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Karzai orders NATO out of all Afghan villages
Today's Headlines
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China-Japan-Koreas
A Political Shocker in China Has Implications for the Economy
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 21:12 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
U.S. May Sanction India Over Level of Iran-Oil Imports
India has failed to reduce its purchases of Iranian oil, and if it doesn’t do so, President Barack Obama may be forced to impose sanctions on one of Asia’s most important nations, Obama administration officials said yesterday.

A decision to levy penalties under a new U.S. law restricting payments for Iranian oil could come as early as June 28, according to several U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue

“Given the level of trade, and in particular oil, between Iran and India, targeting an Indian entity that facilitates Iran’s access to the international financial market should be top of mind for the U.S. Treasury,” Avi Jorisch, a former Treasury Department official who is now a Washington-based consultant on deterring illicit finance, said in an interview.

The U.S. law, which targets oil payments made through Iran’s central bank, applies to any country that doesn’t make a “significant” reduction in its Iranian crude oil purchases during the first half of this year. If India fails to cut Iranian imports sufficiently, Obama may be compelled to bar access to the U.S. banking system for any Indian bank processing oil payments through Iran’s central bank, the U.S. officials said.

While India hasn’t asked its refiners to stop purchasing Iranian crude, the government has told processors in the South Asian nation to seek alternate supplies and gradually reduce their dependence on the Persian Gulf state due to increasing pressure from the U.S. in recent weeks, three Indian officials with direct knowledge of the situation said today.
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 21:04 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like a job for Joe "Mr. I.T." Biden.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/15/2012 22:38 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Salehi: If Israel strikes Iran, it will meet its end
Iran's foreign minister stresses that an Israeli military strike on nuclear sites in Iran would elicit a "full force" response. If Israel decides to conduct a military strike on nuclear sites in Iran, it will be the end of the Jewish state, said Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbhar Salehi on Thursday.

"If Israel ever, ever makes this mistake, that will set the time for the end of Israel. The Israelis are well aware of this," said Salehi, during an interview with Danish television TV2.

The Iranian foreign minister stressed that in the case of an Israeli attack on Iran, the Islamic Republic "will be responding very forcefully."

Earlier Thursday, the Iranian foreign minister met with Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar in Iran, who expressed his full support for the Palestinian cause and condemned the "dastard atrocities of the Zionist regime, " Iranian state-run news agency IRNA reported. Zahar was in Iran, meeting with leaders to gather support following a weekend of military exchanges with Israel, according to the report.

Salehi told Zahar that the recent Israeli air strikes in Gaza were a sign of Israel's weakness.

"We are quite confident that the Palestinians will win the struggle," Salehi said.
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 16:46 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Muzzies, always turn things the wrong way around.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/15/2012 18:07 Comments || Top||

#2  I thought the penis-waving was saved for Fridays...
Posted by: Pappy || 03/15/2012 18:51 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Ilyas Kashmiri´s Death Confirmed
"Pakistani Jihadi leaders like Ameer Baitullah Mehsud, Commander Ilyas Kashmiri, Commander Binyamin and Commander Badr Mansoor (may Allah have mercy upon them) are targeted in drone attacks and similarly the son of the respected Afghan leader Jalaluddin Haqqani"
"May Allah have mercy upon him" -- the single Arabic term "rahimullah" -- clearly indicates Ilyas Kashmiri was indeed killed in the July 2011 US drone strike.
Is Sirajuddin dead, too? Or was that another offspring?
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 16:37 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Italy: Moroccan arrested, suspected of planning synagogue attack
A Moroccan national was arrested in northern Italy on Thursday on suspicion he was planning an attack on Milan's synagogue. The 20-year-old suspect identified as JM was arrested in the city of Brescia after investigators identified him as a possible terrorist after monitoring web sites offering forums and documents on how to conduct jihad.
Are we not allowed to know his full name?
Police said the arrest of the man who has lived in the Brescia area since he was six years old, was necessary because of "worrisome elements of a terrorist plan."

Investigators said they had intercepted messages in which the man discussed a "jihad mission.''

Documents on his computer included information on police surveillance of Milan's synagogue.

Italian police are coordinating their investigation with London police who have arrested a woman who was in contact with the suspect, police said.
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 15:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Economy
Ensure Compliance with Reform Law’s Lactation Room Requirements
Effective practices for meeting and exceeding the health care reform law's requirements to provide a lactation room for breastfeeding mothers were shared by Cathy Carothers, co-director of the not-for-profit Every Mother Inc. and president of the International Lactation Consultant Association, speaking at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) 2012 Employment Law & Legislative Conference, held March 4-7 in Washington, D.C.

Section 4207 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires that employers “provide a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for one year after the child’s birth each time such employee has need to express milk.” Moreover, employers must “provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from co-workers and the public” for nursing employees. The requirement became effective in March 2010. Employers with less than 50 employees can apply for an exemption if they can prove "undue hardship."

"Most women need two to three milk expression sessions per eight-hour period," Carothers explained. "Around 15 to 20 minutes is needed, plus time to get to the lactation room." However, "nursing needs change over time," she emphasized, and employers should provide extra time if needed.

Explaining why meeting the law's requirements, at a minimum, is in an employer's best interest, Carothers pointed to research studies showing that "lactation programs resulted in a 77 percent reduction in lost work time due to infant illness" and that "one-day absences occur twice as often for employees whose babies are not breastfed." In addition, employees of companies providing lactation support say they feel more productive and loyal to the company.

"Employee breaks are predictable. Absences are not," Carothers noted.

Compliance Steps

To make support for breastfeeding mothers part of the company culture, Carothers recommended convening a task force to explore employee needs. The task force should include:


• Current and previous pregnant/breastfeeding employees.

• Lactation consultants in the community.

• Representative supervisors and co-workers.

• Facilities managers.

• Public relations, communications and marketing staff.

• Welness program staff.

The task force should develop a plan to meet employee needs, examine company policies, identify potential lactation room space, provide training for supervisors and co-workers and "promote the program widely," Carothers advised.

Appropriate Amenities

The lactation room should be large enough for a chair with a flat surface for the pump, she noted. An electrical outlet is preferred. A lock is not required, but privacy must be ensured. Although they are not required by law, she recommended the room contain:


• A breast pump (so employees needn’t tote their own back and forth).

• A sink.

• Anti-microbial wipes.

• A small refrigerator.

• Artwork.

• A bulletin board for baby photos.

For additional resources and information, Carothers suggested the websites of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Maternal and Child Health Bureau and the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee, with which HHS has contracted to enhance the coordination and reach of the nursing mothers provision of the PPACA.
Posted by: Beavis || 03/15/2012 14:30 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Are Obama's Efforts to Justify Drone Warfare Aimed at Iran?
When it comes to America's security, President Barack Obama has turned out to be just as ruthlessly determined as his predecessor -- particularly when it comes to using drones to wage the war on terror. But the target of his recent legal repositioning might have much less to do with terrorists than with Iran.
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 14:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iranian banks to be cut off from international payment system
The international banking transfer system Swift is to cut ties with Iranian banks which are subject to EU sanctions. The Belgium-based banking hub is crucial to oil, financial transactions and other trades. It has faced international pressure, particularly from the US, to prevent Tehran from sending or receiving payments electronically.

Global financial transactions are impossible without using Swift, which stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication.

Swift said on Thursday that it would disconnect sanctioned Iranian financial institutions from its messaging system on Saturday at 4pm GMT.

"Disconnecting banks is an extraordinary and unprecedented step for Swift," the chief executive, Lazaro Campos, told Associated Press. "It is a direct result of international and multilateral action to intensify financial sanctions against Iran."
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 13:50 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Top Israel official: Move to cut Iran from SWIFT network is 'mortal blow' to Tehran
It should, but it all depends if India acts the whore and jumps in to take advantage of the vacuum caused by the sanctions.
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 15:55 Comments || Top||


Britain
Sharia Law and Middle Class Feminism
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 13:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Culture Wars
Santorum vows to crack down on internet pr0n if elected
Internet pornography could conceivably become a thing of the past if Rick Santorum is elected president.

The unapologetic social conservative, currently in second place behind Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination, has promised to crack down on the distribution of pornography if elected.

Santorum says in a statement posted to his website, "The Obama Administration has turned a blind eye to those who wish to preserve our culture from the scourge of pornography and has refused to enforce obscenity laws."

If elected, he promises to "vigorously" enforce laws that "prohibit distribution of hardcore (obscene) pornography on the Internet, on cable/satellite TV, on hotel/motel TV, in retail shops and through the mail or by common carrier."
Considering all the other problems our country is facing, more regulation isn't something it needs. This is also something that will turn off independents and small "l" libertarians (like me) that still vote with the Republican party. More proof of why Santorum will NEVER win if he is the Republican candidate.
Mr. Santorum complains because the MSM won't let him talk about the economy, but when he gets a chance to talk he talks about sex instead.
Lost me right there, buddy. ABS="Anybody but Santorum." Unless it's B.O., of course. But it's not gonna be Santorum, specifically for stupidities like this.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/15/2012 13:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good job, Rick. Another distraction from Obama's handling of the economy. Flailing around to try and build a social-con base while alienating or de-energizing independents. Putting his own lame self-interest above beating Obama.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/15/2012 14:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Santorum's only value is to prevent Mitt from getting a majority of delegates.
Posted by: Iblis || 03/15/2012 14:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Santorum is not a Republican. He's a theocrat, a national socialist in favor of economic controls and censorship.
Posted by: Shereter Poodle9774 || 03/15/2012 14:31 Comments || Top||

#4  #3 Santorum is not a Republican. He's a theocrat, a national socialist in favor of economic controls and censorship.

I think you exaggerate way too much; and besides, even if that were the case, it puts him at the same point regarding socialism as Obama and Romney and their respective -Cares.

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/15/2012 15:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Dang, Newt. What happened?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/15/2012 16:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Internet pr0n? Really? Great. He can be the local preacher. As the current occupant of the White House should have been. Meanwhile, where might we find someone with presidential priorities?
Posted by: RandomJD || 03/15/2012 16:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Yes, stupid. You're never going to get rid of it. However, you can put a crimp in it by removing any and all copyright protection. Bringing new meaning to 'free' speech.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/15/2012 16:42 Comments || Top||

#8  Well, he's definitely lost MY vote. LOL!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 03/15/2012 16:47 Comments || Top||

#9  The last thing Americans need is more nannys. Get a grip man or give it up. It freaks people out. Rick, you need to regroup and fast.

This is the very thing we ARE NOT paying the democrats to do. You sound like them, dude.

I knew you were too dense to hack it but were the last hope. Time to look for Senators instead.
Posted by: newc || 03/15/2012 20:22 Comments || Top||

#10  I think that it is pretty well accepted within the IT industry that a very high percentage of all innovations in on-line technology originate in the pRon industry.

I recall reading something once that claimed that the same thing applied to printing technology, as in: Gutenburg created moveable print, and started cranking out bibles. That technology was then rapidly developed and improved upon - by the pRon industry, such as it then was.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 03/15/2012 21:02 Comments || Top||

#11  With this sideshow going on, and the rest of the Pub candidates beating on each other instaed of Bambi, i have almost given up on Bambi having to move out of the WH for another 4 years. But i can only hope that the House and Senate races put enough R's in the seats to stop Shiiteforbrainz from doing any more damage. Maybe then some adult will come along and show them all how to play nice.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/15/2012 21:48 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Karzai orders NATO out of all Afghan villages
President Hamid Karzai on Thursday ordered all NATO troops out of rural areas of Afghanistan and said Afghan forces would take control of security in 2013, a year ahead of schedule, as the Taliban said it was suspending talks with the US.
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 13:03 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bringing them home would meet the criteria. Good luck.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/15/2012 13:08 Comments || Top||

#2  In a way, it's our bad karma; we're finally experiencing allies who really are as bad as we _said_ the South Vietnamese were during that crisis.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/15/2012 13:12 Comments || Top||

#3  This guy is nutty. he will recant quietly. Diregard the nutcase.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 03/15/2012 14:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Leave this guy to the tender mercies of his friends in the Taliban. But freeze all of his foreign bank accounts first.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/15/2012 14:21 Comments || Top||

#5  ...and make sure the asylum doors for him and his family are shut. You made your bed, sleep in it. Pour encourager les autres.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/15/2012 15:36 Comments || Top||

#6  It's time to bring them all home.
Posted by: SR-71 || 03/15/2012 15:42 Comments || Top||

#7  As I've said before and elsewhere: start with Karzai's personal security guard. If the Afghanis are so good, they should be able to protect their president.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 03/15/2012 18:02 Comments || Top||

#8  Why am I remembering "The Dogs of War" (last minute)?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/15/2012 18:05 Comments || Top||

#9  As Reverend Jim would say, "Okee-Doke".
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 03/15/2012 18:46 Comments || Top||

#10  Surely the Taliban have huge, huge Cheshire cat grins on their mugs right now. Karzai just raised the white flag.
Posted by: Squinty Chaith8856 || 03/15/2012 20:32 Comments || Top||

#11  ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TWENTY US SOLDIERS INVOLVED IN KANDAHAR KILLINGS, not just the One as per Afghan Govt fact-finding mission.

The pot still a'stirrin???

Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/15/2012 23:16 Comments || Top||


The Panjwai 16: The murders in Afghanistan were all too predictable - Michael Yon
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/15/2012 10:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The halfhearted surge and sudden drawdown leave little room for success.

Spot-Yon.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/15/2012 20:13 Comments || Top||


Why 16 murders has not resulted in an anti-American backlash
Strategy Page explains.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 03/15/2012 10:31 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cause that exactly the kind of language Afghans understand.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/15/2012 18:00 Comments || Top||

#2  See FREEREPUBLIC this AM > TALIBAN REJECT TALKS AS KARZAI DEMANDS WESTERN PULLBACK.

OTOH I believe the US-NATO have an important advantage in that mainstream Afghans are slowly but steadily witnessing their country's + society's latent modernization - many tribals, etc. may not like the US Drone strikes,
"friendly fire" incidents, or the general non-Muslim Western presence [military] in Afghanistan or Region, but IMO they don't want the historical Islamic traditionalism the Taliban = Radical Islam desire to impose.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/15/2012 22:21 Comments || Top||


Too many wars, too few U.S. soldiers - WAPO
I guess I knew it would eventually come down to this: Blame the Army’s institutions in some way for the horrific and senseless slaughter of 16 innocent Afghan civilians in Kandahar, allegedly by a U.S. infantry non-commissioned officer (NCO). In their search for a villain, the media seems to be focusing now on Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, where the accused soldier was stationed before his fourth deployment to a combat zone.

Before we get too involved in attacking institutions, perhaps it might be right and proper to suggest that the underlying issue here is not about failure of our Army. Perhaps the issue might be that no institutional effort can make up for trying over the past 10 years to fight too many wars with too few soldiers?
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/15/2012 08:53 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Indeed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2012 9:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Misuse of soldiers. They aren't international welfare workers.
Posted by: Shimble Guelph5793 || 03/15/2012 10:53 Comments || Top||

#3  I recall hazily that there was a study from the time of WWII, that suggested that the average good soldier had a certain number of days in the field. When his time was up (that time being different from soldier to soldier, of course) he was no longer effective. Even if you sent him to the rear for R&R for awhile, it didn't matter.

