Piracy syndicates are selling shares in planned attacks, fueled by a surge of ransom payments that help attract investors, the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations said.
Piracy syndicates in villages, mainly in largely ungoverned Somalia, solicit investors who buy shares in the attack missions and gain a corresponding share of ransoms paid by the shipping industry, Admiral Gary Roughead said.
The ransoms fuel the business, the business invests in more capability, either in a bigger boat, more weapons, better electronic-detection means to determine where the ships are, Roughead said in an interview in Bloombergs Washington Bureau today. So its a business.
The average ransom payment rose 36-fold over five years to $5.4 million last year, compared with $150,000 in 2005, according to the Louisville, Colorado-based One Earth Future Foundation. The payments are fueling increased raids, adding at least $2.4 billion to transport costs because vessels are being diverted onto longer routes to avoid attacks off east Africa, the non-profit group said earlier this year.
Not one word about the real culprit of spiking prices, The Bernank. It should be fun watching the JD Keystone Cops trying to sort this one out.
Faced with the prospect of $5-a-gallon gas this summer, President Obama said today his Justice Department is creating a team to "root out any cases of fraud or manipulation in the oil markets that might affect gas prices."
"That includes the role of traders and speculators," Obama said at a town hall-style meeting in Reno, Nev. "We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of American consumers for their own short-term gain."
"This gas issue is serious," Obama said, adding that the best solution is developing alternative energy sources.
The Justice Department is also looking at allegations of price gouging, said Obama, who devoted most of his remarks to his plan to reduce the nation's $14 trillion-plus debt.
#1
Well, we're knee deep in bullshit speeches so maybe we could start there. It is this administration's anti-self sufficiency which has the prices going up. Investors know that. So whats the plan, use the JD to set up a vip list of legal petrol traders? How about Gov taxes and EPA fines as contributers?
And you...you..plebes..need electric cars and properly inflated tires.
Quick question - say everyone suddenly switches to hybrid and/or electric cars...what do you suppose the Govs will do to make up that shortfall of tax?
#2
OBomb says "I yump on that." Don't let a good crisis go to waste. Besides the voters are POd over gas prices and I might pick up a few votes if I act like I'm doing something.
#3
I've never cared much for The Donald, but listening to him in an yesterday in the DFAC gave me great pleasure. I think he'll soon have 'The One' being born in Pakistan. I love it!
#4
I know, I know! Let's punish the profiteering oil companies by adding some big extra special taxes on them. (We'll look like we're helping the people, we'll get lots of extra revenue, and the rubes will blame the oil companies for the fact that their gas costs even more.)
#6
Go ahead, Commissar Barry, say it: price controls. You know you want to.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/21/2011 20:02
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#7
Don't forget WAGE and EARNINGS controls. You know of whom we speak, those evil capitalists who continue to EARN incomes as opposed to permitting the Party government to take care of them. They must be punished as well. The Party is the answer. There is no room in the new kibbutzim for these racist traitors. Do you think we are STUPID? They are the ENEMY!
#12
What an evil POS. 'Manipulation' gas prices is refusing drilling permits, raising taxes on gasoline, to go green which a high level Obama aid said was necessary to get prices to $9/gallon like in Europe.
Then he uses the crisis he created to 'go after the speculators'. This guy is a piece of trash.
President Obama has authorized the use of armed Predator drones to attack Libya government forces fighting the rebellion against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi as NATO struggles to regain momentum since taking command of the operation from the United States.
The deployment of armed Predators, announced Thursday by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, was in part a reaction to changing tactics by the Qaddafi forces, which are intermingling with civilian populations and mounting attacks from unmarked trucks and other vehicles, making them difficult to identify and attack by high-flying NATO fighters and bombers.
The Predator remotely piloted aircraft, outfitted with Hellfire missiles, has been used with effectiveness against pinpoint targets in urban and rural areas in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Yemen and is a signature weapon of the American military.
But the challenges of the Libyan intervention were apparent again Thursday, when the Predators were sent aloft on their first missions but turned back due to bad weather.
#2
I believe there is a large intell operation selecting targets in Pak/Ghan.
No such operation exists for Libya, and this smacks of desperation by the US administration, as NATO/UK/France simply can't carry the operations load and they have to do something.
#3
An armed Predator doesn't add much in the way of close air support. An MQ-1 can only carry two Hellfires although it can designate targets for other aircraft. If Obama wanted to add firepower, he would have sent MQ-9 Reapers instead.
h/t Instapundit
Credit Mark Levin with bursting the Trump bubble. Just last week he was the first voice on the right to thoroughly dissect Trumps history of political activity (donations to Hillary, Weiner, Rahm, Schumer and others).
He was also the first to ask a number of important questions about Trumps world view, including, What does he think about Kelo? The Club for Growth is out today with the answer directly from Trump himself from 2005 on Fox News.
I happen to agree with it 100 percent, not that I would want to use it. [note below, he would actually want to use it]
But the fact is, if you have a person living in an area thats not even necessarily a good area, and government, whether its local or whatever, government wants to build a tremendous economic development, where a lot of people are going to be put to work and make area thats not good into a good area, and move the person thats living there into a better place now, I know it might not be their choice but move the person to a better place and yet create thousands upon thousands of jobs and beautification and lots of other things, I think it happens to be good.
But the reality is, Trump did try to use the power of eminent domain to seize private property. He did this in Altlantic City, and it wasnt to build an elementy school or even a tremendous economic development. He wanted to knock down an old ladys home so he could build a parking lot for limousines near his casino.
Full disclosure: I used to work for the Institute for Justice, which successfully defended Vera Coking against Trumps land grab in Atlantic City. More details about that case can be found here.
#1
I don't get why everyone assumes he runs as an (R)? I first thought him running vs. Obama in the (D) primaries when he started making news, actually think he has a better chance there.
Talk about big business liking big government; its the other talking head to Zaphod Obumblebox.
#2
I don't think a lot of people understand the Trump candidacy. To paraphrase The Chronicles of Riddick: "In normal times, stupidity would be fought by intelligence. But in times like these, well, it should be fought by another kind of stupidity."
Seriously. I think Trump can beat Obama because he's even more of a vapid, larger-than-life celebrity than Obama is. And I honestly think he'd make a better president in spite of this.
#3
Yup, fight stupidity with stupidity that does something. He may have man overcomb, but he can grasp the obvious, run with it, trip, fall, pick himself back up (bankruptcy) and keep going. More than I can say with Bambi. As for his casino in Atlantic City...the elderly lady hopefully was remunerated before relocation and its bit of a little scary neighborhood at night, so she might be better situated.
Posted by: Fi ||
04/21/2011 18:11
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#4
He wanted to knock down an old lady's home so he could build a parking lot for limousines near his casino.
Not that I'm in total agreement, but compensation to the elderly vs indirect tax seizure? Building and renewing vs Detroit style leveling? Parking lots for evil gas guzzling cars? Convenience for BUSINESS patrons? Mark Levin is a genius, but if Trump is anything, he's a businessman and not a communist.
Plans for the first dam across the lower Mekong River are putting Laos on a collision course with its neighbors and environmentalists who fear livelihoods, fish species and farmland could be destroyed, potentially sparking a food crisis.
The impoverished, Communist nation seems determined to defy international pressure and forge ahead with construction of the $3.5 billion Xayaburi Dam, a mostly Thai-led project that experts say could cause untold environmental damage.
The four countries that share the lower stretches of the 4,900 km (3,044 mile) Mekong -- Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia -- failed at a meeting Tuesday to reach an agreement on construction of the 1.285-megawatt (MW) dam, the first of 11 planned in the lower Mekong that are expected to generate 8 percent of Southeast Asia's power by 2025.
According to a study by the Mekong River Commission, an inter-government agency, the proposed 11 dams would turn 55 percent of the river into reservoirs, resulting in estimated agriculture losses of more than $500 million a year and cutting the average protein intake of Thai and Lao people by 30 percent.
China has built four dams on the upper river, closer to its source, but they are equally controversial. Activists say they were responsible for a drought last year that sent lower Mekong water levels to their lowest in half a century.
Laos has not responded to the warnings or to scientists' recommendations. Viraphonh Viravong, head of the Lao delegation, said after Tuesday's meeting that it would "consider" accommodating its neighbors concerns, but an extension of the consultation process was no longer practical.
The Lao government has hailed Xayaburi as a model for clean, green energy that will stimulate its tiny $6 billion economy and improve the lives of its 5.9 million people, over a quarter of whom live below the poverty line, many without electricity.
Its energy-hungry neighbor, Thailand, will buy about 95 percent of the power generated by the dam and three Thai firms have a stake in the project, according to an announcement on Thailand's stock exchange last month.
A GULF plan to end months of bloody unrest calls for Yemen's embattled president to step down 30 days after the formation of a unity government, an official in his administration said today.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) proposal urges "the formation of a national unity government with 50 per cent held by the ruling party, 40 per cent by the opposition and 10 per cent by other parties", the official said.
"The president would transfer his powers to his deputy, and then the protests would end", as would the defection of military leaders and soldiers, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
And "the president would submit his resignation to parliament within 30 days", with a presidential vote to be held within two months.
Saleh has since January faced anti-regime protests calling for his ouster in which more than 130 people have been killed in clashes with security forces and rival demonstrators.
Next month, the Army is going to start sending the "ballistic boxers" to soldiers in Afghanistan, and the Marines intend for each of their troops there to have four pairs of the "protective undergarments," as they are formally known, before the end of the year.
The heavy silk boxers, which look like shorts that professional cyclists wear, won't stop a bullet or shrapnel from an IED. But the silk can stop small projectiles like those kicked up by an explosion.
"It is expected to prevent fine sands and particles that are thrown up by explosives, so that the tissue wounds are cleaner, less ragged and easier to treat," said Lt. Jamie Larson, a Marines Corps spokesperson. And since the silk is treated with antimicrobial agents, the boxers help protect injured troops from wound infections.
Genghis Khan was once said to have issued all his horsemen with silk vests, as an arrow hitting silk does not break it but ends up embedded in the flesh wrapped in silk, allowing the arrow to be removed by gently teasing the silk open, as opposed to the usual method of removing barbed arrows, cutting them out or pushing them right through an injured limb and out of the other side.
#9
It is expected to prevent fine sands and particles that are thrown up by explosives, so that the tissue wounds are cleaner, less ragged and easier to treat... since the silk is treated with antimicrobial agents, the boxers help protect injured troops from wound infections.
Considering that Marines tend to ignore the "little hurts" and that they're out in the field for weeks, it'll probably cut down on a lot of incapacitation due to infection.
Not to mention making my FMF corpsmens' work a bit easier.
My grandfather talked of how the Japanese used silk in WWII to hang down at the entrance of caves to protect the men. The Americans would shoot at the mortar and machine gunners and the silk would catch the M1 bullet, tumble it down the silk and have it drop harmlessly on the cave floor. They could see the silk sheet flip with each bullet.
The Americans had to use HE shells to clear the caves out.
Israel secretly supplied arms and equipment to Argentina during the Falklands War due to Prime Minister Menachem Begin's personal hatred of the British, a new book discloses.
#1
I'd be more concerned about Obama's personal vendetta. As another post down below points out, Obama.2011 has been something else--testy, petulant, impatient, arrogant and increasingly a divider. I wouldn't put it past the man to maneuver the Brits into a bad position and then leave them hanging in the wind.
Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.
The French sold Exocets to the Argentinians before hostilities broke out. Once fighting began, the French embargoed Argentine requests for replacements, which is probably why Argentina had to turn to Israel (presumably for the French items in Israel's inventory).
Israel flew the Mirage III and a bootleg copy of the Mirage V. After the French embargo, the IAF continued flying both planes, presumably with bootleg Israeli parts (created from stolen or handed-over blueprints - depending on whom you believe) that would have been made available to Argentina, if the Israeli cabinet so chose.
#6
And how did Israel get into the business of bootlegging French aviation parts? The story of the Kfir (Israel's Mirage V clone) is an interesting one:
The development of this aircraft has been attributed to covert action on the part of Mossad. After General De Gaulle embargoed the sale of arms to Israel, the IAF feared that in the future it would no longer have an upper hand over its regional adversaries that were being re-equipped with more advanced Soviet aircraft. The bulk of the Israeli Air Force had been locked into the Mirage but was quickly facing problems because it had been severely depleted after the Six-Day War. They did not have a better alternative than the Mirage. Mossad was able to acquire the plans for the Mirage III, which were used directly in the design process of the Kfir aircraft series. The Israelis are unwilling to give details on how they acquired the enormous documentation that was needed. In a work of fiction carefully written in the style of a historical narrative, Mirage, James Follett estimates that the Israelis received 150,000 drawings of press tools, jigs and piece parts; 400 main airframe drawings; 50,000 instrumentation drawings; and 4000 engines drawings, in addition to some 50,000 documents covering testing and service specifications. This is probably close to the truth - and it gives an idea of the enormous scale of this espionage coup - but it seems likely that the Israelis received all that from a variety of sources, not from a single source as in James Follett's book. The engine drawings did come from a Jewish Swiss engineer named Albert Fraunknecht - re-named Albert Heinkein in James Follett's book - as the Swiss were building Mirages under a licence from Dassault, but the rest is conjectural. It has been speculated that part of the documents came from accomplices within the Dassault company itself, but nothing has ever been proved. Similarly, Dassault is rumored to have violated the embargo by providing the Israelis with two Mirage 5 airframes, something Dassault denies to this day. Only one thing is certain: James Follett was right to write that "in sheer volume of documentation, it was the biggest espionage coup in history, and will probably remain so."
Any political solution should be controlled by the Libyan people themselves, Turbi added.
Rasmussen acknowledged last Friday that ultimately there is no "purely military solution" to the crisis in Libya and that is why the international community is urgently seeking a political settlement.
No one seems to be able to articulate what a "political settlement" might look like. Ya think Moo-mar is gonna let the rebels sit in his new parliment?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/21/2011 13:30
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Multiple warnings received by Israeli security agencies indicate that Arab terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah will attempt to abduct Israelis vacationing in the Mediterranean region.
The warnings prompted the Counter-Terrorism Bureau, a government body, to issue a travel alert on April 10, before the Passover holiday.
Thousands of Israelis travel abroad during Passover every year, including more than 3,000 who flew to Turkey or Greece a few days before the holiday began and some 25,000 tourists who were expected to head into Egypt at the Taba border crossing.
Terror groups are motivated to abduct Israelis by the prospect of securing the release of hundreds of prisoners in a swap with Israel, an appetite that has been whetted by previous abductions - including that of captive soldier Gilad Shalit, who Hamas has held in Gaza since 2006; and of reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose remains were returned to Israel as part of a 2008 swap with Hezbollah that resulted in the release of hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners.
Hezbollah is also interested in exacting revenge for the February 2008 assassination of senior official Imad Mughniyeh, which the Shi'ite Muslim organization attributes to Israel.
Since his assassination, Hezbollah has made approximately 10 attempts to carry out a revenge attack on Israeli targets abroad, but failed in its efforts to abduct Israelis and to set off car bombs near the Israeli embassy in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.
Multiple warnings received by Israeli security agencies indicate that Arab terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah will attempt to abduct Israelis vacationing in the Mediterranean region.
The warnings prompted the Counter-Terrorism Bureau, a government body, to issue a travel alert on April 10, before the Passover holiday.
Thousands of Israelis travel abroad during Passover every year, including more than 3,000 who flew to Turkey or Greece a few days before the holiday began and some 25,000 tourists who were expected to head into Egypt at the Taba border crossing.
Terror groups are motivated to abduct Israelis by the prospect of securing the release of hundreds of prisoners in a swap with Israel, an appetite that has been whetted by previous abductions - including that of captive soldier Gilad Shalit, who Hamas has held in Gaza since 2006; and of reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose remains were returned to Israel as part of a 2008 swap with Hezbollah that resulted in the release of hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners.
Hezbollah is also interested in exacting revenge for the February 2008 assassination of senior official Imad Mughniyeh, which the Shi'ite Muslim organization attributes to Israel.
Since his assassination, Hezbollah has made approximately 10 attempts to carry out a revenge attack on Israeli targets abroad, but failed in its efforts to abduct Israelis and to set off car bombs near the Israeli embassy in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.
