They are having huge demonstrations against Morsi, over in Egypt, and they are not happy with Champ, either. Some pics, too.
I was not present in Egypt yesterday, June 30, but I watched some of the wall-to-wall broadcasts on Egyptian television of packed squares and streets across the country, of gesticulating orators, defensive government spokesmen, and articulate commentators. The demonstrations across the country were, by consensus estimates, 7 to 10 times larger than the biggest anti-Mubarak crowds in early 2011. They dwarfed street rebellions such other those in Iran in 1979 or Peking in 1989. Simply put, they were probably the largest political demonstration in human history.
One television station called itself the "Voice of Tahrir Square" and simultaneously showed scenes from there and seven other cities.
I was moved by the humanity of the crowds and (sometimes despite myself) thrilled by their centrism and constructive outlook. Who could have imagined a mere year ago, when Mohamed Morsi supposedly won the presidential election, that this massive Rebellion would be served up as his anniversary present, as he cowered behind walls in a distant palace?
The day also raised two policy thoughts:
The American role: Time and again, commentators brought up the vital importance of the U.S. government in the drama of the day. One person, for example, counted four main actors: the demonstrators, the president, the military, and Washington. Crowds expressed anti-Obama feelings; at least one much-photographed bi-lingual sign provided an English translation: "OBAMA SUPPORTS TERRORISM." (Morsi's critics routinely call him a terrorist.)
The message from Egypt was crystal clear: It's time for the administration to stop coddling Morsi and to get behind the millions of protestors. But will the geniuses in the White House, the State Department, and Embassy Cairo hear? Obama's initial response today was tepid but at least mildly in the right direction: "Our commitment to Egypt has never been around any particular individual or party. Our commitment has been to a process."
Whither Morsi: Awesome and satisfying as the June 30 rejection of Muslim Brotherhood rule was, what should come next is not obvious. Emotionally, I want Morsi and his foul crew gone as soon as possible from the corridors of power. Tactically, however, I fear that, once they are dispatched, the politically obtuse military leadership will likely muck things up and the opposition will be unable to unify or to handle the looming economic disaster. If Egypt's pain is to have benefit, it would be by discrediting Islamism. For that to happen, it's probably better that Morsi linger in office and be ascribed responsibility for the hunger and other disasters ahead.
I write this with trepidation, as always when the heart and mind disagree. (July 1, 2013)
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/02/2013
20:30 ||
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#1
I'd say, Morsi won't have a choice in the matter.
A medical examiner's investigator says Chris Kelly of the `90s rap duo Kriss Kross died of a drug overdose.
Investigator Betty Honey of the Fulton County Medical Examiner's office in Atlanta said Monday that a toxicology screening showed the 34-year-old Kelly had a mixture of drugs in his system when he was pronounced dead on May 1. However, Honey said she did not know which specific drugs Kelly had used.
A police report says Kelly's mother told investigators her son used cocaine and heroin the night before he died and had a history of drug abuse.
Kelly, known as "Mac Daddy," performed alongside Chris Smith, known as "Daddy Mac," in the early and mid-1990s. The duo was remembered for the song "Jump" from their 1992 debut album, "Totally Krossed Out."
Two suspects have been arrested on terror charges and are accused of plotting to use explosive devices in Victoria, British Columbia, on Canada Day, which fell on Monday, James Malizia of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Tuesday.
The alleged target was the B.C. legislature, according to RCMP Assistant Commissioner Wayne Rideout.
Two Canadian-born citizens, John Nuttall and Amanda Korody, have been charged with conspiring to place an explosive in or against a place of public use, with intent to cause death or serious bodily injury; facilitating terrorist activity; and making or having in their possession an explosive substance with intent to endanger life, Rideout said.
"This self-radicalized behavior was intended to create maximum impact and harm to Canadian citizens at the B.C. legislature on a national holiday," Rideout said.
The suspects "were inspired by al Qaeda ideology," Malizia said, adding, however, there was no international link to the alleged plot.
