The High Court has thrown out a damages case brought by a terrorist who claimed MI5 was complicit in his alleged torture at the hands of the Pakistan intelligence service.
In 2007, Salahuddin Amin, from Luton, Bedfordshire, was one of five men jailed for life at the Old Bailey for conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life. The group plotted to bomb public places such as the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London and the giant Bluewater shopping centre in Kent using chemical fertiliser bombs.
In March 2004, Amin, 38, was living in Pakistan and, following advice from his uncle, surrendered himself voluntarily to the Pakistani authorities - the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
When he was arrested on his arrival in the UK from Pakistan in February 2005, he claimed he had suffered ill treatment there and admitted things that he had not in fact done.
He said he was told by the Pakistan authorities that he was originally arrested following orders from the UK. There was never any claim that he was directly mistreated in any way by any British officer.
The former commander of a four-member Army special forces unit in Tripoli, Libya, says he was never told to stand down during last year's deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.
Lt. Col. S.E. Gibson told the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that senior officials told him to remain in Tripoli to defend Americans there in the event of additional attacks and to help survivors.
Gibson's testimony in a closed session with the panel disputes a claim by a former top diplomat in Libya. The Republican-led committee released a summary of its classified briefing with military officials.
Four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed in the attack last September. Republicans have accused the Obama administration of misleading the public about the cause of the terrorist incident.
Dallas-Federal court of appeals has refused to allow victims of a terrorist attack in Israel to collect money seized from a Texas-based Muslim charity linked to the militant group Hamas.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued its ruling Tuesday.
A three-judge panel overturned a Texas district judge's ruling that victims of a 1997 bombing who had won a $214 million judgment against Hamas could collect money seized by the U.S. government from the Holy Land Foundation, which was linked to Hamas.
The panel sided with the federal government, which had previously wanted the victims' lawsuit dismissed.
Members of Holy Land were convicted in 2008 of terrorism-related charges as well as money laundering and tax fraud. Holy Land was once the nation's largest Muslim charity.
#2
Not sure where they're supposed to go, 3dc, but with the clowns who are presently in office, any and all money the gummint can glom onto undoubtedly goes to their cronies. >:-(
Posted by: Barbara ||
06/26/2013 22:13
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President Obamas top national security advisers have just hosted Sheikh Abdulla bin Bayyah at the White House. As vice president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) in 2004, bin Bayyah endorsed a fatwa calling for the killing of American troops and other personnel serving in Iraq.
Bin Bayyah is the principal deputy to Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhoods chief sharia jurist and the driving force of the IUMS. In addition to being behind the 2004 fatwa, Qaradawi also promotes suicide bombing against Israel. The IUMS strongly supports the Brotherhoods Palestinian branch, Hamas, the terrorist organization designated as such under American law. Indeed, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh a close ally of both Qaradawi and Turkeys Islamic supremacist prime minister (and Obama fave) Recep Tayyip Erdogan was welcomed into the IUMS as a member in 2004. As detailed here on other occasions (see, e.g., here), Hamass charter explains that the groups imperative to destroy Israel is an Islamic obligation, and it cites authoritative scripture frequently repeated by Qaradawi stating that the world will not end until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!
News of the White House meeting with bin Bayyah was broken last night by Steve Emerson and John Rossomando of the Investigative Project on Terrorism. The meeting took place at the Obama administrations request, according to an account of it posted along with a photo on bin Bayyahs website. Since its original posting, the account has been edited to omit mention of Obama National Security Adviser Tom Donilons participation.
Russia evacuates Tartus, also military, diplomatic personnel from Syria. High war alert in Israel
Moscow announced Wednesday June 26, that the evacuation which had begun Friday of all military and diplomatic personnel from Syria was now complete, including the Russian naval base at Tartus.
"Russia decided to withdraw its personnel because of the risks from the conflict in Syria, as well as the fear of an incident involving the Russian military that could have larger consequences," said a defense ministry official in Moscow. He stressed that a 16-ship naval task force in the eastern Mediterranean remains on post and arms shipments, including anti-air weapons, would continue to the Syrian government in keeping with former contracts.
I deleted a few posts this morning on the Supreme Court decisions regarding gay marriage. Rantburg isn't the place for this. Try Legal Insurrection or one of the conservative blogs if you want to discuss this important social issue.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2013
10:38 ||
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Edward Snowden is not booked to fly out of Moscow over the next three days, and with no valid passport, the NSA whistleblower might be stuck in airport limbo indefinitely.
"Oh! Oh! I seen dis movie!"
The hot pursuit of Snowden has ground to a halt three days after the former CIA technician, wanted in the US on espionage charges, flew into Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport from Hong Kong.
Washington, which wants Snowden for leaking details of the National Security Agency's (NSA) dragnet telephone and internet surveillance programs, charges that there is a clear legal basis for Moscow to hand him over.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who confirmed that Snowden had arrived in Moscow as a transit passenger despite speculation to the contrary, rebuffed US demands on Tuesday.
"We can only extradite any foreign citizens to such countries with which we have signed the appropriate international agreements on criminal extradition," Putin said, adding that as Snowden had committed no crime on Russian soil, he is free to travel at will.
"Snowden is a free person. The sooner he chooses his final destination, the better it is for him and Russia," Putin continued.
#2
but at least he has access to that deeelicious Russian Airport Food
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/26/2013 10:48
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#3
Like Assange, he is in limbo or a kind of purgatory. There was a story awhile back about a guy who lived for quite some time in one of our major airports--he wasn't even a fugitive.
#5
It sounds like Edward did not think his cunning plan through very thoroughly. I get this image of the barking dog that finally catches the big garbage truck - "Yeah big guy, whatcha' gonna' do now?"
Perhaps he can pull down "Enemy of the State" as a Torr file, for some "lessons learned" - or give a listen to Jim Croce's "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" - and I'm thinking of the part about "You don't pull on Superman's cape."
Unfortunately for Mr. Snowden, once you squeeze it out, you generally can't put the toothpaste back into the tube.
#14
This cant be that difficult. Three guys from the Embassy go over there with four tickets and new some paperwork for the guy. Get to him, put a mickey in his Guava Juice, and carry him onto the next flight to New York.
The Russians admit he is there. If they won't produce him for the embassy people, then they are admitting to holding him. The Russians don't want to admit that too.
#15
No, EC, I don't seriously believe he's in the transit area. No one has reported even seeing him arrive at Sheremetyevo. He's been in Russian hands since he left HK. They could have slipped him out of HK on one of Putin's/the Russian bandit-oligarchs' private jets and flown him to Belarus or Novgorod or somesuch.
Oh, and check this out: in 2009, Snowden told his online mates that "leakers should be shot."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/27/world/under-snowdens-screen-name-a-declaration-in-09-that-leakers-should-be-shot.html?hp
The kid is a nutjob. He's going to spill everything to his FSB interrogators, and then some.
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/26/2013 21:20
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#17
Putin's having a brief moment if fun now, but he's in a weak position overall and getting weaker. He's scared of his own shadow, his government's a shambles, and his country's economy is about to collapse because of shale oil and gas. He's stolen over $40 billion, but that jig, too, is up: Gazprom is facing ruin.
Putin is a less comical version of Berlusconi. But Mistah B, he goin' to da big house now, and Mistah P' days are numbered, too. Putin's bravado can't disguise the fact that his era's coming to an end.
In yet another remarkable display of Obamas determination to secure the Middle East for Islamofascists, 400 U.S. troops will reportedly be deployed to Egypt to augment the police force of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. They will be part of a 13-country force stationed in Egypt in anticipation of protests, scheduled for June 30th, calling for the removal of Morsi. Curiously, whereas Obama readily threw former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak under the bus in 2011, the White House is now eager to defend the regime of Morsi, who, like his Muslim Brotherhood sponsors, is well on his way to imposing the Saudi Arabian model of governance on Egypt.
The so-called peacekeeping mission on which the U.S. troops will serve is expected to last nine months. It follows six months of training by troops at both Fort Hood, Texas and Fort Irwin, California. That training reportedly included crowd control measures as well as Molotov cocktail attack response. Soldiers encountered Molotov cocktails and other dangerous items in the training, reported a local TV news station out of Killeen, TX that broke the story.
A Fort Hood Press Center release reveals that a battalion task force from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team will be part of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) peacekeeping contingency based along the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula between Eilat, Israel, and Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt. Once there, they will man positions and checkpoints, report any violations of the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, and remain prepared to respond to threats. That treaty required Israeli forces to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and for Egypt to keep the area demilitarized. An exception to the treaty was authorized in 2011 when Israel allowed several hundred Egyptian troops into the area to quell violence that occurred then.
#2
You know we have a Task Force Sinai that's been in place for a long time, since around 1982, which operates on unit rotational basis.
a battalion task force from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team will be part of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) peacekeeping contingency based along the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula between Eilat, Israel, and Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt. Once there, they will man positions and checkpoints, report any violations of the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, and remain prepared to respond to threats. That treaty required Israeli forces to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and for Egypt to keep the area demilitarized.
Yep, that's them. In '85, the relieved elements of the 101st were killed in a crash in their returning flight to the States at Gander Newfoundland.
#3
IMO this is once again more evidence that the Bammer recognizes the defeat of the Syrian rebels by Baby Assad, + is getting the Rebs ready to continue the fight via bases in neighboring countries. Also works to contain Iran's influence to where it already is.
E.G. TOPIX > [AlertNet = Reuters] SAUDIS SAY CAN'T BE SILENT [anymore]ON IRAN'S, HEZBOLLAH'S ROLE IN SYRIA.
* SAME > [NewsMax] AUTHOR RABIL: US AID WON'T REMOVE ASSAD.
RELATED SAME ...
> OLIVER NORTH: ADMINISTRATION CAN'T SAVE THE SITUATION IN SYRIA.
> US SENATORS: NO CONFIDENCE IN OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO REMOVE ASSAD, DEFEAT AL-QAEDA GROUPS IN SYRIA.
versus
* INDIAN DEFENCE FORUM > KERRY:US, RUSSIA NOT GOING TO BACK OFF HELPING RIVALS IN SYRIAN WAR.
As per the Contras + anti-Soviet Afghan war, etc. the Bammer must know it will likely be left to his post-2017 POTUS successor to induce or see the downfall of the Assad regime.
Again, iff I were Japan, ROK, Philippines, Vietnam, ASEAN, AFPAK + India, I would be feeling very nervousy twitchy about the reliability of the US commitment to their security vee Rising China - DITTO FOR THE ANTI-IRAN KSA + SUNNI GOVTS-STATES IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
Besides the on-going sequester + threats from sudden or near-term new US econ recession or worse, going into the 2014 elex now comeths a militantly pro-Obama-vs-anti-Obama US Congress bent on rejecting the legislations supported or proposed by the Party-dominated Chamber in opposition.
E.G. THE US SENATE PASSES AN IMMIGRATION BILL THAT IS ANTICIPATED TO FAIL IN THE GOP-CONTROLLED HOUSE, WHILE THE HOUSE PASSES AN ABORTION BILL THAT IS ANTICIPATED TO FAIL IN THE DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED SENATE.
WINNER = CHINA vee Japan, etc.; + OBAMA = "MR. EXECUTIVE ACTION" whom gets to PCorrectly claim the US can't help its overseas allies agz China + Iran because its not only TOO COSTLY, BUT NOW A MILITANTLY DIVIDED CONGRESS IS TOO SECTARIAN TO INTERVENE ON ANYTHING FOR ANYBODY OVERSEAS.
Caliphate, Nuke-wannabe Rising Iran wins in the ME, "post-US" Rising China wins in both the East China Sea + South China, US LOSES CREDIBILITY + AUTHORITY IN ALL + FORCED TO ROLLBACK AROUND THE WORLD.
