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Qaeda suspects kidnap Swiss woman: Yemeni officials
Today's Headlines
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The Grand Turk
World War IV?
“War, for whatever this means to anyone,” says Greek philosopher/author Nicholas A. Biniaris, “is no longer Homer’s well-known narrative.” As the introductory chapter of Mr. Biniaris’s historical novel, “The Call of the Desert,” forcefully tells us: “The Third World War has up to now been averted; but we are in the midst of the Fourth.”

A quick Google search will produce 319 million results if you type in “peace” and “Middle East” and 733 million results if you type in “war” and “Middle East.” Perhaps this is a simple, coincidental mathematical comparison illustrating polity in this part of the world.

Based on various official statements, we can safely conclude that the prerequisites for peace in the Middle East, according to the Turkish foreign policy calculus, are as follows:

1) Israel should remove the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

2) Israel should surrender its nuclear weapons arsenal.

3) Israel should return to its pre-1967 borders.

4) Turkish cabinet members should be able to pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque in the “Palestinian capital al-Quds (Jerusalem).”

5) The “terrorist state” Israel and the “half-state” Cyprus should end their joint exploration efforts for hydrocarbons in the Mediterranean. But this is not the complete list.

For peace in the Middle East, there is also a not-so-official Turkish wish list:

1) Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad should immediately quit power and the regime should be replaced by “good Sunni Muslim Syrians” who should adore “good Sunni Muslim Turks.”

2) The West should keep on negotiating with Tehran, without any sanctions or hard talk, until Iran has officially announced that it has acquired the nuclear bomb, but

3) Shia Iran should not fight a sectarian proxy war against Sunni Turkey.
Posted by: tipper || 03/17/2012 19:43 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Only thing crazier the the Middle East are the plans to fix it.
Posted by: Hupusoger Lumplump9328 || 03/17/2012 20:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Those are not plans to "fix it". They are to make it worse.
Posted by: newc || 03/17/2012 22:20 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Muslim Anti-Semitism, Israel, and the Dynamics of Self-Destructive Scapegoating
Posted by: tipper || 03/17/2012 19:33 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "And the sooner the “progressives” who want to help them, stop feeding their anti-Semitic vulnerabilities by joining them in demonizing Israel, and help them deal with the problem of self-criticism (a virtue to which the “left” could well afford to renew its commitments), the sooner we are likely to see a real Arab Spring, one that benevolent people the world over can sincerely cheer."

Not likely in either case.
Posted by: newc || 03/17/2012 22:23 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Pope of Egypt's Coptic Christians dies
Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church who led Egypt's Christian minority for 40 years during a time of increasing tensions with Muslims, has died. He was 88.

The state news agency MENA said Shenouda died yesterday after battling liver and lung problems for several years. A Coptic Church TV station ran a picture of the pope, with a running feed reading, "The Coptic Church prays to God that he rest in peace between the arms of saints."

The patriarch, known in Arabic as Baba Shenouda, headed one of the most ancient churches in the world, which traced it founding to St Mark, who is said to have brought Christianity to Egypt in the 1st Century during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero.

For Egypt's estimated 10 million Coptic Christians, he was a religious thinker and a charismatic leader, known for his sense of humour - his smiling portrait was hung in many Coptic homes and shops. Above all, many Copts saw him as the guardian of their minority living amid a majority Muslim population in this country of more than 80 million people.

Shenouda sought to do so by striking a conservative balance. During the rule of President Hosni Mubarak, he gave strong support to his government, while avoiding pressing Coptic demands too vocally in public to prevent a backlash from Muslim conservatives.

After Mubarak's fall a year ago, Christians grew increasingly worried over the rising power of Muslim conservatives.
Posted by: tipper || 03/17/2012 19:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Will the enlightened revolutionary Egypt allow a replacement to be named?
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth || 03/17/2012 22:16 Comments || Top||


Economy
Chevy Volt advert spoof
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/17/2012 16:28 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Champ Picks Fight with Dead President -- Loses
And it ain't even close.
Posted by: Matt || 03/17/2012 15:49 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336101 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ooof.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/17/2012 16:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Thomas Sowell wrote the other day about our beloved president's hero, Professor Bell, which would apply equally well to the current man in the White House. Mr. Sowell described how Mr. Bell, a happy and very successful civil rights lawyer, was hired to teach at the Stanford and Harvard law schools, where it quickly became clear to all concerned he was not capable of performing up to expectations. No wonder he became bitter, teaching his bitterness to others similarly 'blessed'.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/17/2012 16:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Great time to remember when president O'Bama had Guiness for the first time, and swore it tastes better in Ireland.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/17/2012 17:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Once again, counting on an idiot audience and not being fact checked. Why would he assume both? Hmmm....
Posted by: Iblis || 03/17/2012 18:21 Comments || Top||

#5  I never knew Hayes was so cool. We should start a campaign to have him replace Jackson on the $twenty.
Posted by: PBMcL || 03/17/2012 19:14 Comments || Top||

#6  Thought experiment: Imagine what Jon Stewart and the late-night talk-show monologues would have sounded like for the week after Dubya had made a similarly clueless remark about presidential history in a speech.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/17/2012 20:22 Comments || Top||

#7  ryuge, we would still be hearing about it today.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 03/17/2012 23:24 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Hey...look who needs a new job
Well, I suppose there's always...Current.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/17/2012 15:15 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A minor detail that Bill Maher missed in his taunt of Limbaugh: Bill's a mere employee who can be fired from HBO, while Rush is secure from the threat of firing himself...
Posted by: Ptah || 03/17/2012 15:33 Comments || Top||

#2  5 months and no audience. Sometimes there's a price to being an ugly rant-mouthed ignorant asshole
Posted by: Frank G || 03/17/2012 15:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah, but everyone knew mahar was full of shit when he said he could entertain a live audience for 90 minutes. I've been to one, back at his..heighth (snickers)..so bad even the Phelps people left.

Winfrey..you've lost another network?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/17/2012 15:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Still more solidifying evidence that hollywood is not America, and not as right about things as they think. Besides, Maher is not really of any use to civil society.
Posted by: newc || 03/17/2012 17:18 Comments || Top||

#5  "Maher is not really of any use to civil society"

FTFY, newc.
Posted by: Barbara || 03/17/2012 17:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Winfrey..you've lost another network?

/snicker. Subtle but hilarious.
Posted by: SteveS || 03/17/2012 19:53 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Never mind Kony, let's Stop Clooney
So George Clooney has been arrested outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington. After a week addressing Congress, briefing his president and bringing Sudan back into the limelight, he has taken his awareness-raising campaign to the next level by making sure news crews were on hand to watch him having his hands tied behind his back.

This has been quite the week for African conflicts. First we had the Kony 2012 video, which catapulted a long forgotten war in central Africa to the top of the news schedules. Now we have Clooney doing the same for a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the Nuba mountains of Sudan, first with his own video and then with Friday's arrest.

"IÂ’m just trying to raise attention. Let your Congress know, let your president know," said Clooney, as he was led away.

Ah yes, just trying to raise attention. The modern campaign mantra. And what could be wrong with that?

Well, quite a lot as it happens. Clooney has long been raising awareness for Sudan. In the past it was the conflict in Darfur. He spearheaded calls for United Nations peacekeepers to be deployed and for President Omar al Bashir to be indicted on war crimes charges.

There has never been such a successful campaign. Not only did he and the Save Darfur coalition mobilise an unprecedented amount of support for ending a war in a previously obscure region, but they actually got what they wished for. A struggling African Union peacekeeping force was given blue hats of the UN. And President Bashir has been charged with 10 counts of war crimes, including genocide.

And none of it made any difference. President Bashir is still in power in Khartoum and the blue hats ran into exactly the same problem as the African force – finding out the hard way that there is no point deploying peacekeepers if there is no peace to keep.
Posted by: tipper || 03/17/2012 14:26 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Clooney (shakes head).

Clooney had a starring role in the movie Syriana. Harrison Ford was originally asked to take that part and turned it down saying the plot was basically garbage; that is coming from an actor who did take a part in a movie where he survived a nuclear explosion in a refridgerator.

Whoever is trying to beat the drum is doing a horrible job. Clooney, really?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/17/2012 15:54 Comments || Top||

#2  At least he is trying a positive effort. Bashir is really just a brutal, lying, Islamist dressed in robes.

He still has not upheld the CPA and is pursuing the normal Islam practice of global cleansing in Africa as SOP.

That's how you get 98% conversion rates in some African countries.
Posted by: newc || 03/17/2012 17:44 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Bombings in Damascus herald beginnings of a bloody new stage of Syrian insurgency
Suicide bombers attacked two key secret police headquarters in Damascus on Saturday, killing 27 and leaving nearly 100 wounded, according to Syrian government sources. The bombings appeared to mark a dangerous new escalation in Syria's crisis, just weeks after the regime brutally crushed a rebel stronghold in the city of Homs.

Government spokesmen were quick to blame Islamist terrorists for the attacks, which they said mainly killed and injured civilians. Many anti-regime activists believe similar bloody bombings since January have been staged to give the government an excuse to crack down.

The explosions struck the aviation intelligence department - the most hated branch of Syria's police state - and the criminal security department, at around 7.30 am.

The aftermath, shown in gruesome detail on Syrian state television, was pools of blood, body parts strewn across streets, and wrecked and burnt vehicles. The front of one building collapsed.

"We heard a huge explosion. At that moment the doors in our house were blown out, even though we were some distance from the blast," one elderly man, with a bandage wrapped round his head, told Syrian television, which also showed what it said was the charred corpse of a terrorist in a burnt vehicle.
Posted by: tipper || 03/17/2012 14:09 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336091 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the same type bombs Syria helped shuttle into Iraq. Karma - she's a bitch, no?
Posted by: Frank G || 03/17/2012 15:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Watch it become a trend.
Posted by: newc || 03/17/2012 17:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Possibley they were car bombs. Also,
 
A Syrian official said there were reports of a third blast targeting a military bus at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, but there were no details. He asked that his name not be used because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/17/2012 18:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Debka sez the bus was carrying pro-Iranian Paleos.
Posted by: Phil_B || 03/17/2012 20:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Are there any other kind, Phil B?
Posted by: Barbara || 03/17/2012 21:33 Comments || Top||

#6  The Paleos are pretty much guns for hire. Saddam had his paid for Paleo goons.

But Syria is a Sunni Shiia fight and the Paleos are almost all Sunni. So I'd say the only pro-Iranian Paleos are the ones getting a paycheck from Tehran. Which could be quite a lot.
Posted by: Phil_B || 03/17/2012 21:56 Comments || Top||

#7  Remember the proverb,

You can't buy an Arab's loyalty. You only rent it.
Posted by: Phil_B || 03/17/2012 21:58 Comments || Top||


--Tech & Moderator Notes
Gaddafi spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi held in Mauritania
Posted by: Kentucky Beef || 03/17/2012 11:52 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:


Olde Tyme Religion
Destroy all churches
Obama silent while Saudi grand mufti targets Christianity

If the pope called for the destruction of all the mosques in Europe, the uproar would be cataclysmic. Pundits would lambaste the church, the White House would rush out a statement of deep concern, and rioters in the Middle East would kill each other in their grief. But when the most influential leader in the Muslim world issues a fatwa to destroy Christian churches, the silence is deafening.

On March 12, Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, declared that it is “necessary to destroy all the churches of the region.”
Rest of the Washington Times editorial at the link. Thank goodness DC has one semi-sane newspaper. Hat tip of course to the Puppy Blender.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/17/2012 11:22 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under:


-Lurid Crime Tales-
Joseph Kony 2012: filmmaker Jason Russell arrested on suspicion of masturbating in public
I only watched the video once I realized it was p*ssing the left off, big time.
One of the creators of the "Kony 2012" film about Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony has been arrested for allegedly being drunk and masturbating in public.

Jason Russell, 33, was also accused of stripping off his clothes and vandalising cars before he was detained in San Diego.

Russell, an evangelical Christian, is a co-founder of the American advocacy group Invisible Children. Their 29-minute film has been watched by more than 100 million people and become the fastest spreading video ever.

The San Diego Police Department said Russell was held close to the Pacific Ocean, wearing only in his underwear, on Thursday night. A spokesman said he was possibly under the influence of something, and was acting "very strangely."
Oh really?
Officers received several calls from members of the public about a man undressing and running through traffic while screaming. When they arrived Russell was co-operative. He was later hospitalised so that his mental state can be assessed to establish if he represents a threat to himself or others.
This article starring:
Jason Russell
Posted by: tipper || 03/17/2012 09:14 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336094 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A spokesman said he was possibly under the influence of something, and was acting "very strangely."

Nothing out of the ordinary or "strange" in California, other than his acapella rendition of "Nearer my God to Thee." They immediatley hauled him in upon hearing him launch into the second verse.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/17/2012 9:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Denver Post said he was in his tightie whities pounding in the pavement instead of himself.
Posted by: Vespasian Gonque1102 || 03/17/2012 12:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Beware the rapture. You're neighbors won't understand.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/17/2012 12:35 Comments || Top||

#4  he was at Mission Bay/Crown Point, about a 1/2 mile from my bridge project. It's been...nippy.. lately, so he wasn't stripped because of the weather
Posted by: Frank G || 03/17/2012 15:50 Comments || Top||

#5  I guess your bridge just made him feel all warm inside.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/17/2012 19:15 Comments || Top||

#6  If your Internet film goes viral, what better way to celebrate?
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 03/17/2012 20:11 Comments || Top||

#7  I understand that the charge is not a felony, it's a misdewiener....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/17/2012 20:42 Comments || Top||

#8  Just another stop on the way to Loserville.
Posted by: badanov || 03/17/2012 21:16 Comments || Top||

#9  USN, Ret. wins Snark O' The Day™! :-D
Posted by: Barbara || 03/17/2012 21:37 Comments || Top||

#10  Jason Russell's Wife denies drugs involved in KONY film-maker's breakdown

I guess that makes him plain old-fashioned crazy.
Posted by: Phil_B || 03/17/2012 21:43 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Critical Windows bug could make worm meat of millions of high-value machines
Microsoft has plugged a critical hole in all supported versions of Windows that allows attackers to hit high-value computers with self-replicating attacks that install malicious code with no user interaction required.

The vulnerability in the Remote Desktop Protocol is of particular concern to system administrators in government and corporate settings because they often use the feature to remotely trouble-shoot e-mail servers, point-of-sale terminals and other machines when they experience problems. RDP is also the default way to manage Windows machines that connect to Amazon's EC2 and other cloud services. That means potentially millions of endpoints are at risk of being hit by a powerful computer worm that spreads exponentially, similarly to the way exploits known as Nimda and Code Red did in 2001.

"This type of vulnerability is where no user intervention or user action is required and an attacker can just send some specially crafted packets or requests, and because of which he or she can take complete control of the target machine," Amol Sarwate, director of Qualys' vulnerability research lab, said in an interview. While RPD is not enabled by default, he said the number of machines that have it turned on is a "big concern" because it is so widely used in large organizations and business settings.

