take extreme care to not have friendly fire problems.
#9
Just to remind you people this story is from 2006. Locally there are still a lot of "We Remember Matt and Diogi" bumper stickers around since Matt was a local boy. IIRC the perp was a Miami drug dealer whose death was met with much grief by drug enforcement officers. They really hoped they could've had a talk with him facing a death penatly.
#16
This actually happened Sept. 29, 2006. Background...
Freeland's family called on Florida Governor Jeb Bush to appoint an independent, unbiased investigator, because they claimed that the Polk County Sheriff's Office, which reviewed the shooting by an internal investigation, was biased due to the death of Deputy Williams. They argued, based on the number of shots fired and Deputy Judd's remarks, that the police used to much force and that they should have made more of an effort to take Angilo alive. Joyce Freeland, Angilo's mother stated that "All we want is for all questions surrounding why this happened to be answered." In response, Assistant State Attorney Chip Thullbery stated that "I think their concerns are misplaced. I believe that there will be a thorough investigation of all the incidents and that our office will do a thorough, independent and impartial review of that investigation."
His family claimed Angilo was not involved in any illicit activity. However, his home was the subject of an ongoing drugs and weapons investigation at the time of the shooting. When authorities searched his house, they recovered several firearms including an AK-47 assault rifle, an SKS assault rifle and a .380-caliber handgun. Police also uncovered a journal in when Freeland wrote about going out "in a moment of Bezerk madness, forcing the enemy to play the end game before it is time."
In December 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)asked the FBI to review the shooting of Freeland after the department received a letter from the Florida Civil Rights Association, which called Freeland's shooting "profoundly disturbing." The FBI subsequently announced they would investigate whether authorities used excessive force in the incident. In June 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced it had cleared the Polk County Sheriff's Office of any wrongdoing in the incident, stating: "After careful consideration, we concluded that the evidence does not establish a prosecutable violation of the federal civil rights statutes. Accordingly, we have closed our investigation."
In a report dated June 14, 2007, Gabrielle Finley of Ledger.com published that "The Polk County Sheriffs Office said today that area law enforcement agencies have arrested 19 people in Orange and Hernando counties who were connected with Angilo Freeland in a street-level drug trafficking operation. Freeland is the man deputies say shot and killed Deputy Matt Williams and his K-9 Diogi last September following a traffic stop. In a press conference today, Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said Freeland served as an assassin in the drug operation. Officials suspect him of killing up to 15 people in Latin America for not paying their drug debts. They are unsure if he killed anyone in Florida, but are still investigating that angle. Freeland was pure evil in the flesh, Judd said." The investigations had been facilitated directly via a cellphone found on Freeland's body.
#17
he bwas the right one they found him hiding in the wood he fled intowhich was very thick and was also hiding in the brush. who gives a damn how manytimes they shot him he's dead and good riddance
#18
Pity stayed his hand. "It's a pity I've run out of bullets," Dildo thought. Bored of the Rings, Lampoon Press, 1969
Also reminds me of the story about NYPD murder of an unarmed immigrant who was reaching for ID as requested by police. 7 out of 43. Good shootin', Tex.
Russia has allowed a supply cargo for U.S. forces in Afghanistan to pass through its territory by train, a sign of Moscow's growing cooperation with Washington on the issue. The cargo had entered Russia from NATO member Latvia and crossed the country en route to Afghanistan, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Moscow said. Russia's foreign ministry later confirmed the cargo had crossed into Kazakhstan.
NATO is looking for alternative supply routes for its troops fighting the Taliban other than through Pakistan, where Western military convoys are repeatedly attacked by Taliban militants. "It is non-lethal goods, like construction equipment for example," the embassy spokesman said, adding: "I believe it crossed into Russia on Friday."
The Kremlin said Afghanistan was an area where it was willing to cooperate with the administration of President Barack Obama, who is sending more troops to fight in Afghanistan. "The cargo of American non-military goods for Afghanistan yesterday left the territory of Russia and should be in Kazakhstan," a Russian foreign ministry spokesman told Interfax news agency.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said this month he saw the threat from radical groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan and was ready to work more closely with the United States on supply routes. But Russia has sent conflicting signals over how far it is prepared to go to help the United States in Afghanistan and Moscow has made no secret of its opposition to U.S. influence in the former Soviet Union.
In Kyrgyzstan, an ex-Soviet ally of Moscow's announced last month, after accepting a big Russian aid package that it was closing the last U.S. air base in Central Asia, a key staging post for the war in Afghanistan. The Kremlin denied any connection between the aid and the base closure.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
See also TOPIX > US ASKS CHINA FOR SUPPLY ROUTE INTO AFGHANISTAN.
#2
As long as the Americans can keep the radical muzzies focused and away from Chechnya and other [soon not to be] former states of the first Soviet Union, this serves as a means to further Moscow's security needs.
The Netherlands and France have sharply chastised the UN for singling out Israel in the preparatory text for its upcoming "Durban II" anti-racism conference, but said they are not yet ready to boycott the event. "I am deeply disturbed by the turn this event is taking," Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said on Tuesday in a speech before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. "The way in which the preparatory process for this conference has been proceeding suggests that it is unlikely to be a useful exercise."
But they're still going, at least so far ...
The previous night, in an address to a large dinner hosted by the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) in Paris, French Prime Minister Francois Filion warned that his country would withdraw if changes were not made to the draft text with regard to Israel.
On Friday, the US became the third country after Canada and Israel to announce it will not attend the April 20-24 event in Geneva, which is a follow-up conference to the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance that met in Durban, South Africa.
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The US has toughened sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, blacklisting certain firms linked to the country's Bank Melli. The US Treasury on Tuesday blacklisted 11 companies affiliated to the country's largest state bank, including Bank Melli Iran Investment Co, Reuters reported.
The sanctions ban any transactions between a US citizen or institution with the firms and seek to freeze any assets that they may have under US jurisdiction.