Complicating this was that if you did rotate the soldiers regularly you could (for some) extend their effective time. That was the rationale for pulling units out of the line when possible. But even then, at some point the soldiers no longer could function in the field without significant psychological problems.

My point: here is a soldier in his 4th field deployment. I do truly believe that our military psychiatry people are good, that our officers and NCOs are more aware of these issues then ever, and that our people are making a good faith effort to detect and handle problems.

We missed on this one.

So it begins to beg a question: should we be limiting deployments ("Three and you're done, solider!")? If so, how do we square that with a smaller military with continued high demands for deployment? And, how do we ensure that soldiers who are at their maximum deployment level continue to have careers and advancement?

Tough questions and I certainly don't have the answers.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/15/2012 12:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Paul Fussell said 200-240 days on the front line was the limit in WW II, but this apparently more scholarly article says:
Swank and Marchand's World War II study of US Army combatants on the beaches of Normandy found that after 60 days of continuous combat, 98% of the surviving soldiers had become psychiatric casualties. And the remaining 2% were identified as "aggressive psychopathic personalities." Thus it is not too far from the mark to observe that there is something about continuous, inescapable combat which will drive 98% of all men insane, and the other 2% were crazy when they got there. Figure 1 presents a schematic representation of the effects of continuous combat.

I know the USA has done a lot of research on the time on the front line and the time in a non-combat environment to "recover" before re-entering combat and this has supposedly extended the total number of days a soldier can be in combat over multiple tours, but can't find any links. Without doubt, we are pusing our soldiers, and their families very hard. When the job of the rest of the nation is to go shopping, this has to take a toll.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/15/2012 13:21 Comments || Top||

#5  And, how do we ensure that soldiers who are at their maximum deployment level continue to have careers and advancement?

There's always reclassification into a different specialty in the service. From combat arms to combat support to combat service support. However, if you give them priority over those who never did line duty in slotting and promotion in CS and CSS, it would result in a statistical distribution that fails on PC standards for 'groups'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/15/2012 14:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Maybe being a soldier should not be a life-long pursuit or career.
Posted by: Aware of History || 03/15/2012 16:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Maybe being a soldier should not be a life-long pursuit or career.

Maybe our idiot civilian leaders should plan our wars so they aren't multi-decade slogs.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/15/2012 17:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Maybe we shouldn't elect anti-American civilians to run the country.
Posted by: Aware of History || 03/15/2012 17:09 Comments || Top||

#9  You owe me a new keyboard, AoH. I shot coffee out of my nose at that post.

It's only funny 'cuz it's true.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/15/2012 17:32 Comments || Top||

#10  Unfortunately, Darth, it's not "ha ha" funny.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 03/15/2012 21:08 Comments || Top||

#11  Hadn't heard the stat about soldiers being in combat too long but I have read opinions about the US population growing weary of war after 4 years. Almost all of our major wars were four years long or less and the population supported them. Vietnam went longer and support collapsed about four years in. The Iraq war's support lasted roughly the same amount of time.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 03/15/2012 22:04 Comments || Top||

#12  ...except we were at war from our inception along the western frontier for nearly a hundred years with a small constabulary army.

Frontier Regulars: The United States Army and the Indian 1866-1891 by Robert M. Utley

Some excerpts:
Chapter 3: The Problem of Doctrine. “Three special conditions set this mission apart from more orthodox military assignments. First, it pitted the army against an enemy who usually could not be clearly identified and differentiated from kinsmen not disposed at the moment to be enemies. Indians could change with bewildering rapidity from friend to foe to neutral, and rarely could one be confidently distinguished from another...Second, Indian service placed the army in opposition to a people that aroused conflicting emotions... And third, the Indians mission gave the army a foe unconventional both in the techniques and aims of warfare... He fought on his own terms and, except when cornered or when his family was endangered, declined to fight at all unless he enjoyed overwhelming odds...These special conditions of the Indian mission made the U.S. Army not so much a little army as a big police force...for a century the army tried to perform its unconventional mission with conventional organization and methods. The result was an Indian record that contained more failures than successes and a lack of preparedness for conventional war that became painfully evident in 1812, 1846, 1861, and 1898.

Chapter 4. The Army, Congress, and the People. Sherman’s frontier regulars endured not only the physical isolation of service at remote border posts; increasingly in the postwar years they found themselves isolated in attitudes, interests, and spirit from other institutions of government and society and, indeed from the American people themselves...Reconstruction plunged the army into tempestuous partisan politics. The frontier service removed it largely from physical proximity to population and, except for an occasional Indian conflict, from public awareness and interest. Besides public and congressional indifference and even hostility, the army found its Indian attitudes and policies condemned and opposed by the civilian officials concerned with Indian affairs and by the nation’s humanitarian community.


Sounds rather familiar.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/15/2012 22:34 Comments || Top||


Taliban says suspending Afghan peace talks with United States
They'll stay away until Champ apologizes again, which should be next week sometime...
Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents said on Thursday they were suspending peace talks with the United States because of the "shaky, erratic and vague" U.S. position. Even though substantial talks have yet to begin, the Taliban announcement will dent hopes of a negotiated settlement to the more than a decade-long war in the run-up to the withdrawal of foreign combat troops at the end of 2014.

"The Islamic Emirate has decided to suspend all talks with Americans taking place in Qatar from (Thursday) onwards until the Americans clarify their stance on the issues concerned and until they show willingness in carrying out their promises instead of wasting time," the group said in a statement.

The Taliban also said talks with the government of President Hamid Karzai were pointless and none had taken place.

The announcement came days after an American soldier was accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan civilians in the south. The killings in Kandahar province on Sunday have raised questions about Western strategy in Afghanistan and intensified calls for the withdrawal of foreign combat troops.

Earlier on Thursday, a senior U.S. commander defended moving the American soldier accused of the killings to a military detention centre in Kuwait, saying it would help ensure a proper investigation and trial. Furious Afghan civilians and members of parliament have demanded the staff sergeant be tried in Afghanistan over the shooting, one of the worst of its kind since U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.

Karzai called on NATO-led forces to move out of all Afghan villages in response to the shooting.
You're just pining for your Najibullah moment, aren't you...
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in Kabul on a two-day visit to try to soothe Afghan anger, discussed the massacre with Karzai at his heavily guarded palace and faced demands from the Afghan leader that any trial be transparent.

"I assured him first and foremost that I shared his regrets about what took place. I again pledged to him that we are proceeding with a full investigation here and that we will bring the individual involved to justice. He accepted that," Panetta told reporters.
Posted by: || 03/15/2012 08:23 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now my feelings are hurt.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/15/2012 11:19 Comments || Top||

#2  No peace treaty, fine, blow them to hell.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/15/2012 12:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Did the USA hold peace talks with Bushido Japan, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, or Baathist Iraq? Order the Taliban to surrender unconditionally, and nuke them and Pakistan to hell if they don't, or give up.

It's either "Nothing Less Than Victory" or "Please let me live a little bit longer, in fear and slavery." Which alternative has Obama chosen for America?

And no, "nation building" and 100k soldiers in Afghanistan for a decade are not --and never were-- valid options.
Posted by: Shereter Poodle9774 || 03/15/2012 12:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Give us an excuse to fight our way out.

If you are going to be a bunch of a-holes, than there is no reason to leave you anything. Should we level the place before we leave?

Stupid, weak assed POTUS.
Posted by: newc || 03/15/2012 12:55 Comments || Top||

#5  "We are not talking to you...
Just put the money in an envelope and stuff it under the door."
Posted by: Capsu78 || 03/15/2012 17:32 Comments || Top||

#6  MSM-Net Pundits are describing this as a real defeat for the Bammer + his AFPAK Policies.

More ...

* WAFF [Strategypage = Austin Bay] THE TALIBAN KILLING FIELDS: HISTORY 2014?

* SAME > [Memri.org] AL-QAEDA VIDEO URGES REBELLION IN PAKISTANI ARMY.

* SAME > SAUDI DAILY [Al-Riyadh] CALLS FOR GULF-WIDE [inter-Muslim]DIALOGUE WID AL-QAEDA, espec to preclude the US from eventually coming to dominate Yemeni Govt-Affairs as per Iraq + AFPAK.

ANOTHER MAHA-RUSHIAN LIMBAUGH "LE SERIEUSE?" TEST CASE FOR THE ARAB LEAGUE + PROPOSED OWG-NWO, MUSLIMS-DON'T-NEED-THE-US-OR- NATO-TO-HANDLE-MUSLIMS POTENT "ISLAMIC UNION".

versus

* TOPIX, NEWS KERALA > US EXPERT ADVOCATES DESTRUCTION OF LASHKAR-E-TAIBA [LeT], wid or widout Pakistan's help.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/15/2012 23:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Why are we even negociating with them anyway? Does Bumbles actually think they will abide by any agreement? Is he that foolish? Oh wait....
Posted by: Crazyfool || 03/15/2012 23:41 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Bombs vs Bunkers in a Potential Iran Attack
The possibility of an Iran attack highlights the latest arms race: The United States trying to build new bunker-busting weapons while Iran buries its nuclear labs deep underground to try to avoid possible U.S. (or Israeli) bombs.

Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 06:21 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Awwww, no love for the BASIJ even though the term also starts wid the letter "B"???

To wit,

* TOPIX > [BGEN Mohammad Naqti = Basij Chief] IRANIAN MILITARY COMMANDER: WE MUST DESTROY AMERICA, iff Iran + Revolution is going to ever succeed in building an ideal Society + Nation.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/15/2012 23:12 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
The Opportunity in Gaza
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Israel has to respond to the attacks from Gaza with a large-scale military operation. If no such action is taken, the attacks against Israel will surely increase. Gaza is small enough so that Israel can destroy most of the terrorist infrastructure and the leadership of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other organizations. The goal would be to restore deterrence and to signal Israeli determination to battle the rising Islamist forces in the region. By acting now in Gaza, Israel will also greatly reduce the missile retaliation it would face if and when it strikes Iran's nuclear facilities. Political conditions seem appropriate as Hamas is divided, most of the Arab world is busy with pressing domestic issues, and the US is in the middle of an election campaign.

Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz stated several times that a large-scale operation in Gaza is inevitable. If he is right, this is the time.

Postponing the inevitable is likely to increase its cost.
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 06:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Election 2012
Obama considers tapping strategic petro reserve to buy votes
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/15/2012 06:07 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Will the name change to Strategic Votes Reserve?
Posted by: Muggsy Glink || 03/15/2012 9:49 Comments || Top||

#2  If you shut down refining capacity, the amount of oil in the pipeline won't have an effect. Added to the mix is that actual consumption is already down. It's not scarcity. It's inflation. The fools can't comprehend that dumping trillions in 'stimulus' or 'qualitative easing' eventually catches up with the medium of transfer in the supply and demand model.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/15/2012 10:21 Comments || Top||

#3  yeah let's use this emergency contingency oil to kick the can down the road again instead of dealing with not drilling and becoming self reliant. So when our military needs it for our defense we won't have any, or a very limited supply.
Obama doesn't consider our America first and foremost, this is very chilling to me.
I want to be reassured that Obama wants to do the right thing for America, I'm not so sure he does at this point. Obama seems to be making all the wrong choices at every turn. He is after all our commander in chief right? He sure isn't acting like it.
Posted by: Jan || 03/15/2012 10:39 Comments || Top||

#4  His entire Presidency is about him and his re-election--not much to do with the country. In other words much ado about nothing.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/15/2012 11:07 Comments || Top||

#5  It's a win-win for Obozo. If he loses, then the Trunks have to refill it, driving up oil prices. If he wins, prices keep going up, which is what he wants.
Posted by: gorb || 03/15/2012 11:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Can't we just all drive solar powered cars?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/15/2012 11:29 Comments || Top||

#7  If we had a Pub party that wasn't stupid, it would be pointing out today that Champ has already jumped the shark on this issue.

After all, he's acknowledging that supply matters.

If pumping oil from the Strategic Reserve is a good idea, isn't it a good idea to increase supply by drilling in ANWR? Drilling off-shore? Building pipelines? Building and expanding refineries?

But again, we need a group other than the Stupid Party to point this out.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/15/2012 12:57 Comments || Top||

#8  The SPR is equivalent to one-month of US consumption. It won't make a difference in his election bid. On the other hand, its existence and fullness would (will) make a difference when the Persian War starts.
Posted by: Shereter Poodle9774 || 03/15/2012 13:16 Comments || Top||

#9  Just in: Oil prices dropped quickly Thursday on a news report that Britain and the United States would cooperate on a release of crude oil from strategic reserves, but the Obama administration said the report was “not accurate” and played down the talks with British officials.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/15/2012 13:43 Comments || Top||

#10  SPR is equivalent to about 74 days of US imports minus exports, not consumption - US still produces a fair amount for its own consumption.
From EIA: In 2010 the United States imported 11.8 million barrels per day (MMbd) of crude oil and refined petroleum products. We also exported 2.3 MMbd of crude oil and petroleum products during 2010, so our net imports (imports minus exports) equaled 9.4 MMbd.
From the WaPo article cited earlier: The United States maintains a 696 million barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a handful of giant salt caverns along the Gulf of Mexico coast. Days of SPR reserve = 696/9.4
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/15/2012 13:49 Comments || Top||

#11  When Bush was president Obama blamed him for high oil. Then recently it's "President has no control over oil" now this which seems to prove that he knows it does or he's willing to waste a strategic asset for partisan points.

I want to hear an apology from Obama because he lied at least once in those flip-flops.
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 03/15/2012 14:14 Comments || Top||

#12  So this guy will leave the next President a bankrupt nation, debt, more screwed up programs, a war, and empty fuel tanks.

Kicking the can down the road for pure political gains.

Clowns
Posted by: newc || 03/15/2012 14:37 Comments || Top||

#13  The Chinese are very happy at the lower prices. Mustn't have an election coming on.
China Starts Filling Lanzhou Emergency Petroleum-Reserve Tanks, CNPC Says
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 16:12 Comments || Top||

#14  #12 So this guy will leave the next President a bankrupt nation, debt, more screwed up programs, a war, and empty fuel tanks.

Unless he gets re-elected and then its his (and our) problem.

If a Pub gets elected, he will have one screwed up mess to unravel.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/15/2012 18:29 Comments || Top||

#15  But, but, but Obama says we are drilling all over the Country!
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 03/15/2012 19:07 Comments || Top||

#16  His reasoning is that it is the Strategic Oil Reserve and it is key to his campaign strategy, so that makes it ok.