The alleged threat was detected early and "at no time was the security of the public at risk," Malizia said.
General Mills is celebrating gay-pride month with one of its most famous breakfast cereals. The Huffington Post reports that the Minnesota food conglomerate is bringing Lucky Charms out of the closet.
The new campaign centers around the leprechaun-loving toasted-oat-and-marshmallow cereal and uses the handle #LuckyToBe. General Mills announced the campaign in the video above and in a press release sent to homosexual lobbying group GLAAD, in which the company declared, Were celebrating Pride month with whimsical delight, magical charms, and two new rainbow marshmallows. . . . If youre lucky enough to be different, were celebrating you.
Of course, General Mills has long been a nemesis of activists concerned about childhood obesity; no word yet on whether the #LuckyToBe campaign will prove sufficient to charm Michelle Obama. But who knows? Given President Obamas own evolution on homosexual marriage, perhaps the magically delicious cereal will soon be standard fare at the White House breakfast table.
[RADIO.FOXNEWS] A Sonoma State University student was ordered to remove a cross necklace by a supervisor who thought other students might find it offensive, in a case that prompted even one campus official to speculate that "political correctness got out of hand." ...or maybe I'll title the new category "Land of the Free, Home of the Brave"?
Audrey Jarvis, 19, a liberal arts major at the northern California university, said she had no choice but to seek a "religious accommodation" in order to wear the cross. Her lawyer said she deserves an apology, and the school seems ready to oblige.
"It's amazing in this day of diversity and tolerance on university campuses that a university official would engage in this type of obvious religious discrimination," said Hiram Sasser, an attorney with Liberty Institute, which is representing Jarvis.
Jarvis was working for the university's Associated Students Productions at a June 27 student orientation fair for incoming freshmen when her supervisor told her to remove the two-inch-long cross necklace, according to Sasser.
Sasser said the supervisor told her that the chancellor had a policy against wearing religious items and further explained "that she could not wear her cross necklace because it might offend others, it might make incoming students feel unwelcome, or it might cause incoming students to feel that ASP was not an organization they should join." Later in the story we hear that the university president was "very upset" about this and "apologized profusely" to Ms. Jarvis. Fact remains that a 'supervisor' thought she/he could get away with this.
Will there be any consequences for the supervisor, other than temporary public embarrassment?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
14:24 ||
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As we approach July 4, 2013, is America in a pre-revolutionary state? Are we headed for a Tahrir Square of our own with the attendant mammoth social turmoil, possibly even violence.
Could it happen here? Of course not! The police state is our friend. It will protect us.
We are two-thirds of the way into the most incompetent presidency in our history. People everywhere are fed up. Even many of the so-called liberals who propelled The Champ into office have stopped defending him in the face of an unprecedented number of scandals coming at us one after the other like hideous monsters in some non-stop computer game.
And now looming is the monster of monsters, ChampCare, the healthcare reform almost no one wanted and fewer understood.
It will be administered by the IRS, an organization that has been revealed to be a kind of post-modern American Gestapo, asking not just to examine our accounting books but the books we read. What could be more totalitarian than that
#3
Depends if people like Barack Hessian Obama's IRS troops quartering in our home computers, tracking our on-line pizza ordering habits for death health panel scoring, in case you don't need an operation sometime.
#7
We have plenty of understanding of a police state, Lex. We're literate and we consume news. We've watched what has happened elsewhere in the world.
You don't have to LIVE in a police state to know when one is coming. Indeed, it's better to fix the problem BEFORE you end up living in a police state.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/02/2013 15:21
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#8
OK, so riddle me this, fellow underground resistance members: why are you using a public website to broadcast to the GestapoSSkgb your IP address?
Is it because they've alreaDy POiSonEd oUr pRECioUS bOdILY FLUIDZZ?!?!?
If the police state did come, and they did start carting off authentic Christians and advocates of limited government to the camps, what (exactly and precisely) would you do about it?