The US has imposed unilateral financial sanctions on Iranian commercial banks including Melli, Saderat, Sepah and Mellat to pressure the country into stopping its activities. The UN Security Council has also imposed three rounds of sanctions against Iran, urging the country to halt its enrichment activities.
Last week, The Financial Times reported that Britain, France and Germany were also proposing a tough list of new sanctions to be imposed against Iran. The report said that 34 Iranian entities including Iran's Bank Tejarat and 10 individuals who are believed to be connected with the country's disputed nuclear program were on the list.
The UN nuclear watchdog, which conducts regular inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities, said in its latest report on the country's nuclear program that there has been no diversion of "declared nuclear material in Iran." The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, urged more cooperation from Tehran.
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PHILIPPINE President Gloria Arroyo will not interfere with an impeachment case filed against the nation's top graftbuster over a multi-million dollar corruption scandal, her office said Tuesday. 'The impeachment case against the ombudsman involves an internal process of Congress, which the palace cannot and will not interfere with,' deputy presidential spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo told reporters.
Mrs Arroyo however remains 'optimistic' that legislators will 'handle this case with judiciousness, objectivity, fairness and reason,' she said.
Mrs Arroyo's critics on Monday filed an impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, alleging she betrayed public trust by not prosecuting those involved in alleged corruption in a World Bank-funded road project. They accused Ms Gutierrez of protecting Arroyo's family, since one of those implicated in the corruption case is the president's husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo.
The World Bank earlier blacklisted several Chinese and Philippine firms it said had colluded in the bidding for a US$33 million (S$51.14 million) road rehabilitation project. It sent a report to the Senate quoting witnesses who charged Jose Miguel Arroyo was among the political figures who supported the cartel in cornering lucrative deals.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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Russian President Won't "Haggle" Over US Missile Defense Plans
The US missile shield plans have been vehemently opposed in RussiaRussian President Medvedev has said he's willing to discuss the proposed US missile shield with Washington. But he added that any deal linking those talks with negotiations regarding Iran would not be productive. The White House spin team will have to kick in the afterburners to put a pony into this pile of crap!
#1
The Russians smell weakness in the US, like many of our adversaries in the ME. They are going to make silly putty out of this Administration. The Russians respect power. The US projects weakness. Events are gonna accelerate.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/04/2009 0:31
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#2
You'd think they'd learn. The American system is not linear, buy cyclic. They played this game in '76 with Carter to the point of the disastrous adventure in Afghanistan creating the 'interesting' world we now have. Chechnya just a barrel of fun isn't it Putie? Carter begets Reagan. How'd that work out for Moscow in the end. Take the opportunity when the taking is good. But no, they've got to play the Paleo political theater of 'always taking the opportunity to miss an opportunity.'
#6
The foreign policy of wishful thinking...Well, OK, extend the olive branch. But is it too much to ask if there's a Plan B? A lightening bolt in the other hand? Hmmm?
Magdi Hussein, secretary general of Egypt's suspended Socialist Labor Party, has been sentenced to two years in prison by a military tribunal. Hussein, along with two others, was charged with "infiltrating" into the Gaza Strip following Israel's recent campaign against the coastal enclave. Protests against his arrest continue to be ineffective.
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#1
Good. Now hope we do the same with our covert nazi peace activists.
Author Frederick Forsyth has told the BBC of his surprise to find himself in Guinea-Bissau on the day the president and army chief were assassinated.
The British writer flew in to research a new book as the country was plunged into a drama that could have leapt from the pages of one of his thrillers. The Day of the Jackal author told of the "bizarre" events as renegade troops "rather slowly" killed the president.
He said the drama was "garnish on the cake" that might be in his new novel. The writer was at pains to point out: "I can assure you I had nothing to do with the coup d'etat." Forsyth has previously admitted helping to finance a 1973 coup attempt in another West African state, Equatorial Guinea.
Those events were the inspiration for his 1974 book The Dogs of War, which chronicles a failed plan by a group of European mercenaries to topple the government of a fictional African country.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/04/2009
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#1
Forsyth has previously admitted helping to finance a 1973 coup attempt in another West African state, Equatorial Guinea.
Just a coincindence, or two, or three...nothing to see here.
#3
Is Guinea-Bissau one of those African countries that Mexican and South American drug smugglers use as a way station on their way to Europe? I read a story a while back about how they were using Ivory Coast that way and the money was corrupting the hell out of the local officials because the smugglers can carry more money in one suitcase than the entire annual GDP of some of these little African countries.
Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Tuesday that government was busy in horse-trading rather than ensuring the security of Sri Lankan players. Addressing a news conference after National Assembly session, he said that despite the fact that there was a possible threat of such terror attack, visiting team was repeatedly traveled though same route. He urged the government to put the responsibility on someone for serious security lapse that tarnished the country's image across the world. The opposition leader further said that unelected advisers must admit their blunders in this connection. Meanwhile, he paid tribute to the martyred security personnel for their brave show in protecting the Sri Lankan players from the terror attack. The government should have provided better security to the visiting team, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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African and Portuguese-speaking envoys flew to Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday to try to head off a possible coup after the president and army chief were killed. Soldiers guarded strategic locations in the capital Bissau and local media said the National Assembly would meet on Tuesday. They murdered the head of state after the army chief was murdered, but that wasn't a coup. It was just murder.
The army has denied any wish to seize power, but it was unclear who controlled the poor former Portuguese colony of 1,6-million, where the involvement of drug traffickers has worsened years of instability. The borders remained closed.
President Joao Bernardo "Nino" Vieira and his long-standing rival General Batista Tagme Na Wai, the armed forces chief, were killed in separate attacks hours apart on Sunday and Monday. "The African Union [AU] appeals urgently to the political parties and actors of this country to exercise restraint and refrain from plunging the country once again into a spiral of power struggle," the continental body said in a statement. "The AU underscores the need to make every effort to avoid the use of violence and power-grabbing as a means of settling disputes," it said, adding it would send an envoy to Bissau "to assess the situation and prevent it from worsening".