The bug affects Windows XP and all versions of Windows released since, including the developer preview of Windows 8. It was privately reported by Luigi Auriemma, an Italian security researcher who frequently focuses on vulnerabilities in industrial control systems and SCADA, or supervisory control and data acquisition, systems used to control dams, gasoline refineries, and power plants. Microsoft said there's no indication the vulnerability is being used in the public to attack Windows users at the moment, but the company predicts that could change.
I wonder if that patch was delayed until after Iran's nuclear development got pwned?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/17/2012 09:05 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It gets worse. The exploit code for this bug has been apparently leaked by either Microsoft or one of Microsoft's partners:

Here's a link to The Register (UK)
Posted by: crosspatch || 03/17/2012 14:23 Comments || Top||

#2  The worm is called CVE-2012-0002 and the fix is MS12-020.
Posted by: Thriling Jomons3297 || 03/17/2012 18:12 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Pork-Eating Crusader Patch Is A Huge Hit With Troops In Afghanistan
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 03/17/2012 07:53 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Anyone got a idea of the color patch on the right sleeve of the troop in the picture? Unsubdued usually isn't SOP for most American units, not to mention what appears to be the standard side arm in the group either.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/17/2012 9:47 Comments || Top||

#2  NATO partners pictured here, possibly Albanians. I'm not certain. Definately not US.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/17/2012 9:58 Comments || Top||

#3  The article suggests he's German.
Posted by: gorb || 03/17/2012 10:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Thanks gorb. Who needs to read....when you have pictures?
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/17/2012 12:46 Comments || Top||

#5  Just ordered one!!
Posted by: Rj45acp || 03/17/2012 18:05 Comments || Top||

#6  I was told once by someone I thought should know (could be pulling my leg though, he did that from time to time (or he was full of shit)) the reason hams are so prized in Spain goes back in the day eating pig was an act of defiance against the moors.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/17/2012 18:19 Comments || Top||

#7  Anybody wanna bet that now that its on the web, our DoD and the fools in the WH forbid wearing that, lest our 'Muslim brothers' be offended?
Too bad the Marines didn't have them when Pinata made them disarm for his little get together.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/17/2012 20:31 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Reports of Malaysian terrorist's death may have been exaggerated
A Malaysian terrorist militant with a $5 million bounty on his head survived a recent Philippines air strike, a Malaysian counter-terror official said on Friday, despite the government's claims to the contrary. Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, deputy head of the Malaysian police force's counter-terrorism unit, said, "We believe Zulkifli Bin Abdul Hir, alias Marwan, is still alive."

Zulkifli, a radical terrorist militant, is "badly, badly wounded" and hiding on the southern Philippine island of Jolo, he said. He cited Malaysian intelligence but would not give further details.

Last month the Philippines military said three of Southeast Asia's most-wanted terror suspects were killed in the raid on Jolo, which was backed by US intelligence. It said the dead included Zulkifli, who was trained as an engineer in the United States and is suspected of providing bomb-making expetise to Southeast Asian terror groups.

The military has not yet released proof of the kill. Authorities claim that the bodies were taken away by fellow terrorists militants and quickly buried according to Muslim custom.

Military spokesman Colonel Arnuflo Burgos said the armed forces were waiting for the results of DNA tests, but added, "We still maintain that, based on reliable sources on the ground, (Zulkifli)" and the other terrorists militants were killed.
This article starring:
Marwan
Zulkifli Bin Abdul Hir
Posted by: ryuge || 03/17/2012 06:13 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336101 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If not dead, then suffering? Ok then.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 03/17/2012 9:03 Comments || Top||

#2  D *** NGED ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/17/2012 22:17 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
China exerts rare public pressure on North Korea over missile plan
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 03/17/2012 05:55 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336088 views] Top|| File under:

#1  My concern is another second stage "failure" causing "debris" to fall on San Francisco.
Posted by: Vespasian Gonque1102 || 03/17/2012 12:17 Comments || Top||

#2  The Norks claim that it is to be a polar orbiting shot. If they go north the shot will be over China and Russia. South looks like a lot of water.
Posted by: Count Down || 03/17/2012 16:58 Comments || Top||

#3  KCNA (2012-3-16) courtesy of http://www.nkeconwatch.com/

"Kwangmyongsong-3, a polar-orbiting earth observation satellite, will be blasted off southward from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Cholsan County, North Phyongan Province between April 12 and 16, lifted by carrier rocket Unha-3."
Posted by: Count Down || 03/17/2012 17:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Take it out. SM3 target practice
Posted by: Frank G || 03/17/2012 17:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Rising China is the DPRK's predominant trading partner + existential State, Regime "Guarantor", besides also Mama Russia, so how China can criticize a DPRK Space plan + Rocket which China likely helped to dev + build is beyond my comprehension.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/17/2012 22:15 Comments || Top||

#6  Rabid lil attack dogs have a way of coming back to bite their masters.
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth || 03/17/2012 22:26 Comments || Top||

#7  See also WAFF > JAPAN CAN CRASH NORTH KOREA SATELLITE IFF NECESSARY - MINISTER.

Maybe its just me, but "crash" infers either cyber-hack or other sabotage, not just shootdown???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/17/2012 23:04 Comments || Top||

#8  Worx4me!
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth || 03/17/2012 23:12 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Roadside bomb kills schoolgirl in southern Thailand
A schoolgirl was killed and four others wounded, two critically, in a roadside bomb explosion in Pattani province on Saturday.

The five secondary school students were heading home from school on three motorcycles after finishing their exams when the home-made bomb buried near the road went off. Hapueso Sadeh, 18, a sixth grade student, died instantly. Witnesses said that the bombers had intended to attack soldiers on a bus that was traveling in front of the students' motorbikes, but the bomb exploded just after the bus had passed the target.

Police blamed separatist terrorists militants who wanted to incite violence without caring about whether civilians would suffer or die.

The Pattani attack followed the killing earlier on Saturday of a rubber tapper in an ambush in Yala province early Saturday morning. Yuso Daraning, 46, was riding his motorcycle to his rubber plantation when gunmen hiding among the trees fired at him. Yuso was shot and fell from his bike. The attackers then ran to him and shot him again several times at close range. The victim died on the spot.

Ranger gunned down in Narathiwat

Rosali Romasa,25, a ranger of the 44th Ranger Regiment, was gunned down while riding his motorcycle back home in Narathiwat province. Rosali was on leave and visiting his home. On his way, he was attacked by an unknown number of assailants. He was shot in the head and in the throat.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/17/2012 05:35 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IMF: Palestinians may face cuts without more aid
...An IMF report released on Saturday, prepared for a donor meeting on Palestinian aid in Brussels next week, estimated a financing gap of about $500 million. The Palestinian Authority is relying on donor aid to cover its 2012 budget deficit projected to reach $1.1 billion.
millenium
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/17/2012 01:57 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Where is the website to apply for an organization that funnels money to people who kill their own and others, I want to apply sound like job security!
Posted by: Crereger Crereling7679 || 03/17/2012 7:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Where is the website to apply for an organization that funnels money to people who kill their own and others, I want to apply sounds like job security!

missed an s
Posted by: Crereger Crereling7679 || 03/17/2012 7:49 Comments || Top||

#3  So they have a deficit of close to 50% for the year. Sounds like Champ and the Democratic Senate...
Posted by: Steve White || 03/17/2012 11:03 Comments || Top||

#4  May have to cut back on payments to the shaheeds. Either that or cut back on the amount they salt away in their Swiss accounts.
Posted by: tipper || 03/17/2012 13:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh, shit, I can't find my violin...
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/17/2012 14:01 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Foot-and-mouth disease spreads in Egypt
Cattle disease was one of the ten plagues, back when it was the Egyptian Pharaoh tormenting the Hebrews.

The government should have been down to about a month or so of cash reserves to buy food for their people... Now 2,000 cattle are dead, 24,500 more livestock are known infected in the past two weeks, and cattle markets have been shut across the country. I'm sure the Israelis didn't do it...
Posted by: || 03/17/2012 01:25 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...accused the government of incompetence, and have thrown dead cows in front of the governors' offices during protests.
I can't help but think that's an effective protest move. We do it here but call it barbecue.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/17/2012 2:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Which one comes next, the rain of blood or rain of locusts? I never remember these things.
Posted by: gromky || 03/17/2012 3:58 Comments || Top||

#3  According to wikipedia, boils comes next.
Posted by: Phil_B || 03/17/2012 5:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Were there any signs of black helicopters and rich people wanting to move into a new resort area to spread the innsmouth look? The New New Mexico (Taos) .
Posted by: Cheamp Darling of the Sith3385 || 03/17/2012 7:29 Comments || Top||

#5  With the breakdown of its medical system, Egypt will soon become a swamp of infectious diseases. It will have to get extremely bad, though, before the WTO intervenes, asking countries to kick down some money.

It will be interesting to see the order in which the diseases come, and how it will affect the 10% of their population with hepatitis.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/17/2012 8:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Once the evil colonialist, uilander farmers were removed, Rinderpest was easily defeated in Zimbabwe. Of course a nice Beef Wellington can no longer be had, but eating grasses is much healthier.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/17/2012 9:28 Comments || Top||

#7  The question is how much this will be blamed on the Coptics, at least in my view. Blame-game will happen and we all know who will suffer.
Posted by: Charles || 03/17/2012 10:09 Comments || Top||

#8  When was the last time Biden was there?
Posted by: AlanC || 03/17/2012 10:19 Comments || Top||

#9  When was the last time Biden was there?

That would be foot IN mouth.
Posted by: Vespasian Gonque1102 || 03/17/2012 12:21 Comments || Top||

#10  Mexico lost 200,000 head of cattle last year and expects to slaughter another 240,000 this year because of the drought.

FTW.
Posted by: badanov || 03/17/2012 12:28 Comments || Top||

#11  #3 According to wikipedia, boils comes next.
Posted by Phil_B


Given the sensitivity of Arabs, I would say that they are boils incarnated as people...
Posted by: Ptah || 03/17/2012 15:29 Comments || Top||

#12  Egypt has no chance in the direction they are going.
Posted by: newc || 03/17/2012 17:26 Comments || Top||

#13  You say that like it's a bad thing, newc.
Posted by: Barbara || 03/17/2012 17:40 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Hindus leaving homeland amid security fears
Having lived in Sindh for centuries, Hindus are migrating because of forced conversions, murders and abductions for ransom

In 2010, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistain reported that at least 25 Hindu girls are kidnapped and converted by force in Pakistain every month.

"Every time there's a forced conversion, we hear of a love story and the usual court proceedings, but there's no followup," says Ram Kumar, a 63-year-old Hindu elder from 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...
Mohan Lal Harchandani, another Hindu leader, says his community has been living in Sindh for thousands of years. "Not only do we see Pakistain as our country, we work and pray for its prosperity," he said.

But the community is concerned about its security. Hindus were 16 percent of Pakistain's population in 1947, but have been reduced to 2 percent. In 1947, there were 428 functioning temples in the country. Now, there are only 26, according to Jamohan Kumar Arora from Rawalpindi. But the 3 million Hindus as per the 1998 census are still the largest religious minority in Pakistain. Most of them live in Bloody Karachi, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur regions of Sindh.

"You can not understand how much we love this land," said Ajeet Kumar. "We have been living hear for millennia and are among its indigenous people. This is our land and its people are our people. We are Sindhis and have never discriminated on the basis of religion."

"But due to the constant fear of abductions, we are leaving Pakistain and Sindh," Ajeet Kumar said.

Last year, three Hindus - Naresh Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Ajeet Kumar - were bumped off in Shikarpur while a Hindu student's mutilated body was found in Hyderabad.

Although the liberal Pakistain People's Party is in power, Sindhi Hindus are still being murdered, kidnapped for ransom, or converted by force.

Thirty-seven Hindus from five families of Thul, a small town in Jacobabad district, have recently left for India for good, because of security concerns.

"It's extremely sad that the Hindu families who have been living in the province for centuries are being forced to migrate from their motherland," Pakistain Hindu Seva (PHS) President Sanjesh Kumar said. "The government is not providing them adequate security."

Since 2008, more than 10 Sindhi Hindu families have been migrating to other countries every month. "The Hindus who migrate to India are not entirely happy, but they don't have too many options," he said.

"Eight to 10 Hindu families migrate from Pakistain to India every month," said an official at the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi. "Most of them are well off."
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/17/2012 00:27 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Looks like Pakland's SIKHS are getting riled, + organized, for action.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/17/2012 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Hindus are not Sikhs, and this article makes no mention of Sikhs. Please explain your comment, Joe. I'm curious what you refer to.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 03/17/2012 1:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Sikhs were very common in the Punjab, which was split in two in 1947. Pakland had large numbers of non-moslems when it was first formed. Of course everyone who can leave has left.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 03/17/2012 20:54 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
What's up at the Vatican?
Op-ed: instead of focusing on decline of Arab Christianity, Catholic Church chooses to demonize Israel
One most sincerely hopes there is more to the story than seen here.
In a special interview with Die Tagespost last week, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, named by Pope Benedict to represent the Vatican in the Jewish State, declared that "Israel's existence as such has nothing to do with the Bible." He then compared Christians' condition in today's Jerusalem with Jesus' Passion: "We Christians never forget that even our Lord himself suffered and was mocked in Jerusalem."
 
Twal's position on Israel and the Bible has been embraced at the highest levels in the Catholic Church. The Vatican synod in 2010 declared that Israel cannot use the Biblical concept of a promised land or a chosen people. "We Christians cannot speak about the Promised Land for the Jewish people", the synod's document said. "There is no longer a chosen people. The concept of the promised land cannot be used as a base for the justification of the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of Paleostinians."
 
A few days ago, Patriarch Twal responded enthusiastically to the agreement reached between Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Fatah. He also denounced "the Judaization of Jerusalem" and attacked Israel for "trying to transform it into an only Hebrew-Jewish city, excluding the other faiths." Elsewhere, Iraq's Archbishop, Louis Sako, asked to "separate between Judaism and Zionism." Indeed, in the most influential quarters of Christianity, Jews are still regarded as an apostate group not entitled to a sovereign state of its own.
 
Backed by the Catholic clergy, for the first time in history the Paleostinians asked the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
' cultural body to register Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity under the name of "Paleostine." According to Omar Awadallah, who heads the UN department in the PA Foreign Ministry, "Jesus is the Paleostinian prince of hope and peace and Christians all over the world want that church to be a World Heritage site."
 
In a period when the Vatican's anguish at the catastrophic decline of Arab Christianity should be palpable, the Catholic Church chooses to demonize Israel and to increase its collaboration with the PLO. The confirmation comes from the intensity of high profile meetings in recent weeks and the participation of bishops not only from Arab countries, but from Europe and the United States as well.
 
'Zionism racially exclusive'
A Vatican delegation comprising Ettore Balestrero, the Holy See's Under-Secretary for Relations with States, and Archbishop Antonio Franco, Apostolic Delegate in Israel, just met in Ramallah with Paleostinian ministers and officials for an agreement with the PLO. Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, in a first-ever interview for a cardinal on al-Jazeera, declared that Israel must adopt "an internationally recognized statute for that part of Jerusalem where the Holy Places of the three monotheistic religions are open to believers."
 
Meanwhile,
...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings...
Catholic and Moslem dignitaries met in Beit Sahour for a conference on "How to live together in a future Paleostinian state." Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, and Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, attended the event organized by Al-Liqa, a Vatican ecumenical center. Sabbah signed a document condemning Zionism as "racial exclusivity" and "the ideology of empire and colonialism."
 