Remember,if your answer is, "You guys are crazy, paranoid, conspiracy theorists, I won't even dignify that question with an answer", then it is a 100% proven fact that you are one of the people who would at best do nothing but in all likelihood would cheer the government on. (There has never been a time or society in history when this wasn't the case, and you are no better, smarter, more informed, or more ethical than those people in those societies.)
It's just that. A proven fact. Denials will equal lies.
Only one answer is acceptable, and most of the 'burgers will recognize it.
Go.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/02/2013 15:51
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#11
So is the Big O returning from Africa for the 4th of July, this being the 2nd of July, or will the coup d'état be occurring without him, curious minds want to know.
Not even humorous or witty either. That you thought it was is proof that you aren't fully human.
Try again, boy.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/02/2013 16:48
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#14
You do know, boy, that it is your fellow traveller left-of-center elite wannabes that are heavily into the "fluoride hurts my bodily fluids" in 2013, right? That the right no longer has a dog in that hunt, and hasn't for decades? That every fluoridation initiative that has been defeated in the past several years has gone down to earthy-crunchy leftist activism, people with politics just like you? That the Sterling Hayden's of our time are all left-of center in their politics, like you are?
Seeing as you are so much smarter, well-informed, and just plain better than the rest of us troglodytes, it sure is mystifying that you didn't know that.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/02/2013 16:57
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#15
Mo,
I'm genuinely curious: what exactly is the evidence for your wild fantasy of being "carted off to the camps"? By whom? Where?
I'm really curious to understand this paranoid fantasy about Christians and lions, er, death camps. How the phuque do you go from
a) Obama has ordered the tageted killings of hundreds of Al Qaeda leaders and operatives and pushed against all his advisers to seek and kill Bin Laden - in other words Obama is far more ruthless than his conservative Christian predecessor was in bringing the war to Islamist terrorists who are targeting us infidels for slaughter;
... to
B) Obama is a power-mad muslim seeking to destroy Christianity.
Can't you at least spin a * coherent * paranoid fantasy?
#18
Guys, history is never going to exactly repeat itself. You abstract the lessons of the past, compare against similar falls into tyranny, and you notice the patterns, factoring in cultural quirks. you see the evil coming based on those patterns, and Lex jeers that you're stupid because "it hasn't arrived yet!" I say we flatter him, give him credit for being intelligent, then consider him a part of the Apparat or an enthusiastic supporter of what's obviously coming, indulging in gaslighting at the present.
What can you do when it DOES arrive? I recommend finding out if the Gulag speculation is true: What would have been different if a random implementer of "The Program" was unsure, when he kissed his wife and kids goodbye in the morning, that that would be the last time he would see them.
After all, that IS the way the IRS works: they have to rely on severely bankrupting and making a random person's life miserable so EVERYONE thinks it COULD happen to them, when the fact is that they couldn't do it if EVERYONE did it. Same principle with tyrannies in the past and present: lop off the heads of those who stand out and stand up.
The key innovation of the NSA spy program is NOT the massive data gathering, but the establishing of a nodal map of interrelationships that can be analyzed using graph methods, looking for characteristics of central nodes. Looking for the ears of corn that grow above the mass.
It'll be a Gestapo all right, but just much more efficient and targeted, and thus much lower profile, creating rumors of power and seeming omniscience. Not acting that way NOW, of course, but all the elements are there. Lex cries "trust us!" but given his behavior here, I would say "no way, twat."
Since you don't know it, I will provide you with the correct answer.
The only correct answer would have been "I would admit that I wa wrong all along, any political movement that promotes government power and growth over the private sector eventually ends up this way, I was fooled, I now recognize the goodness of limiting government, and I will do whatever it takes including take up arms to prevent harm from coming to my fellow Americans."
That answer should be given immediately and without preamble. If the shoes were on the other feet and I was asked the same about you, despite your general snideness and immaturity I would have responded that way without hesitation or attempt at snark.
Your faux nonchalance and "humor" translate directly to either "I would do nothing" or "I would cheer".