The AU suspended neighbouring Guinea after a coup in December following the death of its president.
Senior envoys from Portuguese-speaking countries, including Portuguese State Secretary for Foreign Relations and Cooperation Joao Gomes Cravinho, arrived in Bissau on Tuesday. "We maintain constant telephone contact, but actually being there sends a different kind of a signal and gives another opportunity to talk. At this moment there is no indication of a need for any international or military force for Guinea-Bissau," Cravinho said on Portugal's SIC television before he set off.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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CHENNAI: A missile which will waylay and destroy an incoming ballistic enemy at an altitude of about 80 km will be launched off the coast of Orissa later this week.
This crucial test will seek to prove the efficacy of a host of new technologies, said officials in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which is conducting it. They described it as a major test to establish a ballistic missile defence [BMD] shield as part of the network-centric warfare. This is the third time an interceptor missile test is being conducted under the BMD shield that India seeks to establish.
The launch will feature two missiles. The enemy missile will be a modified version of Dhanush, a surface-to-surface missile. It will take off from a naval ship in the Bay of Bengal and simulate the terminal phase of the flight of a ballistic missile with a range of 1,500 km, similar to Pakistans Ghauri. As it zeroes in on the Wheeler Island, off Damra village on the Orissa coast, a Prithvi Air Defence (PAD) missile will lift off from the Wheeler Island, intercept the incoming enemy missile at an altitude of 70-80 km in the last one second and a half of its flight and pulverise it.
The interceptor PAD missile will use, for the first time, the gimballed directional warhead. It has so far been used only in the U.S. and Russia. When the directional warhead fragments in 360 degrees all round, the target missile coming in from only one direction is sure to be blown up. Ground tests have been done on the directional warhead. In flight, it will be done for the first time. This is a new thing, the DRDO officials said.
A directional warhead weighs less than 30 kg but its lethality is equivalent to a 150-kg warhead. The PAD would also feature trajectory optimisation to enable interception at not only a higher altitude of 80 or 85 km but also at 45 km. It could engage missiles with a range of 300 to 1,500 km.
The distinct advantage of intercepting a missile at a higher altitude of 80 km is that the debris will take longer to fall through the atmosphere before it hits the ground and hence will become cinders because of the re-entry of heat, the DRDO officials said. In a typical war scenario, this would reduce the effect of any fallout of nuclear debris and the risk associated with radiation.
The first interceptor missile test, which took place on November 27, 2006, waylaid an incoming ballistic missile in the exo-atmosphere at 48-km altitude. The second test took place on December 6, 2007 against a target missile at 15-km altitude in endo-atmosphere. The third test would be part of Indias plan to deploy a two-layered BMD system in the coming years.
In terms of strategic importance, the test would establish Indias capability to intercept Pakistans Hatf and Ghauri missiles.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/04/2009
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San Diego -- The F/A-18 crash that killed four family members in a San Diego neighborhood on Dec. 8 was caused by poor maintenance on the plane and a series of errors by the pilot and officers trying to guide him to an emergency landing, the results of a Marine investigation released today concluded.
Four officers at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station have been relieved of duty, a probable career-ending sanction. Nine other Marines and sailors have also been punished. The pilot, who was still in training, has been grounded. The assistant commandant for aviation will decide whether he is allowed to resume flying. "While we did not find any evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the responsible parties are being held accountable for their part in this tragic accident," Maj. Gen. Randolph Alles, an F/A-18 pilot and assistant commander of the Miramar-based 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, told reporters at an afternoon news conference.
Hours earlier, Marine brass briefed politicians in Washington and San Diego, as well as Dong Yun Yoon, whose wife, two young daughters and mother-in-law were killed when the plane smashed into their home. Owners of two adjacent homes were also briefed.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2009
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#1
"Land as soon as possible" does not mean at the closest maintenance facility. This sounded avoidable.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/04/2009 1:34
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Damn right, Pan. I once landed a UH-1H Huey in a supermarket parking lot near Mount Holly NC. The indication was transmission failure, accompanied by various alarming smells and grinding noises. The Charlotte airport was just a few minutes away but there was no reason to risk flight over populated areas with a marginal aircraft. The outcome was much, much happier, even farcical, on that occasion: A local who looked just like the late Junior Samples of Hee-Haw fame drove up in his pickup and asked what we were doing landing a "heel-copter" at the "gosh-ree sto'" I responded that we were having a picnic and had dropped by for some extra chips and beer. He let out a squawk and fled, at which point another crowd and a local policeman arrived to gawk and take charge of the scene, repectively.
I remember Mr. Dong Yun Yoon from the early coverage, the very picture of dignity in the face of unimaginable grief and loss. This accident was a cluster-f**k of monumental dimensions and I am glad to see heads bouncing right out of the service over it.
#5
sadly, the usual suspects and people who bought homes under an existing military base flight pattern have used this to try and limit or shut down Miramar - won't happen. And if it did, the same f*cking assholes and fools would get a relocated Lindbergh Field civ airport there. Careful what you agitate wish for
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2009 8:54
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ShipLord makes temse emergency landing, runs off locals, nothing to see here.
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday in a news conference claimed that it arrested five BDR mutineers, including two of the suspected leaders, and exhibited them to the media. At a media briefing in the Rab headquarters last evening, Col Reza-nur Rahman, additional director general of Rab, said they arrested Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) of BDR Syed Towhidul Alam and four others in the afternoon from a house in Hazaribagh of the capital.
But, Rab's claim gave rise to a confusion, as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday informed the parliament that Towhid had already been arrested.
Meanwhile, police kept 18 other BDR personnel confined in Holy Family Red Crescent Hospital. Neither police nor Rab however were willing to declare them as arrestees.