Last January, eight Catholic bishops from Europe and North America, including UK Archbishop Patrick Kelly and French Archbishop Michel Dubost, visited Gazoo. "I asked prisoners in the largest prison in Europe (in Evry) to pray for you," Dubost told Gazooks. The inference was clear: Paleostinians are living in a big prison terrified by Israel. In the same period, Father Manuel Musalam, head of Gazoo's Catholics, met with Hamas leader, Mahmoud al Zahar, and declared that "Christians are not threatened by Moslems" but that everyone faces the same problem, that of Israel's "humiliation."
 
Last November, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, head of Leb's Catholic Church, sent his envoy, Father Abdo Abou Kassem, to Tehran for a conference in support of a "Zionist-free middle east." The conference was also attended by Hezbullies ideologue Mohammad Raad and by Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal.
 
If in the wartime period the Vatican had taken a moral stand against Nazism, the outcome might have been different for the Jewish people. But that was 1943. By 2012, the Church should know better. Yet it seems that as was the case in World War II, the Vatican is again pursuing a joint cause with evil forces to buy temporary security.
 
The Vatican's criminalization of Zionism, which Arab Churches made a basic condition for Moslem-Christian rapprochement, grants the elimination of the Jewish State priority over defending the rights of their own beleaguered communities. After Arab nationalism failed to eliminate Israel, Arab Christianity and the Vatican are now building a Paleostinian identity hostile to Israel and the Jews.
 
Giulio Meotti, a journalist with Il Foglio, is the author of the book A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel's Victims of Terrorism
This article starring:
Vatican synod
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Roman church is caught out in this situation.

There are 23 "Autonomous particular Churches", "of their own law", or self-governing, but in communion with Rome and who recognize the Pope as the leader of the Catholic church.

As a group they are only loosely stitched together, and it is a consensus based juggling act to keep them peaceable when one gets a wild hair. To make it even more challenging, when one adopts a radical position, they couch it in doctrinal terms to put pressure on the others to adopt it.

For example, in this case, doctrinally the Catholics cannot accept that Jews are "the chosen people" or that Israel is "the chosen land", because to do so would be to deny Catholic legitimacy.

They also point out that Israel could very well boot out the Christians after booting out the Muslims, which in my opinion is not that bad an idea from the Israeli point of view, as having others, nations or religions, claiming ownership of part of your country is almost a recipe for contention.

That is, Israel should nationalize all holy sites. After it does so it can be very liberal about terms of use, but it can also be crystal clear that they are Israeli property, so if the tenants make a fuss they can be booted out, and use given to others.

And along with the al-Asqa mosque, this includes the Christian holy sites.

N.B.: The various Christian sects fight each other over the use of these sites, literally down to the minute and square inch, the brawls often turning mildly violent. But all because they have a dangerous "sense of ownership".
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/17/2012 10:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Indeed, in the most influential quarters of Christianity, Jews are still regarded as an apostate group not entitled to a sovereign state of its own.

Then I revel in my humble estate....I had hoped the birth control mandate would have severed the Catholic vote from Obama/Dems but this common hatred only unites them and the 'World Body' at the UN.
Posted by: Omoluque Hapsburg8162 || 03/17/2012 11:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Indeed, in the most influential quarters of Christianity, Jews are still regarded as an apostate group

Good catch, Omoluque Hapsburg8162! I missed that when I posted the article. For the record, Judaism came first, by over a millennium; it's all of Christianity and Islam who are the apostates. Not that we care, y'all can believe whatever you want, so long as you leave us in peace.

a·pos·tate/əˈpästāt/
Noun:
A person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle.
Adjective:
Abandoning such a belief or principle.
Synonyms:
noun.  renegade - turncoat - pervert - recreant - backslider
adjective.  renegade - recreant
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/17/2012 11:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Personally, I like to see the Zionists take control of Mecca.

$100 bucks a head for all those hijadis. A nice little earner.
Posted by: Phil_B || 03/17/2012 12:09 Comments || Top||

#5  tw, as a Catholic from a long line of Catholics, I was disturbed by the content of the article and I'm afraid I don't have any insight into it. I must not have gotten the memo.

I will tell you, FWIW, that one of my most vivid memories is the first day of attendance at a very Catholic high school, when, within a short time after showing up, the entire entering class was marched into the school auditorium and shown a horrifying movie about the Holocaust, followed by an emphatic lecture by a priest on the significance of what we had just seen.
Posted by: Matt || 03/17/2012 13:43 Comments || Top||

#6  OK. Don't base it on the Bible. Base it on the facts on the ground. The Jews are there. They are ready, willing and able to defend it against all comers. 'Nuff said.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/17/2012 13:47 Comments || Top||

#7  The Christians who lived under the Saracens as dimmies eventually developed a form of Stockholm Syndrome. Their antisemitism which they share with their overlords, goes right to the bone. How long they are going to stay like that is problematic.
Posted by: tipper || 03/17/2012 14:05 Comments || Top||

#8  I recently got spooked while visiting the blog of a Roman Catholic where one was commenting on his inability to understand the position of the Roman Catholic Church on the use of barrier contraception, and cited an article where Roman Catholic women were roundly criticized by some high ranking prelate because they had gotten too good at using the Rythmn method. The others jumped on him and demanded he just accept the Position of the Church even when it didn't make sense. I actually read some of the arguments on abortion and birth control, and was amazed at the flaccid excuses employed. One guy, in another post, cited a bible passage from Jesus, and was jumped on by another who merely cited some academics, no scriptures given.

Read the second paragraph of the article: There are scripture passages in the New Testament that not only state that the Jews continue to be the Chosen people, but that God has not forsaken them. The branch of Christianity that is the most fanatical about the literality of the New Testament, the Pentecostal/charismatic wing of Protestantism, almost uniformly to a man (err person), has adopted the same position and believes in the continued chosen-ness of the Jews, and hold that "the concept of the Promised land" still holds (even after two thousand years) because the Same God also promised the continued manifestation of phenomena within the Church that they have reproduced in their own churches. Along with Paul they would say, "So what if you can't reproduce the gifts of the spirit? Does the incompetence of man invalidate the faithfulness of God? Let God be true though every man be a liar."

This is merely the Roman Catholic Church asserting their right to override Scriptural practices and concepts: it's that part of the unending catfight between protestants and catholics that'll never be bridged or papered over. No scriptures supporting their view, no argumentation, just "The Vatican Synond in 2010 declared...", presuming to tell Jews and Christians of all faiths what to think.

This is pure sophilism: the speaking of any sh*t, rational or otherwise, that would convince people to do what the speaker wants. The speaker wins when people do what he says, and he loses when people don't do what he says, simple as that.

Just say no, and refuse to act on what they say.

Congratulations, they not only lose, but you made them lose.

Posted by: Ptah || 03/17/2012 15:16 Comments || Top||

#9  Oh and one more thing: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all "abrahamic" faiths, have factions having large fractions of their membership holding different ideas, but only Judaism's factions haven't made war against each other. TW, I am absolutely SURE I am not the only one that has noticed this, and I am absoluely sure there is some wonderfully wry and insightful inside joke making the rounds in the synagogues as to why that is so. Could you pleeeeze share with us if there is one?
Posted by: Ptah || 03/17/2012 15:23 Comments || Top||

#10  Ptah, I'm not a regular churchgoer, but my impression talking to a lot of still-regular-churchgoer catholics here is that the church is divided on this subject. For instance, I'm fairly sure that the synod TW linked to earlier was speaking out of its ass when maintaining itself as representing the whole church.

But I have no doubt that they're trying to get there.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/17/2012 15:28 Comments || Top||

#11  Catholic here, and I've never heard Jews spoken of disparagingly in the church. Ever. After all, Jesus was a Jew. They are our cultural and moral brethren.
Posted by: Frank G || 03/17/2012 17:39 Comments || Top||

#12  Could you pleeeeze share with us if there is one?

No joke that I'm aware of, dear Ptah. It's just that, according to Hillel, God assigned us homework*, and we're busy.

* Asked by a pagan to summarise the Torah “while standing on one leg”, Hillel responded, “Do not do to others what would be hateful if done to you. That is the whole of the Torah. All the rest is commentary. Now go and study.”
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/17/2012 18:01 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Islamic Jihad Member Says Hizbullah Providing Quds Brigades with 'Significant Help'
[An Nahar] The Quds Brigades are receiving significant help from Hizbullah, a member of the group's armed wing the Quds Brigades has told Agence La Belle France Presse in an interview.

"Hizbullah provides fundamental support" to the Quds Brigades, particularly by "facilitating the training of fighters," a member of the armed wing, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Ibrahim said.

He warned that the Gazoo-based turban group 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...
has weapons that can reach Tel Aviv.

The Quds Brigades fired most of the rockets that hit Israel in the past week's four-day conflict between Gazoo gunnies and the Jewish state.

Abu Ibrahim said the group was ready to expand the reach of its rocket fire beyond the Israeli town of Ashdod, which lies some 35 kilometers outside Gazoo.

"If the occupation targets any leader of any Paleostinian group whatsoever or any citizen, the Brigades will respond with force and expand the reach of the response beyond Ashdod," he told AFP.

"The enemy is aware of the range that the Brigades rockets can reach," he said, adding that the Quds Brigades possessed "many thousands" of rockets.

Islamic Jihad took the lead in attacking Israel during the recent confrontation, which began on March 9 with Israel's liquidation of the commander of the Popular Resistance Committees turban group.

By the time a truce was announced on Tuesday, 25 Paleostinians had been killed -- many of them from Islamic Jihad -- and at least 250 rockets had been fired into Israel, around 180 of them launched by the group.

Some rockets landed nearly 40 kilometers inside Israel, not far from the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

A lone rocket was fired from Gazoo into Israel during the first 12 hours of Friday, the Israeli military said, as the decampedgling truce firmed up.

Abu Ibrahim said the Quds Brigades have "developed long-range rockets and if the aggression returns, they could be used to reach towns far beyond Ashdod."

Another Quds Brigades member, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said "certain resistance groups, including the Quds Brigades, have Fajr-3 and Fajr-5 missiles, with a range of 60-110 kilometers."

"But they are not for use unless Israel targets an important figure," he said.

He also claimed that Gazoo gunnies possessed SAM-7 missiles which he said had been fired at Israeli helicopters last year.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Jihad

#1  See also TOPIX > ISLAMIC JIHAD SEEKS TO CREATE "BALANCE OF TERROR" WID ISRAEL.

During the Cold War, "BoT" usually meant or referred to parity as per Nuclear Arsenals, as oppos to Conventional Weapons.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/17/2012 0:47 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Rampaging lawyers
[Dawn] IT is tragic that in this country those tasked with enforcing the law or practising it are often the ones who make a complete mockery of it. Lower courts 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...
remained shut on Wednesday as judges refused to hear cases in protest against the alleged misbehaviour of some lawyers with a judicial magistrate. The magistrate had convicted a lawyer and her husband of fraud on Tuesday, after which a group of lawyers invaded his courtroom and started chanting slogans against the conviction. Sadly, the past few years have seen several incidents involving the high-handedness of lawyers, including cases of black coats physically assaulting judges as well as one another. Journalists have not escaped their wrath, while coppers, too, have received beatings, as in 2010 when lawyers thrashed a police officer and helped an accused man -- reportedly related to one of the lawyers -- escape custody in Lahore. We must also recall that the offices of an NGO offering free legal aid to prisoners were forcibly shut down by a group of lawyers in Bloody Karachi last year.

While most of those who wield power and influence in Pakistain flout the law at will, those who are supposed to be well-versed in it are expected to uphold and respect it. These actions by sections of the legal community are therefore alarming. But what is equally disturbing is the lack of condemnation coming from within the community. While there has been criticism of such lawlessness from some experienced jurists, many senior practising lawyers have remained silent, careful not to offend members of their fraternity. Such an attitude is unacceptable. It is essential that bar councils and senior lawyers nationwide censure those who indulge in thuggish behaviour to ensure that a few black sheep do not end up defaming the whole legal community.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Zardari directs Malik to remove MQM's reservations
[Dawn] President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari
... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ...
on Friday has taken notice of Muttahida Qaumi Movement's
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
(MQM) complaints of extortion and poor law and order situation 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...
DawnNews reported.

Spokesperson to the President Senator Farhatullah Babar said the president directed the Sindh government and Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik
Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men.
to take strict action against the criminal elements.

The president also directed the interior minister to proceed to Bloody Karachi and coordinate with the provincial government in redressing the grievances of the public and traders, in particular against extortion.

The MQM chief Altaf Hussain had also brought to the attention of the president the complaints of extortion in Bloody Karachi, the Spokesperson said.

The Pakistain People's Party (PPP) respects its coalition partners and will redress the concerns of the ally, the Spokesperson quoted the president as saying.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Caribbean-Latin America
On the Sunday Morning Coffee Pot: The UN report on forced disappearences in Mexico
Ten days ago the United Nations (UN) released its findings from a visit made to Mexico last year in which the UN attempted to tackle the problem of forced disappearances in Mexico.

In a nation where separate government departments can't even agree on the nature of the problem, are the UN's leftist sentiments, unrealistic recommendations and boilerplate condemnations even helpful?

Rantburg.com correspondent Chris Covert attempts to separate the facts from the sentiments contained in the report.

On Rantburg.com's Sunday Morning Coffee Pot.
Posted by: badanov || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Round robin link.
Posted by: bigjim-CA || 03/17/2012 10:22 Comments || Top||

#2  It hasn't been published yet, bigjim-CA, so there's nothing to link to.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/17/2012 11:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Future news TODAY, at Rantburg.com!
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/17/2012 12:40 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Brittany Daniel aka Jessica Wakefield in "Sweet Valley High (1994–1998)" aka Brandy in "Joe Dirt (2001)" aka Kelly Pitts in "Kelly Pitts" aka Candice in "Skyline (2010)" aka Sarah Xavier in "Last of the Romantics (2007)" (age 37)


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/17/2012 1:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Happy St Patrick's Day/Bonus Daily Gam Shot

Angela Green, that figures.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 03/17/2012 2:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Congrats to Wales on winning the Rugby 6 nations Grand-Slam (beat all the other sides)!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/17/2012 12:25 Comments || Top||

#4  Oh, dear lord, BP - don't tell me y'all have to suffer through your own version of March Madness too! :-(

April can't get here soon enough....
Posted by: Barbara || 03/17/2012 13:38 Comments || Top||

#5  There's only 3 seasons in the U.K.

Football, Rugby and Cricket.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/17/2012 14:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Hey, maybe Cameron could recipricate Obama and take him to a cricket match.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/17/2012 17:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Get him out of your hair for 5 days...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 03/17/2012 20:11 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
3 Palestinian Protesters Hurt in W. Bank Clashes with Israeli Army
[An Nahar] A Paleostinian protester was bitten by an Israeli army attack dog during a protest in the West Bank village Kafr Qaddum west of Nablus on Friday, an Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman acknowledged to AFP that a demonstrator was "lightly maimed" by the dog.

"One hundred Paleostinians were hurling rocks at security forces, who used riot dispersal means," she said.

"One Paleostinian was incarcerated for physically assaulting a soldier, and a second was attacked by a dog. He was lightly maimed and treated by army medics at the scene. He did not need to be evacuated to hospital."

The demonstration was against the expropriation of Paleostinian land by Israel.

Activist Jonathan Pollack named the maimed Paleostinian as Ahmad Shtawi, and noted in a statement that, after biting Shtawi, "the dog would not release its hold of the bleeding arm, even as its handler arrived at the scene and tried to order it to do so."