Posted by: crosspatch || 03/15/2012 19:39 Comments || Top||

#17  Champs plummeting approval number are a National Emergency, hence tapping the reserve. What could be worse, destitute Americans with no oil and no ability to run the economy in the event of a Middle East War, and out militay severely constrained or Obama not getting re-elected. Gee, this shouldn't be hard, if you a narcissistic clown with no sense of duty.
Anyone....Anyone....
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 03/15/2012 20:03 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Democracy Has Failed, "Caliphate is the Answer"
“What liberties are offered by the western secular system? The liberty of disintegrating the family? The liberty of being homosexual? ‘Oh Caliphate! Help!’”
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 06:04 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  this was a women's conference,

I loved this quote,

"...The two young women explain that in a Caliphate, women will have the right to work, to have a political role, even though their main mission remains to raise children and look after the family. They added that the Caliphate does not forbid elections and that the role of the Caliph will be assumed by the best Islamic scholar among all."

This resembles the many Marxists who always said how great things would be when ruled by the proletariat. Except it never turned out that way.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 03/15/2012 13:02 Comments || Top||

#2  "What have the Romans ever done for us?"
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 03/15/2012 14:23 Comments || Top||


Europe
Greece will print its own euros
Out in the real world this would be known as counterfeiting and the perps would end up doing long jail terms. But in the Alice in Wonderland world of the Euro this is perfectly acceptable.
Google translate.
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 05:46 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Actually, as yet another sign of the unicorn farts on which the whole euro fantasy was built, member states print their own euros - not the ECB. The country it was minted in is marked on each bill and coin. A German friend and I were speculating a couple of years ago that if Greece was not allowed to exit, they'd have to resort this, and a Greek euro would become worth a fraction of a German euro.

Unfortunately, you can't tell the difference with the kind that is "minted" electronically.
Posted by: RandomJD || 03/15/2012 6:59 Comments || Top||

#2  wiEUmar.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/15/2012 9:52 Comments || Top||

#3  I think this is how North Korea stays solvent. Only it's dollars.
Posted by: Shimble Guelph5793 || 03/15/2012 11:07 Comments || Top||

#4  IMHO, this is more a political move than economic, and a balls-out nuclear threat at that. Set aside for the moment what the profligate Greek government may or may not deserve, and consider only that it remains a sovereign nation.

The EU is keeping Greece chained in for the sake of the "European project," not for the good of Greece, which would be best served by a return to the drachma.

The EU is flatly selling Greece down the river in the name of an ideal that was unachievable from the start. This is Greece's reminder to the EU that they have the power to retaliate. "Let us go, or we will drown you in worthless euros, and make your economies look like ours."

Clever. I doubt they'll be in the eurozone much longer.
Posted by: RandomJD || 03/15/2012 14:18 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Bastion runway blaze driver dies
An Afghan man who crashed a stolen vehicle on to the runway at Camp Bastion as US defence secretary Leon Panetta arrived there has died of his injuries.

The man died of severe burns, said Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparotti, deputy commander of American forces in Afghanistan.

He said the driver apparently had a container of fuel in the vehicle, which ignited during the crash at the airfield at Britain's biggest base in Afghanistan. The base is home to a large contingent of US troops as well as UK forces.

Lt Gen Scaparotti said the driver had been heading towards a group of marines. He travelled at high speed and crashed into a ditch near the ramp where Mr Panetta's plane was going to park. No one in the defence secretary's party was hurt.

The crash at Camp Bastion is believed to be linked to an earlier incident, which left a British serviceman with minor injuries.

The driver, a local man employed at the base, was treated at the base's hospital for his injuries but died this morning.
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 05:22 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In other news, LtGen Scaparotti defended moving the US Army massacre suspect out of Afghanistan.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/15/2012 6:11 Comments || Top||


Economy
Texas vs. California
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/15/2012 04:14 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Azerbaijan arrests 22 suspects in alleged Iran spy plot
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/15/2012 03:32 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Polish paras to be retried until correct verdict is attained
Four Polish soldiers acquitted last year of killing eight civilians in Afghanistan are to face a second trial. The eight civilians, including women and children, died in the village of Nangar Khel when Polish troops opened fire on a wedding party in August 2007.

Military prosecutors appealed to the Polish supreme court after seven soldiers were cleared of war crimes in June last year. The judge has upheld the acquittal of three of the soldiers.

Three young children were among those killed when Polish soldiers, members of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), attacked the village in Paktika province, south-eastern Afghanistan, with mortar rounds and automatic weapons.

The judge said the men had given conflicting reports about the shelling, at times saying they were responding to Taliban fire, at others saying they were following orders or that their ammunition was faulty.

Prosecutors said the attack on the village happened several hours after a Polish convoy had come under fire in the area following the explosion of a roadside bomb, injuring two of its troops. Up to 24 mortars were apparently fired at the village of Nangar Khel, one of which hit a house that was said to be hosting a wedding party.

The incident shocked many in Poland, but several retired army generals expressed surprise at the supreme court ruling. Some said they believed all the men are innocent, while one argued that they had not shot unarmed civilians like the rogue US soldier last Sunday but had been given set targets.

The seven men were put on trial but cleared of war crimes last June because of lack of evidence.

The BBC's Warsaw correspondent Adam Easton says it was the first time Polish soldiers had been accused of violating the Hague and Geneva Conventions protecting civilians.

The men accused were from Poland's 18th Airborne-Assault Battalion and prosecutors initially called for sentences of between five and 12 years. In defence, they said they had come under fire and had been aiming to hit Taliban militants, insisting that the civilian deaths had come from faulty mortar equipment.

Prosecutors said the deaths took place some time after a different patrol had come under attack.

"The court has overturned the ruling and is forwarding the case for a new review," Judge Wieslaw Blus told the supreme court in Warsaw on Wednesday, explaining that the initial trial had not taken into account all the evidence relating to the four men.
Why not? The news account doesn't say, but you'd think that would be the first question to be asked -- well, second question, after "why are we trying these men a second time after they were acquitted?"
The three men whose acquittal was upheld included the group's captain, who had not been at the scene at the time of the shooting, and two privates who were following orders and had not intended to kill civilians, Polish media report.

The four men facing a retrial have been named as Andrzej Oscieki, Lukasz Bywalec, Damian Ligocki and Tomasz Borysiewicz.

Poland has about 2,500 troops serving as part of the 130,000-strong Nato-led force in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/15/2012 03:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't know that any country other than the USA has a firm concept of double jeopardy in order to protect individual rights against the government.
Posted by: Shereter Poodle9774 || 03/15/2012 13:01 Comments || Top||


Great White North
'Halal slaughter slams directly against Québécois values'
Posted by: ryuge || 03/15/2012 01:20 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Quebec is not the only province in which this has been noted and discussed in public. It is, however, the only province in which a separatist party has involved itself. Should be fun to watch the arguments fly.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 03/15/2012 21:48 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IAF strikes Gaza targets after rockets fired at Beersheba
Israeli aircraft respond to Grad rockets
...Soviet-developed 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions are reported to have a range of up to 30 km....
fired at South, striking rocket launching site, smuggling tunnel; IDF might need large ground operation in Strip, OC Southern Command Russo says.

The Israel Air Force struck a rocket launching site in northern Gazoo and a smuggling tunnel in the southern Strip overnight Wednesday. Paleostinians did not immediately report any injuries in the strikes.

The IAF strikes came after the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that went into effect on Tuesday appeared to collapse earlier on Wednesday night when Gazooks fired two Grad-model Katyusha rockets into Beersheba.

The assessment within the army is that the rockets were fired by small, splinter terrorist groups
There are always small splinter terrorist groups available for such things, even if one has to be invented at the moment for the purpose.
and not by Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Mohammedan Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
, which was behind the bulk of the rocket fire into Israel since Friday.

One of the rockets hit outside the city and the second one was intercepted by the Iron Dome counter-rocket defense system.

No one was injured. On Tuesday night, a Grad-model Katyusha struck Netivot.

The Israel Air Force struck a rocket launching site in northern Gazoo and a smuggling tunnel in the southern Strip overnight Wednesday. Paleostinians did not immediately report any injuries in the strikes.

The IAF strikes came after the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that went into effect on Tuesday appeared to collapse earlier on Wednesday night when Gazooks fired two Grad-model Katyusha rockets into Beersheba.

The assessment within the army is that the rockets were fired by small, splinter terrorist groups and not by Islamic Jihad, which was behind the bulk of the rocket fire into Israel since Friday.

One of the rockets hit outside the city and the second one was intercepted by the Iron Dome counter-rocket defense system.

No one was injured. On Tuesday night, a Grad-model Katyusha struck Netivot.

Authorities in Beersheba announced on Wednesday night that schools in the city would once again close on Thursday.

The decision was announced despite the Home Front Command saying that schools could remain open.

Schools will also be closed in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat, Kiryat Malachi, Gan Yavne (except for 12-graders studying in protected building) and the Bnei Shimon Regional Council.

Before the renewed fire, OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Tal Russo warned on Wednesday that Israel might have to carry out a large ground operation in Gazoo soon to stop the attacks.

"The IDF is doing everything to enable residents of communities near Gazoo to maintain a normal life," he said. "I do not know how long it [the cease-fire] will last and we might need to launch a large-scale operation in the future." Russo said that one of the problems was that no single organization was completely in control of the Gazoo Strip.

"There is no one who can just give an order and stop the rocket fire," he said.

Also on Wednesday, the IDF Home Front Command and the Home Front Defense Ministry held a simulation to prepare for possible missile attacks against Tel Aviv and the larger Gush Dan region.

Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Islamic Jihad are believed to have Fajr-5 Iranian artillery rockets that are capable of striking Tel Aviv. Hezbullies in Leb also has missiles such as the M- 600 that could reach Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves...
the IDF is also gearing up for a massive convergence on Israel's borders later this month in what is being called the "Global March to Jerusalem." Under the plan, on March 30, people from the Gazoo Strip, Syria, Leb and the West Bank will begin marching toward Jerusalem.
None of the previous Arab wars of conquest have worked against those damned Jews, so now comes the Arab version of the Children's Crusade.
The event was scheduled, according to the movement's website, to coincide with the 36th anniversary of Land Day, when six Arab Israelis were killed in festivities with security forces in the Galilee, and to raise awareness regarding Israel's so-called "ethnic cleansing" of Jerusalem.

The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center released a report on Wednesday in which it said that Iran was actively supporting the organizers of the event.

IDF sources said that they were prepared for the marches and possible demonstrations along the border. In June, about 100 Syrians crossed into Israel.

"Since then we have purchased riot control equipment and developed new techniques and tactics to deal with such protests," a senior IDF officer said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2012 01:06 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The type of rockets fired are pretty up scale for 'small splinter groups'. The only way such groups could get them is from Hamas Depot.
Posted by: Lord Garth || 03/15/2012 8:27 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Terror lab discovered in north Caucasus
Security forces have prevented a string of terror attacks after defusing nine bombs at an illegal laboratory in Nalchik, the capital of Russia's North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said on Wednesday. The committee's statement said, "The total mass of improvised explosive devices was over 100 kg of TNT equivalent. According to bomb experts, an explosion of that power would have destroyed a whole city block."

The laboratory where the bombs were produced was located in a garage and was discovered by policemen early Wednesday. All the bombs were taken to a secure area and destroyed.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/15/2012 01:04 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Analyst warns Knesset of mass 'Muslim aliya'
Syrians, Egyptians and Yemenites facing persecution at home might try to migrate to Israel en masse, political commentator Daniel Pipes says.

Israel might face a flood of Moslem migrants from neighboring countries if conditions there worsen, a political analyst told a Knesset committee on Wednesday, though one expert later dismissed the theory saying it was "completely unsubstantiated."
Or unhinged, or diabolical, take your pick...
American historian and political commentator Daniel Pipes told the Immigration Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee that Syrians, Egyptians and Yemenites facing persecution at home might try to migrate to Israel en masse in search of political asylum and better job opportunities.

Pipes, who is also a columnist for The Jerusalem Post, painted a grim picture of the economic and political outlook in those countries in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Their citizens might look for greener pastures in Israel in a way similar to the infiltration of tens of thousands of sub- Saharan Africans to the country over the past few years, giving rise to a "Moslem aliya," he said.

"There could be a new era.

Particularly, the Sinai and Golan areas may see an immigration very different than what it's seen," he said.

Pipes is an academic and the founder of Campus Watch, a pro-Israel think tank, who writes about "radical Islam and the Middle East," his website says.

In January, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz said Israel was preparing to absorb Alawites -- members of the religious minority which Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
belongs to and that has dominated politics in that country for decades -- if the regime is toppled.

"We are preparing to take in Alawite refugees in the Golan Heights," Gantz told a Knesset committee.

But Shlomo Brom, a senior research fellow and director at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, rejected Pipes's forecast, saying such a migration, if it were to take place, is unlikely to amount to more than a trickle.

"That a few Syrian refugees might come here in small numbers might happen -- we saw that during Black September," he said, referring to a few dozen Paleostinian gunnies in 1970 who sought refuge in Israel -- their avowed enemy -- rather than be captured by Jordanian forces during a crackdown. "But if anything like that happens it will be on a very small scale."

Brom said the potential for a mass migration of Moslems from places as far away as Yemen, who would have to travel over 1,600 kilometers and risk being shot at the border to reach Israel, was "completely unsubstantiated."

"It doesn't seem to be based on anything," he said.
Posted by: || 03/15/2012 00:47 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The airport is closed. Please apply for Aliyah.
Posted by: newc || 03/15/2012 20:19 Comments || Top||

#2  If moslem "refugees" do show up at Israel's borders, welcome them and bus them right on over to Gaza. We know they wouldn't want to get contiminated by the icky Juices and would rather be among their co-religionists.
Posted by: Barbara || 03/15/2012 23:43 Comments || Top||


Europe
Dutch state-funded TV offers anti-Semitic game
In downloadable game, players can use 'Anne Frank card' to colonize West Bank, 'Jewish stinginess' card to gain resources.
But it's thought-provoking satire, which make the antisemitic tropes ok, no matter what those stupid Jews might think.
A Dutch public broadcasting network last month offered its viewers a board game featuring Israeli settlers who use "Jewish stinginess" and "the Anne Frank card" to colonize the West Bank.

Organizations combating anti-Semitism have called on the Dutch government to persuade the network, VPRO, to halt the downloading of the board game.

A VPRO representative said the game was not anti-Semitic, but rather a thought-provoking satire.

The game, titled "The Settlers of the West Bank," is based on the multiplayer hit "The Settlers of Catan," first released in Germany in 1995. The Dutch variant appeared in 2010 on the VPRO website -- a self-described liberal-Protestant network.

In the game, the user is a settler trying to expand his community and mine diamonds and Dead Sea mud while producing textile and bulldozers. Players can use the "Jewish stinginess" card to force competitors to hand over resources. The instructions refer three times to the "nation's typical mercantile spirit."

Terrorist attacks are described as a natural result of settlement expansion. "Saw wood, and you get wood chips: Not everyone's happy with the Israeli settlements. Least of all the terrorist," the instructions explain. "Terrorist attacks" cost players resources.

The settler may also use the "Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad card" to avoid losing resources to a terrorist and simultaneously draw resources from other players. The Anne Frank House is a "winning point" for the settler.

The game first appeared on VPRO's website for younger viewers and was prominently reposted last month. The network explained the reposting by saying: "It's one of the items everyone loves to hate."