Multiple warnings received by Israeli security agencies indicate that Arab terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah will attempt to abduct Israelis vacationing in the Mediterranean region.
The warnings prompted the Counter-Terrorism Bureau, a government body, to issue a travel alert on April 10, before the Passover holiday.
Thousands of Israelis travel abroad during Passover every year, including more than 3,000 who flew to Turkey or Greece a few days before the holiday began and some 25,000 tourists who were expected to head into Egypt at the Taba border crossing.
Terror groups are motivated to abduct Israelis by the prospect of securing the release of hundreds of prisoners in a swap with Israel, an appetite that has been whetted by previous abductions - including that of captive soldier Gilad Shalit, who Hamas has held in Gaza since 2006; and of reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose remains were returned to Israel as part of a 2008 swap with Hezbollah that resulted in the release of hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners.
Hezbollah is also interested in exacting revenge for the February 2008 assassination of senior official Imad Mughniyeh, which the Shi'ite Muslim organization attributes to Israel.
Since his assassination, Hezbollah has made approximately 10 attempts to carry out a revenge attack on Israeli targets abroad, but failed in its efforts to abduct Israelis and to set off car bombs near the Israeli embassy in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.
Multiple warnings received by Israeli security agencies indicate that Arab terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah will attempt to abduct Israelis vacationing in the Mediterranean region.
The warnings prompted the Counter-Terrorism Bureau, a government body, to issue a travel alert on April 10, before the Passover holiday.
Thousands of Israelis travel abroad during Passover every year, including more than 3,000 who flew to Turkey or Greece a few days before the holiday began and some 25,000 tourists who were expected to head into Egypt at the Taba border crossing.
Terror groups are motivated to abduct Israelis by the prospect of securing the release of hundreds of prisoners in a swap with Israel, an appetite that has been whetted by previous abductions - including that of captive soldier Gilad Shalit, who Hamas has held in Gaza since 2006; and of reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose remains were returned to Israel as part of a 2008 swap with Hezbollah that resulted in the release of hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners.
Hezbollah is also interested in exacting revenge for the February 2008 assassination of senior official Imad Mughniyeh, which the Shi'ite Muslim organization attributes to Israel.
Since his assassination, Hezbollah has made approximately 10 attempts to carry out a revenge attack on Israeli targets abroad, but failed in its efforts to abduct Israelis and to set off car bombs near the Israeli embassy in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.
AKI) - Algerian authorities have ordered border guards to shoot at anyone tyring to cross the border with Libya, daily el-Khabar reports.
Security is being stepped up to protect Algeria's southern borders after gunfights broke out at the weekend between two groups of suspected Al-Qaeda militants from Libya, the paper said.
Algerian fighter jets are conducting sorties over Algeria's Sahara region, searching for suspected terrorists who in recent weeks have allegedly infiltrated the territory as they head for Libya from their bases in northern Mali.
The Algerian army on Saturday killed seven militants suspected of belonging to Al-Qaeda's north African branch in two separate operations in southern Algeria, according to el-Khabar. Three of the militants were shot dead as they tried to enter Libya, the daily said.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was responsible for three attacks in Algeria between last Friday and early Sunday in which 20 people died including five soldiers, according to media reports.
The attacks were concentrated in the eastern part of the country.
They followed an attack on 15 April by suspected Islamist insurgents that killed 13 Algerian soldiers in the country's northern Kabylie region, the deadliest ambush in months, according to a security source cited by media.
#5
The Algerian army on Saturday killed seven militants suspected of belonging to Al-Qaeda's north African branch in two separate operations in southern Algeria, according to el-Khabar.
Good on em! That's seven more than were killed in my sector in all of last month. Of course, attending smiling Shuras, making nice with the murdering Afghan drug lords and crooked authorities (one in the same mind you) and setting the stage for "SUCCESS IN AFGHANISTAN - THE GOOD WAR" just before the election.... is far, far more important.
The 1,400-seat gymnasium was packed to capacity Wednesday afternoon as Pacific students and visitors from across the metro area gathered to listen to an hour-long lecture from the famed philosopher, linguist and political critic.
Chomsky also advocated for organized labor and spoke at length about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict -- an issue for which his outspoken anti-Israel stance has garnered widespread scrutiny.
If the U.S. joined the world, Israel would have to do what the master said, he told the audience, drawing applause.
Everyone has been asking each other if theyre going, a student said. All of my professors even science professors have been talking about how famous he is.
All of this leads to broader issues of world order, he said. Ill talk about that somewhere else in a couple of hours.
He quickly exited the room at 1:30 p.m. sharp, rushing off to Eugene, where hell give a free public lecture at the University of Oregon, titled "Global Hegemony: The Facts, The Images." A man who has done more than Jefferson Davis to keep the black man down.
#4
He made up some utter crap about languages. Turned out slightly useful for programming languages, but utterly useless when discussing actual human languages.
Oh, and he cheered for Pol Pot's genocide.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/21/2011 17:07
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#5
Chomsky and noted linguist Greenburg theorized similarly that all human language formed from some hard-wired "DNA" in the brain giving sets of instructions. Sounded good in theory....
In practice, however, not so much. More recently Chomsky/ Greenburg Theory has been disproven. Cutting edge current linguists have traced all language back to four linguistic groups, and all 7,000 dialects branched from there. Languages aren't innate brain encoding bubbling from brain to lips and pentip, but rather, cultural adaptations.
Posted by: Fi ||
04/21/2011 17:32
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#6
Chumpsky is living proof that only the good die young.
#7
Israel is the promised land, does this guy change any of that? No. Well, then Im not going to wish death on him. Hummus farts or an all expense paid trip to a Kibbutz maybe.
Posted by: Fi ||
04/21/2011 18:04
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The FBI says it has identified a person of interest after a pipe bomb was found at Southwest Plaza Mall on Wednesday. The pipe bomb was found after the mall was evacuated when a fire broke out.
Investigators say two propane tanks were also found at the heart of the fire, in close proximity to the pipe bomb, and the FBI is investigating the incident as a case of domestic terrorism.
National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo confirmed that the suspicious package found in a gas pipeline in Tangerang on Thursday morning just a hundred meters away from a Catholic Church was indeed a bomb.
The bomb squad (Gegana) are still trying to deactivate the bomb, which Timur said was believed to have been placed near the gas pipeline to create a bigger explosion.
If it is true, as Michelle Obama said in February, that her husband isn't smoking anymore, maybe he'd better start mellowing out with the cigs again before it costs him the presidency.
The Barack Obama we've been seeing lately is a different personality than the one that made a miracle run to the White House in 2008.
Obama.2008 was engaging, patient, open, optimistic and a self-identified conciliator.
Obama.2011 has been something else--testy, petulant, impatient, arrogant and increasingly a divider.
Never forget: That historic 2008 victory came with 52.9% of the total vote and 52% of independent voters. David Axelrod recently noted "how small the margin for error is."
Presidential personality is well inside the margin of error for 2012, but the one on display recently has not been attractive. And it's happening a lot.
This Monday, after wrapping up a White House interview with a Dallas TV reporter, the station reported that Mr. Obama said: "Let me finish my answers the next time we do an interview, alright?"
This self-referencing, snappish tone tracks with the president's "open mic" comments last week at a Chicago fund-raiser. Dismissing the GOP as "nickel and diming" him on budget negotiations, he asked, "You think we're stupid?" White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the president wasn't embarrassed. But he should be. Not because his comments were caught, but because suddenly he's sounding more like Travis Bickle ("You talkin' to me?") than the president of the United States.
The Obama migration from the high road to the low road is evident even in nonpolitical settings. Here he is last weekend talking about the White House phone system: "You know the Oval Office always thought I was going to have like real cool phones and stuff. I'm like 'come on guys, I'm the president of the United States.' Where's the fancy buttons and stuff, and the big screen comes up? It doesn't happen."
#5
There's an old saying; The more people like you the more inclined they are to trust you. That strategy worked quite well for then-candidate Obama. However, now-President Obama is a known commodity. Therefore, the converse of that logic is more applicable. The less people trust you the less likely they are to like you. Some are suggesting that to increase his favorability numbers Obama may need to "re-gain" the trust of the american people. Unfortunatly for him there's another old saying; You can't "get back" what you never had.
Federal Immigration officers will now be given access to legal immigrants during their basic military training, to help them administratively accomplish the citizenship process while still in the United States. They must still serve five years of honorable service on active duty to complete the process, or their citizenship can be revoked.
The reasoning is that it is far easier for this to be done at a central location, than once they have been dispersed to duty stations throughout the world, where the process is far more difficult, expensive and time consuming.
This new process began with an executive order signed by president W. Bush after 9-11. Previously, foreign citizenship military personnel had to perform a year of military service before they could even begin the citizenship process. This justified the expedited process because the nation was in a "period of hostilities"
About 1,000 soldiers and sailors have already completed the administrative process in basic training in 2010. Overall, the government granted citizenship to 11,146 service members last year.
The program has also strongly benefited the military, as many of the recruits both have needed special language skills, and once that provisional citizenship has been given, they are permitted to serve in a larger field of Military Occupation Specialties.
This has also given the military the ability to recruit foreigners, such as translators, who have been of considerable assistance to US military units overseas. Such people often risk their lives by remaining in their home country, and US citizenship for them via military service is seen as a tangible and valuable reward for their help.
#1
This new process began with an executive order signed by president W. Bush after 9-11.
Remember this data point when the usual suspects pushing amnesty for illegals talk about those who 'served'. It's already taken care of. It's not a valid argument.
Posted by: Fi ||
04/21/2011 18:06
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#3
Many eastern Euro's came over and enlisted in the late 50's and into the 60's and became citizens. Their participation in anti-Soviet activities pretty much made them criminals in their homelands.
One example.
I've got a sneaking suspicion that Israel is also supplying Gadhafi, just as it did Argentina during the Falklands war and will continue to do so until NATO comes to it's senses over Libya.
Out of principle, the German goverment refused to take part in military action against Libyan dictator Gadhafi. But it seems selling arms to both sides of international conflicts has never been a problem for Berlin
#1
Apparently, a lot of people won't be happy till the Germans are running tanks and marching in other people's countries again. Two hundred years of militarism and two world wars aren't enough. It's the same self appointed ruling caste with a blind eye to the 100 million dead upon the hands of socialism in the 20th Century as well. Germany is not alone. A good number of countries sale arms or at least try to compete in the market but don't participate in actual conflict.
#4
I feel strongly that we are doing it wrong.
A few Nukes and leave the ruins alone for a few years, If they dont "Quit that" then nuke them into the stone age, recheck in a few years.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/21/2011 10:48
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#5
DimPebbles, what are you talking about? Someone posts unsupported speculation and you're willing to condone genocide against a free, Western nation?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/21/2011 12:12
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#9
And what will we think if an EADS missile takes out a Brit helicopter or FO? I was just thinking about the amount of weapon system proliferation going on - from small arms and equipment ($25 us equipment to team rebel, how long before that stuff shows up elswhere like a fast furious), to warships, to wmd technology. What I do find interesting is that Europeans and many leftists in America demand you have few if any firearms, yet have no qualms about arming the masses of other nations.
Tipper, is that a suggestion that with a Team Daffy win, Libya II would force Egypt II look westward instead of a concentration towards Israel?
#10
Lets just say Israel lost my support. Not lifting a finger anymore to defend them.
Not the same thing at all. The Falklands are an isolated outpost of empire. John Glubb, who was subsequently appointed KCB in 1956 for his efforts, is the guy who single-handedly created Israel's West Bank problem back in 1948 - a problem that has cost the lives of thousands of Israelis since then, and essentially excised a fifth of Israel's tiny land area.
#2
Geez, I wonder what led him to that conclusion?
I also wonder why it took him so long?
Of course, common sense and rational thought have never been a valued commodity in the State Department (which is the biggest den of leftists, commies, antisemites, anti American thinking in the US)
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/21/2011 10:22
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#3
Is this not common knowledge here at Rantburg amongst several former military and intelligence type posters? I recall reading it here what seems years ago. Perhaps Mullen should read rantburg.
Posted by: The Other Beldar ||
04/21/2011 10:24
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#4
I also wonder why it took him so long?
He's just now been told he can admit it.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/21/2011 12:28
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#5
The accusation isn't new. What's new is his willingness to say it out loud, in Pakistan, to Pakistanis, in a public forum. This should happen every day.
Next he'll be informing us the ISI is conducting bomb making classes in Paki Madrasses, or funding suicide bomber recruitment and Taliban agent networks in Afghanistan. Why he might even go so far as to propose the Karzai government has links to the ISI. The man is off his rocker.
Three people have been arrested as officials probe claims that a paper mill in Afghanistan recycled copies of the Holy Quran into toilet paper, the attorney generals office said yesterday. Around 1,000 angry demonstrators, some throwing stones, held a protest on Monday at the mill on the outskirts of Kabul, leaving the building partially destroyed. Copies of the Quran were found inside the factory, Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said, adding that no-one was injured in the protest. The attorney generals office and Kabul police have jointly tasked a delegation to investigate the alleged disrespect to our holy book in that factory, a spokesman said.
Two villagers were seriously injured when gunmen attacked a tea shop on the Narathiwat-Pattani road in Pattani province early Thursday morning.
Witnesses said that the two men were having tea at the shop when gunmen in a pickup truck opened fire with M16 assault rifles and a shotgun shortly after midnight. Najmudin Arwae, 40, and Roslee Salae, 34, were hit several times and taken to Pattani hospital, he said.
Pol Col Somporn blamed terrorists separatist militants.
In another attack in Narathiwat province, Sukiflee Waenu, a village defense volunteer, was gunned down in his home on Thursday morning. He took one shotgun bullet in his chin and died at the scene.
We are in the age of transnationalism (although noting that some like China and Russia give it little more than lip service), and it will take a major geopolitical shock to change things.
NEW DELHI - Russia will deliver the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov to the Indian Navy next year, a Navy official said. A team of 150 personnel - technicians, managers and others -from the Indian Navy has already arrived in Russia for training on the 45,000-ton carrier, currently being refitted for Indian needs there.
India is paying Russia $67.5 million for the training, the official said.
The carrier will ultimately be manned by some 1,500 sailors.
In 2004, Russia signed a deal to refit and deliver the Gorshkov for $974 million, but the Russians subsequently demanded more money. The work was delayed until the Indian government finally agreed to pay a total of $2.33 billion, the official said.
The Navy also placed a $526 million order for 16 MiG-29K aircraft, which began arriving last year and are currently on shore at Goa. These aircraft will fly from the carrier, which will be renamed INS Vikramaditya.
India currently operates one carrier, INS Viraat, and is building another, the Air Defense Ship, slated to enter service in 2014.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/21/2011
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#2
The good news for INDJUH is that the GORSHKOV'S propellers are NOT the CHARLES DE GAULLE'S.
Ita toughie to choose between - an Indian CV wid no planes [+ PLAAF "Ace" Pilots = crashes?]; versus a French CV whose UWB Screws wanna burn their draft card + defect to Canada.
* ION NEWS KERALA > INDIA FOR STRONG MEASURES TO COMBAT PIRATES, vee Internat Cooperation.
* SAME > INDIA CAN BE THE WORLD'S FOURTH MOST PWERFUL NATION BY 2025: KRISHNA [India External Affairs Minister], as per India's NATIONAL SECURITY INDEX Study.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > SOMALI PIRATES SAY THEY ARE "AT WAR WITH INDIA" | SOMALIA PIRATES TARGET INDIA.
Oil $$$ from newly suborned = pro-Islamist, post-Jasmine ME, African Muslim states can buy a lot of Armed Speedboats + SILKWORMS, ETC. for MUSLIM PIRATE XMAS???
* WAFF > MALAYSIA + SUAID ARABIA SIGN SECURITY PACT, includ as per INTEL-SHARING agz TERRORISM + VARIOUS KINDS OF CRIMINAL GRAFT.
#5
According to Moshe Dayan, the Indians would almost have to be more effective than the Arabs otherwise, it would upset the natural order of things.
This picture was taken after Indian Army destroyed over 100 Patton and Sherman Tanks of the Pakistani Army during the 1965 Indo-Pak War. The place was later named as Patton Nagar in Pakistan.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/21/2011 19:15
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[Dawn] Talibs in Pakistain's troubled northwestern tribal belt Wednesday killed a truck driver and his helper for supplying livestock to Afghanistan, a bigwig told AFP.