The second Paleostinian incarcerated was Morad Shtawi, who "tried to reason with the commanding officer into releasing the young man. He was then pepper-sprayed and incarcerated as well," Pollack noted.

In a separate West Bank demonstration in the village of Nabi Saleh, an Israeli woman was maimed in the head by a rubber bullet.

According to the army spokeswoman, security forces used rubber bullets to disperse 40 Paleostinians who were throwing stones at them.

"One Israeli woman was lightly maimed by a rubber bullet, she was evacuated by the Red Islamic Thingy."

Pollack noted that two other protesters in Nabi Saleh were maimed, one by a rubber-coated bullet and another by a tear-gas projectile.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority


Arabia
Prominent southern leader denies intentions of returning to Yemen soon
[Yemen Post] Haider Abu Baker al-Atas, a prominent southern leader and former Premier, denied on Thursday what media outlets reported earlier citing an unidentified government official.He dismissed such reports that he intends to come back to Yemen soon as baseless, affirming that it have nothing to do with reality, and asking media outlets to seek accuracy in their news stories and to follow professional journalistic standards.

He further denied that Abdul-Karim al-Eryani, leading figure in the former ruling regime (GPC), had met with him in Germany as a part of an effort to convince him take part in the upcoming national dialogue to kick off soon.

With regards to his return to the leadership of the Yemeni Socialist Party, he said "we don't any longer believe previous thoughts"--perhaps referring to the Socialist principles of social equality--considering what has been reported by the media as an insult to the good relationship with Yassin Saeed Numan, the Socialist Party head.

Al-Aras concluded with urging the southern leaders to work together in order to come up with a common, unified vision to resolve the southern issue.

Southern leaders are still divided in every thing ,with some calling for federalism, others call for complete independence, and some others hold on to the unification.

Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa North
Clashes over Federalism Kill One in Libya
[An Nahar] Clashes pitting backers and opponents of federalism in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi killed one person and maimed at least five on Friday, a medical official said.

"One person was killed and at least five others were maimed," Basma Mohammed told Agence La Belle France Presse.

The chairman of the Supreme Security Committee of Benghazi, Fawzi Wanis, said "matters were brought under control and the festivities between the two sides are over."

But he said there had been no fatalities, only that two people had suffered gunshot wounds and three others had been knifed or stoned.

The violence erupted after hundreds of people demonstrated in favor of federalism, a political project that calls for the division of the country into three self-governed regions, an Agence La Belle France Presse journalist at the scene said.

After Friday prayers, the marchers went to Freedom Square, where Ahmed Zubair Senussi, who is calling for autonomy in the oil-rich east of the country, delivered a speech.

Stones and gunfire were exchanged in festivities between those who favor a federal system of governance and those who, like the ruling National Transitional Council, reject the idea.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Yes, when I read the name Senussi, I thought it sounded very familiar. Sure enough he is the scion of the great family of the East. Those people state their desire to have an autonomous Cyrenaica, but if left to their own devices they would create an Islamist and independent Cyrenaica. The region has a long history of Islamism, and a fierce independence streak. I'd keep an eye out for this whole Cyrenaica question. It's what immediately came to my mind when the Qaddafi regime started unraveling. And, like the article points out, most of the oil would probably fall within the traditional boundaries of Cyrenaica, if not a new "GREATER Islamist Caliphate of Cyrenaica."

From wikipedia:

He is a great-nephew of Idris of Libya, the only king of Libya, and was named after his grandfather Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi.[2][3] Ahmed al-Senussi graduated from the Military Academy of Iraq in 1958[4]. In 1961 he married his wife Fatilah, since deceased.[2]

In 1970, he began planning to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi one year after Gaddafi had seized power in a military coup. Along with his brother and other conspirators, he sought to replace the Gaddafi government and give people a chance to choose between a monarchy or a constitutional republic.[3] He was arrested and sentenced to death; however, in 1988 his sentence was commuted to an additional 13 years incarceration. He stayed in solitary confinement for the first nine years of his sentence and was frequently tortured.[2] He claims that the torture included frequent beatings with sticks, being strung up by his hands and legs, nearly drowned, and having his feet broken.[3] After being let out of solitary confinement, he shared a cell with numerous other prisoners, including Omar El-Hariri. After being transferred to Abu Salim prison in 1984, he learned that his wife had died while he was in captivity.[2] He received a pardon on the 32nd anniversary of Gaddafi taking power.[3] He was held as a political prisoner for 31 years until his release in 2001, making him the longest incarcerated prisoner in modern Libyan history.[5]

On 27 October 2011, the European Parliament chose him with four other Arab people to win Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2011.[6]

On 6 March 2012, Ahmed al-Senussi was announced as the leader of the self-declared Cyrenaica Transitional Council.[7]
Posted by: Kentucky Beef || 03/17/2012 1:57 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Cafe Hillel bomber promotes Global March to J'lem
Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, operative promotes march; protesters from countries surrounding Israel plan to converge on borders.

Senior Hamas terrorist Dr.Abd al-Aziz Amru, released to the Gazoo Strip in the Gilad Schalit prisoner swap, traveled recently to South Africa to advance the Global March to Jerusalem, scheduled for later this month, as detailed in a paper published Friday by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.

Under the plan, protesters from Jordan, Egypt, Gazoo, the West Bank, Syria and Leb will converge on Israel's borders on March 30. As reported earlier this week in The Jerusalem Post, the IDF is preparing for the planned marches and will distribute riot gear to units deployed along the borders.
This article starring:
Abd al-Aziz Amru
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The doc, of course, will probably be in some five star hotel someplace else watching it on Al-Jizz. He's an "idea man"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/17/2012 14:10 Comments || Top||

#2  They can march through Syria.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/17/2012 15:47 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Annan Warns Syria Conflict could Spread, Urges U.N. Unity
[An Nahar] Special 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...
warned of an "escalation" of the Syria conflict into the rest of the Middle East unless it is carefully handled as he called on the U.N. Security Council to unite to put pressure on Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Sonny, disguised as Fredo, trying to be Mike...
Annan gave his warning as Turkey told its nationals to leave Syria where thousands took part in new protests against the government. Activists said at least another 15 people were killed.

The 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 has ordered a team of U.N. experts to Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
this weekend to discuss a possible ceasefire and international monitoring mission, his front man said.

All countries around Syria are worried about fallout from the uprising, Annan told news hounds after briefing a closed session of the U.N. Security Council on the crisis.

"We tend to focus on Syria, but any miscalculation that leads to major escalation will have impact in the region which would be extremely difficult to manage," he told news hounds in Geneva, according to an official transcript.

"The region is extremely concerned about developments in Syria. Their concern goes beyond Syria itself because the crisis can have a serious impact for the whole region if it is not handled effectively."

Turkey Friday strongly urged thousands of nationals to leave Syria because of the "serious security risks" and said it was considering withdrawing its ambassador from Damascus.

Annan told the Security Council he has had a "disappointing" response from Assad so far to his proposals, diplomats at the meeting said.

He appealed to the badly divided council to get behind his mission in a bid to sway Assad.

"The stronger and more unified your message, the better chance we have of shifting the dynamics of the conflict," Annan was quoted as telling the 15-nation council.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Bangladesh
Ex-ISI chief admits funding BNP polls '91
[Bangla Daily Star] Former ISI chief Asad Durrani has admitted funding BNP during the 1991 parliamentary elections.

The admission came during a Pakistain Supreme Court hearing on the spy agency's mandate on Wednesday.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary grilled the former spy boss on Inter Services Intelligence's funding for politicians both in and outside Pakistain.

Recently a UAE-based daily had alleged that ISI paid Rs 50 crore to BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia
Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
ahead of the 1991 elections in which the party won and formed the government.

There are allegations that the ISI has been active in Bangladesh whenever BNP has been in power (1991-96) and later during 2001-06.

The spy agency was also alleged to have launched a campaign from Bangladesh to destabilise the Northeast by patronising and providing logistic support, including funds, to the beturbanned goon groups operating from Bangladesh.

The ISI is alleged to have supported a network in Bangladesh, which includes Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
, BNP and Northeast rebel groups during the BNP's rule.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  In addition to suppor andor funding that whole NE Indjuh separatist insurgency thingy.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/17/2012 0:42 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Jumblat Lays Syria Rebel Flag on Father's Tomb
[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat
... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
on Friday saluted "the deaders of the Arab Syrian revolution which will remain stronger than the tyrants," on the 35th anniversary of the liquidation of his father, Kamal Jumblat.

During a ceremony to commemorate his slain father in Baaqlin, Jumblat stressed the need for "democratic dialogue, no matter how sharp the political debate is in Leb," noting that political quarreling "will get sharper."

"Thirty-five years ago, nature raged and cried for Kamal Jumblat and for the hundreds who were assassinated as result of ignorance, malice and bigotry on that day, and today nature cries and rages again," Jumblat said, referring to the stormy weather in Leb on Friday and to the vengeance killings against Christian residents of Mount Leb in the wake of Kamal Jumblat's liquidation.

"We closed up the wound with (former) Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir" in 2001, Jumblat added, in reference to the reconciliation achieved that year.

Jumblat also announced the end of his dispute with MP Marwan Hamadeh, saying "we closed up the wound."

Speaking at the same ceremony in Baaqlin, his hometown, Hamadeh said "the bullets of the spiteful Syrian regime killed Kamal Jumblat."

"The Druze of Syria are the heroes of the historic unity and the Druze had confronted the dictatorships in Syria," he stressed.

"The Druze of Syria are confronting the conspiracy of detaching them from their environment," Hamadeh said, calling on the Druze community in Syria not to "fall into the trap of the regime."

"The Syrian people will not accept the repetition of another Deir Yassin massacre at the hands of Bashir al-Assad," Hamadeh added.

Earlier on Friday, Jumblat placed the Syrian rebels' flag on the grave of his father in al-Mukhtara.

"After 35 years, this is the day to tell the truth, to myself and to others ... Long live free Syria!" he said after placing the flag.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336093 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Huh. For The King of the Druze thatsa rather strong statement. The wind isn't even changed yet.
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth || 03/17/2012 22:06 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Swiss couple 'escape' from Taliban captivity
[Dawn] A Swiss couple kidnapped from Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
in July last year beat feet from Taliban captivity in North Wazoo, officials said on Thursday.

Olivier David Och and Daniela Widmer were brought to Beautiful Downtown Peshawar by a military helicopter. They were taken to the Corps Headquarters for questioning. They stayed there for some time before leaving for Islamabad.

Officials said that the couple had reported to security forces at the Thall checkpost on Esha-Razmak Road early in the morning. Sources said they had been left at a place some 100 metres from the checkpost.

The sources were not in a position to state with certainty if the couple had really beat feet or they had been 'released'. And if released then on what ground.

The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), which had grabbed credit for their kidnapping from Loralai, were quiet.

Military officials quoted the Swiss nationals as saying that they had beat feet late in the night and reached the checkpost in the Spilga area, about 12 km south of Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...

The couple's claim and the official version could not be verified from independent sources who said that back-channel negotiations had taken place for securing their release.

According to military front man Maj Gen Athar Abbas, the couple stated that they had beat feet from the kidnappers.

Prof Ajmal Khan, the kidnapped vice-chancellor of Peshawar's Islamia College University, indicated in a video released by his captors on March 7 that the government and the TTP had reached a deal for release of the Swiss couple.

Prof Khan, who has been in the Taliban captivity for 18 months, said in the video message that the government had agreed to release 100 imprisoned Taliban in exchange of the Swiss couple's release. Besides, he said, millions of rupees would be paid as ransom.

Having reached Rawalpindi, the couple appeared to be in good health. They were smiling and waving to photographers as they walked through the airbase where the helicopter had landed.

David Och was sporting a beard and wearing Shalwar-Kameez, white cap and joggers. Daniela Widmer was in a light pink shirt and black trousers with a scarf around her neck.

After disembarking from the helicopter, they got into a blue van waiting for them at the Qasim airbase. Swiss embassy officials and security personnel accompanied them when they left for Islamabad.

AFP adds: Officials said they were found at a checkpost in the tribal belt on the Afghan border, but the nature of their release was clouded in mystery and there were claims that they beat feet.

They were seen by journalists for the first time at the Qasim airbase in Rawalpindi where they were not permitted to speak.

Both stepped into a minibus and witnesses later told AFP they were driven away from the airbase with embassy officials.

"They are safe and sound," Major General Athar Abbas
... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General...
told AFP. "They told us that they beat feet and then they reported to our checkpost.

That's what they told intelligence agencies currently debriefing them."

The details surrounding the couple's recovery were unclear and senior Taliban capos could not be reached.

"The Swiss ambassador to Pakistain is in direct contact with them and was satisfied they were not injured and that their health, given the circumstances, is good," the Swiss foreign ministry said in a statement.

The couple were in a safe place and their return to Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
was planned as soon as possible, it said.

Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter thanked the Pak authorities "for their commitment and support in this matter", the ministry said.

In October, a video emerged of the couple -- apparently in relatively good health -- flanked by four masked gunnies pointing rifles at their heads.

Wali-ur Rehman, deputy head of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain that is linked to Al Qaeda, had claimed the kidnapping, telling AFP in July that they were in "a very safe place" and that they were "completely in good health".

According to visas stamped in their passports, the couple arrived in Pakistain from India on June 28.

They entered Balochistan from Punjab and may have been heading for Quetta, possibly en route to Iran, officials in Islamabad have said.

Their blue Volkswagen van was found abandoned in Loralai district.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Website filtering system in the offing
[Dawn] A recent move by Information Communication Technology Research and Development Fund (ICTRDF) of the Ministry of Information Technology has got rights groups worried.

It has called for proposals to install a national level website filtering system which may be used to forward political agendas and curb freedom of expression.

The "National Level URL Filtering and Blocking System (NLUBS)" will help the government block websites systematically, much like the internet censoring methods adopted by Chinese and Soddy Arabian governments, according to one technology expert.

The advertisement calling for proposals to set up such a system was floated by the ICTR&DF on Feb 21 this year. ICTR&D Fund will be funding the project and a telecom regulator will be responsible for its implementation and operation.

The advertisement stated that the blocking system should be able to handle a block list of up to 50 million URLs (website addresses) with a processing delay of not more than one millisecond.

Though a number of questions were sent to the chairman of Pakistain Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Dr Mohammad Yaseen, through email, including for information about the cost of the server, but till filing of this report no response was received from him.

It is pertinent to mention that PTA has already blocked thousands of pornographic websites and those carrying blasphemous content on the orders of lower and high courts.

The government has also blocked some sites for carrying controversial content, including the website of Baloch Liberation Army.

Instances of government interference in internet use in Pakistain have historically affected mainstream websites too. In May 2010, the government blocked the famous social website, Facebook, on the orders of Lahore High Court for carrying
blasphemous content. This ban was, however, overturned within a span of two weeks by the same court with a warning that any repeat of the incident on the social medium website would lead to a permanent ban on it in Pakistain. Despite this, estimates put the number of Facebook users in Pakistain at 50 million.

Based on such history of internet regulation, civil society representatives have expressed concern
...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended...
that installation of any censoring system might lead to filtration of many legitimate and useful sites.

The national convener for the Internet Service Providing Companies, Wahajus Siraj, when asked for comments, said: "Blocking pornographic websites and blasphemous content is a good move and we appreciate it. Even the installation of a filtering system is fair but what guarantee do we have that this filter will not be used by the government to block websites of media houses, political parties and bloggers in the future?"