Case closed.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/02/2013 18:24
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#20
Oh and BTW, Obama is neither Christian nor Muslim.
I've always thought that the facts on the ground categorically disprove him being a member of Islam and have never bought into the rest of the center/right going down that path.
He plays at both publicly in order to gain votes, to be sure, but it's pretty obvious he's neither.
He's just another atheist leftist, and an opportunist. That's what the data suggest.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/02/2013 18:29
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#21
The tone of your posts indicates, Lex that you draw an income stream that depends on public sector money. That couldn't be influencing your voting habits, could it?
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/02/2013 18:32
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#22
Actually, yes I do.
But let's hear it from someone who would have been executed by the government for what he was saying:
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
-Thomas Jefferson
It actually pairs well with this
The people of Asia were slaves, because they had not learned how to pronounce the word 'no'.
- Alexander the Great
Public site, because fuck'em that's why. What people seem to not understand is that the 1st Ammendment is there for both the people, and for the government: it is a safety valve. Let's go back to ol T.J. there. Say King George decreed that everyone in the colonies had to keep a logbook of their day, and turn it in to the local authority that evening. If something didn't jive or they thought someone wasn't playing ball, they could go to their house and question them. Jefferson may even concede that because there were indeed people actively working to overthrow the government that agents of the King were right to poke around, but to take records of everyone without warrent and he would not have had to draft a Declaration of Independance because there would have been outright rebellion.
These social programs, those are options. If I want to start a page and talk about myself in such detail burglers know if I'm home or not, that's my own damn fault and why I don't do that.
The government, however, is not an option. Have companies store data just in case, sure, but unfettered access to everything plugged into the web should cause pause. After reading Godel, Escher, & Bach - have you read that one? - I came away with the distinct feeling of the attempt to quantify emotion. If that was done, a simple spreadsheet could really pin a person down. I think an organization capable of hacking China can both hack the 7-11 camera system and run an emotion program.
Put that power into the hands of the guilty before innocent soon to be in charge of your medical access yes we do target people for their political beliefs and your Bobby Mcferrin school of comeback looks silly. In fact, if you could please, change your nym to REM, cuz your 2/2 with that slur on this topic. You have reminded me of my high school peers, so thank you for that.
#25
Mo, so if I understand you right, Obama's ruthless war on jihadists stems from ... an atheistic determination to crush all religious belief, everywhere, be it Muslim, Christian, Zoroastrian, whatever. Is that how you square this circle?
#26
He's not making war on jihadists, he's just drone-zapping people for want of better to do. That's not war.
He's bailing out of Afghanistan, leaving the people there to suffer under the Taliban, just as he bailed out of Iraq, leaving the people there to suffer more civil strife.
He's not closing Gitmo because the politics of doing so are bad. Give him time.
He's not making war on jihadis anywhere else. He's not particularly interested in fighting them.
Champ thinks the Tea Party is a bigger threat -- to him -- than the jihadis are. He's likely right.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/02/2013 19:55
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#27
Iff the Bammer is going to forcibly serve a 3rd POTUS term or more as many Netters fear, something has to occur that is severe or catastrophic enough to suspend the US Constitution + Habeas Corpus, Posse Commitatus, etc. US laws - BY LAW, A BAD US ECONOMY IN SEMI-OR NEAR-COLLAPSE IS NOT ENOUGH BY ITSELF TO REQUIRE THAT OBAMA SERVE ANOTHER 3rd-4th TERM AS POTUS.
Exclusive if Natural or Space Events, IMO this scenario will likely involve CHINA ANDOR IRAN, ESPEC "POST-US", FUTURE WORLD #1 WANNABE CHINA AS PER ITS ON-GOING, E-S-C-A-L-AT-I-N-G PUSH FOR UNCHALLENGED STRATEGIC ACCESS VEE THE ECS + SCS + INDIAN OCEAN REGION.