Hailing from Raipura village under Nolchhiti upazila of Jhalokathi district, DAD Towhid led the 14-member mutineers' negotiating team to the Prime Minister's residence Jamuna. According to Rab, the four other arrestees are DAD Mohammad Abdur Rahim of Nabinagar upazila in Brhmman Baria, Habilder Azad Ali of Domar upazila in Nilphamari district, Nayek Mohammad Firoj Ahmed of Barisal, and Jawan Mohammad Zakir Hossain of Nandail upazila in Mymensingh.
During the briefing, Nayek Firoj shouted out, "Sir, I was not arrested, I surrendered," prompting Rab officials to declare the briefing over, right away.
Of the five arrested BDR personnel, the names of DADs Towhid and Rahim are mentioned as principal accused in the case filed by Lalbagh Police Station Officer-in-charge Nobojyoti Khisa in connection with the mutiny. The case accuses over 1,000 BDR soldiers, specially mentioning the names of five junior commissioned (JCO) officers and a sepoy, including the names of Towhid and Abdur Rahim. The three other named JCOs are DADs Abdul Jalil, Nasiruddin Khan, and Mirza Habibur Rahman, while the specially mentioned accused sepoy is Jawan Selim.
At the end of yesterday's media briefing, Commander SMAK Azad, director of the legal and media wing of Rab, said the arrested five will be handed over to Lalbagh police, and later they will be forwarded to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
CID is the main investigator of the case, and Rab, Bangladesh Army and other government agencies are assisting it, Commander Azad said.
Meanwhile, no one is being allowed to see the 18 BDR personnel including suspected leader DAD Abdul Jalil, confined in Holy Family Hospital in total isolation in one room. Talking to The Daily Star on February 25, Jalil said he was one of the members of the 14-member mutineers' negotiation team. Jalil was taken to Holy Family Hospital on February 25 night by rescuers of the Red Crescent Society. He said he had no bullet wound, but was severely sick.
Abdul Kahar Akond, senior assistant superintended of police (ASP) of CID, who is leading the police investigation, told The Daily Star, "We are still collecting evidence from the crime scene."
Asked about the arrest of the 18 BDR personnel in the hospital, he declined to make any comment. Replying to another question, ASP Akond said all three probe committees are exchanging information.
Meanwhile, Rab-4 recovered seventy rounds of live bullets from Gonoktuli Sweepers' Colony in Hazaribagh yesterday. Until filing of this report late last night 47 assault rifles, 46 sub-machine guns, 11 light machine guns, 198 grenades, and over 50 thousand bullets were recovered from the BDR Pilkhana compound.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
Replying to another question, ASP Akond said all three probe committees are exchanging information.
Probe 1: "We have positively identified one asshole."
Probe 2: "Roger that, we are in possession of one pain-in-the-ass."
Probe 3: "10-4, we have found 3 hamsters and an axe handle."
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/04/2009 8:26
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arrested alive by RAB twice? Has that ever happened before?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2009 8:32
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Insufficient 'crossfire' the first time?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
03/04/2009 9:16
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#4
He's just a target drone ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2009 9:32
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The trucncheons were all out at the cleaner's...
#6
These people won't face a late-evening crossfire. The Bangladeshi government wants them alive and able to answer questions. Once they're wrung dry, they'll face a firing squad if they're guilty, and expulsion from civilized society if they're not. They're going to be kept alive so examples can be made of them. A very few may "hang themselves" in their cells while awaiting trial, but no "crossfire".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/04/2009 11:39
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Meanwhile, Rab-4 recovered seventy rounds of live bullets from Gonoktuli Sweepers' Colony in Hazaribagh yesterday. Until filing of this report late last night 47 assault rifles, 46 sub-machine guns, 11 light machine guns, 198 grenades, and over 50 thousand bullets were recovered from the BDR Pilkhana compound.
That's a BIG step up from the ol' shutter gun and one round of bullet.
Congress saw the terror attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore as irrefutable evidence Pakistan lapsing into a failed state and warned that unless the trends were arrested, the neighbouring country could fast become the Somalia of south Asia.
Condemning the attack, the party on Tuesday said the international community should take note of the development. "It is now for everyone to see how to dismantle the terror structure in Pakistan," party spokesman Manish Tiwari said at a media briefing.
Quoting former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright, he said Pakistan had become a "migraine" for the international community. He said what caused deep concern was the fact that Pakistan was ceding its territory to the Taliban fundamentalists. "What Albright called a migraine has now become a time bomb ticking away before going off," he said.
Holding Pakistani authorities responsible for the situation, he said this was the outcome of the policies followed by Islamabad since the 1980s. "The writ of the Pakistani government does not run beyond Islamabad," Tiwari said.
He pointed out that since the attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972, this was the first assault on sportsmen who actually brought two nations closer.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
ION COUNTERTERRORISM BLOG > YEMEN: NEW TERROR CAMPS AS A CITY FALLS TO [alleged "reformed"?] JIHADISTS.
Also on CTB > THE INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN: HOMEGROWN JIHADI/TERROR THREAT [looming on India].
(PTI) Pakistan today regretted statements made by Indian leaders on the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, saying they amounted to "political point scoring". "Pakistan deeply regrets the spate of official statements from New Delhi on the Lahore terror attack, which (are) tantamount to political point scoring over a hugely tragic incident," Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said in a statement.
"Terrorism afflicts South Asia as a whole and warrants serious, sustained and pragmatic cooperation at the regional plane to combat it effectively, as affirmed by the SAARC Ministerial Council in Colombo recently," Basit said.
Indian leaders, including External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, had expressed concern at terrorism emanating from Pakistan and called for concerted action to eliminate the menace.
Eight persons, most of them policemen, were killed and over 20, including seven Sri Lankan cricketers and a coach, were injured when a dozen heavily armed terrorists attacked a bus taking the players to a stadium in the heart of Lahore.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
Pointing out that your neighbor's country is overrun by wild-eyed jihadis shootin' anything that moves is...impolite, it seems.