He added: "Several legitimate sites are already blocked along with pornographic websites because they happened to be hosted on the same servers and there is no mechanism to unblock them."

Prof Pervez Hoodbhoy, currently teaching at Lums, was similarly sceptical and said: "This is an attempt by the government to pressure people's right to information. People know what is good and bad for them when using the internet and don't need regulation."

He asserted that the beauty of internet was the easy access to information from around the globe that it provides, but systems of blocking or filtering certain content give the control of determining what information is useful in the hands of one individual or organization. "This is against the freedom of expression," he declared.

"It should be the choice of an individual to decide how he or she uses the internet, and not the choice of the state or an organization," asserted Prof Hoodbhoy.

International law expert Ahmer Bilal Sufi added: "Pakistain is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which guarantees freedom of expression for the people. And considering the installation of this blocking system, one can say that it is fair but its arbitrary use can be against the freedom of expression."

Asfham Mushtaq, a political blogger, said: "After the installation of this national level filter, political blogging websites that are critical of the government or any critical international research think-tank that publishes reports against the government or its polices will be under threat of being blocked. This will affect our access to varieties of opinions and information."
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Cypriot FM Stresses Oil Deal with Israel Will Not be Modified
[An Nahar] Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis stressed on Friday that her country will not modify its agreement with Israel over the Exclusive Economic Zone, which Beirut and Tel Aviv are bickering over.

"We have already signed a deal with Israel, we would be very happy if Leb and Israel agreed on the matter, which would facilitate implementing our deal with Israel," Kozakou-Marcoullis told As Safir newspaper.

She revealed that Cyprus is seeking to resolve the dispute, saying: "We are optimistic."

An exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is a maritime zone, in which a state has rights over the exploration and use of marine resources.

A prolonged debate emerged between Leb over the maritime border after the discovery of potential offshore energy reserves as both claims a disputed area consists of about 854 square kilometers.

The Israeli map conflicts with Leb's proposed borders, which give the Jewish state less territorial waters and was submitted to the U.N. in 2011.

Beirut argues its map is in line with an armistice accord drawn up in 1949, an agreement which is not contested by Israel.

"We are looking forward for a solution, it doesn't necessary have to be an agreement between the two" as they are in a hostile state, the FM stated.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I would have never known Erato was a woman's name if it were not for this article.
Posted by: bigjim-CA || 03/17/2012 10:20 Comments || Top||

#2  In Greek mythology, Erato /ˈɛrətoʊ/ (Greek: Ἐρατώ) is one of the Greek Muses.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/17/2012 13:23 Comments || Top||

#3  she was the Muse of "published errors"
Posted by: Frank G || 03/17/2012 15:55 Comments || Top||

#4  No, that was Errato.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/17/2012 16:06 Comments || Top||

#5  ahhhh. I stand corrected :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 03/17/2012 17:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Korrected is the Teutonic god of editing.
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 03/17/2012 19:53 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Army Arrests Head of Hermel-based Kidnap Gang
[An Nahar] Army intelligence agents on Friday managed to arrest the chief of the gang that had kidnapped a manager of the dairy company Liban Lait in the Bekaa town of Britel on November 30, which was also behind several other kidnappings.

"Army intelligence agents placed in durance vile Mohammed Fayyad Ismail and some members of his gang in the Bekaa town of al-Qasr," MTV reported.

The gang is based in the Hermel District town of al-Qasr and was responsible for the abduction of a Syrian businessman in the Bekaa town of Barelias in August 2011.

Liban Lait manager Ahmed Zeidan was kidnapped on November 30, 2011 as he entered the company's headquarters in the Baalbek District town of Hawsh Sneid.

The kidnappers demanded a ransom back then, but the army managed in December to rescue Zeidan in a raid on Britel's barren mountains.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
'Carjacker' killed in gunfight with police
[Bangla Daily Star] An alleged mugger was killed in a shootout between police and a gang of carjackers in the capital's Mohammadpur yesterday.

After the fight, police recovered a private car, which had been hijacked last week while carrying an additional DIG of police on Khilji Road in Mohammadpur.

Around 4:00am, a plainclothes team of Mohammadpur police signalled a silver coloured car without registration plate to pull over in front of Allahkarim Jame Mosque at Basila. The vehicle matched the description of the one hijacked from Khilji Road.

"The car, with four youths on board, defied the signal and sped away, prompting the police team to be in its pursuit," said Senior Assistant Commissioner Mashiur Rahman of Detective Branch.

Soon, separate teams of DB and Rapid Action Battalion received calls for backup and joined the chase. The car finally came to a halt when it crashed into a power pole near the Basila Bridge.

Mashiur said the criminals opened fire on the police as soon as they got out of the car, forcing the law enforcers to respond in kind.

Mahmudul Islam, officer in charge of Mohammadpur Police Station, said at least 30 rounds of ammunition were fired during the hour-long shootout.

The law enforcers found one carjacker dead at the scene and recovered a pistol, two knives and a police signal light. The other three hijackers, however, managed to flee the area.

The dear departed, Nazrul Islam, was accused in at least seven cases including four on murder charges, police claimed.

On March 8, Additional DIG Abu Musa Md Fakhrul Islam and some relatives were returning home after visiting a family member at a city hospital. They were stopped on Khilji Road in Mohammadpur by a group of men posing as coppers. After forcing the passengers to exit the vehicle, the gang snatched their valuables and made off with the car.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Eritrea says will not retaliate against Ethiopia
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Eritrea said it will not retaliate after rival neighbour Ethiopia attacked its territory
Prob'ly because they can't, at the moment.
dismissing charges it harbours armed groups against Addis Ababa as a "base and bogus lie."

"It is those who do not know the price of war who are hungry to go to war," Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu told AFP by telephone.

"We fought enough for 30 years, and we will never be dragged into war through such hostile provocations as this."

Ethiopia on Thursday said it attacked Eritrean military bases over the killing of five European tourists on its territory in January, accusing Eritrea of training "hit-and-run terrorists."

Ali said the charges it supported rebel groups were a lie, instead accusing Addis Ababa of carrying out attacks against Eritrea since the end of their bloody 1998-2000 border war, which left at least 70,000 dead.

The two countries remain at odds over a disputed border town, which was handed to Eritrea by a UN-backed boundary commission, but Addis Ababa has refused to acknowledge the ruling.

Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia and won independence in 1993 after a 30-year struggle.

"The regime has been engaged in such aggressive acts for the last ten years," Ali said, speaking in the Eritrean capital Asmara.

"We do not support such groups, as these are the products of Ethiopia's own internal crisis and the result of a policy of exclusion and marginalisation," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Uh, uh, NO CRUISE SHIPS WERE HARMED OR SUNK BY THEIR OWN CAPTAINS DURING THE MAKING OF THIS FILM???

gut nuthin.

* ION TOPIX > [AllAfrica = freed UN Envoy] NIGERIA'S AL-QAEDA TO ESTABLISH 7000-KM WIDE ARABIC CALIPHATE, WARNS OF REGIONAL VIOLENCE IN SOUTHERN ALGERIA.

My, you're a Big Caliphate, aren't ya!?!?

* SAME > TUNISIAN PROTESTORS DEMAND ISLAMIC/SHARIA STATE.

Youse knew they would.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/17/2012 0:58 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
1 dead, eight wounded in Rio Bravo shootout

For a map, click here

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

One unidentified individual was killed and eight others were hurt in a gun battle in Tamaulipas state between armed suspects and a Mexican Army patrol Friday afternoon, according to Mexican news accounts.

A Mexican Army patrol came under small arms fire from armed suspects in Santa Apolonia ejido near gaps leading to the village of Empalme around noon, sparking a three hour gunfight.

Santa Apolonia ejido is near Ciudad Rio Bravo, which is roughly six kilometers due east of Reynosa along Mexico Federal Highway 2, and is about three kilometers south of the US border.

From the reports, it is presumed that four armed suspects were hurt when the vehicle they were travelling in rolled over during a vehicle pursuit.

At the moment it is unknown if the shooting fatality is an armed suspect, or a civilian caught in the crossfire.

Four Mexican Army soldiers were wounded during the gunfight, and required evacuation to a Ciudad Rio Bravo medical clinic.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com
Posted by: badanov || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  When is Chris Covert gonna write a book about all this? I guess it'd have to be Volume 1 since this nasty little war doesn't seem to be even half over yet. But it might be interesting to give a coherent overview of who the players are and their strategies. It's kinda hard to follow in just a series of articles.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 03/17/2012 13:32 Comments || Top||

#2  When is Chris Covert gonna write a book about all this?


Now that is an interesting idea...
Posted by: Steve White || 03/17/2012 20:04 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
North Korea says it will launch long-range rocket
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] North Korea has announced it would launch a long-range rocket next month to put a satellite into orbit, a move that would breach a United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
ban imposed after previous launches.

Blast-off will be between April 12 and 16 to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of founding leader Kim Il-Sung, the communist state's official news agency and state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
said on Friday.

The North's last long-range rocket launch on April 5, 2009, purportedly of a satellite, brought UN Security Council condemnation and a tightening of sanctions.

Pyongyang quit six-party nuclear disarmament talks in protest at the censure and conducted a second atomic weapons test the following month.

Friday's announcement came just 16 days after the North's new leaders agreed to suspend long-range missile tests as part of a deal under which it would receive 240,000 tonnes of US food aid.

That deal, under which Pyongyang also promised to freeze its uranium enrichment plant, had raised hopes of eased tensions under the new leadership.

The North maintains that its satellite launches are for peaceful purposes while the United States and other nations say they are disguised missile tests.

A Unha-3 rocket will launch a home-built polar-orbiting earth observation satellite known as Kwangmyongsong-3, a front man for the Korean Committee for Space Technology said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336084 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Sounds like the military didn't get the memo.
Posted by: gorb || 03/17/2012 0:31 Comments || Top||

#2  don't let it finish the first Orbit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/17/2012 11:30 Comments || Top||

#3  JAPAN repor is once again threatening to shoot it down.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/17/2012 22:05 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Two Rockets Hit Israel as Gaza Truce Firms Up
[An Nahar] Militants in the Gazoo Strip fired two rockets into southern Israel on Friday, officials said, as a fledgling truce in and around the Paleostinian territory firmed up.
Notice the wording. Not that "two rockets were fired and hit Israel," but that two rockets were fired into Israel. No word on how many rockets were fired overall, but past experience suggests one or more rockets landed elsewhere -- whether within Gaza or in Jordan or Egypt will likely ne'er be known.
"One rocket hit an empty field in the Eshkol region, causing no damage or injuries," police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Agence La Belle France Presse.
The firing is more important than the aiming, assuming the things can be aimed...
An additional rocket hit an uninhabited area of the northwestern Negev desert early on Friday morning, according to the Israeli military.

Israel and the Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem 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...
group, which was responsible for much of the rocket fire during a major upsurge in cross-border violence though last weekend, agreed on Tuesday to begin observing an Egyptian-brokered truce.

Since then, 13 rockets hit Israel and another three were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, according to the military.
Clearly, to the Gazans observe means to watch rather than to do.
But despite the exchanges, another major flare-up has so far been avoided, and the violence has returned to its dimensions of the first nine weeks of 2012, in which over 50 rockets and mortars hit Israel.

Schools in several areas of southern Israel, including the main Negev city of Beersheva and the Mediterranean coastal towns of Ashdod and Ashkelon, remained closed as a precaution on Friday.

On Thursday, faceless myrmidons fired five rockets from Gazoo but none caused any casualties.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336081 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Jihad


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
U.S. Concerned about Iranian Flights over Iraq to Syria
[An Nahar] The United States said Friday it is concerned about Iranian cargo flights over Iraq to Syria, saying it has warned Iraq they might contain arms that could be used by Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
to crush protests.

"Without getting into intelligence matters, we are concerned about the overflight of Iraq by Iranian cargo flights headed to Syria," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told news hounds.

"We are consulting with Iraq about them and we are making the point that any export of arms or related materials from Iran, frankly, to any destination would be a violation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1747," she said.

Nuland said the Iraqis were also being told "that any arms sent to the Syrian regime at this time would obviously be used in the brutal repression that the regime is exacting on its own people."

She added: "So we are in consultation with Iraq ... encouraging the government of Iraq to be absolutely sure about any cargo that is overflying its territory."
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336074 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Ain't it grand that we gave up all leverage we had over Iraq just in time for this cluster####?
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 03/17/2012 11:05 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm sure that was the plan, Thing.

Presuming this feckless "Administration" is capable of planning....
Posted by: Barbara || 03/17/2012 13:33 Comments || Top||

#3  So are they concerned about the overflights, presumably approved by Iraq ( without the US's permission. maybe that's what's got Vicki's panties in a wad)) or the possibility of carrying arms?
Vicki don't get to vote about other countries use of their airspace....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/17/2012 20:39 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
India bars Pakistanis from meeting Mumbai attacker
[Dawn] An Indian official says a court has barred a Pak delegation from interviewing the man convicted of the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai and any of the witnesses in his trial.

The delegation came to India to gather evidence for use in the prosecution of seven faceless myrmidons on trial in Pakistain over the attack that killed 166 people.

A court official said an Indian judge told the delegation Friday it would not be allowed to talk to lone surviving gunman Ajmal Kasab or any other witnesses.

The court official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to discuss the closed hearing. The group interviewed the magistrate who recorded Kasab's confession and was to speak to the doctors who autopsied the nine slain attackers.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336076 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russian official: Israel is blackmailing Obama, attack on Iran imminent
Israel will attack Iran this year if a new round of talks scheduled for April fail, a leading Russian newspaper has reported quoting a senior Russian diplomat.

Russian diplomats at the United Nations believe the strike against Iran is “a matter of when, not if”, said the Kommersant daily on Wednesday.

“The attack will be mounted before the end of this year. Israel is blackmailing [U.S. President Barack] Obama by confronting him with a dilemma: either he supports the war option or will lose the support [of the U.S. Jews],” a high-ranking official of the Russian Foreign Ministry told the paper ahead of the U.N. Security Council meeting on Syria on Monday.

After the meeting, the Russian diplomat said the attack could come earlier, any time after April when the six-nation group holds new talks with Iran.

The Kommersant quoted the diplomat as saying that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to warn Iran that the talks were a “last chance for Tehran” to avoid the attack.

The newspaper said a precise date and location for the talks was still being discussed. Iran on Tuesday confirmed that the talks would take place soon and said Turkey had been suggested as the venue.

The coming strike against Iran would save Syria from foreign military intervention, the unnamed Russian diplomat told the Kommersant.

“Americans realize that Israel will attack Iran and it would be too much to have two wars in the region,” the diplomat said explaining Washington’s consent to let U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan pursue his peace efforts in Syria.
Posted by: tipper || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336087 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Israel is blackmailing Obama

Discovered he's not really black---just takes melanin tablets?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/17/2012 2:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Have they not been talking about attacking Iran for years. First stuxnet now banking next the freaking dumb as s will impose a sand embargo!Our leaders are a joke!
Posted by: Spats Big Foot5894 || 03/17/2012 7:32 Comments || Top||

#3  U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had asked Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to warn Iran that the talks were a "last chance for Tehran" to avoid the attack.

If true, that's significant
Posted by: Bill Schwarzeneggar1358 || 03/17/2012 9:26 Comments || Top||

#4  ...either he supports the war option or will lose the support [of the U.S. Jews]...