Could be a Military Conflict, or in alternate even a LACK OF MILITARY CONFLICT, I.E. "MUNICH II" AS PER CHINA-VS-JAPAN-VS-DEBT/SEQUESTER-RIDDEN-USA WHERE THE US-N-ONLY-THE-US MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN NUCLEAR-POSSIBLE CONFRONTATION + WAR; OR ELSE PAYING ITS DEBT + BORROWING FROM CHINA TO SUPPORT ITS BELOVED, SOON-TO-BE-GLOBAL WELFARE-NANNY STATE, WHERE THE US MAY UNILATERALLY OR WILFULLY GIVE UP SOVEREIGN TERRITORIES TO CHINA IN RETURN FOR PEACE + BOND BORROWING, + IRREGARDLESS IFF US VOTERS + OVERSEAS ALLIES WANT IT OR LIKE IT.
NATIONAL, GEOPOL SECURITY = FOOD STAMPS.
The clock is ticking faster-n-faster.
* So-called "A2/AREA-DENIAL" > As the US surrenders like France + rolls back across the Pacific toward EASTPAC + CONUS, it may choose to deny use of Guam-CNMI + other key Pacific Islands to the PLA by destroying their harbors + airfields, VEE ISLAND/LAND-SINKING "TECTONIC"
OR "EARTHQUAKE BOMBS" [Undergound = Subsurface EMP]. Iff China + PLA wishes to use these islands, it will have to re-develop everything out of its own pocket.
D *** NG IT, IT WAS ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY CATEGORICALLY UNDENIABLY .... AN "ACT(S) OF GOD", NOT SSSSSSHHHHHH...CCCCCCCCCC MAN-MADE EMP, ERGO THE US DOESN'T HAVE TO PAY FOR THE ISLANDS IT DESTROYED.
#29
Steve - you don't have the facts straight. Obama ESCALATED the war in Afghanistan. He put the hunt for bin Laden back on the front burner after Bush, and candidate Romney, and the Joint Chiefs and the CIA, all had decided to throw in the towel. He approved the raid when his advisers told him it was too risky. The drone strikes have had an enormous impact and have seriously degraded AQ's leadership and operational hierarchies.
Sorry, Steve, but that dog won't hunt. By nearly any measure, Obama has been ruthlessly effective - both more ruthless and more effective than his predecessor - in the global war on terror. Richard Clarke has made this case with devastating clarity as well.
Whatever the source of this frothing hatred of the current president, the facts don't lie: he unwound the colossal f***ups of his predecessor and also ratcheted up the war in the shadows, with great success.
Frankly, he deserves at least some gratitude for persevering like this in the face of so much ignorance and personalized hatred.
A video posted yesterday on YouTube shows the grisly shooting of a dog by a police officer in Hawthorne, California. I'm thinking of adding a new category. I'm just going to call it Oppression. We're starting to get entries for it every day now.
The 130-pound, 3-year-old Rottweiler named Max was shot to death after he escaped through a window in a parked car and ran over to his master, Leon Rosby, who was being arrested for filming the scene on his phone.
The video (watch original on YouTube) shows Rosby, 52, walking his dog Sunday around 7 p.m. near a house with several police squad cars parked outside.
He is seen filming the scene in order 'to make sure nobody's civil rights were being violated,' he told DailyBreeze.com.
Rosby is then seen talking to a pair of police officers in the distance.
Hawthorne Police Lt Scott Swain said that officers were warning Rosby to turn down the music in his car.
'It's distracting the officers. It's interfering with what they are able to hear,' Lt Swain said. 'It's not just a party call. It's an armed robbery call. The officers need to hear what's going on with the people being called out of the residence. That music in his car is bleeding over and it's distracting them.'
A neighbor who witnessed the event said they heard Rosby yell 'It's my (expletive) radio!' to officers.
But Rosby said that didn't happen because as a Christian he doesn't swear.
'I do apologize if I didn't immediately comply,' Rosby said. 'The music may have been a little loud but I was complying.'