A university in Liverpool has launched a Master of Arts degree in The Beatles, the city's most famous sons, and called the qualification the first of its kind. I've felt this inner emptiness all these many years. This wasn't what was missing.
Liverpool Hope University says on its website that the course entitled "The Beatles, Popular Music and Society" consists of four 12-week taught modules and a dissertation. Think of the many hundreds of pages you could write discusing the existential meaning of
Then when I awoke
I was alone
This bird had flown.
Why, you could crank out a 900-pager just on Yoko. And she couldn't even sing. The best she could do was to shake a tambourine.
"There have been over 8,000 books about The Beatles but there has never been serious academic study and that is what we are going to address," said Mike Brocken, senior lecturer in popular music at Hope. One wonders why.
"Forty years on from their break-up, now is the right time and Liverpool is the right place to study The Beatles. "Everybody's unemployed, there is no work, so we might as well piss our time away studying the inconsequential."
"This MA is expected to attract a great deal of attention, not just locally but nationally and we have already had enquiries from abroad, particularly the United States." ... where the inconsequential presented in a Brit accent is particularly prized...
The university said it was the first postgraduate taught course on The Beatles in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world. And by Gum, I have an idea why.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
"Would you like to super size your order of fish and chips?"
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2009 0:47
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Dammit Ed, you beat me to it.
What a worthless "Degree".
#3
They're all paper mills now. No integrity to the original concept of 'institutions of higher learning', just 'how much can be separate the gullible from their income' to keep the academic gentry in the life style they believe they're entitled to.
#4
A scam worthy of a mafioso, I bet some con-man some where is pissed they didn't think of this first. Watch berkley follow suit w/a degree in the Grateful Dead...
#5
Now now folks, cab trips to the airport would be so much more entertaining if the cabbie had this degree ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2009 9:28
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#6
Some of the classes I took in college...
The Gangster in American Cinema
The Black Sox Scandal
The Lizzie Borden Murder and American Society
American Counterculture
Good flicks in the first one. The second and third were actually productive since they made you learn how to research, and this was a long time before the internet. The fourth one, great for acquiring good weed and hippie chicks...
And this was thirty years ago.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged on Tuesday to press hard for Palestinian statehood and open dialogue with Syria, putting Washington on a possible collision course with Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.
"We happen to believe that moving towards a two-state solution is in Israel's best interests," Clinton, referring to the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, told a news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. "It is our assessment that eventually, the inevitability of working towards a two-state solution is inescapable," she said.
Netanyahu, whom Clinton was to meet later in the day, has spoken of Palestinian self-government but has shied away from saying he would back a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
Yea, well: Jews have survives the Pharaohs and the Nazis, somehow we'll survive Comrade Rodham.
#2
"It is our assessment that eventually, the inevitability of working towards a two-state solution is inescapable," she said.
An "eventual inescapable inevitability"? How does that work exactly? Sounds like she was thumbing through her thesaurus and picked the first 3 synonyms and strung them together.
#4
If Hillarity approves, you HAVE to know it's a bad idea, and the exact opposite should be done. I hope Israel is aware of that.
Posted by: OId Patriot ||
03/04/2009 14:55
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I remember Bush being in favor of a Palestinian State. What's changed?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/04/2009 18:03
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I remember Bush being in favor of a Palestinian State. What's changed?
The realization that there is NO such Thing as "Palestinians" It's a myth to steal land that never was theirs.
Posted by: Albert Snesh5991 Really Redneck Jim my nym refuses to stay put ||
03/04/2009 20:24
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"It is our assessment that eventually, the inevitability of working towards a two-state solution is inescapable," she said. The key word being eventually.
Future Prime Minister Netanyahu has spoken of eventually, too, but wants the Palestinians to complete concrete baby steps before he rewards them with discussions on the subject. FPM Netanyahu is a very intelligent and clever man.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will face five challengers when he runs for re-election on April 9th, local press reported on Monday. Ooooh! I'm so excited! I wonder who will win?
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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One thing of which we may be certain is that whoever attacked the convoy of the Sri Lankan cricket team yesterday in Lahore they did not arrive by boat. As this editorial is written we know very little else with certainty. We know for certain that there are eight dead, none of them Sri Lankan. But how many attackers? Ten? Twelve? Fourteen? And how do we 'know' these numbers anyway did the gunmen form an orderly line and number-off military-style from left to right? Were any of them killed or wounded in the firefight which lasted thirty minutes according to one source and twenty minutes according to another? The unknowns multiply like rabbits.
We can, however, make some informed assumptions. This was a carefully planned and executed attack carried out by people who knew what they were doing, and who appear to have been well armed if the five bags of weapons now found did actually belong to them. They were able to effect an escape. Some of them wore what appeared to be track suits and trainers, and at least one of them wore a shalwar-kameez. Some of them wore backpacks. At least one had a full beard. They attacked the police protecting the convoy from both sides. The police did what they could to protect the convoy and quite possibly saved lives while giving their own. The driver of the Sri Lanka team bus drove straight to the stadium as fast as he could. The director of outside-broadcasting for Channel Ten Sports stated categorically within an hour of the attack that he did not regard it as a lapse of security which in his opinion was "very tight" on this tour, with the Pakistanis taking every reasonable care. The hunt for the attackers goes on.
At which point we enter the realms of fantasy. Within minutes a PPP politician was being interviewed on a private TV channel and saying that "this is clearly the work of a foreign hand" (a verbatim quote). The internet was quickly alight with allegations that this was an Indian operation, or a Tamil Tiger operation and whatever it was it could not possibly have been carried out by Pakistanis or Muslims because Muslims are peace-loving people. The culture of instinctive denial clicked into gear immediately, fingers were as quickly pointed and assumptions, none of them backed by a shred of empirical evidence, were made.