"Criticism of the settlement movement cannot appear in the form of anti-Semitic stereotypes," said Joël Serphos, chairman of the Dutch youth organization CiJO -- For Israel, for Peace. Serphos added that this "gave the wrong impression, that criticism on settlements is rooted in anti-Semitism."

Serphos, whose organization opposes settlement expansion, called on the Dutch Education, Culture and Science Ministry to compel the network to remove the game from its website and apologize for its publication.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center strongly condemned VPRO for publishing the "disturbing" game.

"It would be more likely as a product of neo-Nazis or Ahmadinejad," Dr. Shimon Samuels, the center's director for international relations, told The Jerusalem Post.

References to Jewish stinginess, the exploitation of minerals and the "contemptuous misuse" of Ann Frank's House as a "winning point" were "anti-Semitic tropes," Samuels said.

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science provided 89 percent of VPRO's budget of 51,973,000 euros in 2010.

"This funding makes the Netherlands the largest financier of hate incitement among youth in Europe," Samuels said.

The Wiesenthal Center has written to Viviane Reding, the European Commission's vice president for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, urging her "to take all available measures to press The Hague to withdraw its funding from VPRO for as long as it serves as a vector for racism."

Queried by the Post, VPRO Communications Manager Marina Alings defined the game as "satire." VPRO is of the opinion that "although the item 'The Settlers of the West Bank' could have done with some more delicate detailing, it is not fitting to earmark it as anti-Semitic," she said.

The VPRO Dorst youth section "ironically commented on the Israeli-Paleostinian conflict with its satirical item," Alings said.

Alings added that VPRO did not seek permission from the designers of the original game before releasing the Dutch variant. "Since 'The Settlers of the West Bank' was made with such an unmistakable hint to the board game 'The Settlers of Catan,' the VPRO did not feel it was necessary," Alings said.

Freek Manche, front man for the Dutch Education Ministry, said "the minister of education, culture and science has no opinion about this specific game." He added that the minister would not ask to remove the item from the website since it is not her responsibility.

Manche said that VPRO told the ministry that the website that offers the game was developed by young editors of the weekly magazine VPRO Gids, which does not receive a government subsidy, but is financed through membership fees from VPRO's approximately 300,000 subscribers.

In the Netherlands, the original board game, "The Settlers of Catan," is marketed by the 999 Games company.

PR representative Saskia de Lint told the Post the firm "wants to stay out [of the issue] because we do not wish to take a stand." She added: "We deeply regret the use of the game by [the young viewer platform of] VPRO."

De Lint would not say if the firm views the distribution of the Dutch game as copyright infringement, nor whether 999 Games would ask VPRO remove the controversial content.

Calls and emails to the original game's distributors in the US and Germany were not immediately returned. The company's US representatives were at a retail convention in Las Vegas and were not immediately available for comment.
Posted by: || 03/15/2012 00:46 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Groovy.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/15/2012 3:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Strange; at least one US firm licensed Catan to produce a religious-themed version. I think it was from Mormon theology. I can't imagine its European publishers letting this go without royalties. Actually, considering that it's a German game, I can't imagine the publisher not stepping on these toads, out of guilt if nothing else.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 03/15/2012 7:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Really? This?

Well, I look forward to the day when you all are under shariah law in that "noble" country.

Let me tell you a little secret.....
Fuck you.
Posted by: newc || 03/15/2012 12:53 Comments || Top||

#4  The Dutch: they volunteered for Himmler's Waffen SS in droves. 'Nuff said...
Posted by: borgboy || 03/15/2012 14:28 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Abu Sayyaf thought to have executed Indian hostage
Philippine authorities are trying to verify reports that a kidnapped Indian national was executed by the Abu Sayyaf on the southern province of Sulu where the terrorist militant group tied to al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya is still holding a Japanese and a Malaysian hostage.

Antonio Freyra, the Sulu provincial police chief, said Biju Kolara Veetil, 36, was reported to have been killed by his captors despite ransom paid to the Abu Sayyaf by his Filipina wife. Freyra said, "We have intelligence reports about this but need to get a confirmation from his wife or find his body."

Veetil and his wife were visiting the woman’s family when four gunmen seized the foreigner in June last year. Freyra said the woman’s family had paid at least P800,000 to the Abu Sayyaf for Veetil’s safe release, but the terrorists militants did not free him.

He said a Malaysian gecko trader - Mohammad Nasaruddin Bensaidin – who had also been kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf in April last year, was released after a local negotiator paid ransom. The kidnappers had originally demanded P5 million ransoms for Bensaidin's safe release.

The 38-year old Malaysian arrived in Sulu in April last year from Kuala Lumpur and had been living in a house in the village of Kajatian in Indanan town when he was kidnapped. Freyra said, "We are trying to locate the negotiator and get details of the release of Mohammad, but we can’t trace him anymore."

He said another Japanese hostage, Katayama Mamaito, 63, is still in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf. Mamaito, a treasure hunter, was kidnapped in June 2010 on the island-town of Pangutaran.

The Abu Sayyaf is also holding two fishermen, Renato Panisales and Wennie Ferrer – employees of the Mega Fishing Corporation in Zamboanga City – after they were seized at sea off Sulu in March last year. Their companion, Jonald Ocsimar, was set free in July after his family paid P300,000 ransom.

Another faction of the Abu Sayyaf is still holding an Australian citizen, Warren Rodwell, 52, in the province of Basilan, after he was kidnapped in December last year from his seaside home in Zamboanga Sibugay province. The kidnappers have demanded $2 million ransom for his release, but his Filipino wife said they cannot afford to pay. Rodwell’s fate remains unknown.

See also:
Japanese kidnap victim now Abu Sayyaf cook
Posted by: ryuge || 03/15/2012 00:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Thai south: It's hard to force a peace process
Posted by: ryuge || 03/15/2012 00:22 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Government not backing drone strikes: Rabbani
[Dawn] Pakistain Peoples' Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani on Wednesday said that drone attacks carried out by the United States in the tribal region has no tacit approval from the PPP-led government. Rabbani said the use of unmanned predators was allowed by the military ruler Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Love-marriage couple injured in clash on court premises
[Dawn] A love-marriage couple received minor injuries during a clash between family members from both sides on the Lahore High Court premises on Tuesday.

The couple of Hujra Shah Muqeem had tied the knot against the wishes of the girl's parents. They had come to the court in pursuance of their petition against a case of kidnap and theft got registered by the girl's family against her husband.

Asma stated before the court of Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik that she contracted marriage with her free will and her husband Riaz had neither kidnapped her nor stole anything from her house. The judge allowed the girl to go with her husband.

However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
the moment the couple came out of the courtroom, both men and women of the girl's family attacked the couple. The attackers tried to take the girl with them. Members of the groom's family also retaliated and tried to free the couple from the clutches of bride's family.

The couple somehow managed to go away and got first aid from dispensary of the court.

Police officials deputed at the high court did not rescue them and remained silent spectator during the whole episode.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Police officials deputed at the high court did not rescue them and remained silent spectator during the whole episode.

Is the Quran involved? No, not my problem.
Posted by: Fat Bob Unotch3711 || 03/15/2012 5:19 Comments || Top||


PML-N decides legal action against Younis Habib
[Dawn] Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz (PML-N) terming Mehran Bank's former head Younis Habib's allegations a pack of lies has decided to take legal action against him.

PML-N Punjab President and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif addressing a news conference here on Wednesday, said that Habib's accusations about giving money to him and his brother Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
were baseless.

He asked Habib that if he had given amount through Telegraphic Transfer should turn to the court with proof.

He said, every body knew about the character and crimes of former Mehran Bank head.

To a question, the chief minister said that an attempt was being made to include Nawaz Sharif's name into Mehrangate.

He said that conspiracies were being hatched to malign PML-N leadership. He smelled some fishy bid behind Mehrangate scandal.

He told a questioner that they would not keep silence over hushing up of NRO issue. He said Habib had changed his statements four times in a week.

He affirmed that PML-N leadership was fully prepared to face any conspiracy.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
44 Dead as Syrian Army Overruns Idlib, Rebels Flee
[An Nahar] Syrian forces have overrun the northwest city of Idlib and rebels have decamped, an activist said Wednesday, giving sharp momentum to a push by the Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
regime to crush an increasingly armed revolt, as 44 people were reportedly killed across the country.

"Since last night there has been no more fighting," said Noureddin al-Abdo, an activist in Idlib, confirming earlier reports by a government newspaper that Idlib had fallen after a four-day assault by regime forces.

"The (rebel) Free Syrian Army (FSA) has withdrawn and regime forces have stormed the entire city and are carrying out house-to-house searches," said Abdo.

The army launched its assault on the rebellious province of Idlib near the Turkish border on Saturday, bombarding the city of the same name and outlying regions in a bid to root out armed turbans.

"The FSA preferred to withdraw because everyone knows it cannot resist the army," Abdo said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fierce festivities between regime forces and rebel troops were ongoing in the Jabal al-Zawiya district of the province and at least four people had died on Wednesday.

"Seventeen soldiers were killed late Tuesday after armed rebels attacked checkpoints in the village of al-Barra, in Jabal al-Zawiya," said the Britannia-based group.

The capture of Idlib comes two weeks after regime forces stormed the Baba Amr rebel stronghold in the central city of Homs following a month-long blitz that left hundreds dead.

It also comes as the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
responded to U.N.-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
proposals to end a year-long revolt in Syria that has killed more than 8,500 people, mostly civilians, according to activists.

A front man for U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
, who met with Assad in Damascus over the weekend and made "concrete" proposals to halt the bloodshed, said the unspecified Syrian response was being considered.

Meanwhile,
...back at the laboratory the fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight...
opposition-affiliated Sham News Network reported that security forces killed 44 people across the country, identifying 16 of them who it said were killed in Idlib alone.

Residents managed to "pull them out of the streets after the shelling and heavy gunfire abated," SNN said.

Amnesia Amnesty International on Wednesday said detainees in Syria's crackdown on dissent faced a "nightmarish world of systematic torture" that has set the country back decades.

"The scale of torture and other ill-treatment in Syria has risen to a level not witnessed for years and is reminiscent of the dark era of the 1970s and 1980s," the rights watchdog said in a report based on testimony from survivors who decamped to Jordan.

The experience "is now very similar to that of detainees under former president Hafez Assad -- a nightmarish world of systemic torture," said Ann Harrison of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program, referring to Bashar's father.

Syria's leadership has consistently argued that the uprising shaking the country was the work of "armed terrorist groups" backed by foreign powers.

It has also rejected any negotiations with the opposition while pushing forth with reforms deemed a "farce" by the international community.

Assad on Tuesday issued a decree setting May 7 as the date for parliamentary elections under a new constitution adopted in February.

But Washington immediately dismissed the planned vote as "ridiculous".

"Parliamentary elections for a rubber-stamp parliament in the middle of the kind of violence that we're seeing across the country -- it's ridiculous," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

They would be the third such polls since Assad came to power in 2000, but the first under a multi-party system as authorized under the new charter.

According to the U.N. refugee agency, an estimated 30,000 people have decamped the fighting in Syria to neighboring countries and another 200,000 have been displaced inside the country.

The majority of the refugees are in neighboring Turkey, Jordan and Leb.

Rights watchdogs said this week that the Syrian regime had planted in recent weeks landmines near the borders with Turkey and Leb, along routes used by refugees fleeing the country.

Russia, accused of having shielded its ally Syria, said on Tuesday it will press Damascus to accept international monitors who could observe the implementation of a "simultaneous" ceasefire.

"We must not have a situation in which the government is required to leave the cities and villages while the gangs are not made to do the same," said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow.

Russia and China vetoed two past U.N. Security Council draft resolutions condemning Assad for the violence and have expressed reservations about a new U.S.-backed version.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Snicker: Islamic Jihad holds victory rally in Gaza
Terror group's leader Ramadan Shallah boasts disrupting daily routine of many Israelis

Although to be fair, Egypt celebrates their great victory in the Yom Kippur War, the one where Ariel Sharon didn't actually drive Israeli tanks down Cairo streets, though there was nothing Egyptian to stop him. No doubt the Israelis are glad of it now -- not even the Egyptians want to be responsible for ruling Egypt nowadays.
Thousands of Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Mohammedan Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
sympathizers participated in the group's victory rally celebrating the end of the current round of violence against Israel on Tuesday. The rally was attended by senior Islamic Jihad officials while the group's secretary-general, Ramadan Shallah, sent a video message
O brave, brave Lion of Islam!
from Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...

...Where he sits in lonely splendour, all the Hamasniks having pulled out weeks ago, praying hard that President Pencilneck manages to win his little civil war, else his splendour will become even lonelier at the hands of whatever new regime emerges.
Shallah boasted that this is the first time that the Paleostinian resistance forced a new type of truce on Israel. He threatened that the Islamic Jihad's military wing will extend its rocket fire deeper into Israel, in response to Israel's threats to increase the scope of its attacks on Gazoo. "They (the Israelis) know where they (the rockets) can reach," Shallah said.

He added that the Islamic Jihad will not accept any agreement that does not include an end to the assassinations policy. "Despite the occupation, the destruction and isolation attempts, the resistance can defend itself and can introduce panic and disrupt the daily routine of many Israelis," he boasted.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
German Opposition Leader (and possible successor to Merkel): Israel = Apartheid-Regime
Facebook post by German leader of the opposition Sigmar Gabriel (who is currently visiting Israel):
"Sigmar Gabriel, SPD
Ich war gerade in Hebron. Das ist für Palästinenser ein rechtsfreier Raum. Das ist ein Apartheid-Regime, für das es keinerlei Rechtfertigung gibt."
Google's translation:
"I was in Hebron. This is a legal vacuum for Palestinians. This is an apartheid regime, for which there is no justification."
My translation:
"I've just now visited Hebron. For Palestinians this is a space where they enjoy no legal protection/rights. This is an Apartheid regime for which there is no justification whatsoever."
Perhaps Mr Gabriel is sorry the Juice didn't learn their lesson from the Hebron Massacre.
Apparently not one of his party's heavier thinkers, he spent a number of years as SPD's "Representative for Pop Culture and Pop Discourse".
Posted by: Slolump Angash5898 || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, not only are the Nords acting stupid, but now the KRAUTS have decided to join the "kill the juice" band wagon AGAIN?

I think I know what to do with the nuclear stockpile if I hear this steaming shit from Germany again.

Not three Germany's are worth one Israel. Remember that and do not forget I was on German soil for four year protecting you assholes that started two world wars from the Russians.

Fuck you Germany. Just fuck you. And fuck the Nords too.
Posted by: newc || 03/15/2012 13:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Ditto
Posted by: Chique Unock2033 || 03/15/2012 15:13 Comments || Top||

#3  It is true that Gabriel spent some time in the wilderness when he was demoted to Pop Culture rep.

However he is a professional politician, the archetypical 'sleazy politician.'