Eventually the two officers start walking towards Rosby, who puts Max into his car where the windows are rolled down. Rosby seems to calmly walk over to the officers and turn around, volunteering himself for arrest.
As the officers put handcuffs on Rosby, the dog starts barking and manages to jump out of the car. Another police officer comes over and looks like he's trying to grab the leash when the dog jumps up and the officer shoots him several times.
Lt Swain, however, alleges that the officers were also looking out for Rosby.
'I know it's the dog's master, and more than likely not going to attack him, (but) we've got a guy handcuffed that's kind of defenseless. We have a duty to defend him too,' Swain said.
Rosby was held overnight in jail on suspicion of obstruction of justice and released at 5 AM the next day.
Rosby says that police would not return his dog's body to him.
His attorney Michael Gulden says that Rosby is planning on filing a lawsuit against the Hawthorne Police Department.
#2
I saw a story yesterday on a 20-year-old sorority girl who was almost shot for suspected underage drinking.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013 14:26
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#3
Soon, real soon.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
07/02/2013 17:01
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#4
Watch the video. Me question is why not pepper spray or a taser? First thing he does is go for his gun? Why not ask the man to control his dog?
Rosby has a history with the Police too, but this is just retarded. The officer should have known better, hell a person with half a brain would have known the dog was protecting it's master and asked said master to control his dog! Instead a stranger went for it's leash. While cornering his master.
Seriously, the officer should be on leave without pay just for being a dimwit. A dog jumps up and the first thing you do is go for your gun? Even the Police are affected by the stupidity in California.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/02/2013 19:37
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#5
Related story: google up Rosie the Newfoundland that was shot in Des Moines, WA. Sad story regarding irresponsible owners, but the real tragedy is the POS lawyer that after two years or so, was able to find a sympathetic judge that awarded the 'grieving' owners big bucks.
Tacoma News Tribune has the best coverage.
#1
Words cannot express the depth of ingratitude this self absorbed "victim of priviledge" represents. Never in my knowledge have we had a less worthy first lady. May she convince her husband to flee the office soon and move on to more important matters. surely there is a resort somewhere not yet grace by her imperial presence?
#3
This is the 'voluntary' confinement pursued by many celebrates. Meanwhile on the release program, your predecessors are doing work you'd never consider of your station.
#5
Of course it is a gilded cage, and for the spouse and children lacks even the satisfaction of running the most powerful country on the planet. Everybody knows that, so what point is there of talking about it?
#2
Just got back from my local pub where a group of guys were talking about a civil war is coming if the Govt don't stand up to the muslim community.
Posted by: Paul D ||
07/02/2013 15:39
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#3
Just got back from my local pub where a group of guys were talking about a civil war is coming if the Govt don't stand up to the muslim community.
What are you going to fight with. You can bet money the muzz have stacks of arms in the mosques.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
07/02/2013 17:07
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#4
Whilst there is , in the UK a major undercurrent of unhappiness , this in large has been created by the Government , not minority groups . If there was ever a form of revolution it would not be because of a backlash towards Islam , it would be because the policies of this government have ostracised vast swathes of the UK community , especially the poor and infirm whilst enhancing the powers of the few . Its the people that need to make a stand , not the government . We already know what a bunch of testicle juggling , self serving bunch of halfwits we have in power . Never have I ever seen a Government cabinet packed with so many folk suffering from Dunning-Kruger effect . Paul , sitting in a EDL pub, in no doubt Newcastle or somewhere like that does not offer any clarity or substance on anything at all . Every bigot the world , no matter what side you're on needs to re-evaluate their beliefs for the betterment of mankind . Unfortunately I cant see that happening , so we will continue to slide further and further away from our moral obligations to our children .
#5
Making sure Western JudeoChristianity loses the "Battle of Tours II/Franco-Eurorabia" before it even begins.
The Mohameddans are already in the rear of Charles Martel - How can the Frenchies, etal. be saved by the Royal Navy iff there is no more Royal Navy, etc. due to the demands or requirements of the UK, EU Welfare-Nanny State + EuroSocialism + EuroGlobalism??? LITTLE TO NO USoAMERIKA = USDOD EITHER AS BACKUP FOR SIMILAR REASONS.