#4
As said before, iff China does NOT concede or compromise agz Japan, etc. in ECS + SCS, + instead chooses to militarily escalate, TO AVOID A NUCLEAR CONFRONTATION OR WAR WD CHINA THE BAMMER = USA MAY HAVE TO MAKE SIGNIFICANT CONCESSIONS THAT NEITHER AMER'S ALLIES NOR THE AMER MAINSTREAM/VOTERS WILL ACCEPT OR TOLERATE.
[MYSTERIOUS MASSIVE BULK PURCHASES OF HOLLOW-POINT AMMO + VEHICLES, ETC. BY FEMA here].
Lest we fergit, "MULTI-POLAR WORLD" = in the view or mindset of Russia, China, Iran, etal DOES N-O-T MEAN THE US + NATO-EU DOMINATE THE FUTURE OWG-NWO AS THEY DID DURING THE COLD WAR.
"PARITY", ALBEIT ROUGH, N-O-T SUPERIORITY OR DOMINATION.
The Superpower USA is just "one nation among many" in the new OWG-NWO = Space Govt-Order, + no longer the only Global Leader either in "sole" or in "bloc".
The Washington-critters are aware the US must give up sovereign power-n-authority to the OWG + NAU, etc. BUT THEY DON'T KNOW WID CERTAINTY HOW MUCH + THEY'RE PREFERABLY NOT ASKING THE VOTERS IFF THEY WANT IT.
After a wave of criticism from politicians, advocacy groups and the public, 46 bus ads featuring photos of wanted terrorists will be taken down within the next few weeks, officials said Tuesday.
The Faces of Global Terrorism ad was criticized for promoting stereotypes of Muslims and painting a broad brush against one group.
The ad is part of a campaign launched earlier this month by the Puget Sound Joint Terrorism Task Force for the U.S. Department of States Rewards for Justice program. It features 16 photos of wanted terrorists sandwiched between the taglines Faces of Global Terrorism and Stop a Terrorist. Save Lives. Up to $25 Million Reward.
#1
" Never ending security threats As I recall reading this warning had been transmitted through diplo emails more than a few times by Ambo Stevens.
[Telegraph] The brother of Alps massacre victim Saad Al-Hilli has been tossed in the clink Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! by Surrey Police on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.
Zaid Al-Hilli, 54, was held in an early morning raid at his home in Chessington and is currently being interviewed over the deaths of Saad Al-Hilli, his wife Ikbal, her mother Suhaila al-Allaf and French cyclist Sylvain Mollier.
He is the first person to be arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder in connection with the case.
The four victims were bumped off on a remote forest road in Chevaline, near Annecy, La Belle France, on September 5, 2012. The Al-Hillis' seven-year-old daughter Zainab was pistol-whipped in the attack and shot in the shoulder but survived, along with her sister Zeena, who hid under her mother's skirt in the back of the family's BMW.
Zaid Al-Hilli was questioned by French police in March, when he is understood to have been asked about an alleged dispute with his brother over a family inheritance.
Their Iraqi father Kadhim Al-Hilli died in Spain two years ago, leaving several properties and £800,000 in a Geneva bank account. Saad hired lawyers to block Kadhim's will until "unknown" disputes had been resolved, according to legal papers.
The French Sherlocks are understood to have questioned Zaid over allegations that he tried to withdraw cash from the Geneva account using an expired credit card shortly before the murders.
Saad, 50, reportedly kept a Taser stun gun at his home in Claygate, Surrey and changed the locks of the house before he went on holiday.
Earlier this month Eric Maillaud, the French prosecutor leading the inquiry, said he had made a formal request for assistance to Romania in an attempt to find out why Zaid Al-Hilli made repeated phone calls to five numbers in Romania.
Zaid Al-Hilli has always insisted he is innocent and that he had a good relationship with his brother. Shortly after the murders he voluntarily visited a Surrey cop shoppe to discuss the case.
All of the murder victims were shot twice in the head in the execution-style killing.
A statement from Surrey Police said: "Detectives investigating the deaths of four people near Annecy, southern La Belle France in September last year have this morning arrested a man on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.
"The 54-year-old man was tossed in the clink Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! at an address in Chessington, Surrey at around 7:30am and is currently in police custody where he will be interviewed.
"Saad and Ikbal Al-Hilli from Claygate, Surrey and her mother Suhaila al-Allaf, who lived in Sweden, were found rubbed out along with French cyclist Sylvain Mollier on a remote forest road in Chevaline on September 5 2012.
"As part of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which was established on September 21 last year, officers from the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team have been working closely with the French authorities to progress a number of lines of enquiry.
"This pre-planned arrest is a result of these on-going enquiries and any updates will be issued in due course."
In March a man was arrested in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... on suspicion of supplying the Luger P08 gun used in the shootings but was later released.
French prosecutors have also said they want to travel to Iraq to investigate claims of links between their father and Saddam Hussein.
In November last year a Nigerian man was arrested in London on suspicion of fraud after he allegedly tried to access Saad Al-Hilli's bank account.
[Ynet] An Iranian news agency is reporting that security forces have dismantled a terrorist and sabotage network in southern city of Shiraz.
No, they didn't put the Revolutionary Guards in jug...
The semi-official ISNA says the network planned bombings and liquidation attempts during Iran's presidential election earlier this month. The report on Tuesday did not say how many suspects were involved or give their names. It said the network had links with the CIA, Israel and some neighboring "reactionary" Arab nations.
[Ynet] French authorities have tossed in the clink Book 'im, Mahmoud! nine people in anti-terrorist raids this week, including people suspected of plotting attacks in La Belle France or of belonging to jihadi networks, officials said Tuesday.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls urged police to keep up the pressure in particular on groups preparing fighters to join bully boysnuffies in Syria or to join al-Qaeda. "We will leave no space for these groups," he told news hounds.
Securityforces in Gay Pareetossed in the clink Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! six people suspected of operating a fundamentalist Islamist cell that has been planning terror attacks, a source familiar with the investigation reported.
According to the source, the suspects, in their 20s and 30s, are known to the police and were arrested for serious criminal offenses.
[Ynet] Negotiations with Paleostinians are only way to neutralize anti-Israel boycott calls
What utterly justified cynicism.
During the Presidential Conference last week, Netanyahu called a meeting with a small group of Jewish millionaires who arrived for the conference. He sought to raise their money and use their connections for the war against the anti-Israel boycott movement.
Founded in the territories in 2005, the movement is known for the initials of its goals -- BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions). It's arousing great interest in Western countries, leaving its mark on the academic system, on economic decisions made by business and political organizations and on the media. Its damage is growing.
Those who have been following this movement from afar may see in it as a historical closure: The Arab boycott, which made it difficult for Israel to integrate into the global economy, died during the Oslo process. It's only natural that after years of stalemate in the grinding of the peace processor it reappears, with a new name and an updated format.
The annual conference of the Paleostinian BDS initiative -- which launched the international move -- was held in Bethlehem on Saturday. Marwan Barghouti and Ahmed Saadat offered their greetings from prison.
When Jawad Naji, a minister in the PA government, began his address, participants accused him of collaborating with Israel and forced him to leave the auditorium. They spoke against the Peres Center for Peace, against Seeds of Peace, against the new city of Rawabi. The speeches were similar, in style and content, to speeches heard at a conference held several days earlier by the Yesha Council.
The boycott movement has zero influence in the West Bank. It's not the boycott in the West Bank which Israel should be worried about, but rather the changes in the West's attitude towards us.
In Israel's Left there are those who welcome the spreading boycott. They believe in the South African precedent: An academic boycott and economic sanctions lead to a change in policy. Their support of the boycott -- sometimes a boycott against the universities providing them with work -- grants them a distinguished admission ticket to Europe's radical Left and crowns them as victims of the Israeli establishment. There's nothing they like better than being victims.
In the Right as well there are those who are happy about the boycott. In the eyes of extreme rightists, it serves as unequivocal proof of the rightness of the perception which says: The problem is neither the occupation nor the stalemate in negotiations, but hatred of Israel. No matter what we do, the world will always want to destroy us. The boycott call is anti-Semitism disguised as a struggle for human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... 'Lethal Weapon' in Israeli consulate
The truth is that the radical Left in the West has a problem: The fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa left no enemy country to hate. They protest against heads of the rich states, they protest against the corporations and against the stock exchange, but that doesn't generate the same burst of pure hatred evoked by the apartheid regime. If Hollywood were not filled with good, guilt-ridden Jews, we would have seen another film in the "Lethal Weapon" series, this time with blonde villains in the Israeli consulate instead of blonde villains in the South African consulate.
It's unfair that the latest international surveys place us at the top of the world's most hated countries, alongside Iran and North Korea. Life isn't always fair. The question is what does a state do in light of this situation: Does it suppress the problem or deal with it? Does it take a painkiller or get chemotherapy?
The fact is that the anti-Israel boycott calls failed to generate a buzz as long as there were negotiations. The rift on the Jerusalem-Ramallah route fertilizes the boycott -- talks neutralize it. Negotiations are indispensable for Israel.
In an interview he gave the Washington Post over the weekend, Netanyahu said he was ready to sit in a tent and negotiate with Abbas day and night. Netanyahu's willingness to leave his air condition in the summer heat is touching, but fails to deal with the problem. Approaching millionaires will not bear fruit either, apart from wasting money on empty propaganda.
Israel must do something dramatic: Either announce that it is freezing construction, or announce a massive release of prisoners, or open Area C for Paleostinian construction, or all of the above.
That is perhaps, a tad over-excited.
If the talks are not resumed, the Paleostinians will go to the UN institutions in the fall, and the boycott movement will grow wings.
Last week, Naftali Bennett likened the Paleostinians to shrapnel in Israel's backside, making his own contribution to the boycott supporters' anti-Israel campaign. Let's assume for a moment that it was a legitimate expression. Israel is the backside, but what is the identity of the shrapnel which makes it difficult for Israel each time it wishes to sit down? Is it Netanyahu's fear of a governmental crisis? Is it the bully boys' control of the Likud faction? Or perhaps the shrapnel in the backside is Bennett's Habayit Hayehudi party? Small, but painful.
#3
Obama wanted Israel to go back to pre-1967 borders. Even if Israel were foolish enough to do that, it still would never be enough. Not when the muzzies have stated they want Israel disappear.
h/t Instapundit
...Socially, men are looked down upon more than at any other time in history. Men are seen more as criminals than social pillars. Dennis Prager, a syndicated radio talk show host, recently noted that in a single generation, "We have gone from father knows best to father doesn't matter." Mr. Prager describes a world that has gone on the decline as subversive policies and agendas have belittled the importance and impact of moral men in our society.
Verily, the greatest impact on men boycotting society has involved the future well-being of our nation's children. It is well known that fatherless children are more likely to grow up impoverished and victims of neglect, abuse, and sexual molestation at significantly higher rates. However, the true impact of fatherless homes isn't understood until the data is reviewed in greater detail.
The U.S. Department of Health notes that 63% of youth suicides come from fatherless homes five times the normal average. The Center for Disease Control notes that 85% of all children who have mental or behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes 20 times the normal average. The Journal of Family and Culture once noted an over 100% increase in juvenile self-identification as "homosexual" once a father leaves the home. Pediatrics journal noted in 2011 that homosexual teens are five times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexual teens. Fatherless teenage girls are 711% more likely to have children as a teen, 53% more likely to marry as a teen, and 92% more likely to get divorced. Over 50% of women in prison came from fatherless homes. Over two-thirds of teens in chemical dependence programs come from fatherless homes. And, according to the National Principals Association, some 71% of high school drop-outs come from fatherless homes.