The reality is that this is just as likely to be an attack made by our own home-grown terrorist organizations as it is to have been made or facilitated by 'foreign hands'. There is no shortage of highly-competent well-armed and trained groups within our own borders capable of such an operation. They have no need of foreign assistance or foreign money there are plenty of people here happy to finance them and offer logistical support. No shortage either of groups wishing to undermine the government and capable of exploiting a perceived weakness caused by the confusion rife in the Punjab police force; a product of the political movement of senior officers in the wake of the imposition of governor rule. Another reality is that the attack was carried out close to a police station and that the attackers must have conducted a reconnaissance for them to set up a kill-zone and nobody noticed? Nobody noticed that up to fourteen heavily armed men using at least three cars, as well as rickshaws and bicycles, were securing a road junction in the centre of Lahore? A reasonable person may infer from this that there was a failure of intelligence, both electronic and human.
The dead will be buried and mourned, there will be an official enquiry of which we will see little or nothing, there may or may not be arrests and the blame-game will go on until the next incident when the whole process begins all over again. Meanwhile, the prospect of us hosting international sporting events in future vanishes. Those who carped at the Australian refusal to tour here because of security concerns now have their comeuppance. Nobody is going to tour here for a very long time, be they cricketers, hockey players or players of tiddlywinks. Who will make inwards foreign investment into our businesses? Or run the relief agencies that support the refugees from our own internal warfare? Or provide training and support to our educationalists? The world has once again seen that Pakistan is an unsafe place, no matter where you are or who you are. That terrorism has both home and succour here. That the writ of our state is threadbare. On Tuesday March 3, 2009 we heard the requiem for international cricket in Pakistan, but we also heard the steady footfall of extremist forces as they march ever-nearer to power.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/04/2009
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#1
So there was a thirty minutes long firefight in the centre of Lahore and no reinforcements reached the scene? Complicity or cowardice?
Afghan officials say weapons seized in a depot in western Afghanistan today were manufactured in Iran. Mohammad Younis Rasouli, the deputy governor of Farah Province, which borders Iran, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that the seized weapons have markings proving their country of origin. According to Rasouli, the seized weapons were smuggled into Afghanistan recently and were intended to be used in attacks against local officials. Investigations are under way.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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Four more bodies of the BDR mutiny victims including an army officer were identified yesterday and the night before, bringing the number of missing officers down to five.
Major Kazi Ashraf Hossain was identified by his sister and non-commissioned BDR officer Subedar Major Nurul Islam by his wife at Dhaka Medical College (DMC) morgue between 11 and 11:30am yesterday.
At around 8:00 Monday night, bodies of Kalpana, 16, and her cousin Firoz, 16, were identified by the former's husband at Sir Salimullah Medical College morgue. The two used to work as domestic help at slain BDR chief Major General Shakil Ahmed's residence.
The army authorities yesterday said three bodies at DMC morgue are awaiting DNA test for identification. They could be of three of the five officers still unaccounted for.
On Monday, they revised the number of missing officers down to six from the previous 72.
Briefing journalists at the army headquarters in Dhaka cantonment yesterday afternoon, Brig Gen ATM Ziaul Hasan said, "Various bloodstained evidence, mobile phone records, SIMs and duty rosters for BDR members have already been collected from Pilkhana compound."
He said they have also gathered records of who were on duty at what point when the revolt broke out on the morning of February 25.
As of Monday, they have recovered 47 rifles, 18 pistols, 46 submachine guns, 11 light machine guns and around 50,000 bullets from Pilkhana and around. However, a good amount of explosives was still strewn over there.
Brig Gen Ziaul said 15 yet-to-be-defused grenades have been cordoned off inside the compound.
About the 'Operation Rebel Hunt', he said no innocent people will be harassed during the drive. "The words 'rebel hunt' themselves explain that only the rebels will be arrested after examining relevant information," he observed.
He said the army and other security forces are aiding Criminal Investigation Department in its investigation in the case filed with Lalbagh Police Station. They will also help the committees formed by the government and the army to probe the mutiny staged by BDR jawans at Pilkhana last week.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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A Zimbabwean judge on Tuesday ordered the release of a senior lawmaker, who was part of the opposition until a new unity government was formed last month, after nearly three weeks in prison on weapons charges. High Court Judge Tedias Karwi ruled there was "no merit" in the state's application for Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) lawmaker Roy Bennett to be denied bail.
The detention of Bennett, who was nominated as deputy agriculture minister, has strained relations in the new unity government. He was arrested hours before the new Cabinet was sworn in.
It was not immediately clear whether Bennett would be released immediately or whether the state would appeal to the Supreme Court. Defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa told reporters the state wanted bail raised to $5 000 and wanted him to report to police each day, but the judge refused.
Former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in on Tuesday in Parliament and will deliver his first speech as prime minister on Wednesday.
Attorney General Johannes Tomana was also sworn in. He was unilaterally reappointed by President Robert Mugabe last week to the anger of the MDC, which said it breached the power-sharing agreement.
Tomana's office is believed responsible for the continued detention of Bennett, as well as human rights activists. The MDC said it feared the state would not comply with the release order because prosecutors were seen at Tomana's office, apparently seeking new orders. It said a total of 10 MDC and civil society activists who have been languishing in prison since last year were released, but three remained in custody after failing to meet stringent bail conditions.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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A soldier and a female civilian were killed on Monday (March 2nd) when two bombs exploded near the barracks of the communal guard in Beni Ksila, Béjaïa province, El Khabar reported. A municipal guard seriously injured in the double attack was transferred to a hospital in Constantine. A third bomb reportedly exploded on the road from Beni Ksila to Adekar without causing any casualties.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
Hamas movement accused on Tuesday, March 3, some in the international community, particularly the United States, of politicizing donations to rebuild the bombed-out Gaza Strip and blackmailing the group to change its policies. "Some participants, especially the US administration, to a great extent made political use of the Sharm el-Sheikh (donors) conference," Hamas Spokesman Fawzi Barhum said, reported Agence France Presse (AFP).
After a one-day conference the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, international donors pledged ON Monday almost 4.5 billion dollars for the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. But the US and EU stressed that the money would only be funneled through Hamas' rival president Mohammed Abbas' government.