He's the leader of the Social Democratic Party now, no back-bencher, and this was a calculated escalation in the German political establishment's anti-Israel rhetoric.
Posted by: Slolump Angash5898 || 03/15/2012 16:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Apparently he's never driven through an "apartheid regime" in his own country - housing projects where "asylum seekers" (illegal immigrants) live, at taxpayer expense, while awaiting approval of their applications. Pleasant little neighborhoods, until the Paleos moved in. Everywhere they go, they turn it into a slum. Germany remains pretty much Judenrein, so whose fault is it?
Posted by: RandomJD || 03/15/2012 17:39 Comments || Top||

#5  random

Germany is not really judenrein. There are thriving jewish communties in several German cities. However, the jewish population is only about 0.2% compared to the 4.0% of the country that is moslem.

and thus for a politician with no honesty who wants to be elected, it makes sense to appeal to the moslems
Posted by: Lord Garth || 03/15/2012 19:54 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen Salafists Form Political Party
[An Nahar] Representatives of Yemen's ultra-conservative Salafist community agreed on Wednesday to form a political union, they announced at the end of a two-day conference.

"The conference has decided to form a political entity -- Yemen's Al-Rashad (righteousness) Union," they said in a statement.

A committee was appointed to prepare for a congress that would formally establish the new Salafist party, which distinguishes itself from Yemen's main Islamist Moslem Brüderbund Al-Islah (reform) party.

The Salafists
...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them...
, who espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the early days of the faith, have yet to set a date for the meeting.

They said they would take part in future elections, and called for dialogue with al-Qaeda, northern Iranian catspaws, as well as southern separatists, in order to "guarantee Yemen's unity."

The move signals the first involvement into politics by Yemen's Salafists, who until now been represented only by religious associations and charities.

It comes after Islamists rose to power in Tunisia and Egypt following popular uprisings that ousted autocrats.

The hardliners also stated their support for "Syrians against the tyranny of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
Trampler of Homs...
regime."
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Annan Presses Assad for Quick Answers
[An Nahar] U.N.-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy Kofi Annan
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
on Wednesday pressed Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Trampler of Homs...
to quickly answer proposals to end Syria's strife ahead of a new diplomatic surge aimed at passing a Security Council resolution on the crisis.

Annan, who on Friday will brief the U.N. Security Council on his mission, announced that he has received one response from Assad's government.

The international envoy "has questions and is seeking answers," his front man Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement.

"But given the grave and tragic situation on the ground, everyone must realize that time is of the essence. As he said in the region, this crisis cannot be allowed to drag on," the front man added.

Annan met with Assad in Damascus
...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations...
last weekend and said he made "concrete" proposals. He will brief the Security Council on Friday by videoconference from Geneva, diplomats said.

The council is badly divided on the best way to end the year of strife, which the U.N. says has left more than 8,000 dead. But it is waiting to hear how Assad responds to the envoy before resuming talks on a resolution on the crisis, diplomats said.

"No, I would not say I was optimistic" that Assad would end the violence or allow humanitarian access, said a senior diplomat who has been briefed on the answers already sent to Annan. "But we had never expected that there would be a yes or no answer.

"We had always expected there would be obfuscation, there would be delay, there would be questions," the diplomat added, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...

"Annan is still center stage and we are waiting to see how that turns out in the next 24-48 hours before we go back to discussing the text," said a senior council diplomat.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


China-Japan-Koreas
Race in ROK national election too close to call
The latest polls put Korea's ruling and main opposition parties in a dead heat, just one month ahead of the April general election.
This will begin to matter if the lefties win...
In a survey by news channel YTN, the ruling Saenuri Party appeared to have a slight lead at 45.6 percent, while the opposition Democratic United Party was supported by 42.6 percent.

But public broadcaster KBS' survey of 1,000 people showed a slightly different picture, with a little over 35 percent of respondents saying they would vote for DUP candidates compared with 34 percent for the ruling party.

Asked about a leftwing coalition between the DUP and the United Progressive Party, close to 43 percent thought it was a good idea, as opposed to 37 percent who did not.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Congo warlord convicted of using child soldiers
THE HAGUE, Netherlands: Judges at a war crimes tribunal convicted a Congolese warlord Wednesday of snatching children from the street and turning them into killers, in the International Criminal Court's landmark first judgment 10 years after it was established.
This will be used to justify another ten years of dithering. And lunch. And White Toyota Land Cruisers for all the Euro-apparatchik kids who will go to work for the ICC...
Thus demonstrating to all that they are Good People, giving back to society for all the advantages conferred upon them. That they are also given a lifestyle well beyond their paychecks will be ignored by all concerned.
"The prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mr. Thomas Lubanga is guilty of the crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 years and using them to participate actively in hostilities," said Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford.

Lubanga, wearing an ivory-colored robe and skull cap, sat with his hands clasped in front of him listening to the verdict and showed no emotion as Fulford declared him guilty. As he left court flanked by guards, Lubanga nodded and smiled to supporters in the public gallery. A sentencing hearing will now be scheduled. Lubanga faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Judges said Lubanga, "personally used children below the age of 15 as his bodyguards."

While the three-judge panel unanimously convicted Lubanga, it also harshly criticized prosecutors as "negligent" for using intermediaries to deal with witnesses in Congo.
So it was a little dangerous for the prosecutors to leave the Netherlands? Brave, brave ICC...
Fulford said three intermediaries "persuaded, encouraged or assisted witnesses to give false evidence" and scrapped the evidence of three witnesses.

"The Prosecutor's office must review its limited investigation strategy adopted in the Lubanga case, especially in light of such decisions precluding victims from participating in trials and obtaining reparation," said Michael Bochenek of Amnesty International. "Lessons need to be learned for future cases."

Amnesty also criticized the court for not charging Lubanga with sexual violence crimes, saying the decision potentially denied "justice and reparation to many more victims."
Where was Amnesty in all this? Did they offer to provide bodyguards? Fly to the Congo themselves? Hire Blackwater to protect the witnesses?
Amnesty (along with other groups) already owned the judges; this is the warm up to getting the prosecutor's office as well.
However, other witnesses and video of Lubanga speaking to recruits, some of them children, at a training camp provided enough evidence to convict him.

Prosecutors said Lubanga led the Union of Congolese Patriots political group and commanded its armed wing, the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, which recruited children -- sometimes by force, other times voluntarily -- into its ranks to fight in a brutal ethnic conflict in the Ituri region of eastern Congo.

The trial, which began in January 2009, is the first at an international court to focus exclusively on the use of child soldiers and activists say it should send a clear message to armies and rebels around the world that conscripting children breaches international law.
Message: don't get caught. Second message: know how to buy off the Euros...
The first verdict is a coming of age for the court set up to prosecute war crimes suspects in countries unable or unwilling to try them. So far, prosecutors have opened seven investigations and have just five suspects in custody, including former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and former Congo Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba.

However, questions still remain about the its effectiveness. The court has no police force to arrest suspects and can only launch investigations in the 120 countries that recognize its jurisdiction, or if the Security Council orders a probe.

That means that the court is powerless to intervene in the bloody conflict tearing Syria apart because Damascus has not recognized the court and the Security Council is bitterly divided.
Funny how that works. Don't worry, Uncle Sam will get the blame somehow...
Posted by: Steve White || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Soldier Hurt in 'Incident' as Panetta Lands in Afghanistan
[An Nahar] An Afghan drove a stolen vehicle onto the runway ramp at a military base in southern Afghanistan Wednesday just as U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993....
flew in for a visit, NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
and U.S. officials said.

"At no point was the secretary or anyone on the aircraft in any danger from this incident," the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement, adding that "the alleged perpetrator" had been jugged.

Around the time Panetta's plane was landing, an Afghan drove the stolen vehicle onto a runway ramp and crashed into a ditch before emerging from the vehicle "ablaze", Panetta's front man George Little told news hounds in Kabul.

"He did end up on the runway ramp and ended up in a ditch," Little said. "Our personnel discovered he was ablaze."

The flames were extinguished and the Afghan was being treated for serious burn injuries, he said.

As coalition forces gave chase, the vehicle had struck and injured an ISAF service member, Little said.

It was not clear whether the incident at Camp Bastion was connected to Panetta's visit, he said.

A Pentagon front man in Washington said a small pick-up truck was driven at high speed "across the ramp near where (Panetta) was to pull up."

"No explosive was found on the individual or in the vehicle and no weapons," he said.

"I have no indication right now that leads to prove this was an intentional attack," he said.

Panetta flew to Afghanistan just days after a U.S. soldier rubbed out 16 villagers -- most of them women and kiddies -- in southern Kandahar province in the worst single such incident since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

He held talks with provincial leaders and also addressed U.S., NATO and Afghan troops at Camp Leatherneck adjoining Britannia's Camp Bastion, before flying to Kabul where he is due to meet Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
Thursday.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Rebel Chieftain: Assad Deserves Worse Fate than Gadhafi's
[An Nahar] "Assad has killed so many people that he deserves a fate worse than Qadaffy's," spits Ammar al-Wawi, a one-time Syrian officer now second-in-command of the rebel Free Syrian Army.

And despite the fact that the FSA, "armed only with Kalashnikovs and pistols," is at an overwhelming disadvantage against the tanks and artillery of Bashir al-Assad's army, Wawi says he is convinced the president will fall.

But when is another question.

The FSA claims to have 50,000 men under its command, but that compares with a regular army of 300,000 and another million in militia and secret police.

The Syrian "revolution against (colonial power) La Belle France took 10 years and the Paleostinians have been fighting Israel since 1948, but a revolution triumphs when the people decide to put an end to the regime."

And Wawi is determined that it will be Syrians who overthrow a dictatorship that has lasted nearly 50 years.

The former army lieutenant says he has no use for the international community, saying its leaders "have no ethics and always support dictators."

Almost in the same breath, however, he says the rebels need no-fly zones and humanitarian corridors to deliver aid.

When asked whether, as charged by the Syrian authorities, there are elements among the FSA's ranks of al-Qaeda, or mujahedeen from Afghanistan and Pakistain, he categorically denies that to be the case.

"All of us who make up the Free Syrian Army are Syrian; we were all soldiers in the regular army."

Referring to slain Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy
...Proof that a madman with money will be politely received for at least 42 years until his people get tired of him and kill him...
, ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
and exiled Tunisian strongman Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, he argues that all dictators use the same scare tactics with the world community.

"But it's all lies."

In contrast, he claims that the regime is supported in its crackdown by elements of Iran's security forces, fighters from Leb's Hizbullah and backers of Iraqi holy man Moqtada Tater al-Sadr
... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah...

The three groups are all Shiite Moslem, and Wawi accuses the regime of "beginning to use religion to divide the country," a majority of whose people are Sunni Moslems.

Yet Wawi insists there is no danger of Syria turning into another Iraq, where the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 sparked a Sunni Arab insurgency that degenerated into ferocious sectarian bloodletting in 2006 and 2007 in which tens of thousands died.

In Syria, he says it has been the people who started it all, "meaning we don't envisage a civil or sectarian war because all Syrians want the same thing -- the fall of Assad."

Wawi did not comment on analysts' assessment that some sections of public opinion -- particularly within Syria's sizeable Christian minority as well as Assad's own Alawite community -- remain wary of any abrupt or violent overthrow of the regime out of a desire for stability and orderly reform.

For Wawi, the repeated failure of the international community to bring about negotiations means change will only come through force.

If Assad does not leave, he could face the same fate as Muammar Qadaffy -- hunted down, tortured and killed by his foes in October last year, the commander added.

The outgunned FSA has suffered a number of setbacks on the ground in recent days, with activists saying regime forces took full control of the northwestern city of Idlib late on Tuesday after rebel fighters withdrew.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that fierce festivities were still raging between troops and fighters in the Jabal al-Zawiya district of Idlib province on Wednesday.

"Seventeen soldiers were killed late Tuesday after armed rebels attacked checkpoints in the village of al-Barra, in Jabal al-Zawiya," said the Britannia-based monitoring group.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


India-Pakistan
Taliban regrouping in Peshawar, Fata, says Iftikhar
Wonderful things are happening in Pakistan, or so we are here told.
[Dawn] Pak Taliban were regrouping in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar and tribal areas to counter the impact of the security forces' crackdown on them, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said here on Tuesday.

During the Khyber Union of Journalists and Peshawar Press Club oath-taking ceremony at the Chief Minister's House here, the minister said the talks between US and Afghan Taliban had led to a deep split within the Pak Taliban.

"The growing desire among Pak Taliban for holding talks with the government has created serious differences among the terror outfit. Due to these differences, the Taliban leadership recently sacked their front man, Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, for openly supporting the idea of dialogue with the government," he said.

Mr Iftikhar urged Pakistain, Afghanistan and the US to form a joint team for meaningful dialogue with Taliban leaders to achieve desired goals of peace in the region.

"The experience of holding talks with Taliban separately by Pakistain, Afghanistan and the US miserably failed in the past. Even the recent US efforts to gain positive outcome from the Qatar moot is not going to deliver the goods," he said.

The minister said the only way out to restore peace in the region lied in holding joint dialogue by Pakistain, Afghanistan and the US with the Taliban and that if it failed, then effective action had to be taken to eliminate them completely.

"We have faced them and rooted them out and will continue doing so," he said.

Mr Iftikhar said the recent Peshawar kaboom was a reaction of operations in Orakzai Agency
... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers...
and Darra Adamkhel and Bara Tehsil of Khyber Agency, where security forces cleared many strategic areas.

He said sectarianism was another reason of terrorist acts in the thriving provincial capital.

He said Orcs and similar vermin wouldn't be unable to continue with acts of terrorism due to the government's effective plan to crack down on them.

The minister said there should be no good and bad Taliban and they all should be eliminated without discrimination to save the country.

He said no segment of the society had beat feet from the Taliban's actions and therefore, the society should take them head on.

He said the government had planned to take action against Death Eaters in tribal and settled areas simultaneously by giving powers of supervision to the relevant commissioners.

Mr Iftikhar said in the past whenever political administrations of tribal areas initiated action, Orcs and similar vermin fled to settled areas of the province but they won't be able to escape anymore.

He said the government had hit anti-state elements hard and the war against them would continue until their complete elimination. He said the issue needed to be resolved on permanent basis.

Meanwhile,
...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter awoke groggily, his hand still stuck in the Ming vase...
the information minister told news hounds here that Awami National Party was a coalition partner of Pakistain People's Party and would continue supporting its leader President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari
... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ...
He said ANP would always remember the way in which President Zardari supported ANP over the last four years, especially during difficult times.

The minister said his party had supported PPP and Zardari 'honestly and unconditionally' and would continue doing so.

He said the ANP-PPP coalition government would complete its five years term in office. He, however, said the next general elections would be held at an appropriate time.

Mr Iftikhar said the provincial government always wanted to hold local government elections but security situation didn't let it do it.

He said since the law and order situation had improved, local government elections would be held ahead of general elections.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Preparing the battle space: Netanyahu says 'Gaza is Iran'
PM says won't accept terror-backing Iran getting nukes, blames 2005 Disengagement Plan for Gazoo situation.

Iran is the primary actor responsible for escalations in the Gazoo Strip, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Wednesday. "Gazoo is Iran," the prime minister told a special Knesset session in which he was obligated to speak.

Connecting the recent round of violence in Gazoo and the Iranian nuclear threat, Netanyahu said he is not prepared to accept a situation in which the country, which backs terrorist groups, becomes a nuclear power.