#1
Men are more apt, especially in a fatherly role, to be proponents of independence, self-reliance and self discipline. DIY didn't become a big business for metro-sexuals.
These characteristics are all anathema to big-gov't nanny state lovers. The growth of the regulatory society is the direct cause of "Father Doesn't Matter".
As far as the decline of the Black Family let's look back to Daniel Patrick Moynihan during the term of LBJ. A 25% illegitimacy rate was cause for major concern; now a rate over 70% barely raises an eyebrow. The difference is that gov't has made men (aka fathers) irrelevant to the family.
#5
Yes, but women are essential for making the family.
If I may,
Dudes will hump camels. Any gal can get themselves pregnant, in this modern world even without the male. At the moment of conception the woman becomes responsible for somebody other than herself. How she handles that responsibility - which really begins before conception because her attitude and upbringing will directly affect how she will handle finding out she is expecting.
Now before we get into a chicken/egg deal, having a guy around and having a Father are two separate things. The Man must also choose to be that role, not shamed into or running off or half-assing it. Total commitment. I'm not going to say one is more difficult than the other, but the male has the greater ability to be a rolling stone.
Trying to come from a macro sociologist view, it isn't just homosexuality, nor the effeminate male, or aborting woman. It is the grand concept of what life and responsibility are, the social expectation.
Now in opinion mode, I think it has a lot to do with the replacement of religion with government, with a big finger point at the over reliance of media and entertainment glorifying anti-family concepts. I know a family who is proud their 5 year old can zip around a smart phone. I'm proud mine can read Cathedral and Roman City to me and notice the fine penciling. Neither are greater because we are both family oriented. I also know that there are plenty of people who, to be as fair as possible, don't know better than to sit their kids in front of tickle my elmo and the latest online shooter as babysitter. The difference is staggering, not only in education but in success, success being self-reliance not necessarily income. I know plenty of money people who are F#d beyond words.
Why they don't know better or why they don't care are the questions.
#6
The "triumph" of the beta-male, as pushed by all the leftist alphas. Far easier to rule than those pesky conservative alpha wolves and libertarian lone wolves.
#8
swksvolFF says but women are essential for making the family
I only object to the stress here. One of the major problems today is the idea that husbands and wives are taught that they are individuals who should consider their own desires as paramount.
The idea of marriage, at least for me, is that FIRST you should think about the US rather than the Me or You.
It's a sick elevation of the Self over and above the consideration of the Family that has driven such things as Elmo or Street Fighter as babysitters.
There are chicken & eggs galore in this subject such as which came first, the ease of divorce or the growth of reasons for divorcing? Christian religion is not necessary for successful marriage and society but it does seem to help.
There are many things involved in a healthy societal institution of family, the glue that keeps the institution together. Here and there you can be missing some glue in a particular joint and the structure still holds but our society seems to have declared war on all of the glues. When you don't have enough glue the structure (and the society that relies on it) will crumble.
#9
Totally agree AlanC, the emphasis there is that the only time a person is completely dependant upon the actions of another is gestation. If the mother decides to booze, smoke, not eat right, or even abort that child does not have a choice. Once born, others can assist. I feel that the once a future mother makes that decision beforehand by their own lifestyle and upbringing. I hate using negative examples, but if the woman decides that drug use is more important than a future family, she would likely have unhealthy children if children at all. To be fair, I know too many guys who have made their hobbies and their self so important that a family and Family Man is way over the horizon.
#10
IMHO, religion is a way for society to interact with each other. We see that behavioral sum everywhere. If religion is rejected that need must still be filled, and that is where we see this life of Julia crap.
And that is the hook of this takes a village communist sht, the state as parents. It takes the concept of family but replaces the fact that Family is a volunteer concept and forces compliance, and destroys the free will.
I was having this discussion just the other night with a buddy of mine, what the kids are watching. One show we both just totally slammed stars a mouse and a special house where if they have any problems they just call for help and big brother shows up for the solution. Another had girls quitting their chores to play pretty princess with no consequences. Another channel targets pre-teens and glorifies high schoolers sleeping around and why sex should be seen as no big deal. I fear for the kids who don't have the BS filters to reject these fictions and even embrace it as real social interaction instead of the low sales pitch it really is. If I'm blowing of my chores and responsibilities to go golf or whatever, the kids see that.
#11
I was raised in a family of what I call Christmas Christians. Religion was way down on the priority list and never a topic of conversation.
However, the practical precepts were all in force. We lived by and learned such things as loyalty, honesty and honor with a healthy dose of compromise. Lots of people like to say that God is number 1 in their lives but personally I don't care and doubt that He does either.
I was number one in my life when I was young. The older I got the more my family (parents and sibling) became first. When I married my family (wife and kids) became number 1. I raised my sons to believe the same way and so far so good.
It's not that hard pull off a functional family if you have the right values. Now, where are people today getting their values???
#12
Now, where are people today getting their values??? AlanC, that is a key question. Many of the institutions that we have relied upon are under assault: government, the Constitution, schools, churches and religion, families, and social mores and restraints. Instant gratification, narcissism, entertainment, and celebrity worship seems to have replaced the aforementioned.
Lebanese bank accused of laundering drug money through U.S. banks and routing it to the terrorist group Hezbollah will pay $102 million to settle a lawsuit brought in 2011 by the U.S. government, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
The government accused the Lebanese Canadian Bank of a "widespread international scheme" to use the U.S. banking system to launder the proceeds from drug trafficking through West Africa and back to Lebanese financial institutions with ties to Hebollah.
"Drug trafficking profits and terror financing often grow and flow together," said Michele Leonhart, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
A lawyer for the bank responded to the developments.
"The bank is pleased to have reached a settlement with the United States Government, ending months of legal dispute," Evan Benn, an attorney for the bank, said in a statement.
"The U.S. Treasury and Justice Departments have brought enforcement actions against a large number of well-known banks around the world, including LCB, in connection with alleged failures to comply with various executive orders and regulations issued by the U.S. Government. LCB, by contrast to many other such enforcement actions, has resolved this case without any admission or acknowledgement of wrongdoing."
#5
Consider the number of atrocities perpetrated in the name of safety or "for the children." You can almost assume that when one of those reasons is given you are getting f*&ked.
[Pak Daily Times] The Baloch Republican Party (BRP) has accused the Pakistain Army of targeting a post-funeral ceremony and torturing the relatives of the dear departed.
In a statement issued to the media, the BRP claimed that relatives of the "Sui massacre" victims had gathered after burying their loved ones when Pak forces gatecrashed. "The forces kidnapped several people including two brothers Ashraf Bugti s/o Pondhal Bugti and Dostain Bugti s/o Pondhal Bugti and threatened the people who had come to express their condolences. The families and relatives of the victims were severely beaten up and the ceremony of the post-funeral reception was forcibly ended by the forces," said the BRP. The party accused the state of having no regard for fundamental human rights. ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... "State forces claimed that those killed during military offensive in Sui operation were armed gunnies but reality is they were all innocent Baloch civilians which is now supported by the recent statement of Human Rights Commission of Pakistain where prominent Human Rights activist Asma Jahangir said that while the HRCP was in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... , seven young men were picked up from Mathh area of Dera Bugti by the FC and subsequently summarily executed," said the statement.
BRP also claimed that Pak forces were also increasing their presence in Noshki area of Balochistan. Baloch Republican Party has appealed to the international community to end its prolonged silence "over the genocide of Baloch people, state atrocities, human rights abuses and war crimes perpetrated by the state forces in Balochistan."
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For a map, click here. For a map of Chihuahua state, click here.
By Chris Covert
Rantbrug.com
Five members of a family were shot to death Monday night in far southern Chihuahua state, according to Mexican news accounts.
According to a news report posted on the online edition of Milenio news daily, four armed suspects staged an ambush along a dirt road at around 1930 hrs in Guadalupe y Calvo municipality in Baborigame.
The victims were identified as Adelina Carrillo Gutierrez, 61, Jesus Chaparro Loera, 63, Wenceslao Chaparro Carrillo, 36 and two unidentified children ages 11 and 7 were traveling aboard a GMC Sierra pickup truck when the shooting took place.
Several AK-47 and AR-15 spent cartridge casings were found at the scene by investigators.
Guadalupe y Calvo has seen an increase of violent security incidents in recent weeks, the last incident an apparent ambush in a remote part of Guadalupe y Calvo which claimed the lives of four individuals. A previous incident, the kidnapping of a political candidate just a week before that shooting, preceded a renewed deployment of Mexican federal security deployments including army and naval infantry troops to the region.
Meanwhile Mexico's Secretaria de Gobierno (SEGOB) or interior minister, Miguel Osorio Chong formally announced the training of the first of the new Gendarmaria Nacional, totaling 5,000 effectives, according to Mexican news accounts.
The Gendarmaria Nacional which will operate under the aupices of the Policia Federal, was the centerpiece of the new security strategy by the recently elected President Enrique Pena Nieto. The emphasis in the new strategy is to reduce drug and gang related violence which has plagued Mexico for the last several years.
According to a news report posted on the website Animal Politico, Osorio Chong in a radio interview with Joaquin Doriga reiterated his government's commitment "in the coming years" to a "new justice model". The aim, according to several news accounts is to reduce the involvement of Mexico's military in counternarcotics operations, long an objective with Mexico's political left.
The news is a seeming reversal since mention of the Gendarmaria Nacional was omitted from the Plan Nacional de Desarrollo or National Development Plan last May, a move Mexican press claimed was a reneging on a campaign promise Pena made a year ago, despite repeated announcements since Pena's inauguration.
According to a separate news account, in the first stage of the Gendarmaria Nacional (GN) plan a total of 8,500 soldiers and 500 naval infantry troops would be included in the new security force. It is unclear in Osorio Chong's latest announcement if that part of the plan has been followed. Osorio Chong has said in the past the the new GN would have both police and military training, which suggests that SEGOB has been or will be moving some elements from the army and navy into the GN.
Currently, Mexico's military and federal police appear to be operating in counternarcotics operations under the command of SEGOB, the Policia Federal under its direct control. For years during the administration of Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, the Policia Federal had operated as a separate cabinet level agency. During the legislative honeymoon last December, the Policia Federal were made a sub-agency of SEGOB.
When the elements of the Gendarmaria Nacional are ready to be deployed, they will likely go to the worst of Mexico's trouble spots, mainly on the northern border where the most intense of the drug and gang related violence has taken place over the years.
One likely location will be southern Chihuahua state. Earlier this year Chihuahua governor Cesar Duarte Jaquez announced that Gendarmaria Nacional troops would be deployed to the region, which can now be seen as a rather premature announcement.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and Borderland Beat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[An Nahar] The Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... parliamentary bloc on Tuesday stressed that "it is not acceptable anymore to turn a blind eye to the "armed activities of Hizbullah and associates" in Sidon, after the army managed to overrun Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir's security zone following fierce festivities that left 16 troops and at least 20 gunnies dead.
"We offer condolences to the Lebanese people and the residents of the city of Sidon and the surrounding areas," the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.
"We condemn any attack on the army, for any reason and whichever side it may come from, because the army is the shield of the country and the attack that targeted it is a rejected criminal act that cannot be tolerated," it added.
The army said the festivities erupted after Asir's gunnies attacked one of its checkpoints "for no reason" and "in cold blood."
The bloc called for "pursuing and punishing the perpetrators," stressing the need to "quickly implement a comprehensive security plan and to put an end to the armed activities of Hizbullah and its associates."
"We call for continuing to impose the law on all violators and in all regions and the army must use one standard and principle in dealing with all parties as the law must not only be imposed on one region without another because balance and justice are the pillars of stability," it noted.