The US, which pledged $300 million for Gaza reconstruction and $600 million to support the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority's budget shortfalls, was adamant that none of the money would go to Gaza ruler Hamas.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the gathering Washington will ensure the funding is only used where and for whom it is intended and does not end up in the "wrong hands."
Barhum, the Hamas spokesman, lamented that the support direly-need by Gazans is now up to political ends. "We have warned against this politicization and this meddling."
The donors conference was called by Egypt after Israel's deadly 22-day war in Gaza, which killed more than 1,300 people, mostly civilians, and wounded 5,450. The offensive also left a trail of destruction in the sealed-off coastal enclave, home to 1.6 million people. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 21,100 homes have been totally or partially destroyed, and about 1,500 factories and workshops, 30 mosques, 31 government buildings and 10 water or sewage pipes were damaged.
Blackmailing
Hamas officials affirmed that key aim of politicizing Gaza aid was to pressure and blackmail the movement into changing its very principled stances. "(They) used the need of the Gaza Strip for reconstruction to pressure Hamas and to try to blackmail it into changing its positions," said Barhum.
During her visit to Israel on Tuesday, Clinton maintained the former George Bush administration's anti-Hamas rhetoric by saying that Hamas must halt the resistance attacks on settlements. "The first step right now, not waiting for a new government, is a durable ceasefire. But that can only be achieved if Hamas ceases the rocket attacks," " Clinton said at a press conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. "These attacks must stop and so must the smuggling of weapons into Gaza."
A day earlier in meeting on the sidelines of the donors conference, the Quartet Middle East group, which includes the US, the EU, UN and Russia, has reiterated its former conditions to lift Hamas out of its isolation.
The Quartet called on Hamas to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept past Israeli-Palestinian agreements in exchange for an international recognition. Hamas officials, however, affirmed that it would not cave in to all the pressures. "Hamas' positions are fixed and can not be changed," Hamas spokesman and parliamentarian Mushir al-Masri said on Tuesday.
Masri lamented that Clinton's statements during her first Middle East visit "shows that there will be no new US policies towards the region. It is clear that we would be describing every visit by Clinton as an indication of bad luck if the policies of Bush and Rice are going to be applied again in the region."
The Bush administration, which blacklisted Hamas as a terrorist organization, has shunned the governments formed by Hamas since it came to power after sweeping the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006. It only communicated with Fatah-linked ministers in the Hamas-led national unity government, which was later dismissed by Abbas.
Bush's America spearheaded an international campaign to isolate Hamas, rejected any contacts with the group and backed a crippling Israeli siege on Gaza. Late last month, Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair criticized the West's isolation of Hamas, calling for its inclusion in the peace process. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the West last January to respect the democratic Palestinian elections that brought Hamas to power.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the gathering Washington will ensure the funding is only used where and for whom it is intended and does not end up in the "wrong hands."
Boy she's sure got the lock on verbal redundancy. Must be diplo-speak. Saying it twice has more power than just once.
#2
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the gathering Washington will ensure the funding is only used where and for whom it is intended and does not end up in the "wrong hands."
I hope the Congress uses the recent TARP and banking bailout fiasco as Past Performance-Based decision criteria.
Barack Obama draws a gloomy picture of the US economy in the first quarter of the year, saying he sees "little promise" for improvement.
That should drive the market down another couple hundred points ...
"The economy's performance in the last quarter of 2008 was the worst in over 25 years, and frankly, the first quarter of this year holds out little promise for better returns," the US President said during a visit to the US Department of Transportation on Tuesday, AFP said.
Trying to be transparent and outspoken about the economic downturn Obama said "From Wall Street to Main Street, to kitchen tables all across America, our economic challenge is clear."
With a hefty 787 billion dollar stimulus plan, the first African-American President and his team pledged to save the sinking US economy, help the ailing US financial markets and create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years. Obama has vowed to pave the way for the Medicare to include more than 45 million Americans who are without any kind of insurance.
There goes another few hundred points on the Dow ...
The meltdown, first felt in the home markets and the financial centers, now is quite apparent all across the US with millions of jobs lost and scores of factories closed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
Will realise money don't grow on trees any day now.
#2
But his poll numbers are still high - 60% believe he is doing a good job, according to a poll I heard this morning, and more folks think we're 'headed in the right direction' (46%) than any time since 2004.
It's nice to have the Media Machine™ on your side.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/04/2009 6:14
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#3
"Obama sees little economy" could arguably be as accurate.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
03/04/2009 8:31
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#4
He is on a cliff and knows it. Every time he looks down he gets vertigo and its only a matter of time when gravity takes over. If you listened to Geithner yesterday you would have shaken your head in absolute amazement at his chutzpah (talking about going after tax cheats) and his complete ignorance of basic economics. I say that if his mortgage bill and budget go as he plans there is going to be a silent majority type revolution.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
03/04/2009 8:42
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#5
there is going to be a silent majority type revolution.
It's bloody already happening. Raise capital gains and diddle with the taxes, talk 'doom & gloom,' scare the banks, then wonder why people are pulling out of the market and not investing..... duhhhh? Americans know how to handle these donk clowns. They'll tighten their budgets, postpone large purchases, and squeeze that nichol until the buffalo shi*s.
My fear is, 6-12 even 18 months from now when these clueless bastards discover none of their bailout schemes are working and we're in total stagnation, what kind of wild crisis will these people then create?
#8
The market losses are to a large degree simply the recognition that the market gains of the past decade or two were largely illusions, built on pyramids of debt.
The debt will not, indeed can not be repaid. It seems to me the government is managing that debt by 'printing' more money to pay it off. This transfers some (most) of the losses to those people and companies who did NOT have debt. The 'bills' will be paid by those who still have something with which to pay them.