The prime minister went on to lay blame for Iran's influence in the Strip on the 2005 Gazoo Disengagement Plan and those politicians who supported it. "You inserted Iran into Gazoo," he told members of Knesset.

In general, and regarding the Iranian threat in particular, Netanyahu praised Israel's alliance with the United States but said Israel's ability and right to defend itself was even more important .

During his recent trip to Washington, during which he met with US President Barack Obama
They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them...
, Netanyahu paraphrased former prime minister Menachem Begin to explain why he emphasized and reiterated Israel's right to defend itself.

"Israel has never put its fate in the hands of others and that is my primary responsibility as prime minister," he said.

Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bambi must be having a serious hissy fit; Netty comes to town and repeatedly says that Israel will take care of itself and doesn't really care what others say. And The Won still prattles on and on with that condescending attitude about how Israel must work more towards that diplomatic solution.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/15/2012 1:00 Comments || Top||

#2  No, he's too oblivious to anyone else's saying, he's RIGHT Y'know.

(Ask him)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/15/2012 12:37 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Aoun Warns War to Move to Lebanon if Assad Ousted, Slams 'Takfiris'
[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
leader MP Michel Aoun
...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
on Wednesday warned that the violence in Syria would spill over to Leb if the embattled Syrian regime was ousted, rejecting the presence of what he called "Takfiris
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
on our border."

"Those who backed Israel's war on Leb in 2006 are the same ones who are backing the inner war against Syria, that's why we should think of good neighborliness and the neighborhood's security, as we cannot live with Takfiri groups on our border that are interacting with the Lebanese domestic scene," Aoun said on the 23rd anniversary of the so-called Liberation War he waged in 1989 against Syrian forces stationed in Leb.

A Takfiri is a hardline Islamist who practices Takfir, which means to accuse others of apostasy or of being an infidel. Takfiris usually declare takfir
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
upon anyone who does not conform to their hard-line interpretation of Islam.

"When we first talked about Syria, we said that we support reform and that we do not want the presence of extremism on our border, as we cannot accept the rise to power of certain people under the slogans of democracy and human rights
...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you...
, while in the end there will be neither democracy nor human rights, as there is no democracy in their sharia (Islamic law)," Aoun added.

"Let us suppose that the Syrian regime was ousted, what is the alternative in that case? Our safety is at stake and war will reach us. We do not want to close our eyes and say 'let the (Mohammedan) Brotherhood rule.' Where (will they rule?) In (the predominantly Christian Lebanese district of) Keserwan?" Aoun wondered.

Recalling the previous stages, Aoun said everyone blamed him for "declaring war against Syria."

"But the truth is I did not declare war against Syria, as when a country is occupied it would use everything in its capacity to liberate its land, and we did not bombard the Syrian cities or any inch of Syria," he added.

He went on to say that "what's happening in Syria is an international aggression rather than a domestic revolution."
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Syruh is not only a major test case as per the utility of the weak Arab League to both Muslim + non-Muslim alike, but also for the "globalist" OBAMA DOCTRINE, espec in relation to histrocial US precedents.

As Baby Assad himself said, SYRIA IS NOT LIBYA, THE SYRIAN ARMY IS NOT THE LIBYAN ARMY.

The US is lucky that the Post-Mubarak factions in EGYPT, Muslim Brotherhood/Islamist or Other, HAVE THUS FAR FAILED TO FIND A SINGLE STRONG LEADER THAT CAN UNIFY ALL THE IDEO CAMPS, THE ARMY + NATION.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/15/2012 22:36 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghan Bomb Blast Kills Security Officer, Eight Civilians
[An Nahar] A roadside kaboom killed eight civilians in Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
on Wednesday as U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993....
was visiting troops in a military camp in the southern Afghan province.

"A roadside mine planted by the Taliban blasted in Marja district when a minivan touched it, triggering a big kaboom. As a result eight non-combatants were killed," provincial front man Daud Ahmedi told Agence La Belle France Presse.

The blast happened about a 15-minute helicopter flight from Camp Bastion, where Panetta landed Wednesday for talks with local government officials before a planned meeting with President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
His trip comes at a fraught moment in the Afghan war after a shooting rampage by a US soldier killed 16 villagers in neighboring Kandahar province, raising fears of an anti-American backlash.

A cycle of violence kaboom in Kandahar city shortly before the Helmand attack killed at least one Afghan security officer and maimed two others.

On Tuesday, suspected Taliban snuffies opened fire on an Afghan government delegation attending a memorial service for the murdered civilians in Panjwai district in Kandahar province, where the shooting took place.

The hail of gunfire left one member of the Afghan cops dead and one policeman maimed.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexican Army busts Nuevo Laredo top dawg

For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas, click here.

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A top leader of the Los Zetas criminal organization in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas was detained following several shootouts in the border city Tuesday, according to the Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) website.

SEDENA is the controlling agency for the Mexican Army

Carlos Alejandro Guiterrez Escobedo AKA El Fabiruchis was detained by Mexican Army troops following Tuesday's three hour gun battle which killed six armed suspects.
To read the Rantburg.com report on the shootout between the Mexican Army and Los Zetas operatives, click here
Guiterrez Escobedo has been with the Los Zetas organization since 2006 and has functioned as a security chief for the organization when the group split from their former Gulf cartel employers.

Guiterrez Escobedo has been Los Zetas' chief in the Tamaulipas municipalities of San Fernando, Abasolo, Jimenez and Mante.

Guiterrez Escobedo is the brother of Salvador Alfonso Martinez Escobedo AKA La Ardilla, the alleged mastermind of one of the worst mass murders by the drug cartels, 193 people killed between August, 2010 and April, 2011 in San Fernando municipality.
To read the Rantburg.com report on the San Fernando, Tamaulipas mass murders, click here and here.
Guiterrez Escobedo was the replacement for Geraldo Guerra Valdez AKA El Guerra, who was killed in a firefight with a Mexican Army patrol two weeks ago.
To read the Rantburg.com report on the March 1st gunfight that killed 13 drug cartel operatives in Nuevo Laredo, click here
The top leader of Los Zetas in Nuevo Laredo, who is also Los Zetas' number two man, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales AKA Z40, remains at large. The detention of Trevino's security chief put Mexican security forces a step closer to dismantling the Los Zetas' prize territory, Nuevo Laredo.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Four policemen shot dead at picket in Gujrat
[Dawn] Gujrat: Unidentified men rubbed out four personnel of Gujrat police at a picket near Kathala railway crossing, some 12 kilometres away from here on Tuesday night.

The assailants equipped with sophisticated weapons came on two cycle of violences and opened fire, killing constables Seerat Abbas, Qamar Butt and Sibghat Azam on the spot while injuring picket in charge, head-constable Muhammad Arshad, who succumbed to wounds in Aziz Bhatti Shaheed DHQ Hospital. One of the constables deployed at the picket, however, remained unhurt.

DPO Rana Shahid Pervez rushed to the spot after the incident. He said that motive behind the unprovoked firing was yet to be ascertained. The bodies were also sent for autopsies.

The Kathala picket has been one of the key and oldest pickets of the Gujrat police located between the Kathala railway crossing and the river Chenabs bridge. CM:

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is due in Gujrat on Thursday (tomorrow). He will be the chief guest in the laptop distribution ceremony at the University of Gujrat.

Assistant Commissioner Wasif Basheer Khokhar told newsmen at a briefing that the Punjab CM would also lay the foundation stone for the construction of Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
Medical Colleges campus on the land adjacent to UOG. Currently the classes of the NSMC are being conducted at the Hafiz Hayat Campus of the UOG.

Latter on Mian Shahbaz Sharif will inaugurate a model Bazaar established at the GT Road in front of the general bus stand.

Sources told Dawn that most of the expenditures of CM's visit had already been tasked to the officials of Tehsil Municipal Administration, Gujrat.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


The honour problem
[Dawn] ON International Women's Day, while the world was spending time ruminating on all the evils one half of its population is subject to, some residents of Rahim Yar Khan district were busy with something else.

According to newspaper reports from the Basti Ramday area, about 150 citizens gathered to hold a jirga. The problem was an old one: two young people from the community had eloped. The village was angry; if young people kept going off and contracting marriages on their own, what would be left of their tradition, their mores and their age-old customs?

Nearly everyone, including the girl's father, felt wronged. Marriages, after all, are a way of solidifying relationships, sorting out property disputes and settling debts. People, especially unmarried people, are social capital. When they run away without paying up, everyone left behind loses.

The jirga did what jirgas have done in similar cases all over South Asia and the Middle East: they ordered the couple be killed.

They did this even though there are laws against honour killing in Pakistain, even though the couple's only crime was to want to choose their life partner themselves, even though at some juncture, however distant, the man and woman concerned were indeed loved by their parents, raised from infants to grown adults.

Now they are hated because in prioritising their individual desires over that of the community, over the futures of younger siblings who will now have trouble finding spouses, or the marriages of aunts and uncles who will also bear the burden of the family shame, they have been stubborn and selfish.

This parsing of the intent of those who perpetuate honour crimes is an often ignored dimension of the issue.

In recent years, as legislation and activism against such crimes has grown, the assumption has simplistically been that passing laws against honour killings is sufficient to eliminate them. There have been many seminars on the evil, activists have compiled data and marched at rallies, bills have been introduced and passed.

At best, this premise has been expanded to include simultaneous work on educating community elders on the inhumanity of the act and on its grim and barbaric misogyny.

With laws and workshops, activists assume, the pestilence of honour killings, of people being killed needlessly for the crime of choice, can be eliminated. In the meantime, honour killings continue not secretly or surreptitiously but with crowds of people involved in issuing murderous edicts publicly and without any fear.

Here is why: first, honour killings represent not simply misogyny and retrogressive beliefs but a reaction against the unit of decision-making in a changing culture.

When an individual makes a decision based on the criterion of individual desires everything that is communal is immediately threatened. Failure to punish transgressions means that the community is weak, its edicts and pronouncements are not pressing on those wishing to belong and are, in fact, arbitrary and subject to being flouted.

Furthermore, those paying into the community coffers by not exercising individual choice -- by marrying according to what was determined to be communal good rather than individual desire -- feel spurned and duped. Of what value is their compromised life with the old husband or the fat wife if others are basking in the glow of being wed to their heart's desire? None of the above assertions are new. What is new is their application in the Pak context which is suspended somewhere between a communal and individualist culture. The lethal hits on tradition and the popularisation of the individual over the community have come from some unexpected sources.

First among these would be the proliferation of religious extremism which seeks to recruit young men for jihadi outfits. If choosing your own spouse is one form of defiance against tradition, another equally selfish one is to choose to devote one's life to a cause unrelated to the welfare or salvation of the community.

As the families of jacket wallahs lament, orphaned children, hapless wives and devastated parents are left behind when a young person defies all ties and responsibilities in a misguided quest for individual salvation.

The object of their pursuit is undoubtedly different from those who choose to elope, but the unit of choice -- the single person -- is the same. Jirgas may never condemn them, but the cost they inflict on the old order is nevertheless the same.

Other recent assaults on tradition have been accomplished by the usual suspects: urbanisation and migration, floods and earthquakes, all of which have revealed just how unable communities and tribes actually are to pay up in terms of the security that is imagined to reside in the propriety of following communal dictates.

Along with being misogynistic and barbaric, honour crimes are also retaliation against a changing unit of human action, of societies lashing out against evaluating human behaviour in a new way.

Their particular proliferation in Pakistain is consequently representative of deep confusion over the moral value of this change.

With no strong state to step in and provide the security once provided by traditional institutions, the spectre of anarchy hangs ominously over many, and hapless communities feel that strong and bloody action is neces-sary against anyone who transgresses.

Honour killings are the sores of this disease of moral chaos, of unclear ethical parameters when the cost of choice begins to be imposed on one person alone versus entire families, castes or tribes.

Hopefully, the couple from Rahim Yar Khan will be able to make their escape into the anonymous slum of some faraway city where they can live out the remainder of their lives.

While they may get lucky, be favoured by fate and fortune, honour killings will continue in Pakistain as they will in every place where the move from thinking about good and bad is suspended in limbo between 'we' and 'I'.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Who loves a daughter more than an ENTIRE CULTURE willing to trade them for property or money?

What a wonderful family name you shall have in all of the ENDS.

ENDS
Posted by: newc || 03/15/2012 2:41 Comments || Top||

#2  All practices which find their roots and continued support in a pagan religion of fear and death. Meanwhile, our government lavishes billions in foriegn aid on these savage governments and western liberals loudly condemn the demeanng mention of one of their own as a simple "slut."
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/15/2012 2:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Moslem "honour": the family-performed ritual of murdering young women who refuse to be treated like chattel, in the context of their aspiring romantic life. One of many barbarian practices in Islam, a widespread death-loving cult.

Rumsfeld observed the facts and asked a key question: we're killing jihadis all over the place, but what about the new legions indoctrinated daily by madrassas?

The end of Bushido Japan involved a US military occupation that completely banned Bushido indoctrination in Japanese schools. Nothing equivalent has been done after 2001.
Posted by: Shereter Poodle9774 || 03/15/2012 14:24 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Four die, three hurt in grenade and small arms attacks in Tamaulipas
For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas click here

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A total of four unidentified individuals were killed in a series of grenade and small arms attack in Ciudad Victoria, Tamualipas Wednesday, according to Mexican news reports.

At about 1030 hrs a grenade was thrown near a Nissan dealership on Carrera Torres. One individual was wounded in that attack, but later died.

Thirty minutes later a second grenade was thrown near a police academy. The attack left two wounded.

A shooting took place at around 0950 hrs on venida Enrique Cerdenas in Los Arcos colony, which claimed the life of one person.

At 1350 hrs another shooting took place near the intersection of calles 4th and Aldama. Two people died in that attack.

Ciudad Victoria is the capital of Tamaulipas state. Four unidentified individuals were found dead there along the road to San Luis Potosi last week.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
New rules of engagement approved over ties with US
[Dawn] The top military and politicianship of the country on Wednesday approved recommendations over new rules of engagement with the NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
and the US, DawnNews reported.

The recommendations will be tabled in the joint session of the parliament on March 17.

The high level meeting at the Presidency was attended by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ...
, Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
and leaders of coalition partners of Pakistain People's Party (PPP) among others.

The military leadership briefed the meeting over NATO supply and vowed to fully implement the recommendations over national integrity and illusory sovereignty after their approval by the parliament.

The military and the politicianship declared that the national interests will not be compromised at any cost.

It was also decided in the meeting that the parliament will hold the right to amend recommendations on the national integrity. The decision of reopening NATO supply line will only be taken by the parliament, decided in the meeting.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Africa Horn
Suicide Bomber Kills Two at Somali Presidency
[An Nahar] A jacket wallah went kaboom!" Wednesday at the compound of Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, killing at least two people, in an attack claimed by al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels.

The bomber detonated an explosive vest at the highly guarded compound, but it was not immediately clear if Sharif, who was in Ethiopia on Tuesday, was back at his residence.

The Shebab said one of its volunteers had carried out the attack, claiming 16 people had been killed.
Counting is hard, when your god can change the rules at whim.
"The mujahideen carried out a spectacular martyrdom operation inside the presidential palace of the apostate Somali regime," the group said in a Twitter post.