The attack took place in Baizai town of Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Bloody Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... tribal district, where Pakistain's military is engaged in anti-militant border operations, as the truck was returning from selling livestock in the east Afghan province of Nangarhar.
The hard boyz signalled for the truck to stop before opening fire, said senior administration official Maqsood Hasan.
"First they fired on the truck and killed both the driver and his helper. Then they destroyed the truck by setting it on fire," he said.
"Talibs carried out the attack."
The driver had violated a ban on supplies travelling by truck across the border to Afghanistan, imposed by hard boyz in the area, an intelligence official in Peshawar said.
He said the Pak Taliban had previously imposed a tax on such trucks, but festivities over the penalty led to an outright ban.
Militants in the region have previously launched regular attacks on NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... supply trucks and oil tankers to disrupt supplies for international troops fighting in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Andie MacDowell aka Ann Bishop Mullany in "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" aka Ann Finnigan in "Short Cuts" aka Carrie in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" aka Rita in "Groundhog Day" (age 53)
[Arab News] The top US military officer is visiting Pakistain at a time of tensions over America's role in the region.
The US Embassy says Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will spend Wednesday and Thursday meeting with Pak leaders.
Mullen is a frequent visitor to Pakistain, and reportedly has a good relationship with Pakistain's army chief, Gen.
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... The United States needs Pakistain's cooperation to help end the war in Afghanistan.
But tensions between the two allies have spiked this year after an American CIA employee shot and killed two Paks he said were trying to rob him.
A March missile strike ostensibly targeting the Taliban also angered Kayani, who said dozens of innocent rustics were killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Tolo News] Central Bank Wednesday announced that Kabul Bank's licence has been submitted to finance ministry and that it will run under the ministry going forward.
Afghanistan's Central Bank (DAB) said from today on Kabul Bank's stakeholders will have no links to the bank and added that they should pay their loans and clean their accounts in a months time or face legal action.
Following President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai's ... 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... remarks suggesting reform in the bank, Central Bank of Afghanistan said today that the bank will be put out to tender in three months.
Head of DAB Abdul Qadir Fitrat said investigations have set Kabul Bank loans at $579 million and after Central Bank took over $47 million of that figure has been repaid.
Kabul Bank, the leading private bank in the country, was on the brink of collapse last year mainly because of mismanagement and substandard loans.
Mr Fitrat said 19 cases of fraud have been referred to Attorney General's Office and two large corruption cases have been sent to the High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption.
Loans will be collected and "If anyone doesn't comply, we will take action. We will seize their properties at the order of the court. Even we are ready to confiscate their properties if they do not cooperate," Mr Fitrat said.
More from WaPo: the Kabul Bank will be split into two parts. That should fix all the problems right there.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Arab News] The Mohammedan candidate who lost Nigeria's presidential election is distancing himself from the angry mobs who have killed Christians and set churches on fire across the country's north.
Muhammadu Buhari called the violence "sad, unfortunate and totally unwarranted." He also said the election "is purely a political manner" and should not be turned into a religious or ethnic conflict.
On Wednesday, the cries of children could be heard at a hospital in the northern town of Kaduna, where maimed people lay outside the emergency ward.
Mohammedan rioters burned homes, churches and cop shoppes in Kaduna after results showed Nigeria's Christian leader beat Buhari in Saturday's vote. Reprisal attacks by Christians began almost immediately.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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#1
Reminds one of Paleo leadership condemnations of terrorism.
[Ennahar] More than 200 people were killed in the riots that followed the presidential election in Nigeria, announced Wednesday an NGO, when the biggest loser, Muhammadu Buhari, demanded an end to violence while denouncing serious election fraud in the Christian south.
"The corpse count exceeds 200 in the entire region, according to information received by the Civil Rights Congress," said Shehu Sani's chief, referring to riots in the main northern Nigeria.
Over a thousand people were incarcerated in one city of Kaduna, where a curfew of 24 hours over 24 is in effect, added the head of the NGO.
The authorities have already declared that violence had resulted in deaths between Mohammedan and Christian communities but without giving balance to avoid inflaming the cycle of retaliation. Many bodies have been burned or thrown into wells, making balance difficult.
The Red Thingy reported "many dead", over 400 injured and around 40,000 displaced people have sought refuge with the police and army.
Curfews and military patrols have brought some calm Wednesday.
Main opposition candidate, General Buhari, a Mohammedan from the north, a region deprived, came second with 31% of votes behind the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... , a southern Christian, richer thanks to oil; the winner of Saturday's election with 57% of the vote, according to the Independent Electoral Commission.
General Buhari, former military leader is challenging the victory of his rival, but said he would respect the legal channels and called for an end to violence.
In the oil-rich Niger Delta, "and in the south-east there is not (really) elections and our fans were not allowed to vote," said on the radio's Voice the America, the general who led the 1984 and 1985 a military junta.
Several Southern states have announced results from 95% to over 99% of the vote in favour of Mr. Jonathan.
Buhari condemned, as before, the deadly riots that started Sunday night: "I urge people to calm down and respect the law as we address (to the Electoral Commission) to seek justice", "he said in a broadcast in Hausa.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Arab News] Police say kidnappers have freed a Filipino businesswoman 48 days after she was kidnapped in a southern Philippines province plagued by a Mohammedan insurgency.
Senior Supt. Edwin de Ocampo says pharmacy owner Olivia Barredo was freed Wednesday in Zamboanga Sibugay province's Roseller Lim township. The abductors had demanded money, but Ocampo did not say if any ransom was paid.
Barredo told RMN radio that her captors took her on an eight-hour boat ride to the town where they abandoned her.
She was able to call her husband and was fetched by a cousin.
She says she wasn't harmed but had little food during her ordeal.
Police say they suspect former Mohammedan rebels turned criminals snatched Barredo. Kidnapping for ransom has flourished for years in the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Dawn] An alleged robber was killed while his accomplice and two citizens were maimed in a shooting incident in Sarshar Town early on Tuesday, police said. It's a Pak shootout: no upazilas, no shutter guns. Wotta gyp.
The injured suspect was jugged by a police team.
Though the police lodged a case under sections of robbery and self-defence, police investigation suggested that the intruders and the victims had a property dispute.
Quoting the family, Hunjarwal police said two robbers entered a house by scaling the boundary wall in wee hours and tried to loot cash and valuables. The suspects opened fire when owner Nazim and his relative Asghar Bashir put up resistance.
The firing left them injured. During the scuffle, Nazim managed to snatch pistol of one of the robbers and opened fire.
The two suspects were also injured and one of them identified as Riaz ran off. He was captured by a police team which was on its way to the scene.
The injured were rushed to the Jinnah Hospital where other suspect identified as 22-year-old Zahid Ali of Okara succumbed to his wounds while Nazim was stated to be critical.
According to a police investigator, Nazim and Zahid had developed a dispute over a plot. They knew each other, he added.
Saddar division SP (investigation) Hassan Sukhera said the tossed in the clink suspect confessed to a robbery attempt. Further investigation is under way.
In another incident, a 25-year-old man was rubbed out allegedly by his rivals near his house in Ram Das Kho locality of Manga Mandi on Tuesday.
Police said Ejaz alias Kamran Masih of Ram Kho was killed by members of Faqir group over rivalry.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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A top politician in Iraq's Kurdistan region has offered to resign from the party leadership following weeks of anti-government protests in the semi-autonomous region.
Criticizing lack of freedom in the region, Kurdish regional Prime Minister Barham Saleh said on Tuesday that he made the decision after finding the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan unable to control the situation in the region.
"The current leadership of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is not able to go along with the new situation," Barham Saleh wrote in a letter to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is the secretary general of PUK.
"I am ready to resign from the leadership of the party in order to renew it and the political bureau," Saleh said in his letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
He also urged Kurdistan's ruling parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), to carry out a complete ministerial change to end mass street protests.
"The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party must carry out a complete ministerial change and form a technocratic government," he added.
Protesters in Iraqi Kurdistan are calling for an end to official corruption and the resignation of the regional government.
PUK and KDP, the two main parties that have ruled the region for decades, are now accused of nepotism and corruption.
On Tuesday, at least 75 were maimed in Iraq's Kurdistan after military forces attacked student protesters near Sulaymaniyah University.
Press TV's correspondent says more than 300 students were also tossed in the calaboose.
Since the beginning of protests in Iraq's Kurdistan region, at least three people have been killed and many others injured during festivities with security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Dawn] Iran should respect the unity of its Arab neighbours in the Gulf, the United Arab Emirates foreign minister said on Wednesday at a time of heightened regional tension.
"Iran should reconsider its policies in the region," Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahayan, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Gulf Cooperation Council, told a news conference in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi.
And it "should respect the unity and illusory sovereignty of Gulf countries," he said at the end of an annual GCC-European Union ministerial meeting.
"I'm trying to choose my words carefully. I don't want to act like some Iranian officials who throw their words in an abrasive and indecent way," Sheikh Abdullah said.
"All I wish for is that Iran view its neighbours with responsibility and respect." Tension has been running high between Iran and its Arab neighbours across the Gulf, with the two sides locked in a war of words since Shiite-led protests against Bahrain's Sunni dynasty broke out in mid-February.
A Saudi-led Gulf force including UAE police rolled into Bahrain on March 14, freeing up Bahraini security forces to crush the protest movement in the only Shia-majority Arab state of the Gulf, in a move condemned by Iran.
A joint GCC-EU statement issued after Wednesday's meeting backed the deployment.
It said the two blocs played up "the importance of respect for the illusory sovereignty of GCC member states and recognised the GCC is entitled to take all necessary measures to protect" their citizens.
On Monday, Bahraini Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa said the Gulf troops had entered his country "to deter an external threat," a reference to Iran.
"We have never seen such a sustained campaign from Iran on Bahrain and the Gulf as we've seen in the past two months. Usually it's short-lived and then they back off; this time is something different," he said.
"We wrote a letter to the secretary general of the United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating international security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... , and in that letter we have a full attachment on the threats and all the evidence we have against Iran and Hezbullies," the Lebanese Shiite group backed by Tehran.
And on Wednesday, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Mohammed Sabah al-Salem Al-Sabah confirmed that Iranian diplomats accused of spying have been expelled, in another spat between Iran and its Gulf neighbours.
Iranian state television had previously said three of Tehran's diplomats and an embassy employee were expelled from Kuwait, but Sheikh Mohammed's remark on Wednesday was the first official confirmation from the Kuwaiti side.
Sheikh Mohammed had said on March 31 that Iranian diplomats were to be expelled for alleged links to a spy ring working for Tehran, reportedly ever since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
The foreign minister charged the diplomats had proven links to a spy ring, three alleged members of which a Kuwaiti court condemned to death on March 29.
Strains in relations across the Gulf date back to the 1980s when the Arab states, notably Soddy Arabia, backed Saddam Hussein's Iraq in an eight-year war against Iran.
The GCC has more recently voiced concern over Tehran's alleged ambitions for regional dominance and its nuclear programme.
In other disputes, Iran has in the past claimed Bahrain as part of its territory and it controls three islands in the southern Gulf that are also claimed by the UAE.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
ARETHA FRANKLIN + "RESPECT"
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > IRAN SEEKS SUICIDE BOMBERS AGZ SAUDI ARABIA | IRAN SEEKS VOLUNTEERS TO PARTICIPATE IN SUICIDE BOMBINGS AGZ SAUDI INTERESTS AROUND THE WORLD.
ARTIC = IRGC allegedly ordered to prepare OPLANS for attacks agz KSA establishments or targets.
* SAME > AMIDST THE CHAOS IN MIDDLE EAST, IRAN ADVANCES ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAM + CONTINUES ARMS SMUGGLING.
Thou shalt not waste a Good Crisis, or Several of Them.
* SAME > LIFT SANCTIONS OR FACE US$150.00 OIL, SAYS IRAN.
* SAME > IRAN + TURKEY COMPETE FOR HEGEMONY, in Asia Minor + Caucasus.
#2
WAFF > SAUDIS GIVE UP ON IRAN [ + POTUS Obama Admin], INSTIGATE GULF ACTION AGZ IRAN.
The threat can be considered serious when SAUDI KING ABDULLAH = PAN-ISLAMIC DEFENDER, HEIR-SON OF MOHAMMED formally puts himself at the head of anti-Iran Military, Contigency Planning Groups???
versus
* SAME > TURKEY [Formal Membership] OFF EU'S RADAR SCREEN UNTIL AT LEAST 2020 - IOW, NEVER???
[Maghrebia] The United Nations ...an organization whose definition of human rights is interesting, to say the least... reached an agreement with Libyan authorities to set up a humanitarian presence in Tripoli, UN chief Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon announced Monday (April 18th) in Budapest. "It is absolutely necessary that Libyan authorities stop fighting, stop killing people," Ban said. UN humanitarian relief personnel are already in Benghazi.
In other humanitarian news Monday, an International Organisation for Migration (IOM) ship left Misrata with 100 Libyans and 870 migrant workers from Ghana, Ukraine and the Philippines. A Red Thingy vessel also evacuated 618 foreign nationals. Great Perfidious Albion on Monday announced plans to evacuate 5,000 foreign workers from Misrata.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Maghrebia] Algerian soldiers killed seven faceless myrmidons and made several arrests near the Libya and Niger borders, El Khabar reported on Monday (April 18th). During two separate operations conducted within a 24-hour period, ANP troops also seized large quantities of weapons and ammunition. One of the faceless myrmidons killed while trying to infiltrate the country was a Libyan national wanted by security services in Algeria, Mali and Mauritania.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Al Jizz] Libya's deputy foreign minister has spoken out against a British plan to send a team of military officers to the North African country to advise the rebels.
Khaled Kaim said Perfidious Albion's attempt to help the opposition forces would be futile.
"This is not in the interest of the UK," Kaim told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency on Tuesday.
"This is an impossible mission. To organise who? They [the rebels] are different groups. There is no leader. They are not well-organised, and I am sure it will be a failure," Kaim said.
His comments came after the British foreign minister, William Hague, announced that military advisers would join a group of British diplomats already co-operating with the Libyan National Transitional Council, based in the opposition stronghold of Benghazi.
"They will advise the National Transitional Council on how to improve their military organisational structures, communications and logistics, including how best to distribute humanitarian aid and deliver medical assistance," he said.
However, The ever-popular However... the foreign office said the team would not train or arm forces fighting troops loyal to Muammar Qadaffy, the Libyan leader.
Hague insisted that the deployment would be "fully within the terms" of the United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... Security Council resolution on Libya that authorised the set up of a no-fly zone over the country.
On Wednesday La Belle France also said it would be sending a small number of military liaison officers to work with opposition forces in a similar capacity.
"There will be a small number of liaison officers [placed] with the national transition council in order to organise the protection of the civilian population," Francois Baroin, a government front man, said.
'Taking sides'
Hague's announcement sparked some criticism among supporters of British prime minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... 's coalition government.
Several politicians from Cameron's Conservative Party called for the recall of parliament, now in recess, to debate the move. They argued that circumstances have changed since parliament approved British participation in the Libya no-fly zone last month.
Peter Bone, one Conservative politician, voiced concern that Perfidious Albion seemed to be "taking sides in a civil war".
But Omar Ashour, director of Middle East studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter said the deployment of British advisers to Libya is a necessary step.
"[There are] training problems, logistical problems. Many of the forces in the [opposition] are merely civilians who have never taken up arms before. So there will need to be some training," Ashour told Al Jizz.
"It's necessary right now especially because many Libyans - from Misrata and Benghazi - have been calling for direct boots on the ground."
EU armed escorts
The European Union, meanwhile, said it is ready, in principle, to provide armed escorts to secure UN aid convoys in Libya, though UN officials said they do not need such guards for the time being.
The proposal drew a warning from Libya's deputy foreign minister that sending armed escorts would be tantamount to a military operation.
The UN resolution bans the use of foreign troops in Libya.
Russia - a veto-wielding member of the Security Council - already has complained that the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... action in bombing Libya's military has overstepped its mandate, and therefore is unlikely to approve any further extension of the alliance's operations.
"The UN Security Council never aimed to topple the Libyan regime," Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said in Belgrade on Tuesday. "All those who are currently using the UN resolution for that aim are violating the UN mandate."