Why did the Resistance Brigades deploy in Abra? Why did the Brigades publicly erect military checkpoints, why did they ask for IDs and why did they search the cars of civilians?
"It is not acceptable anymore to turn a blind eye to the armed activities by Hizbullah and its associates and the city will not remain silent anymore over any attack on the dignity of its residents," the bloc added.
Slain premier "Rafik Hariri's supporters had been and will always be on the side of the state and its institutions and with the army during all bitter experiences, and these supporters have the right to ask the army to endorse one standard, not double standards," said the bloc.
It raised a number of questions concerning alleged armed activities by gunnies loyal to Hizbullah during the festivities.
"Who are the armed elements who fired on Rafik Hariri's house in Majdelyoun and why did the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... Brigades deploy in Abra. Why did the Brigades publicly erect military checkpoints, why did they ask for IDs and why did they search the cars of civilians? Why did Hizbullah members deploy on the Mar Elias Hill that overlooks Sidon?" said the bloc.
"Civil society institutions are awaiting clear answers and the implementation of a comprehensive plan in the city," it added.
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[An Nahar] Seven people, including one police officer, were fatally shot during gunbattles that erupted in a slum complex near Rio international airport, authorities said on Tuesday.
An officer with a special operations force known under the acronym BOPE, and a resident were fatally shot late Monday as the police unit intervened against criminals who were shaking down motorists caught in a demonstration, officials said.
Police said five "suspects" were killed early Tuesday when BOPE moved to arrest those believed to have been involved in the attacks on motorists.
Several people were enjugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! Monday and Tuesday, and police said they also confiscated weapons and marijuana.
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[An Nahar] Once adored by women for his warm voice and good looks, crooner Fadel Shaker followed an unlikely path to become an Islamist krazed killer now on the run with fellow runaway Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.
The pair are now being sought in a nationwide manhunt after festivities between Asir and his Salafist supporters and the military in the southern city of Sidon that left 17 soldiers dead.
Though he grew to become one of the Arab world's most famous singers, Shaker suffered through a miserable childhood of poverty, which a onetime musician friend says helped lead him down a dark path later in life.
Now in his mid-forties, Shaker was born to a Paleostinian mother and Lebanese father in the country's biggest Paleostinian refugee camp, Ain al-Helweh.
Born Fadel Shmandur, he began his career as a popular wedding singer who performed from the rooftops of the camp, an over-crowded and hopeless place.
"He has a beautiful voice. Hearing him live was even more beautiful than a recording," a former friend of Shaker's told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity.
"But he has always been naive and gullible. The more of a star he became, the further he strayed from the people who really loved him. He constantly ended up in bad company," said the friend, who lost touch with him some years ago.
In his prime, Shaker sang love songs that were instant region-wide hits. He released his first album in the late nineties, and continued to perform until 2011.
"He is a very sensitive, extremely reserved person," said Shaker's friend.
"When his Paleostinian wife left him, he would cry on stage as he sang, thinking of her. He is very emotional."
Shaker's immense popularity was boosted by the fact he was also a defender of Paleostinian rights, and was granted honorary Paleostinian citizenship by President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... Shaker also opened a restaurant in Sidon and pondered swapping his music career for a less hectic life, closer to his three children.
"I knew he would leave music one day, but I would never have thought he would join Asir. It's such a shame, he has such talent. I feel sorry for him," his friend told AFP.
Shaker's brother had long been a strict Mohammedan, and he tried for years to convince him to leave music.
But it wasn't until after the outbreak of an uprising in Syria against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... that Shaker became convinced that singing is haram, or forbidden in Islam.
Shaker soon became the best-known face of Asir's small movement of openly sectarian, Sunni bully boyz and praised the holy man as "the lion of the Sunnis".
He grew a beard and became a highlight of Asir's rallies, helping attract attention to the phenomenon of Sunni radicalism in the small Mediterranean country.
Performing during a television interview earlier this year, Shaker swapped his love songs for a chant about jihad and death.
Sitting by Asir, Shaker smiled and sang as sweetly as ever: "God gave me the gift and invited me to join the jihad... Mother, don't cry for me... Death does not frighten me, and my wish is to become a martyr."
His latest media appearance came in an amateur video in which he boasts: "We got rid of two of your swine, of your dogs... God is great."
The video went viral, with many alleging Shaker referred to killing army troops. Others said the footage referred to earlier festivities between Asir supporters and pro-Hizbullah fighters.
Judicial authorities issued a detention order for Asir and 123 of his supporters, including Shaker, whose brother was killed in weekend festivities with the army in Sidon.
"Fadel's story makes me sad, but in a way I am not surprised. He has always been easy to manipulate," his friend told AFP.
"These people have used him. Without him, no one would have heard of them."
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[An Nahar] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... promulgated a law on Tuesday imposing a prison sentence and fine on anyone entering the country illegally, state news agency SANA said.
"Any person who enters Syrian territory in an illegal manner will face between a year and five years in prison," the text published by SANA said.
The law also imposes "a fine of between five million and 10 million Syrian pounds ($25,000-$50,000/19,083-38,167 euros)."
Numerous foreign journalists have entered Syria illegally, usually over the border from Turkey, to report on the war there.
The government has granted relatively few media visas, and journalists have complained of being constrained in their coverage on the government side.
Some journalists entering illegally have been placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! by government forces and later released, while others have disappeared altogether, with no information on who is holding them.
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[Pak Daily Times] In the week in which America opened the door for negotiations with the Taliban, three bloody massacres of school children - shot down simply because they wanted to go to school - raise grave questions about what kind of peace the Taliban offer.
Why would anyone with so little as a single eye in their head have any questions whatsoever about the kind of peace the Taliban desire? The only question is which among the various Talib groups would come out on top in the end.
Within days of the initiative for talks, the Taliban shot to death nine foreign tourists encamped on the peak of Nanga Parbat in northern Pakistain, saying the murders were in retaliation for a drone attack that killed one of their leaders. But what kind of justification can possibly be offered for the Molotov cocktailing of a college bus carrying forty girls from their Quetta campus in Pakistain? Fourteen defenceless girls died in the bombing; eight more people died when the Death Eaters ambushed the hospital.
We are confronted by a savage war waged by Islamic forces of Evil against young people seeking education. In the wake of the outrage in Pakistain, two appalling massacres that killed 16 students were perpetrated in Nigeria by the country's leading terrorist group, Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
Continued on Page 49
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#2
Charles Dana Gibson reportedly used Nesbit as the inspiration for his illustrations of the "Gibson Girl".
The author Lucy Maud Montgomery, unaware of her notoriety, used a photograph of Nesbitfrom the Metropolitan Magazine and pasted to the wall in her bedroom as the model for the heroine of her book Anne of Green Gables (1908).
Posted by: Au Auric ||
06/26/2013 10:22
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*She invented an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping, necessary for wireless communication from the pre-computer age to the present day. Truly a unique Soul".
[MAGHAREBIA] Libya's General National Congress on Tuesday (June 25th) will elect a replacement for former President Mohamed Magarief, Libya Herald reported.
Mousa Faraj Al-Zway, Sherif El-Wafi, Fawzi Al-Aghab, Abdulmonem Wahaishi and Safwan Milad are reportedly among those under consideration for the post.
Magarief resigned on May 28th, in compliance with Libya's political isolation law banning Qadaffy-era officials from public office.
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[MAGHAREBIA] Tunisian Army Chief of Staff General Rachid Ammar on Monday (June 24th) told Ettounsiya television that he was exiting his post, Tunisie Numerique reported. Ammar submitted his retirement request to President Moncef Marzouki on Saturday.
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[Pak Daily Times] Rebels in Thailand's Moslem-majority south called Tuesday for the army to return to their bases over Ramazan in exchange for a ceasefire during the holy month, a condition swiftly rejected by the kingdom's government.
More than 5,500 people have died in the near decade-long insurgency in Thailand's south but optimism for peace has flickered recently after talks between authorities and some rebel groups including the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN).
Near-daily attacks on security forces and civilians have continued despite a successful round of talks on June 14, which saw both sides agree to work towards curbing violence over Ramazan.
Listing its conditions for a ceasefire a BRN front man said the group would "stop" its operations for the holy month if Thailand meets demands including pulling security forces back from villages to their bases.
The Thai army must leave "the villages and go back to their camps", the BRN's Hassan Taib said in a video posted on YouTube, also calling for a suspension of "ambushes, road blocks or arrests" in Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani provinces which border Malaysia.
Thailand must announce its official response to the demands by July 3, he said.
"From our side, the BRN will not only reduce but stop any (violent) action. This is to give respect to Moslems during Ramazan," Taib added.
Ramazan starts around the first week of July.
The demands were given short shrift by Thai government officials. Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat told news hounds the BRN's demands were "impossible to implement" and accused Taib of insincerity "about making peace or stopping violence". His comments were echoed by Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung who said "there was no way" the government would concede to pulling security forces back to their bases.
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#1
The Thais aren't stupid, they've heard of a "Hudna" before.
And I didn't notice the Muslim crazies taking a break for the Buddha's Birthday.
[An Nahar] Independent MP Nouri Bousahmein, a member of Libya's Berber minority, was elected on Tuesday as head of the General National Congress (GNC), making him the country's interim leader.
Bousahmein, the first Berber to hold such a senior post in Libya, replaces Mohammed Megaryef, who stepped down after a law was adopted banning from politics those who served under ousted dictator Muammar Qadaffy ... who had more funny outfits than Louis XIV...
Bousahmein was chosen by the assembly on a second ballot, after leading a nine-candidate first round.
He received 96 out of 184 votes, against 80 for another independent, Al-Sherif al-Wafi.
Under the rules of the GNC, Libya's highest legislative and executive body, a simple majority was required for the election of its president.
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[MAGHAREBIA] A Madrid court on Monday (June 24th) arraigned eight al-Qaeda suspects, AFP reported. The men were part of an international network "dedicated to radicalising, recruiting and sending mujahedeen to Syria to wage jihad and become deaders", the court said.
According to the statement, the al-Qaeda-linked cell, dismantled last Friday in Ceuta and the nearby Moroccan town of Fnideq, had links in Morocco, Belgium, Turkey and Syria.
The cell allegedly sent dozens of Spanish and Moroccan jihadists to Syria. At least five of them carried out suicide kabooms.
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[MAGHAREBIA] Algerian authorities stand by their position of no negotiations with gangs.
Al-Qaeda splinter group Movement for Tawhid and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) just offered to swap one of the Algerian diplomats kidnapped last year in Gao for three "mujahedeen" held in Algeria, AFP reported.
"If Algeria rejects the proposal, the Algerian hostages' lives will be in danger," MUJAO front man Abu Walid Sahraoui threatened at the week-end.
But Algeria will not negotiate with terrorist groups, presidential advisor Kamal Rezzag Bara confirmed Monday (June 24th) in Oran.
This means that Algeria will not discuss the release of the diplomats with their MUJAO captors, he added.
Algeria not only refuses to pay ransom to terrorists, but also refuses to make any political concessions to terrorist groups, he explained on the side-lines of the two-day Global Counter-Terrorism Forum (GCTF).
It is "proven that ransoms and drug trafficking finance terrorist groups", Bara said.
On April 5th, 2012, armed Islamist fighters kidnapped the Algerian consular staff members. The al-Qaeda allies demanded the release of MUJAO detainees in Algeria and a ransom of 15 million euros. Three of the Algerian hostages were freed five months ago.
MUJAO announced the execution of the vice-consul Tahar Touati in September of last year, but Algerian authorities refused to confirm the information.
Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci on June 10th received "reassuring" information about the kidnapped Algerian diplomats.