Police front man Abdulahi Hasan Barise said that according to initial reports at least three people had been killed, including the bomber, and that six others had been injured.

Another police official, Mohamed Adan, said the attacker went kaboom!" at the gate of Somali parliament speaker's residence, which is also located at the Villa Somalia compound that houses the presidency.

The hardline Islamist group has resorted to guerrilla tactics since abandoning fixed bases in the war-riven capital Mogadishu in August, and have grabbed credit for previous deadly attacks.

In October, the militia carried out its deadliest suicide kaboom in the capital when a bomber rammed an explosives-laded vehicle into a government compound, killing at least 82 people.

A Shebab suicide bomber also killed 15 people in February at a cafe near the presidential palace.

The beturbanned goons have been fighting to overthrow the weak Western-backed Somalia government which is propped up in Mogadishu by a 10,000-strong African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
force comprising troops from Djibouti, Burundi and Uganda.

The hardline Islamists, who control large swathes of territory in southern Somalia, have in recent months come under pressure from the armed forces of neighboring states Kenya and Ethiopia in the far south and west.

Ethiopian forces recently ousted the Shebab from a key southern Somalia stronghold, and the Shebab have also been battered by Kenyan air strikes and ground assaults.

However,
the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything...
experts warn the Shebab are far from defeated and remain a major threat, especially now they have switched to guerrilla tactics.

Somalia has had no effective government since 1991, allowing the Shebab and other militia groups to fill the vacuum.

At a conference in London last month, international powers pledged to boost aid for Somalia to tackle Islamist militancy, piracy and political instability, warning that failure to help now could hurt the rest of the world.

The term of the Horn of Africa country's government expires in August and the fragile administration's backers have ruled out any extension of its mandate, pressing for a new administration capable of nationwide authority.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Cameron: Syria Needs 'Transition, Not Revolution or Civil War'
[An Nahar] The world community must document the atrocities being carried out by the government of Syria against its people to ensure justice is done, British Prime Minister David Cameron
... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
said Wednesday.

"We must document the evidence so that those guilty of crimes may be held responsible, whatever it takes," Cameron, who held talks at the White House with President Barack Obama
Ready to Rule from Day One...
, told news hounds at a joint presser.

"We should be clear, what we want is the quickest way to stop the killing," he said, adding was needed in the country was a "transition rather than revolution or civil war."

Cameron made his remarks as the one-year anniversary approaches of the start of anti-government revolt and the bloody government crackdown that has left thousands of Syrians dead.

Obama also called for world leaders to speak with one voice against the regime in Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...

"The best thing that we can do right now is to make sure that the international community continues to unify around the fact that what the Syrian regime is doing is unacceptable," Obama said.

"It is contrary to every international norm that we believe in and for us to provide strong support to continue to talk to the Russians, the Chinese, and others about why it is that they need to stand up on behalf of people who are being shelled mercilessly," he said.

The U.S. leader reiterated an earlier call on Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
to step aside, and said he and Cameron were in agreement on the need for the world community to clamp down on his regime.

"We agreed to keep increasing the pressure on the regime -- mobilizing the international community; tightening sanctions; cutting the regime's revenues; isolating it politically, diplomatically, and economically," Obama said.

"Just as the regime and security forces continue to suffer defections, the opposition is growing stronger," Obama said.

"I'll say it again: Assad will leave power. It's not a question of if, but when. And to prepare for that day, we'll continue to support plans for a transition to support the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people."
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Caribbean-Latin America
March 14th Mayhem in Monterrey: 8 die

For a map, click here. For a map of Nuevo Leon state, click here. For a map of Monterrey, click here.

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Five unidentified youths were shot to death on a private drive in Monterrey Wednesday afternoon, according to Mexican press reports.

The teens, all under age 18, had apparently admitted their shooters to a private gathering near the intersection of Privada Almazan and Calle Benitez in Topo Chico colony.

Three other individuals were killed in ongoing drug and gang related violence in and around Monterrey.
  • The son of an unidentified Nuevo Leon state ministerial police agent was shot to death in an apparent mugging in Monterrey Tuesday night. The shooting took place at the agent's residence on calle Leopoldo Gonzalez Saenz in Burocratas Municipales colony. Apparently the shooters dismounted from a Nissan Tsuru sedan and demanded the youth turn over a handheld computer. When the youth refused, he was shot to death.

  • A city worker was shot to death in Apodaca Wednesday. Jose Arnulfo Hernandez Diaz, 31, was working on a traffic signal near the intersection of calles Lopez Mateos and Concordia when armed suspects aboard a Volkswagen Jetta sedan fired on him. Hernandez Diaz attempted to seek refuge from the attack, but was brought down by gunfire. His attackers finished him off with shots to the head.

  • An unidentified taxi driver was shot to death Wednesday morning in San Nicolas de los Garza municipality. The driver was aboard his taxi near the intersection of calles Arroyo and Vicente Acosta in the Valle de Santo Domingo colony when armed suspects aboard a pickup truck and a sedan fired on him.

  • A Mexican Army soldier was savagely beaten in Monterrey Wednesday. Jose de Jesus Jimenez, 23, was visiting a girlfriend when he was attacked by five men near the intersection of Avenida Alfonso Reyes and Calle José María Bocanegra in Industrial colony.

  • A taco vendor was shot and wounded in Apodaca Wednesday. Mario Angel Sosa Aguilera was shot near the intersection of calles Chopo and Santa Rosa by shooters travelling aboard a Volkswagen Jetta. It is suspected the attackers were the same ones who killed an Apodaca city worker.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Saudi Shuts Embassy in Syria, Withdraws Staff
[An Nahar] Soddy Arabia has shut down its embassy in Syria and has withdrawn all its staff, the foreign ministry announced Wednesday in a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

"Due the developments in Syria, the Kingdom of Soddy Arabia has shut down its embassy in Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
and withdrawn all its diplomats and staff there," said the statement.

Soddy Arabia, which has repeatedly pressed for world action against Damascus and called for rebels to be armed, was one of six Gulf monarchies to expel Syria's ambassadors and withdraw their own in February.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


India-Pakistan
Seven hurt in Fuuast clash
[Dawn] Five students and two personnel of law-enforcement agencies were maimed during a clash between two rival student groups in the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (Fuuast) on Tuesday, officials said.
During the Middle Ages, the students of Paris were famed for exactly the same behaviour.
They said that the clash also led to the postponement of a scheduled paper in Fuuast.

Using stones and iron rods, workers of the Islami Jamaat-e-Talaba
...The Islamic Students' Organization: the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, where young Moslems are trained into the arts of street fighting...
(IJT) and Pukhtoon Students Federation
...the student wing of the Awami National Party...
(PSF) clashed with each other on the campus, said Aziz Bhatti SHO Inspector Kenson Din.
Clearly they aren't getting enough homework.
The official said that the clash started over some petty issue.

According to him, the police had gun sex and resorted to teargas shelling to disperse the warring activists, who later converged on main University Road, causing disturbance to vehicular traffic.

"During the clash, Police Constable Muhammad Asghar and a Rangers official were also injured, as both sides started hurling stones at us after we intervened," said Inspector Din.

"Neither has any arrest been made nor an FIR of the incident lodged.

"We are collecting information about the IJT and PSF activists involved in the clash before moving forward."

It was the fourth case of lawlessness on campuses across the city in less than a week with previous three festivities taking place in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
University.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Palestinian writers disavow Gilad Atzmon
Count the lies.
For many years now, Gilad Atzmon
Presumably someone knows who he is...
a musician born in Israel and currently living in the United Kingdom, has taken on the self-appointed task of defining for the Paleostinian movement the nature of our struggle, and the philosophy underpinning it. He has done so through his various blogs and Internet outlets, in speeches, and in articles. He is currently on tour in the United States promoting his most recent book, entitled, 'The Wandering Who.'

With this letter, we call for the disavowal of Atzmon by fellow Paleostinian organizers, as well as Paleostine solidarity activists, and allies of the Paleostinian people, and note the dangers of supporting Atzmon's political work and writings and providing any platforms for their dissemination. We do so as Paleostinian organizers and activists, working across continents, campaigns, and ideological positions.

Atzmon's politics rest on one main overriding assertion that serves as springboard for vicious attacks on anyone who disagrees with his obsession with "Jewishness". He claims that all Jewish politics is "tribal," and essentially, Zionist. Zionism, to Atzmon, is not a settler-colonial project, but a trans-historical "Jewish" one, part and parcel of defining one's self as a Jew. Therefore, he claims, one cannot self-describe as a Jew and also do work in solidarity with Paleostine, because to identify as a Jew is to be a Zionist. We could not disagree more. Indeed, we believe Atzmon's argument is itself Zionist because it agrees with the ideology of Zionism and Israel that the only way to be a Jew is to be a Zionist.

Paleostinians have faced two centuries of orientalist, colonialist and imperialist domination of our native lands. And so as Paleostinians, we see such language as immoral and completely outside the core foundations of humanism, equality and justice, on which the struggle for Paleostine and its national movement rests. As countless Paleostinian activists and organizers, their parties, associations and campaigns, have attested throughout the last century, our struggle was never, and will never be, with Jews, or Judaism, no matter how much Zionism insists that our enemies are the Jews. Rather, our struggle is with Zionism, a modern European settler colonial movement, similar to movements in many other parts of the world that aim to displace indigenous people and build new European societies on their lands.

We reaffirm that there is no room in this historic and foundational analysis of our struggle for any attacks on our Jewish allies, Jews, or Judaism; nor denying the Holocaust; nor allying in any way shape or form with any conspiracy theories, far-right, orientalist, and racist arguments, associations and entities. Challenging Zionism, including the illegitimate power of institutions that support the oppression of Paleostinians, and the illegitimate use of Jewish identities to protect and legitimize oppression, must never become an attack on Jewish identities, nor the demeaning and denial of Jewish histories in all their diversity.

Indeed, we regard any attempt to link and adopt antisemitic or racist language, even if it is within a self-described anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist politics, as reaffirming and legitimizing Zionism. In addition to its immorality, this language obscures the fundamental role of imperialism and colonialism in destroying our homeland, expelling its people, and sustaining the systems and ideologies of oppression, apartheid and occupation. It leaves one squarely outside true solidarity with Paleostine and its people.

The goal of the Paleostinian people has always been clear: self determination. And we can only exercise that inalienable right through liberation, the return of our refugees (the absolute majority of our people) and achieving equal rights to all through decolonization. As such, we stand with all and any movements that call for justice, human dignity, equality, and social, economic, cultural and political rights. We will never compromise the principles and spirit of our liberation struggle. We will not allow a false sense of expediency to drive us into alliance with those who attack, malign, or otherwise attempt to target our political fraternity with all liberation struggles and movements for justice.

As Paleostinians, it is our collective responsibility, whether we are in Paleostine or in exile, to assert our guidance of our grassroots liberation struggle. We must protect the integrity of our movement, and to do so we must continue to remain vigilant that those for whom we provide platforms actually speak to its principles.

When the Paleostinian people call for self-determination and decolonization of our homeland, we do so in the promise and hope of a community founded on justice, where all are free, all are equal and all are welcome.

Until liberation and return.

Signed:

Ali Abunimah
Naseer Aruri, Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Omar Barghouti, human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
activist
Hatem Bazian, Chair, American Mohammedans for Paleostine
Andrew Dalack, National Coordinating Committee, US Paleostinian Community Network
Haidar Eid, Gazoo
Nada Elia, US Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Toufic Haddad
Kathryn Hamoudah
Adam Hanieh, Lecturer, School of Oriental and African Studies, London
Mostafa Henaway, Tadamon! Canada
Monadel Herzallah, National Coordinating Committee, US Paleostinian Community Network
Nadia Hijab, author and human rights advocate
Andrew Kadi
Hanna Kawas, Chair person, Canada Paleostine Association and Co-Host Voice of Paleostine
Abir Kobty, Paleostinian blogger and activist
Joseph Massad, Professor, Columbia University
...contributed $547,852 to the 2008 Obama campaign. Is there a reason universities are among the top financiers of political campaigns? And where do they get all that money they piss away buying politicians?
, NY
Danya Mustafa, Israeli Apartheid Week US National Co-Coordinator & Students for Justice in Paleostine - University of New Mexico
Dina Omar, Columbia Students for Justice in Paleostine
Haitham Salawdeh, National Coordinating Committee, US Paleostinian Community Network
Sobhi Samour, School of Oriental and African Studies, London
Khaled Ziada, SOAS Paleostine Society, London
Rafeef Ziadah, poet and human rights advocate
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Eva Amurri aka Maureen in "The Life Before Her Eyes (2007)" aka Cassandra in "Saved! (2004)" aka Ginger Kingsley in "The Banger Sisters (2002)" aka Jackie in "Californication (TV Series 2009)" aka Mary in "The Education of Charlie Banks (2007)" aka Grace Berry in "Middle of Nowhere (2008)" (age 28)



Eva could qualify as a "Butter Face", everything looks great Butter Face!
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/15/2012 2:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Butter? I like her face better than those fake silicone bags.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 03/15/2012 15:45 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Three policemen killed within an hour: ASI linked to Karachi operation shot dead
[Dawn] At least three coppers, including an officer who is said to have played an active role during the Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
operation of the 1990s, were rubbed out within an hour on Tuesday night in separate acts of firing in the city.

While the police chief said that the incidents were not related to one another, the chief minister taking immediate notice of the killings sought a report from the police authorities on this matter.

Officials said ASI Raja Moin, 47, was bumped off outside his house in Ali Town, off the Superhighway, within the remit of the Sachal cop shoppe. He was targeted by two men riding a cycle of violence. He was rushed to a nearby private hospital where he died during treatment, the officials said.

The body was later shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities.

The ASI had relocated to Ali Town from Al Noor Society in Gulberg, said Sachal SHO Azhar Iqbal.

Posted at the Shah Latif cop shoppe, the victim had just received a transfer order to the Gadap City cop shoppe, Mr Iqbal said.

The victim was said to have worked under Inspector Ahmed Hasan during the Bloody Karachi operation, the officer said, adding that he had also played an active role in the Lyari
...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot....
Task Force, then headed by SP Chaudhry Aslam, in 2004.

The ASI had also been working with Inspector Hasan in the Anti-Street Crime Unit of Gadap Town for the past four years.

The SHO said that the victim had five children from two wives.

Police said that a 57-year-old police constable, Ayub aka Chacha, was rubbed out near People's Chowrangi in North Nazimabad.

He was targeted on his way home from the Taimuria cop shoppe, the police said, adding that he suffered a gunshot wound to his head and was struck down in his prime.

The body was later shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

"The victim was Roznamcha Moharrir of the Taimuria cop shoppe," said a police official.

The slain constable, a father of two, was a resident of Faqeer Goth, Shafiq Mor.

In yet another incident of firing, a policeman was bumped off near the Bloody Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases in F.B Area within the remit of the Yousaf Plaza cop shoppe.

Area DSP Saleem Siddiqui said that the police constables were shot at when they reportedly approached a couple of thieves who were trying to take away motorbikes from the parking lot of the institute.