The NATO-led international operation to enforce the no-fly zone and protect civilians has been criticised by Libyan pro-democracy forces in recent weeks for failing to do enough to protect them from attack by pro-Qadaffy fighters.
Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, an opposition leader touring Europe in search of more logistical support, said the Libyan opposition is not looking to other nations to remove Qadaffy.
"We are not looking or inviting anybody to kill him, and we don't have such a possibility, but we hope he and his regime can leave Libya as soon as possible," Abdul-Jalil said in Italia.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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#1
NBA dancers at bottom of that page were more interesting.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
04/21/2011 1:15
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#2
I like #3, the two frogmen sitting inside the missile. Not exactly sure what it is they do but it must be a hell of a ride...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/21/2011 9:10
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#3
I think that is supposed to be some sort of submarine / underwater transport Steve. Looks like something which was thrown together for the parade - kind of like a float.
And it's hard for anyone to compete with the NBA Dancers.
#4
I like #3, the two frogmen sitting inside the missile. Not exactly sure what it is they do but it must be a hell of a ride...
I thought it looked like one of the kids' rides they used to have in front of grocery stores. Maybe in the next generation they could have a little motor on it to make it go up and down.
#5
My kid made something like the 'Frogman Missle' when he was about 12 years old. His sheetmetal work looked a lot better, though, and it was actually waterproof.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/21/2011 10:59
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#6
Did you notice the boxing gloves were "Spalding" and vests were "Adidas"! HA!
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/21/2011 11:13
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#7
...The pic of the F-14s flying was interesting. Wonder how operational they are besides the ability to take off, go past the reviewing stand, and land.
Note in Pic # 5 the guy in the front row to the left has a white flag all set and ready to go.
And is it just me, or did anybody else look at the pics of the troops goosestepping and hear, "Springtime for Hitler"?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/21/2011 11:27
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#12
I like #3, the two frogmen sitting inside the missile. Not exactly sure what it is they do but it must be a hell of a ride...
Normally I'd say 'swimmer delivery submersible'. But judging by its construction, it's either a one-way trip or designed to be built cheaply for swarm-attack.
#13
Did anyone else but me notice that one of the "iranian-made" missiles bore a very striking resemblance to a Phoenix missile, and another one looked almost identical to a Hawk missile? I wonder if these aren't just props kept around to show in parades.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/21/2011 16:16
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#14
pic#4 . please explain !
Posted by: Unuper Protector of the Hatfields6331 ||
04/21/2011 20:31
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[Straits Times] THOUSANDS of Malaysians are mocking a 50 million ringgit (S$20 million) plan to offer government-linked email accounts to all adults, saying most Internet users already have free email service.
Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the scheme on Tuesday, said the '1Malaysia (1MY) E-mail' initiative would allow 'direct and secure' communication between citizens and the government while enhancing the delivery of government services to consumers and businesses alike.
Caught something from an infected email, did they?
The plan aims to provide 16 million Malaysians with free email accounts for online communication between them and government agencies.
IT company Tricubes is collaborating with Microsoft to develop the '1Malaysia E-mail' project.The company will spearhead the private RM50m (S$20.6 million) investment that also includes the development of a web portal as a one-stop centre for government services providing value-added services such as social networking, checking of bills online and payments.
More than 20,000 people had joined a Facebook group by Wednesday opposing the initiative.
The project has become an embarrassment for Prime Minister Najib Razak. He announced it on Tuesday as part of efforts to boost government efficiency, but Malaysians ridiculed it as a publicity stunt and a waste of funds.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Iran Press TV] The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union has urged Bahrain to enter into talks with the opposition but failed to condemn the foreign military interference in the country.
Expressing grave concerns about the events unfolding in Bahrain, the EU council described "dialogue" as the only way to end months of crisis in the Persian Gulf state.
The EU council also voiced concerns about the huge number of arrests being made in Bahrain, stressing that all those that have been tossed in the slammer for expressing their opinions should be released immediately.
It also called on Bahraini authorities to investigate the death of anti-government protesters and reports of human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... abuse.
Since the beginning of anti-government protests across Bahrain in mid-February, the European Union has failed to condemn the Manama regime's brutal crackdown on demonstrators.
In March, EU foreign policy adviser Robert Cooper downplayed the brutal violence against anti-government protesters in Bahrain by claiming that 'accidents happen.'
Scores of protesters have been killed and many others injured during festivities with security forces. Many opposition activists have also gone missing. Their bodies are frequently found days later.
The Human Rights Watch reports that more than 400 opposition activists and protesters have been tossed in the slammer in Bahrain in recent weeks.
The protesters are demanding an end to the rule of the al-Khalifa dynasty.
Bahraini security forces with the assistance of Saudi and UAE troops are brutally cracking down on demonstrators.
Protesters, however, say they will continue their street demonstrations until their demands for freedom, constitutional monarchy as well as a proportional voice in the government are met.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Arab News] A Yemeni opposition activist says a gunnies on cycle of violences shot up hundreds of demonstrators camped out overnight in a western port city, killing one and wounding several protesters.
Radwan Al-Obisi says men on cycle of violences strafed protesters who had been demanding the ouster of longtime President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... in Hudaydah port on Wednesday morning. He claims the attackers, who sped away, where thugs hired by Saleh's ruling party.
Yemen's turmoil is spiraling out of control. More than 120 people have been killed since near-daily protests calling for Saleh's removal began in mid February, inspired by Arab uprisings.
Thousands marched in Hudaydah on Tuesday, tearing down billboards of Saleh. Security forces fired shots into the air to disperse the crowds.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Arab News] A Singaporean newspaper is reporting that a retiree saved a newborn baby who had been buried alive in a flower garden. Whoa! I think I read this book!
The New Paper quoted Tay Kim Sia as saying he was smoking a cigarette on the rooftop terrace of his apartment building earlier this week when he noticed tiny legs sticking up out of a large planter box. The paper says Tay dug around the legs and found a baby boy with his umbilical cord still attached and a black plastic bag tied around his neck. The father told the mother the kid was born dead...
The paper says other seniors nearby helped clean the baby and called police. The paper says the baby was hospitalized but healthy. Police spokeswoman Yvonne Edwin said Wednesday no one had come forward to claim the baby and the police investigation was ongoing. So the kindly old guy and his wife take the kid in, see. They name him Benedetto, because they're so happy to have the child they've always wanted. Benedetto grows up to be a hoodlum and a disappointment to them. Eventually he's for the high jump, but the Count of Monte Cristo buys his freedom from the Pope and Benedetto shows up in Gay Paree posing as the son of Major Cavalcante...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Ma'an] A Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine ... a breakaway faction of the Pöpular Frönt för the Liberation of Paleostine. The are regarded as the most intellectual of Paleostinian fedayeen groups, smoking cheap cigarettes and drawing heavily on Marxist-Leninist theory to explain their crappy lives. They can occasionally be seen strutting through the streets of Paleostine, dressed up like soldiers and lugging firearms, though they seldom manage to hit anything and then usually by accident. This may be because of their habit of wearing black masks that cut off most of their vision. That would also explain their habit of occasionally walking into walls, which is a well-known attribute of those immersed in true understanding of the dialectic... leader returned home Wednesday after decades in exile.
Ahmad Abed Al-Aziz, 63, a DFLP leader who was barred for 40 years from returning to Deir Al-Balah, lived in Libya until this week.
Abed Al-Aziz, who sustained injuries defending refugee camps in Leb, was met by a delegation from the secular Paleostinian faction after he crossed through the Erez terminal on the Israeli border.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Bangla Daily Star] The International Crimes Tribunal yesterday rejected a bail petition filed by Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee in connection with war crimes.
The tribunal also fixed today for the hearing on two other petitions filed on behalf of other top four Jamaat-e-Islami leaders-- Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, assistant secretaries general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla.
Nizami, Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, assistant secretaries general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla.
In one of the two petitions, the four Jamaat leaders sought bail in connection with charges of war crimes. The other petition was filed by Nizami and Mojahid seeking review of the tribunal's order on April 13 which allowed Sherlocks to quiz them at a "safe home" in the capital instead of Dhaka Central Jail about their links with war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War.
All the five Jamaat leaders were produced before the court yesterday.
The three-member tribunal headed by its Chairman Justice Nizamul Huq directed the prison authorities to allow Sayedee, Nayeb-e-Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, to receive treatment at Birdem Hospital at his own cost.
The tribunal also asked the prosecution to submit a report of the investigation into the allegations against Sayedee as early as possible. The prosecution has to submit the progress report, if it fails to submit the full investigation report, by May 31.
It ordered the jail authorities to produce Nizami, Mojahid, Kamaruzzaman and Quader before the tribunal today.
Sayedee's counsel barrister Tanvir Ahmed Al Amin yesterday prayed for conditional bail of his client on medical and humanitarian grounds.
Opposing the bail prayer, Prosecutor Syed Rezaur Rahman said the Sherlocks have collected documents and evidence of Sayedee having committed crimes against humanity and war crimes during the Liberation War.
If Sayedee is released on bail, the investigation into the allegations against him might get hampered, he continued.
He also sought permission so the jail authorities can keep Sayedee in jug until the investigation is completed.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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It was the PSLV's 17th consecutive successful mission out of the 18 launches from Sriharikota. At the end of 18 minutes of a delightful flawless flight, the fourth stage of the rocket shot India's Resourcesat-2 into its orbit. About 40 seconds later, the fourth stage bulleted again the Youthsat and the X-sat into their orbits. The accuracy was such that the Resourcesat-2 reached an orbit at an altitude of 822.9 km against the targeted 822 km.
The mission lifted the veil of despondency that had fallen over the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) after the failure of the GSLV-D3 with an indigenous cryogenic stage in April last year and of the GSLV-F06 with a Russian cryogenic engine in December.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/21/2011
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#2
In case anyone thinks Gorb was slamming Sheriff Joe, they need to take a look at sweet Barbara's mugshot. But preferably on an empty stomach.
Mattis/Arpaio 2012!
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
04/21/2011 1:53
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Quality!
During the summer of 2003, when outside temperatures exceeded 43 °C, Arpaio famously said to complaining inmates, 'It's 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents, have to wear full body armor, and they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths.'
#6
They publish names, addresses, and charges of arrests in my hometown. I never thought about rating the pictures but maybe there should be a "Felon of the Week"? Most aint too pretty but I kind of like this one: http://suttersheriff.org/services/inmates/inmate_details.aspx?id=57975
#7
We have a local publication titled "Busted." The neighbor kid appeared in the publication. He should have appeared long before this from what I understand.
[Maghrebia] A Libyan colonel, captain, and an officer in the internal security forces defected to Tunisia, TAP reported on Monday (April 18th). A boat carrying the security officers and 20 other Libyans docked Sunday at El Ketf port in the Ben Guerdane region. Five other Libyan army officers decamped to Tunisia on Friday, AP reported. Some 3,000 Libyans, mostly women and kiddies, have decamped to Tunisia in the last two days.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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[Al Jazeera] The US will maintain its drone programme in Pakistan but the way forward will be determined by both sides, an unnamed US military official has said.
The issue has been a bone of contention between the two nations, with some Pakistani officials calling for sharp cuts in drone attacks.
"The [programme] is something that we have said we go ahead on. The question is how," the official said on condition of anonymity.
"And that process is going to be something that's going to be one of the main tasks that our intel and our military guys have."
The matter was raised last week in Washington in talks between Leon Panetta, the CIA director, and Lieutenant-General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency.
"I'll pause from my normal optimism and say this is a tough one. This is a real tough one," the unidentified US official said.
"Because that has been so inflamed in the public that the ability of our intelligence and our military guys to get together and say 'what's our common ground here?' is limited."
Under pressure
The long-running issue of the US drone strikes on targets in Pakistan's tribal areas has kept tensions high between the two countries regarding the US' role in the region.
The covert drone-launched missile strikes that target fighters in Pakistan's lawless border areas have stoked anti-American sentiment among the populace, even though it is widely believed that the strikes occur with the tacit consent of Islamabad.
Publicly, Pakistan's leaders have insisted that the drone strikes stop and that the US share the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology with Pakistan so that it can take operational control of them, but US officials say operations will continue in order to achieve US security objectives.
US officials have privately said in the past that Washington would not consider demands by some Pakistani officials for sharp cuts in drone attacks.
Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the remarks about continued US drone attacks came as a surprise especially when the strikes are widely unpopular in Pakistan.
"Right now the issue is being taken up even at the International Court of Justice because the government officials and some major leaders of religious parties are saying that the Americans have no mandate to cross into Pakistani sovereign territory," he said.
"There is a lot of top talking to do and a lot of protests expected over the continued US policy on drone strikes."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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#1
I think we show a picture of Mr. ten percent to a drone and let it loiter over the capital for a few days...maybe he'll come to his senses.
Of course, ISI is so cancerous, anything to shift course and really go after the Taliban and their minions in Pakistain will get Mr. Gilani assassinated.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/21/2011 10:26
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[Tolo News] Former Afghan Hajj and Pilgrimage Minister has denied charges of corruption after being accused by High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption. "No, no! Certainly not!"
In a phone call to TOLOnews the former minister Mohammad Sidiq Chakari said the allegations are part of a political plot.
Chakari, who is living in Perfidious Albion, said he has discussed the case with President Karzai and it will be disclosed soon.
But the High Office of Oversight and Anti-corruption (HOOAC) said there is no political plot behind the case.
HOOAC said if he is clean he should prove it.
The corruption watch dog has urged British government to freeze all bank accounts related to Chakari and to submit them to Afghan government.
"Mr Ludin has accused me of embezzlement. I have no case in Afghanistan. All the cases are based on a political conspiracy and I will unveil it at the right time. I have also talked to Mr President about the plot," Mohammad Sidiq Chakari told TOLOnews.
Officials said if Mr Chakari claims he is not corrupt then he should come to Afghanistan and prove it.
Head of HOOAC Azizullah Ludin said: "HOOAC pledges a tough and serious fight against corrupt officials without considering their positions.
"I want to ask Mr Chakari where all this money came from. We went to Jihad only with our clothes, but where did 700 to 800 thousand dollars come from. It must have been brought from somewhere else," Mr Ludin said.
Mr Chakari was accused of flying money out of Afghanistan when he was running Hajj and Pilgrimage Ministry.
Experts said the government has not been able to try even one corrupt official in the past nine years.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] An anti-terrorism court, on Wednesday, indicted the holy man of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz in the Rangers murder case.
Aziz was indicted along with 21 others, including his wife Umme Hassan and his daughter Taiba, in a case involving the murder of a Rangers official during the 2007 Lal Masjid operation.
The case, which was heard in court number of the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, has been adjourned until May 3.
An armed operation was launched on the Lal Masjid in Islamabad on the morning of July 3 and it went on until July 11.
The Lal Masjid was headed by Aziz and his brother Abdul Rashid Ghazi.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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To see a map, click here. To see a map of Tamaulipas, click here. Corresting new item about the number of police detainees in the PGR investigation, from 55 to 16.
The grisly death toll in the San Fernando, Tamaulipas mass grave reached 145 last Friday as the top police official in Tamaulipas resigned, according to Mexican news reports.
Brigadier General Ubaldo Ayala Tinoco, who had been the head of Tamaulipas' Secretaria de Seguridad Publica (SSP), resigned last weekend in the wake of the continuing investigation into the disappearance and deaths of Mexican citizens starting two weeks ago. To see Rantburg reports on the San Fernando mass graves, click here, here and here.
Ayala Tinoco has been Tamauliaps top police official for only 107 days, from the start of the administration of Governor Egidio Torre Cantú, who was elected to his post last July.
Since the naming of the new Tamaulipas SSP official, events have moved very quickly, including the detention of 55 individuals, 16 of them local police officers in San Fernando, for their alleged roles in the murders, and the arrest of a mastermind in those and the 72 murders last year of migrants heading to the US.
Replacing a top official in Mexican state houses is unheard of even in cases of extreme reverses. Top officials tend to retain their posts until their boss can find a replacement even though an embarrassing event has taken place. It can be easily read as a sign of things to come in Tamaulipas, a state with a less than solid record with regard to Mexican organized crime.
But since the change of government in Tamaulipas, a number of subtle changes in security arrangements have taken place, mostly concerning the deployment and presence of Mexican Federal security forces, including the army and marines.