"Information in the possession of the ministry of foreign affairs is satisfactory," he said on Algerian National Radio. "We are not worried, since they are still alive. Yet I cannot say more."
"Each one of us is worried about them," he added.
Other countries have begun to align themselves with Algeria's position on dealing with terrorists, the foreign minister said on national radio.
"More efforts must be made at the level of the international community so that the handling of ransoms will be dealt with in a strict manner and lead all countries, governments and parties not to finance terrorism," he added.
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#1
"If you harm the diplomat, we'll immediately put your three men to death. Your choice"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/26/2013 9:32
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[An Nahar] Bahrain announced on Tuesday the arrest of nine Shiites it said are linked to Iran and that were planning to attack a prison to facilitate a jail break.
The interior ministry said arms, ammunition and a plan for attacking the prison were seized.
Those tossed in the calaboose Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! belong to a group called Jaish al-Imam (Army of the Imam), who were planning to carry out attacks on key installations in the country, the ministry said.
This "terrorist cell," which the ministry said had links to Iran, Iraq and Leb, was busted in February. Eight of its members were said to have received weapons and explosives training and were financed from abroad.
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[An Nahar] Two maimed Syrians were admitted to Israel overnight for hospital treatment, a military spokeswoman told Agence La Belle France Presse on Tuesday, the latest in several dozen cases to be allowed across.
The two men entered Israel via the Quneitra crossing on the Golan Heights. There was no word on whether they were civilians, rebel fighters or government troops.
Gil Maor, a front man for Ziv hospital in the northern Galilee town of Safed, confirmed to AFP that it had admitted a man with gunshot and shrapnel wounds to the legs who had undergone an operation and was said to be in moderate condition.
Over the past four months, Ziv hospital has treated 28 Syrian casualties, he said.
The second Syrian, who had a head wound, was taken to the Western Galilee Medical Center in the coastal town of Nahariya.
Nahariya hospital front man Haggai Einav told AFP that, since the beginning of the conflict, nearly 20 maimed Syrians had been treated at the institution, including a 13-year-old girl who was admitted on Saturday.
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[An Nahar] The United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... on Tuesday highlighted the impact of the Syrian conflict on Leb as it called for support for the country's armed forces and other key institutions.
U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... and U.N.-Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... envoy Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi have stressed support for President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... and key state institutions as the 27-month-old Syria war increasingly spills over the border.
A battle between the army and followers of Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir in the southern city of Sidon was "a stern reminder to all of the risks of the conflict in Syria spreading across the border," Brahimi said Tuesday in Geneva.
At least 17 troops were killed in the battle and the army has launched a manhunt for al-Assir. Brahimi said at least 50 people were killed in all in the worst festivities in the country since the start of the Syrian war in March 2011.
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Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/26/2013 11:00
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#2
the heightened concern for our civil liberties under government digital surveillance...this presents an opportunity for dialogue we havent had for many years. Who knows if it will happen?
But if it does, I hope it will be intelligent and substantive. These are not easy questions. Good reasons exist for government surveillance.
I'm not optimistic about that debate. Most likely, the so-called debate will be sound bites, talking points, gotcha politics, and then move on to the next sensational news story.
[An Nahar] Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... stressed on Tuesday that extending the term of the Army Commander "must not be the price for the troops' sacrifice" in the festivities of the southern city of Sidon.
"The army's sacrifice must not be a price for extending Army Commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji's term especially that we are against extension in general," Aoun said after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc, in response to former premier Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. 's suggestion.
He added: "We do not want to manipulate the military institution's law."
"Hariri must ease the cabinet's formation first then we will see who will lead the army."
Aoun continued: "We are the ones who should give our opinion regarding the army's chief as per the appointments' traditions and because we are the representatives of Christians in the cabinet."
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[An Nahar] A plucky pigeon that flew across the Pacific Ocean from Japan will be bred by a bird lover in Canada hoping its progeny will make top long-distance racers, an animal rescue official said.
The pigeon was discovered tired and thin at a Canadian air force base on Vancouver Island in westernmost Canada and taken to an animal rescue center near Comox, British Columbia where it was treated for a common bird parasite and nursed back to health.
"We believe it took off from land in Japan and got confused or got caught up in a storm and got lost before eventually hopscotching its way to Canada, stopping and sleeping on freighters along the way," the Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society's Reg Westcott told Agence La Belle France Presse on Monday.
The one-year-old bird was among roughly 8,000 race pigeons released on May 9 in Haboro, Hokkaido, in northern Japan for a 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) race, according to owner Hiroyasu Takasu, 73, of Ishioka, Ibaraki.
The pedigree bird was among 10 racers owned by the retired businessman, an avid hobbyist.
"I have never heard of pigeons going to Canada. It's incredible," Takasu told AFP in Tokyo.
A pigeon's top range is typically 650 kilometers. This one traveled around 7,000 kilometers.
Canadians contacted Takasu, whose telephone number was on a tag attached to the bird's leg.
He decided not to have the pigeon flown back aboard a commercial jetliner, fearing that the travel back home might kill it unless it receives food, water and appropriate care.
The local Pigeon Racing Society in western Canada offered to take in the wayward bird and set it up with some female birds.
"I'm sure his offspring would be very good long range racers," Westcott said.
Canadian authorities, however, initially weren't sure what could be done with the pigeon.
"They asked us whether he had travel documents and so on, and we said, 'No, he flew here on his own,' and so they labelled it a migratory bird, which allowed us to hand it over, without (having to fill out) a bunch of customs paperwork, to the local pigeon racing society, which offered to give it a new home," Westcott said.
Takasu, who was willing to share the bird's pedigree papers, said he would be pleased if the pigeon found a new life on the other side of the Pacific.
"I would very much appreciate it if there is someone over there who could care for it," Takasu said.
In his 17 years caring for injured wildlife, Westcott said he has only come across one other pigeon that made the incredible two or three week voyage across the Pacific Ocean.
That one landed on a Canadian Coast Guard ship at the height of the avian influenza pandemic that saw millions of birds slaughtered to prevent the spread of the disease, and was eventually sent back to Japan at the owner's expense, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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#1
Stop that Pigeon, stop that Pigeon, stop that Pigeon NOW!
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/26/2013 10:45
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#3
So, shutting down the international air, land, and sea travel won't stop a virus from migrating across the big pond. It'll slow it, but won't stop it.
[An Nahar] Sidon MP Bahia Hariri on Tuesday said the southern port city rejects "the presence of the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... Brigades" -- a group affiliated with Hizbullah.
"We do not want the presence of the Resistance Brigades in Sidon, period," Hariri stressed in various interviews reported by the state-run National News Agency.
She explained: "We are not against anyone and Hizbullah's weapons are debatable on the national level, but the Resistance Brigades has no place in the city."
"We all resist Israel but we will not allow demarcation lines between the people."
The al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... MP said Sidon is open to people of all religious factions: "The city welcomes Sunnis, Shiites, Christians, Paleostinians and Syrians. This is the view of the people I represent and I know it is the opinion of everyone who has affections towards Sidon."
Hariri described the latest festivities in the city as a "dangerous thing."
"If we do not know how to deal with people, things will go back to being scattered," she warned.
"We quickly want a security plan that reassures people. We want the army to be at a single distance from everyone."
Hariri continued: "We want to be protected by the state and the army to take control of our security. We do not want any other kind of security."
"I will strive to make this happen this through my official post."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday submitted a challan ... list of charges ... against former military dictator Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... in the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC-I), declaring him prime accused in Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... murder case.
FIA's Deputy Director Khalid Rasool appeared before ATC-I Special Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman and presented the charge sheet against the former dictator and listed him as the main accused in the light of a statement recorded by US journalist Mark Siegel. The court directed Musharraf to appear before it on July 2 and adjourned the hearing till the date.
The charge sheet also contained the statements of four witnesses, including that of the US journalist as well as Benazir Bhutto's own statement, in which she had said that Musharraf and three others be held responsible if she was assassinated. Musharraf has also been accused of hatching a conspiracy to assassinate former prime minister Benazir. While becoming the witness in the case, Mark Siegel in his statement to the FIA's investigation team had revealed that Benazir was disturbed after receiving a phone call from Musharraf in his presence on September 25, 2007.
According to Siegel's statement, Musharraf had warned her that she would be responsible for her own security if she returned before the 2008 elections. Besides, the US journalist had claimed to have a copy of Musharraf's email sent to Benazir.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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[An Nahar] Fresh fighting between feuding Arab tribes in Sudan's Darfur region has killed 11 people, tribal leaders said on Tuesday, adding to worsening violence in the region.
The Gimir and Beni Halba tribes have been clashing over land ownership since at least April, around Edd al-Fursan about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of the South Darfur state capital Nyala.
Abaker al-Toum, a Gimir chief, told Agence La Belle France Presse the Beni Halba attacked three Gimir villages on Monday.
"They came on vehicles, cycle of violences, horses and camels, with heavy weapons," he said.
"We lost five deaders," and some houses were burned to the ground, he said.
A Beni Halba leader, who declined to be named, confirmed fighting resumed in three areas.
"We lost six of our men," he said in brief comments. "We are fighting to protect our land."
An upsurge in inter-tribal and inter-ethnic fighting "has been the major source of violence, fatalities and displacement of civilian population" in Darfur this year, the head of the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... -U.N. peacekeeping mission (UNAMID), Mohamed Ibn Chambas, told AFP last week.
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06/26/2013
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[An Nahar] Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji inspected on Tuesday military units in the southern city of Sidon as security forces launched a major manhunt for radical Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.
In the coastal city meanwhile, the army worked to consolidate its control, after troops overran Asir's headquarters on Monday afternoon.
Soldiers evacuated civilians trapped in their homes since the fighting with Asir's supporters began on Sunday afternoon, and detonated explosives abandoned by Asir's supporters as they fled on Monday.
The 24 hours of festivities were the worst to hit Leb since the beginning of the conflict in neighboring Syria, which has inflamed sectarian tensions in the country, sparking sporadic fighting.
A day of mourning was announced for the 17 soldiers killed in the fighting, and the government held a moment of silence.
Qahwaji left Sidon without making any statement.
The streets around Asir's complex were packed with people who came to inspect their homes and shops, many of which were damaged during the fighting.
"Some say he is disguised as a woman and that he has traveled to Tripoli."
Lebanese commandos patrolled streets littered with burnt-out cars and others riddled with bullets.
Speculation was rife as to the whereabouts of Asir, the radical holy man known for his opposition to Hizbullah, and his antagonism to the army.
A day earlier, the Lebanese judiciary issued a detention order for Asir and 123 of his followers, and on Tuesday, Leb's military and security bodies were all mobilized to search for him, a security source said.
"There are several hypotheses on his whereabouts," the source told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"Some say he is disguised as a woman and that he has traveled to Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... (in northern Leb). Others say he may have fled to Syria."
"It is also possible he is hiding in (the southern Paleostinian refugee camp of) Ein el-Hellhole," he added, referring to a Paleostinian refugee camp in Sidon.
A military source said the army had tossed in the clink Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! "dozens of people suspected of loyalty" to Asir as they captured his headquarters on Monday night.
Journalists who toured the complex, which includes a mosque, several office building and apartment blocks, saw abandoned weapons, including rocket launchers and machine guns, as well as fatigues.
The complex in Abra, on the eastern outskirts of Sidon, is a residential area and dozens of civilians were trapped by the fighting, which left several apartments in the area burned out.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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#1
Speculation was rife as to the whereabouts of Asir, the radical holy man known for his opposition to Hizbullah
so he's not all bad
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/26/2013 8:07
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[Pak Daily Times] Bombs targeting protesters and pilgrims outside Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... killed 14 people on Tuesday, the latest in a surge of violence that has sparked fears of a revival of all-out sectarian conflict.