#9
Yes, Glenmore, that's how the banks have run the credit card scam for the last three decades as well. Before the Carter inflation set in and the banks got states to lift their usury law interest ceilings, it was hard to get a card. When the prime finally went to lower single digits the banks kept their rates pegged at the higher teens and low twenties. They then gave everyone and anyone a card because they could just pass the losses to the other card holders. Every responsible card holder was stuck with the 'bill' for those who shouldn't have received credit in the first place. Now they've done the same scam to the entire country while playing 'victim' to their own long established behavior. When Bush senior made of point of this usury scam, the bankers and their agents dumped on the stock market the next day and Bushie-I folded instead of threatening to use RICO if any one was caught playing that game. Instead of getting the regulatory correction we needed back then, we're now paying the price for not doing so.
#10
Following #6: I propose:
a) that the kulaks be ordered to deliver all their grain surpluses immediately at government prices;
b) that if the kulaks refuse to obey the law, they should be prosecuted under Article 107 . . . and their grain surpluses confiscated in favor of the state; 25 percent of the confiscated grain to be distributed among the poor peasants and economically weaker middle peasants at low government prices . . . Stalin, 1928. Read it, substitute abusive father overtone with today's nanny state rhetoric. Every time they talk about fart tax and dust tax or any other EPA/Fed involvement more than it is, this is what they are getting towards. Low grain prices (right now) with triple the taxes and Steinbeck's book would tame in comparison.
There seems to be a spontaneous questioning if this is some sort of derrangement syndrome, there are people here who still wear their Obama shirts who are also worried. I don't think its some sort of ODS but more WTF.
Car starts sputtering out in BFE, oil light comes on. Towtruck takes it to their garage. "Well what you need is more oil." Sure you say so they fill it it oil at 3x the price...also put oil in transmission, antifreez, and wiper fluid. Get a couple miles down the road and car wipes out. They come pick you up again and this time tell you the car is ruined; but "I got a car out back I could sell to you for a low price but anytime I need to use it I can come get it anytime for however long. Deal?" Thats when you realize that you should have watched that dude 'fix' your car, should have just bought the oil and limped into the next town. May have cost ya a good chunk of money but it would have been better than what's going on now.
#12
The severity of the problem will only sink in to some less-aware Americans when their power is shut off, and food and gasoline are either prohibitively priced or just plain unavailable.
Aswat al-Iraq: A total of 54 lawmakers demanded to decrease the financial budget of 2009, a member of the financial committee of the Iraqi Parliament said on Tuesday.
"54 parliamentarians from several political blocs demanded to decrease the 2009 financial budget," Sami al-Atroushi told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that committee presented a report including suggestions to decrease the spending amounts by 10 percent.
The chairman of the parliamentary Integrity Committee, Sabah al-Saaedi, had said earlier that a parliamentary vote on the 2009 federal budget has been put off until Thursday. "The vote has been postponed to give parliamentarians an opportunity to examine the possibility of reducing the budget," al-Saaedi, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Iraq's 2009 federal budget, totaling $62 billion U.S. dollars, is based on an oil price of $50 a barrel.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2009
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#1
For a minute there, I was hoping this was the US Congress. Fifty-four wouldn't be enough to do much, but at least it would stir up some discussion, instead of the constant rubber-stamp. It's a shame when nations we brought freedom and democracy to outdo us in democratic behavior.
Posted by: OId Patriot ||
03/04/2009 17:23
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Jim Cramer. Rush Limbaugh. Rick Santelli. 
PARIS: The new French special envoy to Afghanistan, Pierre Lellouche, said in an interview published Wednesday that NATO allies fighting on Afghan soil must not revert to the unilateral approach taken by former US president George W. Bush.
IANS: Four suspects were arrested here on Tuesday for alleged involvement in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, a media report said. Geo TV reported that police in Model Town had arrested four suspects after the attack. "Arms have been recovered from two of them," the report said. The police also seized an explosive-laden jacket and weapons from a rickshaw.
Two Tajik antidrug officers have been killed and three Tajik border guards injured near the Tajik-Afghan border.
A Pakistani minister blamed arch-rival India for a brazen attack on a visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in the northeastern city of Lahore on Tuesday, March 3, that killed seven people and wounding others, including five players. "This is an attack on Pakistan," Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Nabeel Gabol told IslamOnline.net. "There is no doubt about Indian involvement in this terrorist attack."
VIENNA - U.N. nuclear watchdog governors on Tuesday approved a deal allowing extra inspections of Indias atomic industry, a condition of a U.S.-led deal allowing New Delhi to import nuclear technology after a 33-year freeze. Passage of an Additional Protocol somewhat expanding the International Atomic Energy Agencys monitoring rights in India came a month after New Delhi signed a basic nuclear safeguards accord opening its civilian nuclear plants to U.N. inspections.
(PTI) The Pakistani leadership today expressed its sincere apologies to the Sri Lankan people for the "very unfortunate incident" in which seven players from the Island nation were injured when masked terrorist attacked the players' convoy in Lahore today.
In a top secret mission, a team of the Research and Analysis Wing tracked down an absconding accused in the Bangalore serial blasts case in Muscat, and sneaked him out of Oman, since India doesn't have an extradition treaty with that country.
True that Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif have been disqualified by a controversial Supreme Court decision but there are possibilities that the script for their political elimination was written outside Pakistan. 
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday in a news conference claimed that it arrested five BDR mutineers, including two of the suspected leaders, and exhibited them to the media. At a media briefing in the Rab headquarters last evening, Col Reza-nur Rahman, additional director general of Rab, said they arrested Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) of BDR Syed Towhidul Alam and four others in the afternoon from a house in Hazaribagh of the capital.
A soldier and a female civilian were killed on Monday (March 2nd) when two bombs exploded near the barracks of the communal guard in Beni Ksila, Béjaïa province, El Khabar reported. A municipal guard seriously injured in the double attack was transferred to a hospital in Constantine. A third bomb reportedly exploded on the road from Beni Ksila to Adekar without causing any casualties.