For example, army detachments in both Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas have been swapped and mixed, and have been concentrating patrols on the border between the two states mainly on the Monterrey-Reynosa highway. Though an announcement late last winter by Nuevo Leon governor Rodrigo Medina suggested that sealing the borders between the two states was a possible solution to security problems in the area, later news reported the cross attachments and increased patrols between the two states combining and mixing units from both states.
So in that sense the appointment of the new SSP official, First Captain of the Army Rafael Lomeli Martinez, makes some sense. Prior to taking the Tamaulipas SSP job, Lomeli Martinez was head of all Mexican Policia Federal (PF) forces in neighboring Nuevo Leon. Reports also say Lomeli Martinez was in charge of PF forces in Tamaulipas as well. He also served in the army for 23 years.
Lomeli Martinez appearance in the government of Torres Cantu also suggests possible involvement of the Mexican federal government in the choice. On Mexican Army Day last February, Tamaulipas was named the first state to receive four new army rifle battalions to be raised in the north. Torres Cantu mentioned the formation of the new forces in the announcement of the arrest of the first 16 San Fernando municipal police officers last weekend. To read Rantburg reports on the Army Day announcement, click here.
Though the Mexican federal system is a strong centralized system, Calderon in the past has made it a point of getting local officials to sign off on new deployments before they happen, and to make sure they are in line with local security arrangements. Torres Cantu is no exception. He attended the Army Day celebration that announced the formation of the new unit.
Another factor suggesting federal government involvement is Mexican President Felipe Calderon recently named Mexico's first female attorney general (PGR) Marisela Morales three weeks go. A new attorney general is likely to have a strong hand in security arrangements as the war on the cartels continues, since the new arrangements now have her new imprimatur on them.
Governor Torres Cantu has a personal stake in the outcome of security in Tamaulipas. It was his brother, Rodolfo Torres Cantu, who was shot to death along with four of his security detail in northern Tamaulipas in an ambush last June. Reports at the time suggested the members of the Los Zetas drug gang, dressed as Mexican Marines, killed Rodolfo in a stretch of highway near the coast. Egidio took over his brother's campaign and went on to win the governor's seat in a landslide. To read Rantburg reports on the murder of Rodolfo Torres Cantu, click here and here.
BAGHDAD An Arab League summit planned for Baghdad next month was postponed again Wednesday as political unrest continues to roil the Middle East.
The delay was not unexpected, but it drew protests from Iraqi leaders, who had argued that the summit could give Arab countries an important first chance to discuss the changes taking places across the region.
Iraq lawmakers said the forums second postponement also indicated that neighboring Arab leaders intend never to hold the conference in Baghdad, which, although safer than in recent years, still struggles with near-daily incidents of violence. An aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on state-run television Wednesday that representatives of the Arab League would meet May 15 to choose a new date for the conference. It was not clear whether Baghdad would remain the venue.
The deputy secretary general of the 22-member organization was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying that unrest, not the security situation in Baghdad, has led to the delay.
The public mood in the region is transitional, nervous and rebellious, which leads us to ask whether it is wise to hold a summit in this period, Ahmed Ben Hilli said.
Several experts have speculated that Arab leaders might not be willing to leave their countries for months for fear their absence could encourage protesters.
Bingo. Though Ben Ali and Mubarak stayed in town for all the good it did them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/21/2011
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Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, one of 15 high-value detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, was charged with murder, terrorism and other violations of the laws of war in an October 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.
The military alleges that Nashiri was "in charge of the planning and preparation" of the attack, in which a small boat carrying two suicide bombers pulled alongside the USS Cole and detonated, ripping a 30-by-30-foot hole in the Navy destroyer and killing 17 American sailors.
The case is the first capital military tribunal to be announced under President Obama, whose administration recently lifted a ban on new trials at Guantanamo Bay. Although the administration said this month that it would try Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four co-defendants in a military commission, prosecutors have not sworn charges or confirmed that they will seek the death penalty.
Nashiri, 46, a Saudi citizen of Yemeni descent, has been in U.S. custody since 2002 and at Guantanamo Bay since 2006. After his capture in the United Arab Emirates, he was held overseas at CIA secret prisons, where he was waterboarded and subject to mock executions in which agency operatives separately held a power drill and a gun to his head, according to a report by the CIA inspector general and other government documents.
Nashiri said at a 2007 military hearing that he confessed to involvement in the Cole bombing only because he was tortured.
The case raises difficult legal questions -- about the legacy of harsh interrogation methods, about the use of military tribunals to prosecute acts that occurred before Sept. 11, 2001, and about the destruction of evidence by CIA officers -- that could complicate prosecution.
"Now we get serious," said Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice and a lecturer at Yale Law School. "It's a mare's nest of legal issues."
Since the military detention center opened in 2002, six cases have been completed, resulting in four plea bargains, a short sentence and a guilty verdict. Two of those six detainees have been released, and three more are scheduled to be sent home over the next few years as a result of the pleas.
But Nashiri, who is said to have been a senior associate of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has a far bigger profile than any of the detainees convicted so far.
Under the military justice system, the charges sworn by prosecutors must be referred to a military commission for trial by a senior Pentagon official known as the convening authority. The authority could reject any or all of the charges.
Nashiri has a military attorney, but under the reformed system of military commissions, he is also entitled to a "learned counsel," either a military or a civilian lawyer with experience in capital cases. That person must be appointed before charges are referred.
"I am absolutely thrilled that this long-overdue prosecution is moving forward and that the crew and families will finally see justice," said Kirk Lippold, the former commander of the Cole.
In 2000, the United States did not treat the attack on the Cole as an act of war, sending FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service personnel to Yemen to investigate. Congressional authorization for the use of military force against al-Qaeda came immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, and some legal experts say that raises questions about whether a military court has the jurisdiction to try the Nashiri case.
The 2009 Military Commissions Act says offenses committed before Sept. 11, 2001, can be tried. But David Glazier, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, writes in a forthcoming article for a law journal that "Supreme Court precedent clearly limits commission jurisdiction to the period of actual hostilities."
Military prosecutors are unlikely to rely on any statements made by Nashiri while in CIA custody.
Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent, wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times last year that "there is enough evidence to convict Mr. Nashiri based on confessions we gained legally" from his two indicted co-conspirators. Moreover, in military commissions, FBI agents will probably be able to relay to the court what witnesses in Yemen told them -- hearsay testimony that would typically be barred in federal court.
Nonetheless, the case is complicated by the CIA's destruction of videotapes of Nashiri's waterboarding. The defense is likely to argue that the destruction of potentially exculpatory evidence should lead the military judge to dismiss the charges.
Even if Nashiri's treatment at the hands of the CIA never surfaces during the trial, it will almost certainly come up in any sentencing phase as a mitigating factor against a death sentence.
"Anyone who approved or participated in the torture of my client should be prepared to take the witness stand," Navy Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Reyes said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/21/2011
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[Arab News] Libyan ruler Muammar Qadaffy's secret police once haunted the country's mosques, locking up, torturing and killing Mohammedan preachers whose talk they considered a threat.
Now that rebels in the country's east have shaken off the regime's control, those same holy men are using the newfound freedom of speech here to attack Qadaffy from the pulpit while defining the society they'd like to see if he falls. I generally feel that holy men should stick to praying and stay the hell out of politix. But maybe that's just me...
Contrary to efforts by Qadaffy's regime to depict the uprising as led by Al-Qaeda seeking to impose an Islamic state, many of the newly liberated holy mans are telling their flocks that the country needs a civil democratic government.
"We demand our rights, for this is just. We demand to know where our country's wealth is, for this is just. And we demand our dignity!" preacher Mohammed Taeb roared to a crowd of 500 at his Benghazi mosque in a recent Friday sermon. "We demand a civil and civilized state ... We want what all free people want!" Taeb, who was incarcerated for seven years by the regime, urged his congregation to work for a civil state with strong institutions and freedoms of speech and association. He also clearly enjoyed lashing out at Qadaffy, calling him a "one-of-a-kind lout, a bizarre weirdo." The call, made in many mosques in the east, mirrors the stance of the politicianship of the two-month old rebel movement based in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, which says it seeks a civilian democracy in which religion will have a limited role in government.
It has taken over the local religious affairs office -- once an agent of Qadaffy's control -- and staffed it with holy mans who say they'll monitor preachers for extremism.
Religious feeling is strong among Libyans -- Qur'anic phrases dot conversations and ubiquitous mosques overflow during Friday's prayers, the spiritual focus of the Mohammedan week. Now imams in the east are enjoying their freedom to actually express their religious views after the long, troubled relationship with Qadaffy's regime, said Ghaith Al-Fakhri, a local Islamic law professor who recently told a crowd of thousands that Qadaffy had violated his "social contract" with the people and must be tossed.
Qadaffy couldn't destroy the mosques like he did other social institutions, so he tightly controlled them.
Preachers were required to boost Qadaffy's jumble of socialist, anti-colonialist thought. To ensure obedience, secret police monitored sermons, sometimes delivering texts to be read word for word, lauding Libya's "achievements" or insulting the US or other countries, said Al-Fakhri.
"All religious talk was directed to serve the politics and ideas of Qadaffy," he said.
Otherwise, they stuck to issues like patience and cleanliness or stories from Islamic history -- topics unlikely to alarm government monitors, Al-Fakhri said. Any deviation or sign of independence could lead to arrest.
These rules still reign in parts of Libya that Qadaffy controls. Since the uprising started, residents of the capital Tripoli have reported heavy police presence near mosques on Fridays, with gunnies ready should the devout decide to protest.
The tensions between religious leaders and the regime escalated in the 1990s with the rise of the Islamic exemplar Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which carried out attacks on Qadaffy's regime and aimed to establish an Islamic state.
The regime responded by arresting thousands of suspected Islamists, sweeping up many men who say they had no links to the group but merely wore long beards or the short pants favored by some conservative Mohammedans.
The crackdown struck a heavy blow to the group, with many of its leaders dying in prison. Other members decamped to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2007, Al-Qaeda announced the group had formally linked with it, though most of its Libyan-based membership at the time denied any alliance.
The group's leadership inside Libya renounced violence in 2009 and negotiated the release of hundreds of its prisoners, according to Human Rights Watch.
During the crackdown, Mohammedan preachers were especially suspect.
Taeb said the regime accused him of Islamist ties when he was incarcerated in 1999. He said he belonged to no group, and that the real reason for his arrest was that he used to indirectly criticize the regime by discussing social inequality and asking why a country with so much oil had such bad roads and health care.
"If you gave any sermon that had the slight odor of politics, they'd summon you right away," said Khalid bin Rashid, a holy man who said he was incarcerated in 1995 for giving money to the poor. His captors told him doing so violated Libya's socialism, he said.
Bin Rashid said he was held for months in a filthy bathroom with 15 other men before being transferred to a prison, where his captors beat him with thick wires for reciting the Qur'an. Others with him died under torture, he said.
He was freed a year and a half later, and then -- in a reflection of Libya's chaotic bureaucracy -- he was appointed a state imam with a modest government salary.
Four days after his appointment, he was incarcerated again and incarcerated until 2002.
While the east's religious leaders didn't help organize the anti-Qadaffy uprising that started Feb. 15, many quickly joined in, preaching at funerals for "deaders" killed by security forces and calling for further protests.
Also, many protests began in mosques.
Not long after Qadaffy's forces decamped Benghazi in mid-February, bin Rashid delivered a sermon for the first time in years with a fiery call for Libyans to stand together to oust Qadaffy. "It was an amazing feeling that I'll never forget," he said. "We could never talk like that before." Bin Rashid said Islam will always be important for Libyans, but that he wants a civil-based democracy.
Zahi Mogherbi, a political science professor and adviser to the rebels' National Transitional Council, said the body has yet to draft a constitution, but that he expects Islamic rules to guide personal status law governing marriage and inheritance, as it does in almost all Arab nations.
"For everything else, the state will be civil and religion will not interfere," he said, adding that the basis will be "a civil, democratic framework." He said women won't be forced to veil and that alcohol might be permitted, as it was before Qadaffy.
Rita Katz, head of the US based SITE Intelligence Group, said Al-Qaeda views the Libyan upheaval as a "valuable opportunity" to establish a regional foothold and that other groups are encouraging jihadists to go there.
Mogherbi acknowledged such fears, saying only establishing a stable, democratic Libya would prevent this.
"Once we have a democratic system and they can express themselves in political life, there will be no need for radical behavior," he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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#1
Which tells you who the good guys in this conflict are.
[Tolo News] European countries are in an effort to establish a business link with Afghanistan using middle-east railway networks. Sounds like high-speed targets...
At a conference on railway networks in Tajikistan on Tuesday Tadeush Shozda, Chairman of Organisation for Railway Cooperation, said Turkmenistan railway network is a suitable way to ship civilian commodities to Afghanistan.
But not military supplies? Still, that's one way to make sure foodstuffs don't rot, waiting to cross the Pakistani border.
Because of transit problems in Uzbekistan the European countries are looking into ways other than Uzbekistan to ship their products to Afghanistan, Tadeush Shozda said.
Tadeush Shozda said there are legal transit papers but European countries face some sort of problems to get their civilian goods transported through Uzbekistan's soil.
But railway officials in Uzbekistan see railway traffic as the only factor behind the problem.
Officials said more than 160,000 tonnes of commodities are shipped to Afghanistan through Uzbekistan.
Work on a railway initiative that will connect Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and China is in progress and primary estimation has put the cost of the project at more than three billion dollars.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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New meaning for "Terrorists on a train".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/21/2011 10:43
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Given how their minds work, RJ, they'd probably start by blowing the train.
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Middle-East Railway to Connect Afghanistan with Europe
great , send everyone home , and then lock down . Hell , Id even throw in a few euros and a bag of rice if everyone from Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and China fooked off back to their sesspits
Posted by: Unuper Protector of the Hatfields6331 ||
04/21/2011 20:27
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"Middle-East Railway to Connect Afghanistan with Europe"
Better to connect Europe to Afghanistan. One-way only. East.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/21/2011 23:28
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[Dawn] Lawmakers and elders of Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended... unanimously decided here on Tuesday to take up the issue of 35 passengers kidnapped from Thall-Parachinar Road with the KP governor besides pressing the security forces for ensuring safety on the route.
MNA from Kurram Agency Sajid Hussain Turi told Dawn that this was for the first time that the two major tribes in the volatile Kurram Agency -- Turi and Mengal -- had passed on the buck to the government regarding safety of their rustics on Thall-Parachinar Road and many other issues as in the past, the two tribes were holding each other responsible for any untoward incident in the tribal area.
"The Thall-Parachinar Road was re-opened with the mutual efforts of tribal elders. Now the government and security forces were wholly responsible for safeguarding the road," the MNA said.
About Tuesday`s jirga, the politician said that about 30 tribal elders including MNA Munir Orakzai collectively decided to involve the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... government for peace in Kurram Agency.
Mr Turi regretted that the government had completely ignored the safety of passengers traveling on the route adding that the recovery of the 35 missing commuters was the duty of law enforcement agencies.
He said that both Mengal and Turi tribes would support military operation against the Death Eater group fuelling sectarian festivities in the tribal agency. "If the government keeps mum over the suffering of the people, then we have other options to force the government to take practical step for the peace in Parachinar," he said.
Mansab Ali, a tribal elder, told Dawn that a third force which had no affiliation with any of the two tribes was destroying peace in the tribal agency, adding that both the federal and provincial governments had completely ignored their responsibility to maintain law and order in the area.
Munir Orakzai said that KP Governor Barrister Masud Kausar would be requested to take up the issue of kidnapped passengers with the security forces.
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04/21/2011
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[Arab News] The head of a powerful militia that fought against Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... in Ivory Coast on Tuesday pledged allegiance to President Alassane Ouattara and dismissed reports that his men had fallen out with other fighters.
Ibrahim Coulibaly, head of the "Invisible Commandos" who harassed Gbagbo forces in Abidjan for weeks, said pro-Gbagbo forces must be included in the country's new army to avoid future bloodshed.
Ouattara won a November election which previous president Gbagbo refused to cede, leading to a four-month power struggle that ended last week when pro-Ouattara forces captured Gbagbo.
Gbagbo's arrest has raised hopes for peace in the leading cocoa grower.