The latest attacks came a day after 35 people were killed nationwide, most of them in a wave of boom-mobileings in the capital, as Iraq grapples with a prolonged political deadlock and months of protests among its Sunni Arab minority.
No group immediately grabbed credit for the attacks, which pushed the overall corpse count for June above 350. But Sunni snuffies linked to al Qaeda frequently target Shia Mohammedans -- both the protesters and the pilgrims were from Iraq's Shiite majority -- whom they regard as apostates.
Tuesday's deadliest attack struck the ethnically-mixed town of Tuz Khurmatu, which lies in a tract of territory in the north that Kurdistan wants to incorporate into its three-province autonomous region over Storied Baghdad's objections.
Two jacket wallahs blew themselves up inside a tent packed with Shia Turkmen protesters in the town, killing at least 11 people and wounding 55, the town's interim mayor and a doctor said.
Among the dead were a former deputy provincial governor and his two sons, as well as a former provincial councillor. The protesters had been rallying over poor security in the town, which is regularly hit with attacks.
"Today is the worst day of my life -- no one remains from my friends and relatives," said Hassan al-Bayati, who suffered wounds to an arm and a leg, speaking from his hospital bed.
Referring to the heavy security presence in the town, Bayati continued: "I ask our politicians -- what is the value of the thousands of army and peshmerga (Kurdish security forces) who cannot protect Tuz, even though they are deployed everywhere?"
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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[An Nahar] Fierce battles raged on the edges of Damascus Tuesday as the army pressed a major assault to crush rebels around the capital, a monitoring group and activists said.
And in the contested city of Aleppo in the country's north, rebels attempted to advance into western regime-held districts, sparking festivities with government forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"The army is trying to take over Qaboon, Barzeh, Jubar, Al-Hajar Al-Aswad and Yarmuk," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman, referring to neighborhoods in the northern, eastern and southern outskirts of the capital.
"The army doesn't have the capacity to take over these neighborhoods, and the rebels are fighting back. But the humanitarian situation there is catastrophic," Abdel Rahman told AFP.
An activist in Qaboon said the army's offensive on the capital's northeastern district entered its sixth day on Tuesday.
"The district is the only entrance (from the east/northeast) into the capital... Regime troops fear the (rebel) Free Syrian Army will use Qaboon to enter into Damascus," said the activist, who identified himself as Anas.
Speaking to AFP via the Internet, Anas described a critical lack of medical and food supplies in his neighborhood.
"The humanitarian situation is so bad it would make anyone cry," he said.
Activists meanwhile said the army shelled other rebel-held areas around Damascus in its bid to drive rebel forces out of the capital.
The Local Coordination Committees, a grassroots network of activists, reported shelling on Yarmuk Paleostinian camp in southern Damascus.
And the Syrian Revolution General Commission reported that army tanks pounded rebel stronghold Daraya southwest of the capital, keeping up a months-long campaign to crush the insurgency there.
In northern Syria, meanwhile, festivities in western Aleppo raged on, days after rebels launched an offensive on regime-held neighborhoods there.
"The rebels and the army are engaged in tit-for-tat operations ... in Rashidin and Ashrafiyeh" in the west of Aleppo, said the Observatory's Abdel Rahman.
The rebels' first major advance on Aleppo took place nearly a year ago. Though they took control of a large number of neighborhoods during the assault, the city has been at a near-standstill for many months, with neither side making significant advances.
Meanwhile in central Homs, violence raged in Tel Kalakh and Qaritin villages, as Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... loyalists pressed an assault on the countryside near the city dubbed by activists "the capital of the revolution".
In Qaritin, rebels battled the army as it tried to storm the town, said the Observatory. Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. The whole thing smelled phony, kind of like a dead mackeral but without the scales... troops summarily executed a detainee from Tel Kalakh as they pressed an attempt to take over the rebel town, it added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
and speaking of Aleppo, the regime declared Operation Northern Storm,i.e., the operation to retake Aleppo, on or about June 10.
Assad mouthpieces bragged the op would begin in days or maybe hours but mostly the anti regime forces have been on the offensive. Some sources say that Hezbollah commanders have resisted going that far into the Syrian heartland, other sources say that the lack of air attack assets is preventing Op Northern Storm from beginning.
Posted by: lord garth ||
06/26/2013 8:56
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[Pak Daily Times] The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) has claimed that the government of Pakistain does not have the authority to hold talks.
TTP front man Ehsanullah Ehsan has said that if the group sees that the elected government is able to take a stand against the country's intelligence agencies, only then will the option of talks be considered. In an email statement issued on Tuesday, TTP Eshan said that the TTP leadership considers Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Muhammad Omar as their supreme commander and has taken an oath of jihad on his hand. "TTP fighters are always ready to obey Omar's commands," he said.
Ehsan accused the media of doing negative propaganda against the Taliban to spread mistrust among its members. He said that some groups in the guise of Afghan Taliban tried to attack the TTP but the interference of Afghan Taliban on the demand of TTP foiled the conspiracy against the latter. Commenting on the offer to resume peace talks with the newly elected Pak government led by Pakistain Mohammedan League-Nawaz (PML-N), the front man said the TTP is closely monitoring the policies and activities of the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) of Islamabad police has jugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! two suspects allegedly involved in the murder of PTI parliamentarian Farid Khan, killed in Hangu on June 3.
SP (Investigation) Mustansar Feroz told news hounds on Tuesday that on a tip-off, CIA police raided a hideout and arrested two people identified as Asif Ullah s/o Abdullah and Abid Khan s/o Akhtar Badshah, both residents of Hangu.
During preliminary investigation, the suspects said they had killed Farid Khan on the directions of Mullah Nabi Hanfi, a former commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain who has now turned his guns against TTP.
DPO Hangu has informed Islamabad police that the suspects have a criminal record and were wanted in 37 cases of terrorism, murder and attempt to murder.
One the suspects Asif Ullah joined Mulla Nabi Group in 2008 and he committed several criminal acts of kidnapping and murders but was never nominated due to his fear. Police has recovered one Kalashnikov and pistol from them during this raid. Further investigation is underway.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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[An Nahar] Unknown gunnies launched a dawn attack on Tuesday on a Libyan army checkpoint south of Sirte, the home town of former dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later... , killing six soldiers, a military officer said.
"An attack at dawn Tuesday against a checkpoint of the army in the town of Khuchum al-Kheil, south of Sirte, killed six soldiers who were on guard duty," local military officer Khaled al-Akari was quoted as saying by Lana news agency.
"Two vehicles were burned in the attack," said the officer, adding that the "area was cordoned off and a search was on to find the attackers".
Sirte, the last bastion of Qadaffy to fall into rebel hands in the 2011 uprising, has been largely untouched by the wave of violence shaking the country since the former ruler's regime fell.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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Top|| File under: Arab Spring
#1
What fricking wave of violence?
It's safer here in Tripoli than it is in Chicago, DC, or Downtown LA.
What a bunch of crap.
We DO have some militias roaming around who were loyal to Daffy and they are causing problems but the Army is actively hunting and closing down those units.
I expect the Libyan Army to be on top of this and have a solution very soon.
Of course the media won't report on any good news in Libya.
All of the American businesses are a bunch of pussies. The streets are crawling with Brits, Italians, and Turks. There will not be any business for the US here unless the US business "brains" crawl out from under their desks and take a few risks.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
06/26/2013 6:08
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#2
There will not be any business for the US here unless the US business "brains" crawl out from under their desks and take a few risks.
And, of course, that's what the kinetic action was all about.
Posted by: Caesar Gray1629 ||
06/26/2013 10:43
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[An Nahar] Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. on Tuesday responded to Free Patriotic Movement Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic... leader MP Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... 's accusations of his party supporting gunnies against the military institution, assuring that he gave "full political cover" for the army in its fight in the southern city of Sidon.
"We announced our support for the army in words and in deeds, and gave it full cover to strike with an iron fist anyone who may be tempted to assault the state and threaten national peace," Hariri said in a released statement.
The FPM leader earlier on Tuesday had held politicians, al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... Movement and "unqualified members" in the army's intelligence responsible for Sidon's festivities, noting that the incident is linked to other "countries and to locals who financed it."
"Politicians and al-Mustaqbal Movement's neglect have lead to this situation, just like what happened in (the northern city of) Akkar," Aoun said.
Addressing Aoun, Hariri added: "I wish you had done the same when the army was attacked by your ally Hizbullah in Mar Mikhail, or after the helicopter incident and the martyrdom of Officer Samer Hanna."
Army 1st Lieutenant Samer Hanna was killed in August 2008 when gunnies opened fire on his helicopter over Sojod hills in south Leb.
Investigations revealed that Hanna's shooter is a Hizbullah member.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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#1
See also TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > SIDON CLASHES TEST FOR LEBANON'S WEAK ARMY.
Personally, I hope the Philippines is closely watching + analyzing this situation as per its dispute wid China in the South China Sea.
[An Nahar] Around 700 EU-trained soldiers have been deployed to war-torn Mali's desert north, a military source told Agence La Belle France Presse on Tuesday.
The contingent -- the first from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... Training Mission in Mali -- left the capital Bamako on Monday for the northeastern city of Gao, a Malian defense ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
The French army's chief of staff, General Edouard Guillaud, was also in northern Mali Tuesday "for a field trip", said a Malian military source.
The European Union began a top-to-toe overhaul of Mali's weak, ragtag army in April to help soldiers in the west African nation take over from foreign troops defending it against Islamist bad turbans.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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[Al Ahram] Egyptian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
employees are gathering votes calling for the dismissal of presidential media representative Ahmed Abdel-Aziz after accusing him of "interfering with editorial policy," Amer El-Wakil, news editor at the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (Maspero), said according to Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website.
Al-Wakil said on private-owned satellite television channel ONtv that Abdel-Aziz, who represents the presidency for media affairs, had demanded last Friday that coverage of upcoming protests should be restricted to pro-government rallies, while ignoring planned opposition protests against President Mohamed Morsi.
Moslem Brüderbund and Islamist demonstrators gathered in a massive rally on Friday to support the president against expected mass protests slated for next week. The event received generous coverage on Egyptian television, while parallel counter-rallies by the opposition were largely ignored.
Maspero employees attempted to explain to Abdel-Aziz that opposition protests, too, especially one held at the Ministry of Defence, must also be covered, according to El-Wakil. He added, however, that he had been snubbed by Abdel-Aziz, who insisted that his initial instructions be followed.
According to Al-Ahram, El-Wakil said that the head of news at Maspero did not come to work on Saturday to protest alleged interference by the presidency.
Earlier, state-owned daily Al-Akhbar's chief editor, Mohamed Hassan El-Banna, criticised the Moslem Brüderbund -- from which President Morsi hails -- saying he had been contacted by one of the group's members who had condemned the paper's coverage.
"Some imagined that Al-Akhbar, as a newspaper falling under the auspices of the government ... will say 'Amen' to whatever the government says and conceal facts and information about the regime, deceiving its readers," El-Banna said, defiantly stating the impossibility of this scenario.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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[An Nahar] Head of the Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... bloc MP Fouad Saniora slammed on Tuesday the festivities that took place in the southern city of Sidon, hailing the army in containing them and restoring peace.
He hoped that the "law would be imposed without discrimination."
He made his remarks from the area of Abra in Sidon that witnessed festivities between the army and armed supporters of Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.
The MP hoped that the way the army tackled the situation in Sidon would be applied to all security zones in Leb.
He made his remark in an indirect reference to Hizbullah.
Moreover, Saniora demanded that the case of Sidon apartments occupied by gunnies be resolved.