Technically thatÂ’s extortion not blackmail. But either way itÂ’s bullshit.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/17/2012 10:04 Comments || Top||

#5  "DEFENSIVE" MINDED IRAN WILL PREFER THE US-ISRAEL MAKE THE FIRST MOVE, as Iran's strategy = among other, the US + Israel will be attacking a sovereign Muslim country that officially has no NucWeaps of any kind.

* "JAPAN/EGYPT" MODEL = THERE ARE NO PHYSICAL, OVERT NUCWEAPS OR ARSENAL PER SE, ONLY THE [subjective = debatable]NATIONAL "POTENTIAL" TO QUICKLY PRODUCE SAME IN TIME OF THREAT OR CONTINGENCY.

By most accounts the Bammer is still losing points among mainstream US Voters - even iff the GOP field becomes a "split ticket", as is likely at the way things are going, it may not give the Bammer any advantage oer the GOP 4 = POTUS Candidates. MORESO IFF THE US ECON CONTINUES TO TANK WHILE US DEBT EXPLODES, AS MANY ANALYSTS BELIEVE

Since 3 of the GOP 4 are in favor of Milaction andor strong UN-led Sanctions agz Rising Iran, it is ironically in Iran + Radical Islam's favor to ensure that pro-Diplomacy + UN Sanctions, anti-war Obama de facto wins re-election in US.

"BILL CLINTON II", as per dubious $$$ ME contributions to 2012 re-election coffers.

Will a troubled or cash-short Bammer re-election campaign covertly tow the Iran line on nukes, + by extension the similar agendums of Nuke-happy, post-"Arab Spring" Islamist Govts throughout the ME???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/17/2012 22:47 Comments || Top||

#6  TOPIX > [Buzzflash]NETANYAHU'S REAL GOAL IS NOT BOMBING IRAN, BUT DEFEATING OBAMA.

OH THE BOMB-MANITIES!
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/17/2012 23:21 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Libya dismantles trafficking ring
[Bangla Daily Star] Libyan security forces said on Thursday they had dismantled a human trafficking network smuggling undocumented Democrats from Bangladesh and Somalia.

Hussein al-Sahli, who headed the investigation, said five members of the network were tossed in the clink at a farm on the outskirts of the eastern city of Benghazi, where 52 people were being held captive.

"The network was bringing undocumented Democrats across the Egyptian-Libyan border with the help of Libyan drivers and the owner of the farm," he said.

The gang lured its victims with promises of safe passage and employment opportunities in the North African nation only to kidnap them in the hope of obtaining ransom payments from their relatives, he added.

The ring leader, a Bangladeshi, confessed to bringing more than 200 undocumented Democrats from his country in the past three months.

Sahli said the Libyan farmer would pay the smugglers to use the Somalis as slaves.

Meanwhile,
...back at the sea battle, the Terror of the Baltic's career had come to an abrupt and watery end...
state news agency LANA reported that revolutionary brigades jugged 150 illegal Somali immigrants in Tajura, a coastal suburb near the capital.

For years, Libya has been a destination and a transit country to European shores for hundreds of thousands of African immigrants.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1  Was there any sign of democrats stuck to the rear end of sheep when authorities arrived on scene?
Posted by: Galactic Coordinator Thens9432 || 03/17/2012 7:24 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria activists urge intervention as Annan briefs powers
[Dawn] Activists called for rallies across Syria on Friday to demand "immediate military intervention" as UN-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...
prepared to brief the divided UN Security Council on his peace efforts.

Gulf Arab states announced they were following Riyadh's lead in closing their Damascus
...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world...
embassies in protest at the violence, which monitors said Thursday on the first anniversary of its outbreak has cost more than 9,100 lives.

Activists called on their Facebook page, Syrian Revolution 2011, for nationwide protests after weekly Moslem prayers to demand "immediate military intervention by the Arabs and Moslems, followed by the rest of the world."Huge rallies in support of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
were held in Damascus and other major cities on Thursday to mark the anniversary.

But numbers have fallen at anti-regime demonstrations as security forces seize protest centres such as Idlib in northwest Syria after heavy shelling and bloody assaults.

With the opposition divided, Western countries have been opposed to military intervention although Qatar and Soddy Arabia, Assad's fiercest critics in the Arab world, have come out in favour of arming the rebels.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Bangladesh
5 robbers killed in 'shootout'
[Bangla Daily Star] At least five dacoits including two ringleaders of robbery gangs were killed in a "shootout" with Rapid Action Battalion personnel in Morabhola canal of the Sundarbans yesterday.
Oh, not in the canal! Oh wait. Where?
It's the Sundarbans. One must choose between the man-eating crocodiles, the man-eating tigers, or the dacoits. This time the dacoits lost.
The dead are
a bunch of bad boyz you're not going to remember tomorrow...
ringleaders Jihad, 40, and Sohag Farazi, 35, Al-Amin, 30, Asadul Boyati, 32, and Belal, 30, of different villages in Rampal and Sharonkhola upazilas.
So not only can't you find the upazilas on any decent map, you certainly won't find the villages therein...
The law enforcers also recovered 11 arms including a single barrel shotgun, three rifles, one pistol and two airguns and 250 bullets from the spot.
But no shutter-gun?
Acting on a tip-off,
Mahmoud the Weasel collects another ten-spot...
a joint team of Rab-8 and Rab headquarters led by Maj Sabbir Rahman Osmani conducted a drive at the canal under Sharankhola range of the mangrove forest
Not a banana plantation?
It's a jungle out there, bud.
around 9:00am, said Rab.
Does the RAB get double-time for anything after 6 am?
RAB men work for the cool uniforms and the cooler sunglasses. And the glory -- definitely the glory. What need have such men for time-and-half for overtime?
The Rab team for the first time in such a drive used a chopper
You think 'helicopter' but I suspect a bladed device...
to trace the robbers promptly, mentioned Maj Sabbir.

Spider senses tingling at the proximity of the law enforcers, the dacoits opened fire on them.
The dacoits couldn't hit the broad side of a mangrove forest, of course...
The Rab members retaliated
As they were honor-bound to do...
triggering the hour-long "shootout."
"Hey Sarge, can we stop the shootout? It's been an hour already!"
"Yeah, the local donut-eaters have had enough practice. Wrap it up."
At one stage the gang members were forced to retreat.
As if they'd never been there in the first place...
The Rab men then searched the spot
"Which spot?"
"THAT spot. And that one. And that one. And that one. And that one over there."
and found the five dead bodies.
Right where they left them...
A team of Sharankhola police reached the scene at noon
Well after the RAB boys were back home and snug in their beds...
and had been on their way back to Sharankhola with the bodies and recovered arms.
The RAB doesn't bother to collect mere dacoits, saving their effort for Purba Bangler commies at the minimum...
Police sources said at least nine 10 gangs in the area are currently involved in abducting fishermen for ransom and looting their valuables.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336079 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
'Taliban letter': Mansehra police put on alert
[Dawn] Police have been put on high alert after alleged letter from Taliban threatened attacks on coeducational schools and non-governmental organizations in Mansehra
...a city and an eponymous district in eastern Khyber-Pakthunwa, nestled snug up against Pak Kashmir, with Kohistan and Diamir to the north and Abbottabad to the south...
district.

"We are not yet certain about the origin of the letter asking people to act against the NGOs, CD and video centres and schools where boys and girls were taught together, but we have put the police on high alert in the district," said district police officer Ijaz Ahmad Khan on Thursday.

He confirmed that he had also received a copy of the letter and a man was being questioned about it. He said that the language and style of the piece apparently didn't match with threatening letters sent by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar and other parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
, but precautionary measures were being taken to cope with the threat.

The letter, a copy of which was also obtained by this correspondent, is addressed to public asking them to rise against NGOs, CD centres, mobile shops and coeducational schools or face explosive attacks.

"If you failed to rise against these evils within 10 days of the letter, we would launch our action," it warned.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336077 views] Top|| File under: TTP


A day after operation; 12 non-combatants found dead in Bara
[Dawn] People of Sipah area in Bara tehsil on Thursday found bodies of 12 non-combatants, including factory workers, who were killed during the security forces' crackdown on turbans, while three succumbed to critical wounds, it is learnt.

Sources told Dawn that most bodies were found in Yousuf Talab area, where security forces imposed curfew on Wednesday before the start of the crackdown.

They said some died after being buried alive under the debris of houses damaged by artillery shelling, while others were killed in crossfire while running for safe places.

Sources said Khiyal Mohammad, Riaz's eight-year-old son and Bashar Khan's small son, who suffered critical injuries, dies on Thursday, while Hikmat Kamarkhel, Shamim Kamarkhel, Janat Khan, Bashar Khan, Samiullah Kamarkhel, Niaz Bahadar and his wife, Meera Baz's grandson, boy Sheenai, Khan Gul, Kaki Jan and an unidentified person were among those whose bodies were found in the day. Dawn

Locals, who spoke to on condition of anonymity, said boy Sheenai was picked up by security forces Wednesday evening before his body was found in Yousuf Talab area next morning.

When contacted, the relevant officials didn't reveal how many snuffies were killed in the crackdown. However,
you can observe a lot just by watching...
locals put the tally at six.

It is also learnt that security forces on Thursday placed in durance vile at least 90 people, mostly in Yousuf Talab, Jansi, Speen Qabar and Mandai Kas areas.

Locals said suspected snuffies were seen moving out of these areas in large numbers towards Spera Dam, Akkakhel and Qambar Khel hours before the start of the Wednesday operation.

They also said many families left their areas for safer places during operation, while many more followed suit after curfew was relaxed for some hours on Thursday morning to let people shift the injured to hospitals.

In another incident, two suspected snuffies were killed and four injured, while three of their hideouts were destroyed when gunship helicopters targeted them in Ghaibi Neeka area of Sipab in Tirah Valley on Thursday.

Meanwhile,
...back at the bake sale, Umberto's Mom's cannoli were a big hit...
security force on Thursday placed in durance vile six suspected snuffies during a search operation in Warr Mamond tehsil, according to local political tehsildar Farmosh Khan. Dawn

Mr Farmosh told that the operation was begun in the wake of Wednesday's bomb kaboom, which killed five pro-government rustics in Warr Mamond.

He said security forces began search operation in various parts of the region and that sniffer dogs were also used for the purpose.

Sources said the placed in durance vile men were shifted to Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location for interrogation.

Local administration imposed curfew in Warr Mamond for the search operation.

Also in the day, security forces seized a large quantity of weapons, missiles and explosives and placed in durance vile three suspected snuffies during a search operation in Loe Mamond tehsil.

Bajaur Scouts commandant Colonel Shakil Janjua told news hounds that security forces backed by local peace committees conducted search operation in Lara Banda, Bara Banda, Niag Banda and others areas of the region.

He said the seized weapons included dozens of AK-47 rifles, a dozen Russian missiles, 20 mortar shells, 10 rocket launchers, four 14.5MM guns, bombs, boom jackets and thousands of live rounds.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336071 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami


Afghanistan
Obama, Karzai reaffirm plans on security transition
[Dawn] President Barack Obama
I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody...
and 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...
on Friday reaffirmed plans for Afghan cops to take the lead in combat operations next year and assume full responsibility for security across Afghanistan by the end of 2014, the White House said.

"The two leaders also discussed President Karzai's recent reiteration of his longstanding concerns regarding night raids and house searches and recommitted to conclude ongoing negotiations on a memorandum of understanding to resolve those concerns," the White House said in a summary of phone call between the two leaders.

It said they also agreed to hold further discussion about Karzai's concerns about the presence of 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...
troops in Afghan villages. Tensions have ratcheted up since the killing of 16 Afghan civilians by a US soldier.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336098 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Meanwhile, Khyber Fans, ....

* TOPIX > IRAN GENERAL URGES AFGHANS TO FIGHT US.

ARTIC > Deputy Chief of Iran JCS Gen. Masoud Jazayeri = US MUST EXPERIENCE THE BITTER TASTE OF REVENGE SUCH THAT AMERS WILL BELIEVE THEY + AMER INTERESTS ARE NOT SECURE IN ANY PART OF THE REGION.

"Afghans to open up new fronts agz obsolete, worn-out American Empire" > IRAN ALREADY "LAYING OUT THE BATTLEFIELD(S)/BATTLESPACE" VEE POSSIBLE FUTURE US-IRAN WAR???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/17/2012 23:16 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Qaeda suspects kidnap Swiss woman: Yemeni officials
[Dawn] Suspected al-Qaeda hard boyz have kidnapped a Swiss woman and are holding her in the southeastern province of Shabwa, a provincial chief and a security official told AFP on Friday.

"A Swiss woman was kidnapped in Hodeida (on the Red Sea coast) by gunnies who moved her to Shabwa province," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"According to our information, al-Qaeda is responsible for the abduction,"he added.

According to the official, the kidnappers are "demanding the release of two Al-Qaeda hard boyz jugged in Hodeida." He gave no further details.

A security official also blamed al-Qaeda for the abduction.

"The kidnapping bears the hallmark of al-Qaeda," he told AFP.

According to him, only a well-organised group like al-Qaeda could have undertaken such an operation, which involved abducting the woman in Hodeida and then moving her across three provinces to Shabwa.

Shabwa is a stronghold of loyalists of the jihadists' local affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, whose hard boyz fight under the banner of Partisans of Sharia.

The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed that a Swiss national was kidnapped in Yemen, in a statement released on Friday.

The identity of the victim was not revealed but the Swiss foreign ministry said they were informed of the abduction late Wednesday and immediately made contact with competent authorities in Yemen.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336107 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


India-Pakistan
KP issues security directives to NGOs, foreigners
[Dawn] The Government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
on Friday issued fresh security directives to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their foreign employees.

According to the memo issued by the provincial home ministry department, representatives of the NGOs and foreigners have to take prior approval at least two weeks before entering the province.

The memo said that the measures were being taken to provide security to the foreigners.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  I'd bet they'd be real secure if they just said "Screw Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa" and decided to go home.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/17/2012 14:16 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Iran's American Footprint
Standing before the audience of more than 13,000 people who attended AIPAC's policy conference last week, President B.O. stressed that an Iranian nuclear weapon posed a threat of the highest order.
 
"A nuclear-armed Iran is completely counter to Israel's security interests. But it is also counter to the national security interests of the United States," he said, a line that earned him not only a standing ovation from the crowd, but the lead of a Tom Friedman column.
 
Following the AIPAC speech, Friedman wrote in The New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
: "The only question I have when it comes to President B.O. and Israel is whether he is the most pro-Israel president in history or just one of the most."
 The combination of Mr. Friedman and the New York Times: not additive or multiplicative, but the square root of their meaningfulness.
Obama also offered, at AIPAC and elsewhere, a string of reasons for concern. They range from sparking an arms race in the Middle East to the disruption of the world's energy supply to passing nuclear material to a terrorist group or to at the very least giving them a protective shield for increasing that terrorist activity.
 
These arguments, though, often come across as cerebral and distant threats to the American public. But on Tuesday a member of the US military was raising another concern on Capitol Hill: Iran's increasing influence in Latin America, a base that is decidedly closer to the US homeland.
 
As Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander of the US Southern Command, noted, it is also a region where Tehran has a growing diplomatic presence and its proxies Hizbullah and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, are exploiting ties to narco mobs to find sources of revenue, launder money and carry out other nefarious activities.
 