But the weeks of heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting... have left groups of gunnies scattered across the country.
"The Invisible Commandos are at the service of the republic, its people and its head of state," Coulibaly, known as "IB," told news hounds in his first presser since his men started attacking Gbagbo's forces in Abidjan in January.
Coulibaly dismissed reports of disputes with other militias, saying that his 5,000 fighters were working alongside pro-Ouattara forces. "Anything else is a lie," he added.
Coulibaly's attacks in the north of the commercial capital appeared to open the way for Ouattara's supporters to sweep south and enter the city.
Their advance initially stalled amid fierce resistance from Gbagbo's elite forces and reports of rows between Coulibaly and Guillaume Soro, the former rebel leader who is Ouattara's prime minister.
Analysts questioned whether Ouattara would be able to control Coulibaly once he came to power.
"It is true that there was a moment of disagreement between myself and my young brother (Soro) but I think now is the time for reconciliation and forgiveness," Coulibaly said.
In recent days, residents who sheltered in their homes during days of intense fighting have started going back to work as a semblance of normality returns to parts of the city.
But in a reminder of the dangers, residents said heavy gunfire rang out on Tuesday in Yopougon, a district in Abidjan where many of the pro-Gbagbo militia, civilians who were armed during the last days of the fighting, have retreated to.
"We are hearing kabooms. There is the firing of heavy weapons. There is also the firing of Kalashnikovs," said Alexis Agnero. "There is fighting between the Republican Forces and the militia."
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[Dawn] Six people, including a young activist of the Afaq Ahmed-led faction of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H), were rubbed out in different parts of the city on Tuesday, police and party sources said.
It sounds like Karachi could use a division of Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion.
The MQM-H worker, Amir Ali, in his mid-20s, was targeted near Lunda Bazaar in Korangi No 6, where he used to work as a plumber, the police said.
But nobody ever kills the plumber. Just think of the overtime charges until the body is removed. And then there's explaining what happened when trying to find someone to finish the job...
"Two men riding a cycle of violence stopped close to him while he was busy chatting with friends," said an official at the Awami Colony cop shoppe. "One of the riders pulled out a pistol after getting off the two-wheeler and fired a few shots. Amir was hit in the neck and the abdomen. The riders sped away, leaving him in a pool of blood."
No wonder Mr. Davis of the CIA was so touchy when those motorcyclists approached his car.
The victim was rushed to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, where he was pronounced dead. He's dead, Jim!
"Dr. Quincy, how do you do it?!?"
he said. After medico-legal formalities, the body was handed over to the family.
"The victim was a resident of Landhi No 6. He was an industrial worker but also worked as a plumber in the weekly market every Tuesday," the official added, showing unawareness about the motive and people behind the killing.
However, The punctuational However... a front man for the Afaq Ahmed-led faction of the MQM-H said the victim was their party activist and was targeted for his political association. "In April alone, nearly a dozen workers of the party have been killed in different parts of the city but it has not yet inspired the authorities to take action."
In the same area, a youngster was found rubbed out near Government Landhi Degree College earlier in the day, the police said.
"The victim, apparently in his mid 20s, was wearing trousers and shirt,"
For which all passers by were grateful...
said an official at the Awami Colony cop shoppe. He added that the body was spotted in an open plot neighbouring the college, situated in Korangi No 6.
No doubt a suitably proletarian spot, where he had met with his fellow miscreants late in the night...
The official said that the identity of the victim could not be established and the body bearing torture marks besides gunshot wounds was shifted to the Edhi morgue after medico-legal formalities.
"He's dead, too, Jim."
Man killed, two friends maimed
A young man was rubbed out and his two friends were maimed in a gun attack in a street near Banaras Chowk, police said.
The police suspected personal enmity as a possible motive behind the attack.
The local version of the Hatfields and the McCoys?
They said the victim man was booked in a murder case and all the three victims were associated with a real estate business in Ittehad Town.
Thirty-two-year-old Iqbal Shamzad was having a chat with his friends, Faqeer Mohammad and Mohammad Sardar, both in their late 30s, in the street as a matter of routine when some gunnies sprayed them with a volley of bullets.
"The attackers were on foot and slipped away soon after the attack," said an official at the Pirabad cop shoppe.
He said that Iqbal was booked for the murder of his elder brother's suspected killer a few months back.
The police said that the victims were associated with a real estate business, mainly in Ittehad Town, that caused several armed festivities in recent months.
Boy found rubbed out in college
A teenage boy was found rubbed out inside Siraj-ud-Daula College in Sharifabad on Tuesday.
Police also found a belt carrying pistol and bullets lying along the body. "The crime-scene suggests that there was a shootout between groups or individuals that claimed his life," said Sharifabad SHO Inspector Iqbal Sheikh.
"Seventeen-year-old Najam-ul-Haq was hit by two bullets," he said, adding that his body was handed over to the family after medico-legal formalities at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
The inspector said, "The victim was a resident of an apartment in Liaquatabad No 10."
He said though none of Najam's relatives was cooperating with the police in the probe, Sherlocks had gathered some facts which indicated that he was known in the area "for his links with individuals involved in robberies and street crime".
Attack on van leaves one dead
A young man was killed in a gun attack on a van carrying industrial workers to their homes early Tuesday morning on the National Highway, officials said.
They added that the van left the industrial unit to drop workers at their homes in different areas when two gunnies riding a motorbike signalled the driver to stop near Jogi Morr on the highway.
"Sensing danger, the driver attempted to speed up the van but the riders chased it and opened fire on the moving vehicle before fleeing," said Shah Latif Town SHO Inspector Mulazim Hussain.
He said the firing resulted in the death of 22-year-old Ziaullah on the spot.
"Which spot?"
"That spot, Sarge. The one under the X."
The body was handed over to the family after medico-legal formalities, he said.
"The victim was a technician and resident of Orangi Town," Inspector Hussain said, adding that the police registered an FIR (295/2011) under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistain Penal Code against unidentified suspects on a complaint of the victim's colleague.
Body found
The body of a middle-aged man was found under the Lasbela bridge in the Gulbahar area, police said.
"The unidentified victim, in his early 50s, was severely tortured and hit by a couple of bullets before his body was dumped here," said Gulbahar SHO Sub-Inspector Sabir Khaskheli. He added that it seemed that the victim was kidnapped and tortured before being murdered.
"The victim was wearing a white shalwar kameez."
After medico-legal formalities, the body was shifted to the Edhi morgue for want of identification.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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I'm not up on my Paki factions - who are we supposed to be sympathizing with?
#2
Glenmore, look up "Pakistan political parties" in Wikipedia, then google the phrase plus "Karachi" to get some background. For some reason Rantburg won't let me post the links -- I tried twice.
British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... has been criticised for not keeping his vows as he should on immigration cut.
Cameron shocked Westminster when he changed a pledge to cut an annual figure from 200,000 to "tens of thousands."
The Prime Minister said the reduced migration figure in 1980s was not the government's policy and was an "ambition."
Coalition Lib Dems were angry with Cameron last week when he criticised Labours for the "biggest influx of migrants" in his speech.
"Calling it an ambition, an aim or a target is just classic slipperiness with words from David Cameron," Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said.
Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable are happy to follow their attacks. The chairperson of MigrationWatch campaign also accused Cameron of backpedalling.
According to the polls, most UK people consider immigration as a crucial issue and therefore believe Cameron has betrayed them with breaking vows.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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What obligation does a country have to unrestricted immigration? Particularly if they are unfriendly to your culture and way of life? Cameron should have followed up with his pledge. Politicians must troll for votes everywhere.
[Al Jizz] La Belle France and Italia are joining Perfidious Albion in sending military officers to Libya to help advise rebels on technical, logistical and organisational issues.
Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... , the French president, offered assistance to Abdel Jalil, the leader of the Libyan Transitional National Council, when they met in Gay Paree on Wednesday.
"We are going to help you," Sarkozy told him.
Keep up with all the latest developments here Jalil said he invited Sarkozy to visit Benghazi, the rebel stronghold in Libya's east.
"I think that would be very important for the revolution's morale," Jalil said after the meeting.
Sarkozy's office said it had "taken note" of the invitation.
A French foreign ministry spokesperson said a small number of liaison officers would be sent out to Benghazi along with a special envoy, while Italia said it was ready to send around 10 officers - "the same number of military staff as Perfidious Albion".
Ignazio La Russa, Italia's defence minister, said that stronger intervention under the UN resolution, which does not permit ground troops, may be needed in Libya.
William Hague, Perfidious Albion's foreign minister, announced on Tuesday that it would be sending a team to Libya to help rebels with "military organisational structures, communications and logistics, including how best to distribute humanitarian aid and deliver medical assistance".
He insisted that the decision was "fully within the terms" of the UN Security Council resolution that authorised a no-fly zone over the north African nation, and that the team would not train or arm rebel forces.
'Impossible mission'
But Khaled Kaim, Libya's deputy foreign minister, said the attempt would be futile.
"This is an impossible mission. To organise who? They [the rebels] are different groups. There is no leader. They are not well-organised, and I am sure it will be a failure," he said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Alamo, Davey was counting their remaining cannon balls and not liking the results... Barack B.O. Obama, the US president, is still opposed to sending US ground troops to Libya, the White House said on Wednesday.
Jay Carney, the White House spokesperson, told journalists that Obama would support moves by the French and British to dispatch military advisors to help rebelsfighting Libyan leader Qadaffy.
"The president obviously is aware of this decision and supports it, and hopes and believes it will help the opposition.
"But it does not at all change the president's policy on no 'boots on the ground' for American troops," Carney said.
French: no troops on the ground
Francois Baroin, a French government front man, said Sarkozy's administration was "not envisaging troops on the ground, in any shape or form" and that La Belle France was not seeking new UN Security Council action that would give the allies a broader mandate to intervene in Libya.
"We are not taking the initiative to seek a new Security Council resolution. The French position is stable and unchanged on this problem of applying Resolution 1973," he said.
That resolution permitted the use of force to protect Libyan civilians, but explicitly forbade a "foreign occupation force" - a phrase which some states interpret as banning any ground intervention at all.
However, The contradictory However... Sarkozy promised Jalil that La Belle France would intensify air strikes on the army of Muammar Qadaffy, Libya's leader, but did not elaborate.
"We are indeed going to intensify the attacks and respond to this request from the national transition council," the Elysee Palace said in a statement
Forces fighting Qadaffy have urged the West to ramp up its military campaign to try and break a deadlock in the conflict and halt attacks on the besieged city of Misrata, where hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks.
International forces have been carrying out air strikes on forces loyal to Qadaffy since March 19, in a mission headed by NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... since March 31.
The NATO-led coalition is enforcing a UN mandated no-fly zone in Libya, which authorises "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from attack by Qadaffy's forces.
It is also policing an arms embargo and has targeted Qadaffy's military infrastructure.
The rebels have been trying since mid-February to end Qadaffy's 41-year-old rule but have struggled against his more experienced and better equipped forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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"We are going to help you," Sarkozy told him.
Oh Shit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/21/2011 15:40
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Just sending officers? No enlisted?
Posted by: American Delight ||
04/21/2011 16:44
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What I find so interesting is that the French Socialists complained for years about "American adventurism", and yet they are going out full bore in Africa now that America has pulled back a bit. First the Ivory Coast and now Libya, it is as though the French have decided to rebuild their former empire in Africa.
[Al Jazeera] Several thousand people have gathered in the central Syrian city of Homs, keeping up the pressure on Bashir al-Assad, the Syrian president, despite apparent political concessions.
Also about 4,000 university students from Daraa and surrounding areas protested near the city's al-Omari Mosque, News Agency that Dare Not be Named news agency reported.
Wednesday's development came despite a government warning to residents to stay at home, and a day after protesters began a general strike and vowed to continue demonstrations in the city's Clock Square.
Locals described Homs, Syria's third largest city with a population of 1.5 million people, as looking "like a war zone", with all shops and businesses closed for the strike.
Syrian security forces opened fire and used teargas on Monday night to disperse an anti-government sit-in.
Also on Wednesday, Syrian authorities placed in durance vile an opposition figure, Mahmuod Issa, in Homs.
"A patrol of the political security services placed in durance vile [government] opponent Mahmud Issa on Tuesday night in Homs after he gave an interview to Al Jizz," Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In his interview, Issa spoke of the death of General Abdo Khodr al-Tellawi in Homs and asked Syrian authorities to investigate and arrest the perpetrators.
The official SANA news agency said on Tuesday that "armed criminal gangs ... came upon General Abdo Khodr al-Tellawi, his two children and his nephew, and killed them in cold blood" and "mutilated" their bodies.
Mark Toner, the US State Department front man, expressed concern about Issa's arrest, noting its timing only a day after Assad's speech promising reform and the repeal of Syria's emergency law.
"This arrest today calls into question the Syrian government's intentions with respect to real reform, and indeed their desire to meet the demands of the Syrian people," Toner told news hounds.
"Actions speak louder than words."
Protests planned
Amid the unrest, activists in the southern city of Daraa said on Wednesday they were preparing for another day of protests on Friday.
"We are preparing for a huge demonstration on Friday," said an activist in Daraa, where anti-government protests first erupted last month and later spread nationwide.
Residents and a rights activist in Baniyas said at least five civilians had been killed in the coastal city by gunnies loyal to Assad since pro-democracy protests erupted last month.
Activists said dozens of students demonstrated at the medical faculty at Aleppo University on Wednesday morning but were dispersed by security forces and there are reports of more detentions.
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#1
See also WORLD NEWS > WHY DOES SYRIA SEE A THREAT COMING FROM TINY LEBANON?
[Ennahar] The chief of security police in the Syrian city of Banias has been dismissed, a rights group said on Wednesday, after five non-combatants were killed in a crackdown against pro-democracy protests there last week.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, citing sources in 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... , named the officer as Amjad Abbas. Security forces had sealed off the city last weekend after demonstrations against President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... and an attack by irregular forces loyal to Assad on people guarding a Sunni mosque.
Inspired by uprisings across the Arab world, demonstrators have taken to the streets for more than a month demanding greater freedoms, undaunted by a security crackdown.
Rights groups, which say more than 200 have been killed since the unrest started a month ago, have called for independent investigations into the actions of security forces.
The latest move seemed another attempt to mollify protesters, who rejected appeals by authorities to stop demonstrating and ignored a concession by the government which approved legislation on Tuesday to end the state of emergency in force for the last 48 years.
The Observatory said Banias residents had identified Abbas, the fired officer, as one of the security officers seen beating a villager in the nearby town of Baida, according to a video.
Along with the bill on emergency law, the newly appointed cabinet also approved legislation that requires Syrians to seek permission from the state before they demonstrate.
DEFIANT PROTESTS
Hours earlier, the Interior Ministry had called on citizens to refrain from protesting at all. Activists said the ministry statement and the fact that authorities on Tuesday night tossed in the slammer a leftist opposition figure suggested the government's move to lift emergency law will not halt repression.
Defiant protests continued overnight, including in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani where protesters called for freedom and for the "downfall of the regime," the rallying cry of uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
There were also sit-ins in Jabla on the coast, a women's rally in Barzeh in Damascus, and a candlelight procession in Tel near the capital overnight.
In Homs, soldiers and irregular forces loyal to Assad dressed in black patrolled the route between two central squares, witnesses said. Shops stayed closed in protest over 20 pro-democracy protesters rubbed out by security forces in the city since Monday, they said.
In Syria's second city, Aleppo, Assad's irregular forces broke up a small demonstration at the city's university, beating several students and arresting 37, a rights activist said.
The State Department said the new law requiring permits to hold demonstrations made it unclear if the end of emergency rule would make for a less restrictive government.
A semi-official newspaper quoted an official source saying Assad would issue the decrees confirming the government decisions, which also include the dissolving of supreme state security court, on Wednesday.
The official added, contrary to statements last month, that there would be no new anti-terrorism legislation to replace emergency laws.
"Articles specific to terrorism crimes are already provided for in the Syrian general law on punishment."
Prominent leftist Mahmoud Issa was taken from his house in Homs around midnight by members of Syria's political security division, rights campaigner said.
Civic figures in Homs, a central city known for its intellectuals and artists, signed a declaration calling on the army "not to spill the blood of honorable Syrians" and denying official allegations that Salafist ...Salafists espouse an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to practices that were common in the 7th century. Rather than doing that themselves and letting other people alone they insist everybody do as they say and they try to kill everybody who doesn't...