PC Ghulam Abbas 55, and Fazalur Rehman, 50, were maimed in the firing, said the DSP. They were rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where Ghulam Abbas died while Fazal was being operated upon, he said. Fazal had suffered a bullet wound to his neck and was said to be in a serious condition, he added.

Additional IG Akthar Gorchani said: "The three incidents are not related to one another." He added that the aspect of assassination was being investigated.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Suleiman Calls for Cooperation of Ministries in Takfiri Network Case
[An Nahar] President Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
called on Wednesday for the coordination of the defense, interior and telecommunications ministries to resolve the case of the thug network that was planning attacks on the Lebanese army.

According to Information Minister Walid al-Daouq, Suleiman told the cabinet that convened at Baabda palace that "the army is the backbone of stability in the country."
Looking at the country, one is forced to consider whether scoliosis or osteoporosis is more likely. One is sorry to think it, but there it is.
He condemned any attempt to attack it, saying the file has been referred to the competent judiciary.

Suleiman's remarks came after top Fatah official in Leb Munir al-Maqdah said he would hold a meeting with the rest of Paleostinian factions to hand over the head of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades accused of planning attacks on the Lebanese army.

In remarks to Ad-Diyar newspaper, al-Maqdah said that Abu Mohammed Toufiq Taha resides in the Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon but his whereabouts are unknown.

But informed sources told As Safir daily that Abu Mohammed resides in the camp's Hatteen neighborhood and moves inside the shantytown on a cycle of violence.

According to al-Maqdah, there is consensus to hand over the suspect to the army after investigations revealed that he was heading a seven-member takfir
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
i network reportedly planning attacks on the military school in al-Fayyadiyeh and other army bases.

"A Paleostinian decision has been made to hand over Abu Mohammed Toufiq Taha to the Lebanese army," he stressed.

As Safir said Tuesday that the army placed in long-term storage 5 civilians and 2 soldiers who have admitted to plotting attacks under the guidance of Abu Mohammed.

A Paleostinian security official at Ein el-Hellhole confirmed that the factions are holding consecutive and intensive meetings to find the suspect. "They have agreed to remove any cover from any person that tampers with the security of the camp and its surroundings," he told As Safir.

The official also said that several wanted criminals were handed over to the Lebanese army in the past few weeks away from the media spotlight.

The news came after panic in Sidon over reports that the Lebanese army seized a pick-up smuggling arms. But An Nahar daily stressed Wednesday that the vehicle was transporting furniture and antiques, including old weapons, belonging to a doctor.

The military also placed in long-term storage two people -- a Paleostinian and a Lebanese - after seizing a Soviet-era DShK machinegun from a vehicle.

But al-Maqdah stressed in his remarks to Ad-Diyar that the smuggling of the machinegun was linked to the trade of arms, hinting it was not linked to the alleged attacks planned by the takfiri network.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


Down Under
Muslim radical on child porn, terror threat charges
A convert to radical Islam has appeared in a Sydney court on charges of possessing child pornography and making a hoax terrorist threat against the city's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Ibrahim Siddiq-Conlon is accused of posting the threat on the Facebook page for 2Day FM's Kyle and Jackie O Show.

Police also allege he viewed child abuse material on the internet using his laptop computer between July last year and his arrest on the night of the Mardi Gras parade.

Siddiq-Conlon has previously come to attention in the media for his outspoken views, particularly his call for Australia to become an Islamic state ruled by sharia law.

He faced Burwood Local Court this morning and was granted bail to re-appear in May.

Speaking to news hounds outside the court, Siddiq-Conlon said he had posted the hoax threat in a moment of passion and had not meant it.
Sudden Keyboard Jihad Syndrome -- instilling fear in the unbelievers without exerting himself so much as to leave his desk. Such a brave, brave Lion of Islam he is, to be sure. The girls will just love him in prison.
"It was just a moment of passion and I didn't mean it and that's all," he said.

He denied accessing child pornography from his computer.
"That was just a moment of passion and I didn't mean it, either," quoth our genius.
"Nothing to say on that - of course is that police believe they have some evidence but you know of course we don't have any of that stuff," he said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Real passionate guy, throw away the key.


Posted by: Fat Bob Unotch3711 || 03/15/2012 5:16 Comments || Top||

#2  The face of the Aussie Muslim Community. Here's an honor killing I can get behind. Avenge your honor, muzzies!
Posted by: Frank G || 03/15/2012 9:28 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
Wen: It's time for political reforms
When, Wen?
Whenever...
BEIJING: Wen Jiabao, entering his final year as China’s premier, called Wednesday for vague political reforms to forestall chaos and solidify growth as the nation’s legislature approved a budget aiming to boost domestic consumption in the face of weak demand for exports.

On the final day of its annual session, the legislature also approved revisions to the key criminal procedure law that at least on paper will restrict police powers to secretly detain people, a tactic increasingly used against activists and government critics.

At his annual news conference following the session’s close, Wen repeated reform calls, saying they were needed to consolidate the achievements of three decades of economic growth and prevent a repeat of the mass disorder that rocked China during the violent 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution.

“Without a successful political structural reform ... new problems that have cropped up in China’s society will not be fundamentally resolved and such historical tragedies as the Cultural Revolution may happen again,” Wen said.

“I know very well that the reform will not be an easy one. The reform will not be able to succeed without the consciousness, the support, the enthusiasm and creativity of our people,” he said.

As before, Wen offered no specific proposals, saying reform had to adhere to China’s particular national circumstances and proceed in a “step-by-step manner.” Chinese leaders often define political reform in terms of boosting administrative efficiency, but even those paltry efforts at streamlining have gained little traction against an entrenched bureaucracy and struggle for influence ahead of this fall’s generational leadership transition.

Touching on recent unrest in Tibetan areas, Wen said economic growth was needed to counter sentiments that have prompted more than two dozen Tibetans, including several teenagers, to set themselves on fire to protest China’s suppression of their religion and culture and call for the return of the Dalai Lama.

“We don’t support this kind of extreme acts in disrupting and undermining social harmony. The young monks are innocent. We feel distressed about what they have done,” Wen said. “We should treat Tibetan compatriots as equals and with respect and keep improving our work.”

It was Wen’s last annual news conference, as he will step down before the end of the congress next year. He appeared sentimental at times, apologizing for any mistakes he may have made and saying much work still needed to be done.

“I have the courage to face the people and face history,” he said.

The changes to the criminal procedure law were the most high-profile legal measures passed by the congress. They are portrayed as offering better protection for suspects and reflecting increasing awareness in China of the need for stronger detainee rights, although legal enforcement in China remains weak.

Police and prosecutors routinely ignore current legal provisions protecting suspects’ rights and have frequently used charges of endangering national security against dissidents.
And so they'll ignore the new rules...
The measure’s approval by a vote of 2,639 to 160 ends months of speculation and debate about whether the government would give police the legal authority to do something they have long done extralegally: disappear people for months at a time without telling their families. Police have increasingly used the tactic over the past year to detain activist lawyers, democracy campaigners, and even internationally acclaimed artist Ai Weiwei, amid government worries about whether the popular uprisings of the Arab Spring might spread to China.

There are two relevant articles in the new law that deal with notifying families, one in regular criminal cases and the other involving a type of detention known as residential surveillance. Both have been revised to better protect detainees, though they don’t do away completely with secret detentions, analysts said.

In the case of residential surveillance, a sort of house arrest that can happen in a fixed location chosen by police, a detainee’s family must be notified within 24 hours unless they can’t be reached. Dissidents detained under this kind of residential surveillance are often put in suburban hotels or apartments, and many have reported being tortured by police.

Beijing human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang dismissed the legal tinkering, saying arbitrary enforcement and lack of independent oversight rendered such changes meaningless.

“I can’t get very excited about any new provisions legalizing types of detention. The authorities have always operated just as they pleased without regard to rules,” Pu said, citing the ongoing and still-unexplained detention of figures such as blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng and Liu Xia, the wife of imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wen? Ask Who. Hu? No, when? Chen?, no Liu. What about pu? Hu knew. No, Wen? But what about pu?
HU KNEW.

Ya best lay off them.

Them falun gong too, Ya hear me?
Posted by: newc || 03/15/2012 2:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Top Chinese leader Bo Xilai purged, one day after criticism
One of the crown princes of the Chinese Communist Party has been abruptly purged ahead of China’s once-in-a-decade change of leaders this Autumn.
Posted by: tipper || 03/15/2012 5:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Let me get this straight, A LEADER of the Chinese Communist Party CRITICIZED St. Mao and lived to have dinner?

Geez, these guys might really be serious about capitalism after all.

So when do they just come out of the closet and throw in the towel on communism? China really hasn't been a communist economy in years.

All that is left is the Stalinist era repression techniques and vast military.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 03/15/2012 10:27 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Sarkozy: Assad is a killer, must face world court
PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday that Syria’s leader is acting like a murderer and should be sent to the International Criminal Court.
Why not? The ICC just convicted a Congolese warlord, and now they have nothing else to do. Might as well toss Pencilneck at them; it would give them a reasonable chance of getting another conviction this decade...
With diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria faltering, the French leader urged humanitarian corridors to allow refugees out and aid in to the country.

“We must obtain humanitarian corridors, and for that we must unblock the Russian veto and Chinese veto” at the UN Security Council, Sarkozy told Europe-1 radio.

“The French army can in no way intervene” in Syria without UN backing, Sarkozy said.
Therefore, France will do nothing.
Assad “is today behaving like a murderer and will have to answer for himself at the International Criminal Court,” Sarkozy said.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Bomb kills five anti-Taliban fighters in Bajaur
[Dawn] A bomb killed at least five people and maimed three others on Wednesday in Pakistain's northwest tribal badlands bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

The deaths occurred in Gatcheena village, 30 kilometres northwest of Khar, the main town of lawless Bajaur district, after a bomb planted at a village meeting place exploded remotely.

"At least five people were killed after a bomb went kaboom! at an elders meeting," local government official Tariq Khan told AFP.

"Three others were maimed in the blast and there were about a dozen people present," Khan said, adding that the people might have been targeted because they supported government efforts against Taliban-linked militancy.

Another government official and an intelligence official confirmed the bombing and casualties, but the precise identities of the dead were unclear.

Bajaur was the scene of major anti-Taliban offensives in August 2008 and in February 2009, and the military has repeatedly declared the district secure.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Militants kill 3 tribesmen in Tirah
[Dawn] Four persons including a cut-thoat commander were killed and five people were maimed in separate incidents in Khyber Agency on Tuesday.

Sources said that three Kukikhel
...a tribe of primitives inhabiting Khyber Agency. They are a branch of the Afridi tribe. Traditionally they have been migratory, tromping between Jamrud and the Rajgal valley with the seasons. The tribe has had mustache-cursing relationships with several other tribes, including the Zakkakhel and Kambarkhel, and with the Mullagori. They make welcome most anyone with a turban and automatic weapons, but every once in awhile they get together a tribal lashkar to mollify the government...
rustics were killed in Tirah valley when they tried to stop bully boyz from entering Speena Khawra area. The area is mostly inhabited by Kukikhel rustics.

A jirga of Kukikhel tribe has recently restricted entry of bully boyz into their area and warned to fine and demolish the houses of those people, who were patronising and harbouring bully boyz on its soil.

Meanwhile,
...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin...
security forces in Sipah area of Bara claimed to have killed an important commander of Lashkar-e-Islam during a search operation. A hideout of Lashkar-e-Islam was also destroyed during the operation.

Also, five members of a family including three women and two children were maimed when a mortar shell fell on the house of Lal Zar on Gandao Road in Sipah area of the tribal region.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [1 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami


Afghanistan
Nato will switch to support in Afghanistan in 2013: Obama
[Dawn] US President Barack Obama
The campaign's over, John...
on Wednesday confirmed NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
forces in Afghanistan will switch to a support role there as planned next year, ahead of a full withdrawal.

Speaking after talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron
... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
, Obama said they had "reaffirmed the transition plan" which sets out "shifting to a support role in 2013 in advance of Afghans taking full responsibility in 2014.

"But Obama did not comment on widespread speculation the plan could result in more US and NATO soldiers coming home more quickly than originally planned following a series of bloody incidents in Afghanistan.

Cameron meanwhile vowed he would not "give up" on the Afghanistan war even though Britannia was in the final stages of the military mission there.

"Britannia has fought alongside America ever since the start. We have 9,500 soldiers still serving," he recalled.

"We're going to complete this mission and we're going to do it responsibly and NATO will make sure that Afghanistan never becomes a place for an attack on our countries," Obama told a presser in the White House Rose Garden.
Posted by: Fred || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Palestinian suspected in Lebanon plot, 7 arrested
The Lebanese army has tossed in the clink seven people, including two soldiers, suspected of being part of a Sunni Islamist network which had planned to carry out attacks on military targets, security sources said Tuesday.

"The army tossed in the clink a Salafi network with connections to al Qaeda that wanted to blow up military bases," one of the sources said. "They had recruited two from the army -- one is a sergeant and another is a student officer -- and five civilians."

He said the Lebanese army was negotiating the handover of the group's leader, a Paleostinian, with the authorities who run one of the Paleostinian refugee camps in Leb.

He said the seven suspects were tossed in the clink 10 days ago.

Another source said the two army suspects were transferred to a military court four or five days ago. "The issue now is in the hands of the judiciary," he said.

It was not immediately clear whether the suspects are members of the jihad boy group Fatah al-Islam
A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Leb pot stirred.
which the Lebanese army fought for three months in 2007 in the Paleostinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in north Leb.

Approximately 425,000 Paleostinians are registered as refugees in Leb by the UN, many of them live in 12 camps scattered across the country in bad conditions.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/15/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [0 views] Top|| File under:



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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2012-03-15
   Karzai orders NATO out of all Afghan villages
Wed 2012-03-14
  Leon Panetta unhurt after suspected attack
Tue 2012-03-13
  U.S. Drone Attack In Pakistan Reportedly Kills 15 Suspected Militants
Mon 2012-03-12
  Army airstrikes kill 20 al-Qaeda militants in south Yemen
Sun 2012-03-11
  Syrian Ground Forces Storm Rebel Stronghold of Idlib, 62 Killed in Violence
Sat 2012-03-10
  Air strikes in Yemen kill suspected al Qaeda militants
Fri 2012-03-09
  13 Dronezapped in South Wazoo
Thu 2012-03-08
  British and Italian hostages murdered by captors in special forces rescue bid in Nigeria
Wed 2012-03-07
  Suicide bomber kills four in southern Russia
Tue 2012-03-06
  Nigerian Army Says Killed 3 Islamists Trying to Burn School
Mon 2012-03-05
  Gunmen massacre 21 policemen in Iraq attacks
Sun 2012-03-04
  Sherpao escapes suicide attack in Charsadda
Sat 2012-03-03
  African Union troops say seize major al Shabaab base
Fri 2012-03-02
  39 Dead as Syrian Army Seizes Baba Amr and Rebels Withdraw 'Tactically'
Thu 2012-03-01
  Syrian rebels pull out of Homs after siege

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