The phenomenon of security zones should be eliminated in all other regions in Leb, he explained.
"We expect the army to deal with all sides equally," he said.
Asked by news hounds about the smuggling of arms in the city, Saniora replied: "This issue should be addressed by the security agencies, not politicians."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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[An Nahar] German authorities staged raids Tuesday after uncovering an alleged Islamist plot to carry out kabooms using model airplanes, federal prosecutors said.
Elite police units stormed nine sites in southern and eastern Germany as well as Belgium based on suspicion of "preparation of grievous acts of anti-state violence" as well as money-laundering, the federal prosecutor's office in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe said in a statement.
The searches targeted two men of Tunisian origin "suspected of acquiring information and objects with the aim of carrying out radical Islamist explosives attacks using remote-controlled model airplanes".
No arrests were made, and prosecutors declined to provide any further details on the suspects or their alleged targets.
"The aim of today's raids is to collect evidence of possible plans and preparations for attacks as well as information about the means of financing radical Islamist terrorism," prosecutors said.
About 90 coppers took part in the raids early Tuesday, based on warrants issued by two German judges and carried out on the orders of the chief federal prosecutor's office and prosecutors in the southwestern city of Stuttgart.
Beyond the two men of Tunisian extraction, the searches also targeted four of their alleged contacts "on suspicion of financing myrmidon jihad" as well as a fifth person accused of money-laundering.
Public broadcaster SWR reported that several of the suspects studied in Stuttgart, some of them specializing in aeronautics and doing internships in which they flew model airplanes using GPS navigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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[An Nahar] Hizbullah on Tuesday stressed that it has "nothing to do at all" with the issue of helping inmates escape from an Egyptian prison in 2011, although it acknowledged that its official Sami Shehab was among those who made their way out.
Commenting on an Egyptian court's verdict that said Hizbullah and Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, helped prisoners, including current President Mohamed Morsi, escape from the Wadi Natrun prison during the 2011 uprising, Hizbullah stressed that it had "nothing to do at all with the incidents that led to liberating prisoners from the Wadi Natrun prison ... who included our jihadist brother Sami Shehab."
The party urged "the authorities concerned to seek accuracy and facts before issuing accusations and releasing verdicts," noting that none of its members had taken part in the operation.
The head of the court in the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya has asked the state prosecutor to investigate the circumstances of the January 2011 breakout from the Wadi Natrun prison, northwest of the capital.
He said that the Moslem Brüderbund, the Islamist group from which Morsi hails, had organized the escape with members of Hamas and Hizbullah.
The court also called on the state prosecutor to ask Interpol to circulate an arrest warrant for Sami Shehab, a Hizbullah official who had been convicted of plotting attacks in Egypt and who was serving a prison sentence at Wadi Natrun before escaping, along with members of Hamas.
Morsi said at the time that there had been no need for he and 33 other members of the Brotherhood to escape as the people "opened the doors" for them.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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[An Nahar] A dispute erupted into an armed clash on Tuesday between members of the Krombi family, who are residents of Tariq al-Jedideh, and members of a political party in the adjacent Farhat neighborhood, state-run National News Agency reported.
Machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) were used in the fighting, NNA said.
It later reported that calm was restored after army troops intervened and staged patrols in the area.
Al-Jadeed television said the clash erupted in the western neighborhood that is adjacent to the Sabra Paleostinian refugee camp.
LBCI television said the fighting took place behind the Cite Sportive between supporters of Amal Movement and residents from the area.
But al-Jadeed said the Krombi family, "which hails from Arsal and supports al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... Movement," clashed with the al-Droubi family, which supports Shaker al-Berjawi, head of the pro-Syria Arab Movement.
It's the Greens vs. the Blues all over again.
Berjawi, however, denied that he or any of his supporters were involved in the incident.
"The raising of al-Nusra Front flags in a pro-Syrian revolution neighborhood was met with the raising of religious flags in another neighborhood in Sabra, which sparked the festivities," MTV said.
"Three days ago, the Amal Movement requested the removal of the Shiite religious flags and they were removed, but the festivities erupted after the flags were raised again," it added.
OTV said the army reinforced its presence in the Farhat neighborhood and prevented the presence of gunnies "after an armed clash between two families."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] One small rodent is getting the blame for a massive power outage in southern and eastern sections of Wichita.
KAKE-TV reports nearly 10,000 customers of Westar Energy were affected by the outage Monday afternoon.
Authorities say a squirrel crawled into equipment at a substation, causing a transformer to blow out. A fire then broke out at the substation. Firefighters were quickly able to bring it under control.
Power was restored to the Westar customers in about one hour.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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Top|| File under:
#1
No indication iff the Squirrel at issue survived to see his mighty act of unintentional destruction agz the world of the wily weirdo giant two-leggers???
#4
When approaching this scenario, it is important to make sure the grid is shut down, as too much smoke could allow the electricity to arc.
Its the copper pack-squirrels that are the real problem in that area. Something about too much free time allows the pack-squirrels to meth and steal. Only an hour would suggest the once fuzzy kind though.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/26/2013 10:42
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#6
Every now and then, these little rodents get arc-lighted in our neighborhood transformers. Also happened one time when a snake got fouled up in a nearby substation.
[Al Ahram] Five people have been locked away Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! for their alleged involvement in a mob attack on Shia Moslems in Egypt's Giza governorate.
Four Egyptian Shias were killed and several injured in the attack in Zawyat Abu Musalam village on Sunday, an incident which has heightened fears of sectarianism in Egypt.
The mob gathered outside a house where the Shias were sheltering. They then beat them and set the house on fire. The attack was captured on video and went viral on the internet.
Giza prosecutors on Monday ordered the arrest of 15 people implicated in the murders.
The funeral of those killed in the attack took place at Al-Sayeda Nafisa Mosque in Cairo on Monday
Leftist lawyer and former presidential candidate Khaled Ali was among a number of activists who attended the funeral.
The murders have been denounced from across the political and religious spectrum.
Egypt's ultraconservative Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... have been accused of fuelling anti-Shia sentiment which led to the attack.
Egyptian Shia leaders are expected to hold a presser on the murder on Wednesday, said Behaa Anwar, spokesperson of Egypt's Shia community and head of the Misr El-Fatimiya Human Rights Centre.
One of those killed was a local Shia leader, Hassan Shehata, officials said.
Anwar vowed to secure justice for the victims of the "heinous massacre."
There is no official tally of Shia Moslems in Egypt but analysts put the number at between 500,000 and one million.
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06/26/2013
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[An Nahar] A U.N. peacekeeping force will take charge of security in Mali from July 1 but plans to hold a presidential election next month face "major" obstacles, officials said Tuesday.
The United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... also is worried about Mali's furnace-like temperatures melting equipment as it confronts one of its biggest logistical challenges in setting up the 12,600 strong force, which already faces key shortages.
The U.N. Security Council met on the Mali conflict on Tuesday and Britannia's U.N. ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said there was "unanimous agreement" to deploy the U.N.'s third biggest peacekeeping operation.
Mali has been in turmoil since March last year when Tuareg rebels and Islamist faceless myrmidons took over the north half of the country.
French forces intervened in January to halt an advance by al-Qaeda linked faceless myrmidons on the capital.
U.N. envoy to Mali Albert Koenders told the council that security though there are still festivities between rival Tuareg and Islamist groups and an "important" risk of guerrilla attacks on the U.N. force.
French forces are to formally hand over security duties to the U.N. peacekeepers on Monday but at least 1,000 French troops will stay in the country for counter terrorism duties.
The U.N. force, which will start with about 6,100 West African troops already in Mali, will take responsibility for securing a presidential election provisionally scheduled for July 28.
But Koenders, speaking by videoconference from Bamako, said there would be "major challenges" to holding the election on time.
Problems include maintaining a "broad political consensus" in support of the poll, delivering election materials around the country and getting voting cards to hundreds of thousands of displaced people and refugees.
La Belle France's U.N. ambassador Gerard Araud said it was important for the election to be "credible" but said La Belle France wanted it held on time if possible.
Koenders said that human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... in the country, particularly the northern regions that were under Islamist control, remains "precarious".
He said U.N. teams sent to Timbuktu, Gao and other northern towns had registered violations by all sides.
"These included disappearances, extra judicial executions, ill-treatment, looting of private property, illegal arrests and arbitrary detention," he said.
The U.N. expects the peacekeeping force to be at full strength by the end of the year.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said however that it would face "new and unique" challenges, including the threat of the guerrilla attacks.
The United Nations has given the West African forces four months to get their equipment and training levels up to U.N. standards so they can be definitely integrated into the force.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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[An Nahar] U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... on Tuesday urged all sides in Egypt to ensure that protests this weekend will not be violent and instead bring about "positive change" in the polarized country.
There, that'll take care of it. Tea?
Kerry, who discussed Egypt's chaotic politics with Saudi leaders during a visit to the regional power, said demonstrations were a "very legitimate" way of expression amid fears that authorities will clamp down.
"It is imperative that those demonstrations be peaceful, that the government will respect them and that people will respect their fellow citizens," Kerry said in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
"We will obviously hope that it will not produce violence and be a moment of catalyzing positive change in Egypt," he told a news conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.
Opponents of President Mohamed Morsi are calling for major rallies on Sunday to mark one year since his election, accusing the Islamist leader of betraying the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011....
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[Pak Daily Times] Just days before Washington's top diplomat returns to push for a resumption of direct peace talks, a growing number of Israeli ministers are openly expressing their opposition to the two-state solution.
US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... due to hold a fresh round of talks on Thursday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli leader has been at pains to stress his commitment to resuming dialogue with the Paleostinians.
"If Secretary Kerry, whose efforts we support, were to pitch a tent halfway between here and Ramallah -- that's 15 minutes away driving time -- I'm in it, I'm in the tent," Netanyahu told the Washington Post last week.
"And I'm committed to stay in the tent and negotiate for as long as it takes to work out a solution of peace and security between us and the Paleostinians."
In the interview, he reiterated his support for a two-state solution which would see the establishment of a demilitarised Paleostinian state in the framework of a deal that assures Israel's security.
But hardliners within Netanyahu's government have been increasingly quick to contradict him, rejecting the idea of a Paleostinian state under any conditions.
Earlier this month, coalition partner Naftali Bennett, who heads the far-right Jewish Home party drew an analogy in which he suggested that for Israel, the Paleostinian issue was akin to having "shrapnel in the buttocks."
Although it could be removed by a risky operation, the patient would be "left disabled" he said, suggesting it was something, which Israel simply had to live with.
"We won't veto the negotiations, we won't bring down the government over this," Bennett told army radio on Tuesday morning, saying he didn't believe "anything much" would come out of Kerry's fifth visit to the region since February.
Even within Netanyahu's ruling rightwing Likud party, the hardline settler lobby is gaining more and more power.
Likud's Danny Danon, who serves as Deputy Defence Minister, sparked uproar earlier this month after he came out against a Paleostinian state.
Danon said the government was not serious about it and that moves to create one would be opposed by most of the coalition.
Since the elections in January, when Likud ran on a joint list with the hardline Yisrael Beitenu, winning a very narrow victory, Netanyahu has faced by a growing revolt within the party.
"Netanyahu no longer controls Likud," said political commentator Amit Segal on Israel's Channel 2 television.
Senior coalition partner Avigdor Lieberman, who heads Yisrael Beitenu, has also adopted a tough line vis-a-vis peace, insisting that Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... is not a partner with whom Israel can talk.