Or at least they claim their austere form of Sunni Islam is true to original practices. There is some suspicion they have no evidence for this.
groups were operating there.
"THERE MUST BE NO MORE SLAUGHTER"
In a sign of resistance to protesters' demands for reforms, the Interior Ministry on Monday night described the unrest as an insurrection by "gangs belonging to Salafist organisations" trying to terrorize the population.
Salafism is a strict form of Sunni Islam that many Arab governments equate with cut-thoat groups like al Qaeda. Assad and most of his inner circle are from Syria's minority Alawite community, who adhere to an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
Analysts said authorities are keen to prevent protesters gaining a visible focal point like Egypt's Tahrir square.
"There must be no more slaughter. Syria's president must take firm action now to stop the bloody crackdown by his security forces and ensure that those responsible for it are held to account," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesia Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Emergency rule, in place since the Baath Party seized power in a 1963 coup, gave security organs blanket power to stifle dissent through a ban on gatherings of over five people, arbitrary arrest and closed trials, lawyers say.
Syria is involved in several Middle East conflicts. Any change at the top -- Assad, backed by his family and the security apparatus, is Syria's absolute ruler -- would ripple across the Arab world and affect Syria's ally Iran.
The leadership backs the Islamist movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Leb's Hezbullies but seeks peace with Israel. Assad was largely rehabilitated in the West after years in isolation after the 2005 liquidation of Lebanese statesman Rafik al-Hariri.
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Iraq's influential holy manMoqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... has taken a swipe at the government, insisting that imposed ban on public protests in Iraqi capital of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... is "undemocratic".
Sadr's remarks came after the Iraqi government barred public rallies across the capital.
Last week, Iraqi authorities announced that the protesters were only allowed to gather at three football stadiums in Baghdad since shopkeepers in the city's main Tahrir Square, the epicenter of protests, complained of losing business during weekly protests.
"The government claims democracy, and this is undemocratic," Sadr declared in a written response to queries about the protest ban from his followers, AFP reported.
"I think this decision shows the government's fear of demonstrations. The move is ridiculous and meaningless," leader of Sadr Movement added.
Since late February, massive groups of demonstrators have staged weekly protest rallies in major Iraqi cities, including the capital Baghdad, protesting against corruption, unemployment and poor government services.
The protesters, however, do not seek regime change but merely reforms and better living conditions.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again... around 150 people were maimed in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region after security forces opened fire on a group of demonstrators in Sulaymanieh on Monday.
Protesters in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan have been calling for an end to official corruption and the resignation of the regional government since February.
Following the violence, authorities in Sulaymanieh announced a ban on unauthorized protests.
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[Ennahar] Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) grabbed credit for the attack Friday against a military post in Kabylia (Algeria) in which 14 soldiers were killed Wednesday in a statement quoted by the U.S. central monitoring Islamist websites ( SITE).
In its statement, AQIM said its fighters had launched Friday night "a successful heroic raid against the Algerian army camps" in Azazga, 140 km east of Algiers, "killing or wounding 30 (military) apostates, including the commander of the camp."
AQIM said to have lost one of its fighters killed in the attack.
"We will never forget the blood of our deaders and we will reply to all those among us who have been killed by the evil apostates," warned the North African branch of Osama bin Laden network.
Friday, fourteen soldiers were killed and at least ten were maimed in the attack of Azazga in Kabylia.
The attack occurred nearly two months after lifting the state of emergency declared in 1992 to contain an Islamic insurgency in Algeria. Despite this measure, the army continues to lead the fight against terrorism.
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[Arab News] Libya's government could hold elections, including on the future of leader Muammar Qadaffy ... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ... , if Western air strikes stopped, the BBC quoted Foreign Minister Abdul Ati al Obeidi as saying.
"If the bombing stopped, al Obeidi said, after six months there could be an election supervised by the UN," BBC radio reported on Wednesday.
"The foreign minister said the election could cover any issue raised by all Libyans, anything could go on the table, including, he implied, the future of Qadaffy as leader."
BBC television later broadcast one of the minister's comments made during the interview: "It will cover whatever issue is raised by all Libyans."
Al Obeidi said the Libyan government was "serious about a properly verifiable cease-fire supervised by foreign observers," the BBC said.
He also criticized Perfidious Albion's decision to send military officers to advise Libyan rebels.
London said on Tuesday it would send about a dozen officers to help Death Eaters improve their organization and communications, but would not arm the rebels or train them to fight.
"He (al Obeidi) said that would only prolong the fighting," the BBC said.
A NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... -led coalition is enforcing a UN-mandated no-fly zone in Libya, which authorizes "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from attack by Qadaffy's forces.
It is also policing an arms embargo and has targeted Qadaffy's military infrastructure.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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"...and you can trust us, because we never lie!"
[Maghrebia] The Tunisian army chief who ignored ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's order to shoot protestors was named to the country's top military position, TAP reported on Monday (April 18th). Rachid Ammar, 60, will serve as Chief of Staff of the Tunisian armed forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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Did Barack Obama take Tax 1 in law school? I did, and I remember the first day of classes, when mild-mannered professor Boris Bittker asked a simple question, "What is income?"
I was pretty confident I could come up with a quick answer and so were a lot of other students. By the end of the hour, after professor Bittker had politely punched huge holes in every student's definition, it was pretty clear that none of us could. Income is a slippery concept, especially slippery when you're trying to tax it.
Which leads me to think that Obama may have avoided Tax 1. Or perhaps he dozed off in class. For in his April 13 speech at George Washington University, the speech to which Standard & Poor's responded by reducing the government's credit rating to "negative," he seemed to think he could get all the money we need to balance the budget from higher taxes on the rich.
That's wrong as a matter of simple arithmetic, as is clear from a chart reproduced on the Wall Street Journal editorial page showing the total amounts of taxable income of each group.
The chart showed that if the government had simply confiscated every dollar from those reporting more than $1 million taxable income in 2008, it would not have gotten the $1.3 trillion needed to close the current federal budget deficit.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Simple arithmatic falls into the category of realfact.
We don't do that anymore. We deal in goodfacts now.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/21/2011 6:16
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It's long been know that taxing the wealthy produces little or no increase in revenue.
The classic case was the UK, where tax rates were as high as 95%. Along comes Maggie Thatcher and slashes the top rates of tax. Not only did tax revenues rise, but London was suddenly full of rich people, who previously had spent large amounts of time and money staying out the clutches of the tax man.
#3
It's long been know that taxing the wealthy produces little or no increase in revenue.
It's not that simple. A gov't levying no taxes has no income, except from, perhaps, donations. A gov't attempting to levy 100% taxes will have great difficulty collecting it from everyone. There's a sweet spot in between 0-100% where the government maximizes its income. The sweet spot changes from moment to moment.
#4
But the Marxist drive to tax the "rich" isn't about taxes...or even income. It is about tightening the ideological screws on that segment of the population with the most motivation and the most means to oppose Marxist Socialism. A Socialist government can exempt its employees and its unions from such taxes by simply raising their wages to compensate for increased taxes. And the "poor" are similarly exempt -- through welfare and a host of entitlements and exemptions.
#5
The chart showed that if the government had simply confiscated every dollar from those reporting more than $1 million taxable income in 2008, it would not have gotten the $1.3 trillion needed to close the current federal budget deficit.
In the left wing side of the brain, they actually believe that if you confiscate all that money this year, it'll be around the next year to take again. They failed the elementary school admonition about killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
#8
The end game (I'm not crazy nor am I a conspiracy theorist gone bats) is to percipitate a collapse of the US economic system of the scale of the Weimar Republic. When the riots start and the violence escalates, the Prez will declare martial law, suspend elections and send Congress home. He will rule by decree and declare himself leader...he's got the czars in place what do you think those are for?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/21/2011 10:13
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BC, most likely if things got that bad other things would occur across the country.
The "sweet spot" was found to be between 14 and 17%. The key to keeping it steady is to CONTROL SPENDING. Means of which may be accomplished by limiting the leviathans growth and spending to within 17% of GDP. Sound Kosher?
#12
The key to keeping it steady is to CONTROL SPENDING. Means of which may be accomplished by limiting the leviathans growth and spending to within 17% of GDP. Sound Kosher? Yup, even Kosher for Passover. But 'controlling spending' is so un-PC.
#15
That article is really about how stupid the Laffer Curve is.
Everyone who reads the NY Times knows how the Laffer Curve has been completely discredited. Reagan tried it and everyone knows he was a failure.
The problem is, a lot of people believe what I just typed. (BTW, I do not).
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/21/2011 13:08
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the "poor" are similarly exempt -- through welfare and a host of entitlements and exemptions
No, they aren't; they (and we) are just tricked into thinking so. By understating inflation, and because of a time lag between cost increase and transfer payment increase, the protected ones also pay a price for government excesses. And while I can afford to pay an extra dollar for a bag of tortillas, there are people who can't (and they tend not to be the ones screaming at Tea Partiers either.)
#17
The link took me to another article about how stupid the Laffer curve was, drawing a straight line for central government corporate tax rate. Higher rates = higher revenue, you morons!
Gee, is that that same as income tax, or overall tax rate? The highest rate shown was Norway, at 10%.
Apples and oranges, perhaps?
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/21/2011 13:13
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#18
It will increase what Obama can pass to his supporters---the key to staying in power.
Posted by: President Obama ||
04/21/2011 20:45
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#8 The end game (I'm not crazy nor am I a conspiracy theorist gone bats) is to percipitate a collapse of the US economic system of the scale of the Weimar Republic. When the riots start and the violence escalates, the Prez will declare martial law, suspend elections and send Congress home. He will rule by decree and declare himself leader...he's got the czars in place what do you think those are for?
Posted by Bill Clinton
With California, Oregon, and Washington State and off-shore drilling are signed over leased to China as payment for debt; when foreign misadventure conflicts news diversions are no longer affordable; the gov't can NO LONGER BORROW; and the US dollar with all of those racists portraits printed on them is worthless, little of the old shall remain. As food lines form the cities go up in smoke, martial law emergency will be declared, weapons and precious metals will be confiscated repatriated and the new script ration stamps issued. The Party will take care of it's own. Homeless former taxpayers will be assigned to KOA FEMA region camps with designated reeducation and medical facilities. Culturally trained and sensitized HIV FREE AFRICOM and UN mercenaries Sub-Saharan Partner peacekeepers will arrive to collect the civilian weapons end the looting and violence and nuetralize hold-out racist US Army rebels. The Revolution CHANGE is coming!
[Dawn] As many as 20 bonded labourers were recovered by a court bailiff from a brick kiln in Tarlai on Tuesday on the directives of Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman. "Bonded laborers" is a polite term for "slaves."
Tanveer Bibi, a native of Gujranwala, moved the IHC for the recovery of her 20 relatives, including 10 children .
Tanveer Bibi made IGP Islamabad and SHO Koral cop shoppe respondents in the petition filed through her lawyer Mian Abdul Ghafoor.
She maintained that the brick kiln owner, Chaudhry Raheel, had jugged 20 persons who were forced to work as bonded labourers.
"My relatives Mushtaq and Zohra signed an agreement with Chaudhry Raheel who owned two brick kilns near Tarlai area to prepare raw bricks against Rs500 for 1,000 bricks but the jugged persons were never paid according to the agreement," the petitioner said. When the workers demanded their promised wages, the brick kiln owner threatened them of dire consequences, she said.
Chaudhry Raheel restricted them only to the work area and were not move beyond certain limits, the petitioner said.
"The workers were kept in inhuman conditions and could go to their mud houses only to rest at night. The women had to work from dawn to dusk and at the same time look after their children." Tanveer Bibi told Dawn .
In response to a question, she said the illiterate workers could do nothing else except make bricks and that also for meager wages.
They only agitated after they were not paid what they had been promised by the owner of the brick kiln, she added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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"Bonded laborers" is a polite term for "slaves."
And the US Treasury sales 'bonds' obligating all citizens for the debts run up by the politicians who use the money to buy votes of various interest groups to keep the entire process of obtaining and retaining power rolling [or in other words, stay in business]. Unfortunately, those politicians are not constrained in the least by any fiduciary responsibilities that carry criminal consequences for malfeasance of duty.
[Al Jazeera] Gulf Arab states appear set to unveil details of an arrangement that could result in President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... stepping down as Yemen's president and end the political crisis there.
Sources told Al Jizz on Wednesday that the deal - brokered by the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) - was close to being agreed.
"We're told that the UK and the US are behind this deal," Kristen Saloomey, Al Jizz's correspondent at the United Nations ...an organization whose definition of human rights is interesting, to say the least... in New York, said.
"It's not clear right now where the opposition and the president stand on this deal, but our sources here at [the UN] feel that they are very close to reaching a final agreement."
Under the GCC proposal, Saleh would most likely hand power to Abed Mansour Hadi, his vice-president, and both Saleh and his family would have immunity from prosecution.
Saleh, who came to power in 1978, has faced protests since January calling for his departure that have cost more than 130 lives in the impoverised Arab country.
Even as a deal appeared close, Saleh was reported as telling a group of supporters that he would remain steadfast and would not accept "conspiracies or coups".
"Those who want power or to gain the seat of power should do it by heading to the ballot box. Change and departure will be through voting under the legal framework of the constitution," he was quoted as saying by Yemen's official state news agency.
The expected deal on Yemen comes a day after GCC foreign ministers met a Yemeni government delegation in the United Arab Emirates.
There were fears that little progress had been made at the meeting after a brief, vague statement was issued calling the meeting "constructive" and vowing to "exert more effort to preserve security, stability and the unity of the Yemeni state", but offering few details.
Ahmed bin Dagher, the front man of the Yemeni delegation at the meeting, said that any solution should not violate the constitution.
"We adhere to the constitution which we cannot breach," he said, indicating that Saleh could serve out his term until 2013, a position stated previously by the General People's Congress, Yemen's ruling party.
The GCC, which is made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Soddy Arabia and the UAE, has tried for weeks to mediate a solution to Yemen's crisis.
Protesters killed
The latest developments come against a backdrop of continued confrontations continued between security forces and anti-Saleh protesters.
One protester was killed on Wednesday when an armed man on a cycle of violenceshot up demonstrators during Mohammedan dawn prayers in the city's Al-Nasr Square, witnesses said.
"One protester was killed and around eight others were maimed," Arafat Makki, a member of the protest organising committee, said.
The AFP news agency said a policeman was rubbed out and three others maimed by protesters in Aden, Yemen's main southern port city.
Medics and witnesses in Sanaa said that eight people had been rubbed out since Tuesday, including a passer-by and a policeman.
The UN Security Council also met on Tuesday to discuss Yemen, adding the crisis there to its agenda for the first time, but failed to come up with a joint statement on the situation.
A press statement drawn up by Germany and Leb, both temporary members of the 15-nation UN Security Council, was blocked by a minority of states, diplomats said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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ION WORLD NEWS > [Senior Iran Official MOHZEN REZAEI]"SAUDI ARABIA SHOULD BE GIVEN ULTIMATUM", by both Iran + Iraq to withdraw its forces from Bahrain.
* SAME > WHY SAUDI ARABIA SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT IRAN'S NEXT MOVE? How the KSA + GCC Allies intervened in troubled Bahrain also holds tit-for-tat true as how Iran can rightfully intervene per any similar trouble in the KSA.
As far as the implication that conservatives are richer than liberals (because, yeah, Central Park West and San Francisco are bubbling over with conservatism), I'll refer back to my blog post on this issue last summer:
John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee worth $188.6 million is easily the richest lawmaker, outpacing Republican Darrell Issa by more than 10 percent. Of the 12 richest lawmakers, only 3 are Republicans. Drill down a bit further, and it evens out -- Republicans are 23 of the richest 50 according to The Hill.
Other data points:
Wealthy Individuals Voted for Obama: CNN reported about election 2008: "High income voters -- those who said they make at least $100,000 a year --went in Obama's favor, 52 percent to 47 percent."
Wealthy Counties Voted for Obama: American's richest county, Loudoun County, Va., voted Obama 54-46, thus being more Democratic than the rest of Va. and the nation (which were both 53% Obama). Fairfax, Va., the nation's second-wealthiest county, voted 60% Obama.