Planning and executing terror attacks, in either South or North America, aren't out of the question. And Iran's military relationship with Venezuela also poses proliferation challenges, among other issues.
 
Fraser's testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee is just the latest in a string of statements from inside and outside of the government, from Democrats and Republicans alike, about Iran's role in the Western Hemisphere.
 
In addition to several other hearings that have focused on the issue, a bill is now making its way through Congress which would require the administration to report on the state of Iran's activities in South America. Meanwhile,
...back at the scene of the crime, Lieutenant Queeg had an idea: there was a simple way to tell whether Manetti had been the triggerman -- just look at his shoes!...
think tanks and advocacy groups are touching on the issue with increasing frequency, often with the implication that an Iranian reach into Latin America brings the United States itself within ever closer range.
 
There are, of course, still differences of opinion about how seriously to take this role and what its policy implications are. The American Enterprise Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies have issued dueling reports on the topic. Predictably, the AEI study raises the alarm while the CSIS take on it cautions against over-estimating the threats.
 
Whatever the shoe size, the cumulative effect of this flurry of focus on Iran's toehold in the hemisphere makes the link between Iran and America much closer than the 10,000-kilometer gap across an ocean would suggest. That makes the threat a more present danger for Americans, who might otherwise assume the risk is far from US shores. That in turn will affect the debate that surrounds what action to take.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who left Americas back door open anyway? Who got duped and who were the real fools?
Posted by: Heriberto Clelet3637 || 03/17/2012 7:51 Comments || Top||

#2  The real "fools" attended Mack Wilbourne's little soiree here in Atlanta on Thursday. I snuck in, posing as a member of a catering team. I wasn't able to get a handshake, but I did touch the hem of his garmet.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/17/2012 9:18 Comments || Top||

#3  When I think of Iranians in NA, back in the 1980s there were so many inimical factions that it utterly divided their numbers. So I imagine that even today, were US counterintelligence to recruit among Iranians in the US to work against the regime, any regime supporter who showed up would be quickly identified and narked out.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/17/2012 9:46 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Changing trends in sectarian killings
[Dawn] Ateeq Hanif's three sons are between seven years and six months old. An activist of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain
...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts...
(SSP), one of several krazed killer outfits banned in 2002, Ateeq along with Shabbir Wakeel, another SSP worker, was murdered in mid-February while returning home after visiting friends in Gol Market, Nazimabad. Four men on two cycle of violences rode up and fired at them several times, killing Shabbir on the spot while Ateeq, who was shot in the face, died later in hospital.

In his sparsely furnished home in Gulbahar locality, his brother-in-law Mohammad Zahir spoke about the threats that preceded Ateeq's murder. "He would get phone calls threatening him with death if he didn't stop working for the SSP," he said. "But he'd been affiliated with the organization for 20 years and there was no way he was going to give that up. He kept varying his routine, and although he was told by his doctor to go for a walk every day, he couldn't do that."

Mr Zahir has no doubt who is responsible for his brother-in-law's murder. "He was afraid of rival krazed killers, and they're the ones who took his life."

In another part of 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...
, in a Shia graveyard called Ali Bagh, Mohammad Hasan points at two adjacent graves -- those of his brothers, Mohammad Hussain, 39, and Ali Akbar, 30.

On the night of July 23, 2011 the two men were rubbed out by gunnies close to the entrance to the graveyard. "I had gone fishing to Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
with my friends," says Mr Hasan. "Otherwise I would definitely have been with them."

His father was caretaker of Ali Bagh at the time, and the family lived in a house on the premises. When his parents heard the shots ring out they rushed outside to discover one son dead and two others grievously maimed. One of them died later in hospital while the eldest recovered. He has since left the country.

"Our family had been living there for over 50 years and had never received any direct threats, although every Friday from a nearby mosque, we'd hear sermons saying how even shaking hands with us is haram," says Mr Hasan. "All we know is that my brothers had no enmity with anyone, and the only possible reason for their murder is that we're Shias."

In Bloody Karachi, where ethnic and political rivalries -- often indistinguishable from each other -- claim lives on a regular basis, sometimes in horrific orgies of bloodletting such as that in August 2011, people like Ateeq Hanif, Shabbir Wakeel, Mohammad Hussain and Ali Akbar are casualties of sectarian killings, another deadly game of tit-for-tat that shows no signs of abating.

These are not large-scale massacres such as the recent one in Kohistan
...a backwoods district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa distinguished by being even more rustic than is the norm among the local Pashtuns....
that claimed the lives of 18 Shias, but low-key, targeted operations carried out in the middle of bustling localities and busy streets.

According to the police, the main players in this sectarian vendetta are the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain (SSP) -- later called Ahle-Sunnat-Wal-Jamaat (ASWJ) after the SSP was banned a decade ago -- and Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistain (SMP), a proscribed group of activists belonging to various larger Shia organizations. As of March 10 this year, the ASWJ has also been banned.

Until 2008, the victims were largely Shia. However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
the past two years have seen a sharp rise in the number of SSP activists also getting killed in Bloody Karachi.

According to official police records, 19 Sunnis -- virtually all SSP activists -- and 13 Shias were killed in Bloody Karachi last year on sectarian grounds. However,
it's easy to be generous with someone else's money...
the total number of murdered SSP activists cited by the organization itself is twice as high. The same is the case with the Jaffria Alliance which maintains a record of Shias killed on sectarian grounds. Police officials concede that their own list may well be incomplete.

Representatives of the SSP and Jaffria Alliance deny the allegation that any of its cadres are involved in sectarian killings.

'All they need are two pistols and a motorbike'

Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations), CID, Fayyaz Khan says: "In most cases, the perpetrators operate in small splinter groups of four or five. They don't need an organization per se; all they need are two pistols and a motorbike. They fund their operations through bank robberies and kidnapping." At the same time, maintains another police official, they remain in constant touch with their parent organizations.

Several senior members of the SSP are veterans of the Afghan war and received training in camps affiliated with or run by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The organization allegedly continues to maintain close links with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ...
(LJ), its proscribed krazed killer offshoot which is held responsible for some of the most heinous sectarian attacks in Pakistain including the massacre of 26 Shia pilgrims in Mastung in 2011. In the words of a police official, "Given that SSP gives financial support to families of LJ gun-hung tough guys who are in jail, or have been killed while carrying out acts of terrorism, what else can you infer from that?"

On the other side of the sectarian divide, a dozen or more SMP activists were tossed in the clink in the mid-2000s, according to police sources, prompting several others to go underground within the country while some slipped abroad. According to the police sources, these krazed killer cadres have regrouped somewhere in Parachinar. Some have allegedly also been to training camps -- known as maaskars -- in a neighbouring country. A group of four tossed in the clink recently is under trial for eight or so cases of murder of SSP activists.

The profile of Shia victims of sectarian killings in Bloody Karachi has also changed in recent times, say police sources, with most now being rank-and-file members of society rather than prominent or comparatively high-profile professionals. "The group led by Asif Ramzi, an LJ krazed killer, used to target professionals almost exclusively," says a police official. "After his death in an kaboom in 2002, ordinary Shias began to be targeted more. Shia gun-hung tough guys on the other hand tend to target SSP activists whom they view as a direct threat." SSP Khan adds that the arrest of notorious LJ leader Akram Lahori, also in 2002, had the same effect.

The police official sees little prospect of a decline in sectarian murders. "We catch four sectarian faceless myrmidons and they tell us about another eight, and so on. It's like a hydra-headed monster."

Meanwhile,
...back at the ranch, Butch and the Kid finally brought their horses under control...
the slain SSP activist Ateeq Hanif's brother-in-law, Mohammad Zahir, talks about how his family has changed since the murder. "Even though we're Deobandi and staunch supporters of the SSP, my kids have been studying in a school run by a Shia welfare organization. Ateeq objected to my sending them there, but I didn't listen to him. Now, my wife and I believe that he was right, and we're going to take them out."

Mr Hasan, whose two brothers were killed in the Ali Bagh graveyard last summer, narrates how his aged father still cannot come to terms with the loss of his sons. "Every morning, as per routine, he calls out for them to come down and join him for breakfast." The killers have never been caught and a sense of fear pervades their lives. "We don't know whether the person greeting us is our well-wisher or is planning to kill us," he says. "We can't trust any one any longer."
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian security forces 'warn Palestinian camp
Not Ein al-Hilweh, for a wonder.
(Ma'an) -- Sources in Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
say Syrian security forces threatened to raid the Yarmuk refugee camp due to Fatah's alleged support of demonstrations against Syrian leader Bashir al-Assad.

"Yarmuk is not more precious than (Homs neighborhood) Baba Amro, and it will be raided if the demonstrations which Fatah movement organizes" continue, a security agent was quoted as saying.

Syrian security forces have jugged a number of Fatah members: Ayman Juda Abu Ala, public action official in Yarmuk, Jihad Abu Yusef, Abdul Wahed Kherma, Firas Tahmaz, and Amjad Sadya.

The claims could not be independently verified from outside the country, but Syrian forces have at times harshly attacked Paleostinians over the course of an uprising against Assad's regime. In August, a bloody campaign against the coastal town of Latakia killed dozens of Paleostinians.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: Fatah

#1  Popcorn
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/17/2012 2:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Have secured a stick puppet for our world leaders so they can better understand their enemy. Will be sending a man in leather chaps and lipstick along also they will like that!
Posted by: Herman and Company2907 || 03/17/2012 7:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Extra butter with that, grom? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 03/17/2012 10:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Jalapeno jelly.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/17/2012 13:16 Comments || Top||

#5  I make homemade jalapeno jelly, grom - I'll use that. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 03/17/2012 13:40 Comments || Top||

#6  Oooh, Ill have some.
When they get pissed off, nobody's better at absolutely slaughtering Palestinians then their Arab "brothers"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/17/2012 14:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Well, Papa Assad did show an effective, if cruel, way of dealing with Islamists - didn't he kill like 10000 people in Homs?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 03/17/2012 15:19 Comments || Top||


Army Demands Ein el-Hellhole Paleos at Hand over Head of 'Takfiri' Network
[An Nahar] The army intelligence bureau in the South demanded the Paleostinian factions and the Islamic parties in Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp to detain Abu Mohammed Toufiq Taha and hand him over to the Lebanese judiciary, As Safir newspaper reported on Friday.

"The issue is very dangerous and the army can't allow anyone to manipulate its security," a security source told the newspaper.

Abu Mohammed is the head of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, who is accused of planning attacks against the Lebanese army.

He resides in the Ein el-Hellhole Paleostinian refugee camp near the southern city of Sidon but his whereabouts are unknown.

Paleostinian sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper that director of the Lebanese Army Intelligence in the South Brig. Ali Shahrour contacted the Paleostinian forces in the refugee camp.

He demanded them to hand over Abu Mohammed "immediately," or the army will be forced to take new procedures near the refugee camp.

The army had boosted its security measures near Ein el-Hellhole during the past few days.

The Lebanese army had discovered a "takfiri"
...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...
network in which two soldiers, allegedly involved in the cell, had planned to carry out attacks against the army.

The army jugged a group that consists of six people, who are affiliated with the Abdullah Azzam Brigades -- al-Qaeda network, as the army is seeking to arrest the head of the network.

State commissioner to the military court Judge Saqr Saqr charged the six Lebanese suspects with the attempt to "carry out terrorist acts and operations against the Lebanese army."
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336083 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Be nice if they handed over his actual head...
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/17/2012 13:57 Comments || Top||

#2  they would if it was a Sam Peckinpah movie
Posted by: Frank G || 03/17/2012 15:15 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Legitimate criticism
[Dawn] UNHAPPY with the criticism directed at the Pakistain Army in recent days, Gen Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
has been quoted in a section of the media as having said that the morale of the troops is being affected. This on the same day that a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry suggested that Pakistain's intelligence agencies were overstepping their domain and the National Assembly passed a unanimous resolution calling for fresh legislation to regulate the role and function of the intelligence and security agencies. To the extent that Gen Kayani was referring to the heroic efforts of Pak soldiers in fighting militancy in harsh and unforgiving terrain being undermined by the perceived lack of public support for the Pakistain Army, he may have a point. In an extremely tough fight against a tenacious foe, the army chief is right to call on the country to pull together.

However,
the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything...
from the context and substance of Gen Kayani's remarks it appears the military chief is upset by what ought to qualify as very legitimate criticism of the army and its intelligence arms: the issue of the disappearances and deaths of dissidents, the ISI's unconstitutional and illegal role in politics, and the army's behind-the-scenes influence on the democratic process. This is unfortunate. History hangs heavy over the Pakistain Army. For decades, it has directly and indirectly influenced the direction of the state far beyond its official remit and treated all other institutions, be it parliament or the superior judiciary, as subordinate. To criticise the army leadership when it overreaches and to demand accountability of those who have violated the constitution and the law of the land is to rise to the defence of democracy and constitutional order, not to undermine the institution.

Perhaps Gen Kayani should reflect on events over the full course of his tenure as army chief so far, and not just the recent past. After becoming COAS he withdrew the army from a direct and decisive role in politics and refocused the institution under his command on its core duty: protecting the territorial integrity and illusory sovereignty of Pakistain from external and internal threats. And for that Gen Kayani was praised by the very sections of the media and society that he is now criticising. What changed is that controversies like 'memogate' and the emergence of the Difaa-e-Pakistain Council on the political front were matched by failures like May 2 and the PNS Mehran attack on the security front. When the army does the job it is mandated to do, the country salutes it. When it dabbles in areas outside its constitutional domain, it rightfully attracts criticism.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Two girls saved from Vani
[Dawn] Noor Shah police on Thursday foiled marriage of two minor girls under the Vani tradition in 71/4-R village (Jhoke Sanwal).

Police also locked away nine people, including two bridegrooms, their father and the man who had been called to solemnise the marriage.

Shah Baig (27) and Zafar (25) were being married to Musarrat (7) and Janat (6), respectively, when the police reached the scene and locked away nine of those involved.

Noor Shah SHO Rana Iftikhar told Dawn the police reached the scene before the marriages were solemnised and locked away nine people, including bridegrooms Baig and Zafar, their father Naik Muhammad, brides' grandfather Bashir Ahmed, relatives Zulaikha and Fazal, marriage solemniser Maula Bakhsh and car drivers Mansha and Ashraf.

An FIR (100/12) was registered against them under Section 310-A of the Pakistain Penal Code on Thursday evening and those locked away were put in the lockup at the cop shoppe.

Jhok Sanwal resident Allahdad, Janat's father and Musarrat's uncle, killed his wife three years ago and fell in love with Pathani Bibi of Kalyani village near Tandlianwala in Faisalabad district when he was an absconder in the murder case of his wife. Allahdad and Pathani eloped two months ago and got married, but no one knows about there whereabouts. Pathani's family took up the issue with Allahdad's family and a Panchayat (local council) was called in Tandlianwala to settle the issue.

The local council asked Bashir Ahmed to give the hand of his two minor granddaughters to Pathani's brothers as compensation for Allahdad's act and both parties agreed on this arrangement. March 15 was fixed to solemnise the marriages, but someone informed the police and the plan was disrupted.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336072 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Saleh demands his foes leave Yemen
[Yemen Post] Former Yemeni President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
demanded that his tribal and military foes leave the country based on an agreement struck in May last year in Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi's, the current President, house.