Another coalition partner is Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who serves as Israel's chief peace negotiator, who has denounced the wave of diplomatic nay-saying sparked by Danon.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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#1
SecState Jaaawhn repor called on for Israel + Paelos to consider a ONE-STATE SOLUTION IN LIEU OF THE "TWO-STATE" ONE - how is a one-state solution going to work as neither Judaism nor Islam includ Radical Islam tolerates N-O-T be the official State religion???
#3
Paleostan is the ultimate welfare state. Simply not viable without gobs of money from overseas. That money is drying up and will continue to do so.
All Israel has to do is wait.
An apparent exclusive from Buzzfeed, a place I don't ordinarily go to for exclusives. We'll see if this holds up. But much as Bulgaria frequently provides Russia with muscle, Ecuador may provide the Russians and Cubans with intel...
WASHINGTON -- The intelligence agency of Ecuador appears to have sought in recent months to obtain new equipment for a large-scale surveillance, according to confidential government documents obtained by BuzzFeed.
The capabilities sought by Ecuador resemble the National Security Agency practices revealed by Edward Snowden, who is reportedly seeking asylum in the left-leaning Latin American republic.
Oh what a coincidence...
The Ecuadorian documents -- stamped "Secret" -- obtained by BuzzFeed appear to show the government purchasing a "GSM Interceptor" system, among other domestic spying tools, and they suggest a commitment to domestic surveillance that rivals the practices by the United States' National Security Agency that are at the center of a fierce national debate. They include both covert surveillance capacities and the targeting of President Rafael Correa's enemies on social media. According to the files, SENAIN keeps close tabs on the Facebook and Twitter accounts of journalists, opposition politicians and other individuals, some with few followers.
Ecuador, which has been harboring WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for over a year at its embassy, has been internationally criticized for a recent communications law that is widely seen as a gag order for the media and includes prohibitions on "media lynching."
Ecuador also has a record of being ahead of the game in domestic surveillance. Last year, it became the first country in the world to implement a nation-wide facial and voice recognition system.
Since it's all but a dictatorship...
The documents and correspondence obtained by BuzzFeed appear to show that SENAIN, Ecuador's intelligence agency, paid $526,500 January 2013 for equipment through 500 Smart Solutions LLC, a company registered in Delaware that is listed as having an office in New York. The payment, according to the documents, was for services rendered from August to December 2012. Smart Solutions acted as an intermediary between SENAIN and two Israeli security contractors: Elkat LTD Security Engineering and UVision Air LTD, which manufactures drones. SENAIN bought surveillance equipment from the companies through Smart Solutions.
Elkat is described by the publication IsraelDefense as "a leading Israeli distributor of advanced electronic equipment for the security field" whose products include "highly advanced electronic surveillance systems." It is based in Tel Aviv.
A little disappointing that the Israelis would be playing on that side...
Since this Administration has worked to isolate Israel, it isn't surprising they take their customers where they can find them.
The documents were provided to BuzzFeed from inside SENAIN through activists who wished to call attention to the government's spying practices in the context of its new international role.
They also suggest that the Ecuadorians sought to buy drones. Smart Solution proposed two surveillance systems to SENAIN, one called the "Semi Active GSM Interceptor System" and the other called a "Passive Surveillance System. "
In a letter to Pablo Romero last year in June, a Smart Solutions representative named Gabriel Guecelevich touted the capabilities of the GSM system, promising the abillity to "copy SIM cards, identify phone calls, route phone calls to different places, intercept text messages, falsify and modify the text messages, keep messages in their system, disconnect calls, block phone calls, system should be able to intercept a minimum of 4 phone calls simultaneously."
Guecelevich also specified that the GSM system, which has previously been mentioned in WikiLeaks files as a spy tool, can be used from a car that is 250 meters away and that it is portable. Guecelevich explained which tests Smart Solutions can run to prove that the system works. The first system, he wrote, is intercepting technology; the second is a passive system that can intercept GSM communication which Guecelevich promised can process 32 channels simultaneously, record conversations, among other capabilities.
In August, an official from SENAIN wrote to Smart Solutions about wanting to acquire unmanned drones.
"The National Secretary of Intelligence, which has within its powers projects focused on national security, is moving forward with a project to acquire unmanned aerial vehicles," communications and special projects coordinator José Miguel Delgado wrote. "It is for this reason that we need to know whether Smart Solution is capable and legally able to provide these assets or services."
Also in August, the Israeli company Elkat gave Smart Solution permission to sell products from Uvision to "potential clients in Ecuador," according to the documents. One of the documents is a draft of a letter Romero wrote to Smart Solution to let them know of the decision to purchase the equipment and the $526,500 payment for the equipment. Payment was promised upon the delivery of the goods in March.
Invoices Smart Solution sent to SENAIN for equipment and internal SENAIN calculations also tabulate the cost. Two of the documents show plans for a new SENAIN center in Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador.
Smart Solution was incorporated in Delaware by Guecelevich on July 25, 2012, and lists only a Delaware address. Guecelevich did not return a request for comment, and the company has no obvious public presence.
The people who provided BuzzFeed with these documents say that they attempted to leak them to WikiLeaks three days ago, but were unsuccessful. A spokesman for WikiLeaks didn't immediately return a request for comment.
Ecuadorian officials did not respond to a inquiry through their embassy in Washington.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2013
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JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that the United States is not looking for a confrontation with Russia, where admitted NSA leaker Edward Snowden is believed to be hiding.
Of course we don't. Russia is strong and knows what it wants. And it doesn't care much for us...
Speaking at a news conference in Saudi Arabia, Kerry said it's true that the United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia but called on Moscow to comply with common law practices between countries where fugitives are concerned.
"There are standards of behavior between sovereign nations. There is common law," Kerry said. "There is respect for rule of law and we would simply call on our friends in Russia to respect the fact that a partner nation - a co-member of the permanent five of the United Nations - has made a normal request under legal systems."
Friends? Bwha-ha-ha-ha. What a doofus...
Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, earlier Tuesday bluntly rejected U.S. demands for Snowden, saying the American hadn't crossed the Russian border. Lavrov insisted that Russia had nothing to do with him or his travel plans.
Washington does not need a fight with Moscow at a time when U.S.-Russian relations are strained over Syria. Kerry and Lavrov are to meet next week at a Southeast Asia security conference in Brunei.
Kerry, however, said the U.S. continues to hope that if Snowden is in Russia, that Moscow would turn him over to American authorities. He noted that in the past two years, the U.S. transferred seven people to Russia at Moscow's request. Kerry said the U.S. did so "without any clamor, without any rancor, without any arguments."
Kerry said, "I would simply appeal for calm and reasonableness. We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is a fugitive' from justice."
"They certainly can allow him to be subject to the laws and our constitution of which he is a citizen of, and that's what we call on him to do. We're not looking for a confrontation," Kerry said. "We are not ordering anybody."
"We don't need to raise the level of confrontation over something that's frankly as basic and normal as this," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2013
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#1
He got the memo. We [the administration] really do not want Snowden back.
[Pak Daily Times] QUETTA: At least two persons were killed and 10 other sustained severe injuries in two different incidents on Tuesday. In the area of Dera Bugti RD 238, some unidentified arms assailants opened indiscriminate firing on tribal peace Lashkar resultantly two persons was struck down in his prime while one other sustained severe injuries. However, women are made to be loved, not understood... the attackers managed to escape from the scene successfully. Upon receiving information police reached on the site and shifted the dead bodies to hospital for an appointment with Dr. Quincy.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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[An Nahar] Heavy festivities renewed on Tuesday afternoon between two families in Beirut's southern suburbs, but the army intervened and managed to contain the fighting.
"Clashes fiercely renewed between the families of Zoaiter and Hjoula in the Beirut southern suburb of al-Laylaki," state-run National News Agency reported earlier.
"Residents urged the army and security forces to intervene and rescue them due to the intensity of gunfire," it said.
Media reports said machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) were used in the gunbattle.
In an interview with LBCI television, one of the residents said: "People were maimed and our houses are burning and we urge the army commander to send a force to the area, which is a Lebanese region that no one is caring about."
The Lebanese Red Thingy, however, announced that no one was killed or maimed after its medics scoured the area in the wake of the festivities.
The fighting sparked fear among the citizens as dozens of them made appeals to security forces, the TV network said.
"Army units have encircled the al-Laylaki region and started pursuing the shooters," it added.
LBCI explained that the fighting had "nothing to do with politics, as it erupted over living issues and disputes over buildings and money."
"The army locked away Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! two people in al-Laylaki neighborhood and some residents fled the area," LBCI reported later.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2013
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#1
it erupted over living issues and disputes over buildings and money."
I'll wager a woman was involved.
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.
Russia evacuates Tartus, also military, diplomatic personnel from Syria. High war alert in Israel
[Ynet] Negotiations with Paleostinians are only way to neutralize anti-Israel boycott calls
North Korea
[An Nahar] The 
[An Nahar] Seven people, including one police officer, were fatally shot during gunbattles that erupted in a slum complex near Rio international airport, authorities said on Tuesday.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Pak Daily Times] In the week in which America opened the door for negotiations with the Taliban, three bloody massacres of school children - shot down simply because they wanted to go to school - raise grave questions about what kind of peace the Taliban offer.
[MAGHAREBIA] Libya's General National Congress on Tuesday (June 25th) will elect a replacement for former President Mohamed Magarief, Libya Herald reported.
[Pak Daily Times] Rebels in Thailand's 
[An Nahar] Bahrain announced on Tuesday the arrest of nine Shiites it said are linked to Iran and that were planning to attack a prison to facilitate a jail break.
[An Nahar] Two 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
Michel Aoun
[An Nahar] Sidon MP Bahia Hariri on Tuesday said the southern port city rejects "the presence of 
Pervez 
[An Nahar] Fresh fighting between feuding Arab tribes in Sudan's Darfur region has killed 11 people, tribal leaders said on Tuesday, adding to worsening violence in the region.
[An Nahar] Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji inspected on Tuesday military units in the southern city of Sidon as security forces launched a major manhunt for radical Salafist 
[Pak Daily Times] Bombs targeting protesters and pilgrims outside Storied 
[An Nahar] Fierce battles raged on the edges of Damascus Tuesday as the army pressed a major assault to crush rebels around the capital, a monitoring group and activists said.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Pak Daily Times] The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) has claimed that the government of Pakistain does not have the authority to hold talks. 
[Pak Daily Times] Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) of Islamabad police has 
[An Nahar] Unknown 
[An Nahar] Former Prime Minister 
[Al Ahram] Egyptian state television
[An Nahar] Head of the 
[An Nahar] German authorities staged raids Tuesday after uncovering an alleged Islamist plot to carry out 
[An Nahar] Hizbullah on Tuesday stressed that it has "nothing to do at all" with the issue of helping inmates escape from an Egyptian prison in 2011, although it acknowledged that its official Sami Shehab was among those who made their way out.
[An Nahar] One small rodent is getting the blame for a massive power outage in southern and eastern sections of Wichita.
[Al Ahram] Five people have been 
[An Nahar] A U.N. peacekeeping force will take charge of security in Mali from July 1 but plans to hold a presidential election next month face "major" obstacles, officials said Tuesday.
[An Nahar] U.S. Secretary of State 
[Pak Daily Times] Just days before Washington's top diplomat returns to push for a resumption of direct peace talks, a growing number of Israeli ministers are openly expressing their opposition to the two-state solution.
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that the United States is not looking for a confrontation with Russia, where admitted NSA leaker Edward Snowden is believed to be hiding.
[Pak Daily Times] QUETTA: At least two persons were killed and 10 other sustained severe injuries in two different incidents on Tuesday. In the area of Dera Bugti RD 238, some unidentified arms assailants opened indiscriminate firing on tribal peace Lashkar resultantly two persons 
[An Nahar] Heavy 
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