Wealthy States Voted for Obama: The three wealthiest states -- Maryland, Connecticut, and New Jersey, all voted overwhelmingly for Obama.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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Sure, they have enough money that they think we should all pay more tax, so they can feel better about the poor.
They could give it away at a church.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/21/2011 6:12
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Wealthy Counties Voted for Obama: American's richest county, Loudoun County, Va., voted Obama 54-46, thus being more Democratic than the rest of Va. and the nation (which were both 53% Obama). Fairfax, Va., the nation's second-wealthiest county, voted 60% Obama.
Both counties are part of Washington D.C.'s metropolitan area.
#5
High income voters -- those who said they make at least $100,000 a year --went in Obama's favor
Didn't we recently see a big increase in the number of government workers making over $100k? And a huge increase in the number of lobbyists (who also make way more than 100k)? Their jobs depend on voting for the beast (not Obama in particular either).
#6
Thats just it, this cancelling of deductions will amount to a furthur nationalization of charity, as well as creating a glass ceiling for the up and coming successful. Imagine you have a certain expense ledger at home compared to your salary - your house near work, car payment, insurances, kid expenses, property taxes, so forth. Under such a plan it is possible that a pay increase puts a family into the Stinking Capitalist tax bracket and post tax actually nets less than with the previous wage. So as a company to offer a wage which is attractive it must bump the wage to a point where employee nets more in new bracket than old bracket and wage.
When el prez said he made enough money at $1.5 mil, netted $1mil, and he is willing to pay more taxes (and why not, all his expenses are paid for) well I looked up average starting wages of pro athlete rookies and thanks to Obama's gracious attitude to paying taxes (on taxpayer income) guess who gets it in the shorts. Become successful in your field, invent something, how about all his high power lawyer friends, sure they are all happy about his nonchalant pressing of their service?
On a more personal level, say you are one of those who makes a good check, decent job which can increase wages in order to adjust to inflation; keep you and family at a recognizable purchasing power. How long until you break that level set for Middle Class Will Not Have Taxes Increased? Example, make $100k@25% tax = $75k net. Get promoted, make $120k@33% tax = $80k. See, your job had to pay out $20k for you to get a $5k raise. Glass ceiling.
Not going to get into his nationalizing the health insurance plan he talked about just yet. You know, where Congress gets together to decide what treatments will be allowed, you know because insurance companies are cheating people out of treatment - those government regulated companies. Yup, a government who fails at regulation and a Congress approved medical list, a Congress which seems to have a tough time getting a basic budget on-time or a budget at all depending on who is in. Gimmie some of that crap cake. Really, who do you appeal to if say Congress decides health costs are too much for anyone over 50?
[The Sun U.K.] BRITISH military officers are set to hit the ground in Libya to bolster rebels fighting tyrant Colonel Qadaffy. The advisors will go into the country's second city of Benghazi -- the stronghold of the pro-democracy opposition. Foreign Secretary William Hague said today: "The National Security Council has decided that we will now move quickly to expand the team already in Benghazi to include an additional military liaison advisory team.
"This contingent will be drawn from experienced British military officers."
Mr Hague said the move was needed to help protect civilians in Libya and was compatible with the United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... resolution which authorised a no-fly zone.
He said in a statement: "The United Kingdom is strongly committed to the effective implementation of the provisions of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1973.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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WORLD NEWS > [Libyan]REBELS WILL ACCEPT FOREIGN FORCES [ground forces = grunts] TO PROTECT LIBYANS, espec as for Humanitarian purposes which is defined as including armed protection from pro-Gaddafi forces.
and
* TOPIX/FREEREPUBLIC > INTELLIGENCE EXPERTS SEE GADDAFI REBUILDING POWER.
#4
Tom Clancy once remarked, talking to some journalists, that they have it easy. They only have to write down what happens. Novelists have to make sense. As an example, suppose somebody had tried, in 1910, to start a Clancy-like novel about WW I, including explaining why it started. Nobody would take it seriously. In fact, after it started, the reasons are so murky that it's hard to believe.
Fortunately, the yurps don't have enough combat power to kill so many of each other again, unless they go nuke, in a moment of confusion.
On the other hand, they may not have enough combat power to deal with simultaneous jihad at home and protect their Med flank(s).
What a mess.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
04/21/2011 8:43
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[Arab News] The Afghan military says it has confirmed that the man who attacked the country's Defense Ministry earlier this week was not a soldier, but a turban who managed to sneak past the ministry's security.
The Taliban have claimed that the assailant who opened fire inside the ministry compound on Monday was an army officer working as a sleeper agent for the insurgency.
But Defense Ministry front man Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said on Wednesday the attacker was an outside infiltrator.
Azimi didn't say how this was determined.
The Afghan government collects biometrics data on new recruits, but is just beginning to collect it for longer-serving soldiers.
Azimi also says an officer maimed in the attack has died in the hospital, raising the toll in the attack to three killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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A total 55 individuals including 16 municipal police officers in San Fernando municipality, Tamaulipas, have been arrested and sent to preventative detention, as Mexican federal officials continue their investigation in the worst mass murder in modern Mexican history, according to Mexican news accounts.
A total of 145 individuals have been found in graves in San Fernando municipality since two weeks ago, most of whom were kidnapped from at least two public buses travelling between Ciudad Victoria and Matamoros, Tamaulipas between March 19th and March 31st.
The 16 police officers are accused of having knowledge of the kidnappings and murders, and of covering up the murders.
Preventative detention is a legal device used by Mexican federal prosecutors to detain individuals suspected in serious crimes, with the idea of preventing them from performing other acts as legal authorities investigate their crimes. Preventative detention, colloquially known as "rooting", always requires a court order, and is usually granted when officials have sufficient evidence to convict, but require more time to establish other crimes or connections.
Preventative detention is granted for a definitive time. In the cases of the 55, forty days was ordered. The 40 day period is the usual amount of time granted to prosecutors, although as few as 20 days have been granted, such as in the Torreon bar murders cases against Durango top prison officials last year. Six months detention was recently ordered against three Juarez, Chihuahua police officers in the disappearance of four youth earlier in April, albeit six months is rare. To read Rantburg reports on the Torreon bar murders click here and here. To read Rantburg reports on the preventative detention orders on the three Juarez, Chihuahua police officers, click here.
Included in the arrests of 39 others was Martin Omar Estrada Luna alias El Kilo and eleven other alleged members of the Zetas drug gang in a Mexican Marine operation last Saturday in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas.
Estrada Luna and his associates allegedly attempted to evade marine forces in the area only to be captured. Also seized in that operation was one vehicle, two SUVs, an unreleased number of rifles, pistols and ammunition, three grenades, and 700 doses of cocaine.
Reports say that the Los Zetas drug gang have been linked to 217 murders in the San Fernando area including the 72 migrants last summer murdered because they refused to pay a tribute before being allowed to pass to the Tamaulipas border region. To see the Rantburg report on the murder of the 72 migrants in San Fernando last summer, click here.
Estrada Luna is said to be the Los Zetas commander in the San Fernando area. Reports say he is linked to the murders of Secretario de Seguridad Publica de San Fernando, Juan Carlos Sanchez Suarez, and a prosecutor in the area, Roberto Jaime Suarez Vazquez. Estrada Luna is also suspected in cases of extortion, kidnapping and drug and arms trafficking unrelated to the San Fernando mass murder.
Two other related reports have been published in Mexican press:
The Hidalgo Secretaria de Gobierno (SEGOB), Fernando Moctezuma Pereda, announced Wednesday that in view of the mass kidnapping and murder in Tamaulipas, the state of Hidalgo would beef up highway patrols between Hidalgo and the states of San Luis Potosi and Veracruz to the north in an effort to stop movement of criminal groups and product on highways leading to the north.
Hidalgo is a battleground between Los Zetas and the Gulf drug cartel. Referring to a Policia Federal report issued earlier this month criminal groups control roads in 30 municipalities in Hidalgo.
Fernando Moctezuma Pereda said part of the new security strategy would be to set up checkpoints along the road to advise migrants about dangers they face further north.
In Reynosa, Tamaulipas, 68 individuals, including 12 Central American migrants, were released from capture by suspected members of the Gulf Cartel by elements of the Mexican Policia Federal.
Reports are the hostages were kidnapped from a public bus station in Reynosa over the last few weeks while travelling to a truck manufacturing plant in Reynosa. Reynosa borders the US.
ISLAMABADAdm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pakistani news channel Wednesday that links between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence military spy agency and the Haqqani faction of the Taliban were continuing to strain relations between the countries.
Adm. Mullen's comments to GEO TV, a private network, signal that the U.S. is not backing down from an increasingly hostile battle with Pakistan over how to combat Islamist militants who operate on the border with Afghanistan.
Adm. Mullen is viewed as one of the most ardent proponents within the Obama administration for dialog with Pakistan. He has spoken highly of Gen. Kayani in the past and the two are said to have a strong working relationship.
Despite problems in the relationship, neither side is willing to jettison it completely. Pakistan relies on billions of dollars in U.S. military and civilian aid.
It will be a while before the Gulf countries' rent-an-army payments added to the income sent home by the rumoured (per Debka) 20,000 Pakistani prostitutes even begin to approach America's jizya payments. How much would the sale of a nuclear device or several to Saudi Arabia bring in?
The U.S. needs Pakistan to continue to fight militants, and it uses Pakistan as a transit route for supplies to troops in Afghanistan.
The top US military officer accused Pakistain's intelligence agency of maintaining ties to forces of Evil in Afghanistan during a trip to Islamabad on Wednesday that was focused on easing diplomatic tensions.
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Pakistain's perceived foot-dragging in tackling strongholds in North Wazoo belonging to the Haqqani network and its continuing relationship with it was "the most difficult part" of the US-Pak relationship.
"It's fairly well known that the ISI has a longstanding relationship with the Haqqani network," he said in an interview with Pakistain's daily Dawn newspaper.
"Haqqani is supporting, funding, training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make sure that doesn't happen."
"So that's at the core -- it's not the only thing -- but that's at the core that I think is the most difficult part of the relationship," Mullen said.
Pakistain's powerful Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has long been suspected of maintaining ties to the Haqqani network, cultivated during the 1980s when Jalaluddin Haqqani was a feared battlefield commander against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
"I don't know what kind of relationship he's talking about," a senior Pak intelligence official told Rooters. "If he means we're providing them with protection, with help, that's not correct. Even if you are enemies, you have a relationship."
He said that Pakistain had attacked Haqqani's positions and raided his mosques in the past. "Right now, we are not attacking him because we are fully engaged against another group, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP)," he said.
Pakistain has been criticised in the past for distinguishing between "good" Talibs and "bad" ones, with the Haqqani network falling squarely into the former category.
While based in Pakistain's wild North Waziristan area on the Afghan border, Haqqani refrains from attacking the Pak state and is seen as a way to maintain Pak influence in any future political settlement in Kabul.
The TTP, on the other hand, is a declared enemy of the Pak state and has been at war with the its army since 2007.
Before the trip, Mullen acknowledged that "we've had a very turbulent time," but added that despite the tensions, all sides acknowledged the relationship was vital.
"I think that all of us believe that we cannot afford to let this relationship come apart," Mullen said, referring to US and Pak military and intelligence chiefs.
"It's just too dangerous. It's too dangerous, in each country, for each country. It's too dangerous for the region."
He acknowledged that the relationship was difficult, but added: "We walk away from it at our peril, quite frankly."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2011
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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- Hundreds of Eritrean exiles demonstrated in the capital of neighboring Ethiopia to protest their country's autocratic leadership.
Pro'ly safer for them to demonstrate in Addis Ababa. Not much safer, but safer.
Demonstration organizer Kebrom Sibhatu says thousands of Eritrean exiles participated in other parts of Ethiopia. He was among some 500 people who demonstrated peacefully in Addis Ababa on Wednesday. Ethiopia hosts about 60,000 refugees from the Red Sea nation.
Kebrom says Eritrea's authoritarian regime forcibly conscripts its citizens into the army and kills others. Ethiopia's autocratic government has an antagonistic relationship with Eritrea and gave the refugees permission to demonstrate.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/21/2011
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On Saturday USMC Staff Sgt. Jason Rogers, who was killed in action in Afghanistan April 7, was buried in Brandon, Mississippi.
That, by itself, is a sadly unremarkable -- though certainly noteworthy and solemn -- occasion for us to mark.
And in fact when Sgt. Rogers' body returned to Brandon it was greeted by hundreds, or perhaps even thousands, of well-wishers who gathered at the roadside to honor the fallen American hero.
What is most notable about Sgt. Rogers' funeral in Brandon, however, is what didn't happen.
You see, the troglodytes from Westboro Baptist Church had threatened to spew their poison at Sgt. Rogers' funeral.
But the Westboro mob wasn't on the scene, and Sgt. Rogers was laid to rest without incident -- thank God.
Why weren't there protestors?
Planning ahead by the locals, as it turns out.
A couple of days before, one of them (Westboro protestors) ran his mouth at a Brandon gas station and got his arse waxed. Police were called and the beaten man could not give much of a description of who beat him. When they canvassed the station and spoke to the large crowd that had gathered around, no one seemed to remember anything about what had happened.
Rankin County handled this thing perfectly. There were many things that were put into place that most will never know about and at great expense to the county.
Most of the morons never made it out of their hotel parking lot. It seems that certain Rankin county pickup trucks were parked directly behind any car that had Kansas plates in the hotel parking lot and the drivers mysteriously disappeared until after the funeral was over. Police were called but their wrecker service was running behind and it was going to be a few hours before they could tow the trucks so the Kansas plated cars could get out.
A few made it to the funeral but were ushered away to be questioned about a crime they might have possibly been involved in. Turns out, after a few hours of questioning, that they were not involved and they were allowed to go on about their business. Haw! Three cheers for Mississippi!
#2
Police were called and the beaten man could not give much of a description of who beat him. When they canvassed the station and spoke to the large crowd that had gathered around, no one seemed to remember anything about what had happened.
It's called the 'consent of the governed'. When government fails to act, the people withdraw its consent. When federal judges can order demonstrators to stay 100 yards away from a Plan Parenthood Clinic and then turn around and say they can do nothing about the Westboro Church, those who own and operate the government lose the consent of those they claim to 'represent'. There are too many cases on the books of one group getting preference that is then denied others and they expect the common folk not to notice the hypocrisy. That when 'consent' is exercised as the rituals of the government are no longer respected.
#4
I'm surprised they went. They had advertised they were coming to the funeral of the 7 kids who died in a fire in Perry County, PA, where what's for dinner tonight is venison. But I suspect they decided not to show up after learning what kind of reception they would get. I sorta doubt they would have reached their hotel, let alone have their cars blocked if they'd come. And they thought Mississippi would be nicer?
#6
Nice. Rest your soul Sgt. Rogers, it appears you, your family, friends, and neighbors are top notch.
May have been involved in a crime? How about stalking? Sounds like a legit arrest and question to me, especially if it can be suggested that they are picking out certain individuals instead of at random.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Mohmand
Goodluck Jonathan
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
David Cameron
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
[Tolo News] European countries are in an effort to establish a business link with Afghanistan using middle-east railway networks.
Kurram Agency
cycle of violence
[Ennahar] The chief of security police in the Syrian city of Banias has been dismissed, a rights group said on Wednesday, after five 
Moqtada 
[Maghrebia] The Tunisian army chief who ignored ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's order to shoot protestors was named to the country's top military position, TAP reported on Monday (April 18th). Rachid Ammar, 60, will serve as Chief of Staff of the Tunisian armed forces.
Did Barack Obama take Tax 1 in law school? I did, and I remember the first day of classes, when mild-mannered professor Boris Bittker asked a simple question, "What is income?"
As far as the implication that conservatives are richer than liberals (because, yeah, Central Park West and San Francisco are bubbling over with conservatism), I'll refer back to my blog post on this issue last summer:
[The Sun U.K.] BRITISH military officers are set to hit the ground in Libya to bolster rebels fighting tyrant Colonel Qadaffy. The advisors will go into the country's second city of Benghazi -- the stronghold of the pro-democracy opposition. Foreign Secretary William Hague said today: "The National Security Council has decided that we will now move quickly to expand the team already in Benghazi to include an additional military liaison advisory team.
Wazoo