Saleh stipulated that he would not leave the country unless ten of his prominent opponents leave as well. Chief among his opponents are Ali Mohsen al-Hmar, a key military general and his cousin who defected against him and pledged support to the revolution, and Sadeq al-Hmar, Hashed tribal confederation chief, whose supporters were involved in a fierce war against Saleh's loyal forces in May last year before he [ Saleh] was badly maimed in an liquidation attempt.

He said Yemen can not restore stability and security as long as the elements of the one-year political impasse stay in the country. The GCC-brokered deal signed in the Saudi capital of Riyadh did not include such stipulation.

Media outlets reported Thursday citing a high-ranking government official that Saleh is trying to spoil the GCC-initiated accord as he is well know for his adept political maneuvering and not honoring his words. After exhausting every trick, Saleh signed power transfer deal in the Saudi capital of Riyadh in exchange for immunity from prosecution. However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
he appears unable to get that his days in power are over. Even though he surrendered power, his relatives and aides still hold key military and governmental posts.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336070 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
After Annan's failure
[Dawn] BY rejecting Kofi Annan's
...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...
"concrete proposals", Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
has slammed the door on a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis. As a representative of the Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
and the United Nations
...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country...
, the former secretary-general had proposed negotiations as a solution. But the president said he would not talk to "terrorists". There are reasons why Mr Assad thinks he will be able to ride out the storm. The bastion of his power is the army, and by and large it is loyal to him. There have been individual defections in large numbers, but there have been no wholesale defections by units. In fact, the defeat inflicted on the rebels in Homs and more recently in Idlib would not have been possible if the army high command and the rank and file had not acted with the ruthlessness that was required. A Libya-like foreign intervention is out of the question for a country that is Israel's neighbour, and Jordan and Turkey have refused to enforce no-fly zones in given areas.

The president now wants to hold a general election on May 7, and for the first time it will be a multi-party affair. The election will be held on the basis of a modified constitution the government said was approved in February in a referendum. However,
some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go...
the opposition calls it a hoax and has pledged continued resistance. The result is unabated slaughter and widespread human misery. The number of refugees, including the internally displaced, has crossed 50,000, while the overall corpse count has risen to over 9,000. In this anarchy it will be extremely difficult for the Baathist regime to hold an election that would be accepted by the international community as transparent and reflective of the Syrian people's preferences. The only choice the president has is to invite Arab and other international observers to monitor the electoral process and call off the crackdown. Without an end to the fighting, it is difficult to see how those willing to cast their votes will go to the polling stations in numbers large enough to make the election results appear credible.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336066 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  After Annan's failure

Which one was that?
Posted by: Phil_B || 03/17/2012 11:55 Comments || Top||

#2  True. But at least the man's consistent...
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/17/2012 14:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Comes Ban-ki Moon's.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 03/17/2012 17:15 Comments || Top||

#4  a man's gotta know his limitations
Posted by: Frank G || 03/17/2012 17:39 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Check box religion
[Dawn] Know thy box. I mean do you know what box your faith can fit into? You better check that out or you won't be able to vote in general elections. You need to fill out Form IV to register yourself as a voter and if an enumerator has already luckily knocked at your door he would have filled Form 1 and 2 for your family. These and all other forms of the Election Commission include an array of check boxes titled Mohammedan, Hindu, Christian etc. You can't help but fit yourself into one of these and in case of any confusion or hesitation you are awarded a liberal 'Others' box as well.

If you are a Hindu or a Christian your checked box is believed in as such. But if you are a Mohammedan you have to prove it. Don't worry; you won't be asked to walk on fire nor would you need to recite anything from your Islamiat text book. No, not even your deeds or character matter. The procedure has been simplified. All you need to do is sign or thumb impress a special For-Mohammedans-Only Oath declaring that you are not an Ahmadi. If you are not an Ahmadi, you are a Mohammedan for the purpose of and to the satisfaction of the state of Pakistain. All those who sign the Oath can take pride in being constitutionally declared Mohammedans besides being registered voters of the same status. [Reminder: Ahmadis were declared non-Mohammedans through the Fourth Constitutional Amendment in 1974].

Hey, but wait a minute. Why would the Election Commission need to know what religion I believe in? Don't we have joint electorate system where everybody from an area votes for the same set of contestants?

Yes, we currently have the joint system but we have, over time, experimented quite a lot with representation of non-Mohammedans in elected Houses. It has been a debate in this country from day one but the calls for separating voters and contestants on the basis of religion were resisted till Gen Zia's time. The electoral circus of 1985 was the occasion when finally the religious right was granted its long standing wish and this system remained unchanged for the following four elections as well. It took us another general, the puppy-loving, singing and dancing type this time, to revert to the joint electorate system.

The Commission was overwhelmed by the reversal order of 2002 and when it started the campaign to update the voter lists in November 2003, it dropped the column on religion from its Forms and also the For-Mohammedans-Only Oath; soon to be reminded, rather rudely, that it had misread the situation. The 'enlightened' Order issued by President Musharraf in January 2002 was 'moderated' in June declaring that notwithstanding the joint electorate system the status of Ahmadis shall remain the same. This moderation was ostensibly mediated by some visitors to the Presidency with the right length of beards.

The President's words were there but still the poor Commission could not comprehend the utility of those check boxes. The guardians of our faith actually had to seek support of the court to make known who was in charge of matters related to religion over here. A petition in Lahore High Court challenged in January 2004, the Commission's decision to do away with the oath and the column on religion. Soon the Oath made a proud come back followed by a victory march by those sacred boxes.

Ok, they won. But what purpose does this information serve that the state of Pakistain is so obsessed with? I couldn't find a plausible justification until I was helped by a person with the right level of faith.

Suppose a non-Mohammedan, Tariq Pervaiz, a Christian or Abdus Salam, an Ahmadi decide to contest a general seat of National Assembly. Around four lac or so poor electors of that national constituency would never know that they are voting for a non-Mohammedan for his name is very deceptive.

Even worse, the same non-Mohammedan person gets elected by the House as the Prime Minister or God forbid, the President of this nuclear armed fort of Islam. What a shame and what a great constitutional blip that could be.

So more than 80 million voters of Pakistain are made to check one of those boxes and sign that Oath to block that one in 80 trillion chance of a non-Mohammedan deceitfully rising to the highest political office.

Thank you, Election Commission for reminding us that we live in an extremely insecure security state.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336067 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Britain
Archdruid of Canterbury to step down amid rifts
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams,
... sometimes known as the Archdruid of Canterbury, an indifferent theologian and a poor communicator, so obtuse as to occasionally be mistaken for brilliant but chock full of bland New Agey Feel-Goodisms ...
the spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, said Friday he will resign at the end of the year after a decade of turmoil over female and gay bishops.

The bushy-bearded 61-year-old announced in a statement that he would take up a position as master of Magdalene College at Britannia's prestigious Cambridge University in January 2013.

"It has been an immense privilege to serve as Archbishop of Canterbury over the past decade, and moving on has not been an easy decision," he said in the statement, released by his office, Lambeth Palace.

"During the time remaining there is much to do, and I ask (for) your prayers and support in this period and beyond."

The Church of England could now see its first black Archbishop of Canterbury, with John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, widely viewed as front-runner to replace Williams.

Williams' successor will be formally appointed by Queen Elizabeth II, who is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

Lambeth Palace said Williams's intention to resign had been formally conveyed to the queen.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336073 views] Top|| File under:

#1  For his part, Williams and his anticipated replacement, the Archbishop of York, are both spinning furiously, with Williams trying to rewrite his "legacy".

For his part, York is trying hard to change the argument from the embrace of homosexuality in the church leadership or not, to one where the dispute is far more p.c., that the factions of the church must be more respectful of each other and proper procedure. An evasive argument, but a good one.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/17/2012 9:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't know anything about the Archbishop of York - is this one actually a Christian?

That would be a novelty for the Archbishop of Canterbury post. [Though apparently not a requirement to head the "Christian" Church of England. :-( ]
Posted by: Barbara || 03/17/2012 10:15 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
'Ambulance drums had 200 kilos of heroin'
[Dawn] The substance found in eight drums seized by police from an Edhi ambulance on Feb 29 on a tip-off by the Edhi Foundation has tested positive as heroin, police said on Thursday.

The drums contained 200 kilograms of the substance, samples of which had been sent to the Pakistain Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
and Islamabad for tests.

Quoting the report issued by the PCSIR, SSP-South Naeem Sheikh said the result confirmed the substance as crude heroin.

Saying that the drums had been sealed after taking the samples, SSP Sheikh clarified that it was estimated that the substance weighed over 200kg, based upon the fact that the weight of the consignment including the drums was around 241kg.

SHO Zafar Iqbal of the Kharadar cop shoppe said at the time of the seizure police had placed in long-term storage three men, including an Edhi ambulance driver.

He said the suspect, Habib Khan, during initial investigation revealed that he picked up the substance from Mawachh Goth and wanted to bring it to the city. The SHO did not disclose the specific location where the consignment was supposed to be delivered as, the police said, they were still working on the case.

A case (FIR 93/2012) was registered against the suspects under the anti-narcotics law at the Kharadar cop shoppe on behalf of the state.

Anwar Kazmi, a front man for the Edhi Foundation, said the recovery was made on the information of the foundation.

He said the driver had absconded with the Edhi ambulance (EA-3941) on Feb 29. Edhi volunteers intercepted the vehicle near Machhar Colony and took the driver with his two accomplices to Edhi's Tower Centre for further inquiries.

Later, all the three with the eight drums of the substance were handed over to the police, Mr Kazmi said.

The suspects were identified as Edhi driver Habib Khan, Gul Zurab Khan and Faqeer Muhammad, while the fourth accomplice, identified as Asghar, was declared absconder.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336080 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Tunisia, Egypt, Libya Urge Arab Solution to Syria Crisis
[An Nahar] Foreign ministers from Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, meeting in Tunis said Friday the Syrian crisis should be resolved in an "Arab framework" and opposed foreign military intervention in the country.
Ummm... Pencilneck's an Arab, isn't he? "I gotcher framework right here!" sez he...
"We are all against military intervention in Syria, and we want the problem to be resolved in an Arab framework," Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem said after meeting with his Egyptian and Libyan counterparts, Mohamed Amr and Ashour bin Khayyal.

"The bloodbath in Syria must be stopped," he added as thousands of Syrians demonstrated Friday to demand "immediate military intervention" by Arab and Mohammedan countries to end the brutal crackdown that began more than a year ago.

The ministers whose countries toppled dictators in last year's Arab Spring also discussed security and judicial issues.

"The revolutions in our countries have brought us closer together," Abdessalem said, adding: "We need to share our experiences."

The three issued a joint statement pledging to step up the fight against terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking.

They also agreed to greater judicial cooperation, notably concerning extradition requests for individuals "who represent a danger for the security and stability of our three countries."

Libya's former prime minister Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi has been held in Tunisia since last September, with President Moncef Marzouki seeking guarantees of a fair trial before authorizing his extradition.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336084 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Has it --DAWNED-- on anyone that the entire Mid East Africa thing is a TRAP? A real military leader said something about water and taking towns etc. think he left something out of the equation think?
Posted by: Kojo Floluck5116 || 03/17/2012 7:36 Comments || Top||

#2  DEFEMCE.PK/FORUMS > KING ABDULLAH ORDERS FEASIBILITY OF SENDING [Saudi, Islamic coalition]MILITARY FORCES TO SYRIA, vee Head of Saudi Defense Ministry.

Saudi, Turkish, Egyptian, Qatari, + Jordanian troops.

* SAME > SAUDI MILITARY EQUIPMENT ON WAY TO JORDAN TO ARM FREE SYRIA ARMY | [Daily Star] SAUDIS SENDS MILITARY EQUIPMENT TO SYRIA REBELS: DIPLOMAT.

Unless I'm missing something, these may put the KSA + Turkey on the path of direct confrontation wid Iran???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/17/2012 23:44 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Saudi Embassy in Yemen cautions against plans to target its headquarters
[Yemen Post] The Saudi Embassy in Sana'a has cautioned against plans of Al-Qaeda to target it, asking all its officials and employees to be alert and take all precautions, diplomatic sources said.

Al-Ahali newspaper quoted Saudi diplomats as saying that the Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Ali Mohammad Al-Hamdan, has informed all attaches and their employees that Al-Qaeda plans to attack the embassy, pointing out that it prepared four car booms to target the embassy.

The sources said the ambassador described the information as serious and demanded to reinforce the guards of the embassy.

Separately, chief of Aden Security, Major Brigadier Sadiq Haid, revealed that two cargos of weapons were disappeared from Aden city during last month.

In a presser held Wednesday in Aden, Haid said that the weapons were sent by the Defense Ministry to the Aden Security, pointing that they are still disappeared in uncertain conditions.

One soldier of Aden's checkpoint told Al-Ahali that three cargos of weapons reached the point, and when soldiers attempted to hold them, they found that they have a license of the former commander of the Southern Region Mahdi Maqwala.

Previously, one soldier had unveiled that Maqwla had directed all military checkpoints to withdraw of Dofas area in which Al-Qaeda killed more than 185 Yemeni soldiers early of March.

Other sources said that Maqwla who was among the closest commander to the former President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
, distributed ammunitions to unidentified individuals two days before Al-Qaeda attacks on military positions. News reports had stated that Maqwla directed one day before his firing to transfer 200,000 bullets from the stores of Saba camp located in Al-Boraqa of Aden, indicating that the process took two days.

Military sources said that an investigation commission dispatched by Hadi to probe the latest events of Abyan found out that Maqwla involved in supporting Al-Qaeda to control military positions.

Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336069 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Numan: army shakeup is top priority
[Yemen Post] Yassin Saeed Numan, the general secretary of the Yemeni Socialist party, said on Thursday that the army shakeup is a top priority in the second phase of the GCC-brokered deal.
For example, replacing the officers with Socialist Party approved people...
"We think that our steps should be taken within the framework of the GCC-initiated accord, which clearly indicates that the main task in this stage is restructuring the army and security apparatus for the national dialogue be held in a conductive atmosphere," Numan said.
He called on the political forces to stop draging Yemen back to what he called" the old square or the political confusion box"

He denied Abdu Janadi's, the official front man of the General People Congress, comments that Joint Meeting Parties are trying to pull back from participating in the upcoming national dialogue, saying such comments are baseless.

"We got used to such regrettable, groundless comments to be stated by Abdu Janadi by which he attempt to fake facts, said Numan, adding that the JMP are awaiting an order from President Abdu Rabu Mansoru Hadi to form a preparatory committee for the national dialogue.

Top government officials stated on Thursday that Hadi would soon issue republican degrees to restructure the Yemeni army in which former President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
's relatives hold key posts.

Ahmed, Saleh's elder son, commands the country's best equipped and trained military troops, the Elite Republican Guards.
Posted by: Fred || 03/17/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || E-Mail|| [336075 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Numan!
Posted by: Frank G || 03/17/2012 15:16 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
35[untagged]
8Govt of Pakistan
5Govt of Syria
4Arab Spring
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2Islamic Jihad
2Narcos
1Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan
1Lashkar-e-Islami
1Commies
1Govt of Iran
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1Palestinian Authority

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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

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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
Sat 2012-03-17
  Qaeda suspects kidnap Swiss woman: Yemeni officials
Fri 2012-03-16
  Philly man arrested on charges of supporting Uzbeki terrorists
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'

Better than the average link...



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