#7
* DEFENCE,PK/FORUMS > [Guardian.UK] CHANNEL 4 TO AIR DAILY MUSLIM CALL TO PRAYER DURING RAMADAN.
And so it begins, or more accurately "continues" towards the future Londinistan = Britanistan = Anglorabia = .......???
BIG[GER] GOVT-CENTRIC, "SAFE" POLITICAL-LEGAL CORRECTNESS, DENIABILITY + FEEL-GOOD "IT DEPENDS WHAT 'IS' MEANS" VERSUS MULLAHS TELLING MUSLIMS TO HAVE LOTS OF SEX, BABIES, + TEACH THEM TO BE GOOD-MUSLIMS-AND-ONLY-GOOD-MUSLIMS.
Its not Ahmed's fault he fights, preserves + passes on his traditions, faith, + identity, etc. to his progeny WHILE "WHITEY", ETAL. NON-MUSLIMS DO NOT. HE'S NOT A CONVENIENT, ANYTIME ANYWHERE ON A DIME WAFFLER OR FLIP-FLOPPER.
[Washington Post] Taliban attackers set off a truck bomb early Tuesday and killed five security guards at a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... supplier's compound in Kabul, the latest in a series of bold attacks on high profile targets in the Afghan capital.
The attacks have driven home that the Taliban have no intention of ending the violence, even though they have indicated they are willing to talk peace and have opened an office in Qatar for that purpose.
"This (attack) has no link to the grinding of the peace processor," Taliban front man Zabiullah Mujahid told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named in a telephone call. Attacks "will continue all over the country occupied by the foreigners," he said.
Before dawn, a jacket wallah drove a small truck packed with explosives to the outer gate of the logistics center used to supply NATO troops and detonated it, said Kabul provincial police chief Mohammad Ayoub Salangi. The kaboom blasted a huge crater in the ground and damaged a guard tower.
Two truck drivers waiting to enter the compound were killed in the blast along with the bomber, he said.
Then four gunnies stormed into the breach and battled with security guards. An Afghan police special response team and security guards battled the attackers for about an hour before killing them, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. One Afghan and four Nepalese guards were also killed, the ministry said.
In a statement on the Taliban website, Mujahid said only three gunnies were involved in the "attack on a big foreign base important for NATO logistics," listing the assailants by name.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
12:17 ||
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[REUTERS] Egypt's armed forces would suspend the constitution and dissolve an Islamist-dominated parliament under a draft political roadmap to be pursued if Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and the liberal opposition fail to agree by Wednesday, military sources said.
The sources told Rooters the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) was still discussing details and the plan, intended to resolve a political crisis that has brought millions of protesters into the streets, could be changed based on political developments and consultations.
Chief-of-staff General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called in a statement on Monday for Mursi to agree within 48 hours on power-sharing with other political forces, saying the military would otherwise set out its own roadmap for the country's future.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
12:17 ||
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#1
I think we will see a large corpse count over the next 2 weeks.
Morsi can't win, but I don't see the MB going without a fight.
#2
Crude Cracks $102 As Egyptian Army "Ready To Die"
WTI Crude futures just topped $102 per barrel (the highest price in 14 months) as Reuters reports 16 dead and Egypt's high command saying the army was ready to die to defend Egypt's people against terrorists and fools, in a response to Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. Their comment (via Facebook) read "We swear to God that we will sacrifice even our blood for Egypt and its people, to defend them against any terrorist, radical or fool," was issued 3 hours after Mursi's TV statement.
A married couple have been sent to jail in Germany after being found guilty of spying for Russia for some 20 years.
The couple, codenamed Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag, are said to have settled in former West Germany on false passports some 25 years ago. A court in Stuttgart gave Andreas Anschlag six years and six months, and Heidrun five years and six months. Good trading material.... in better times.
They were arrested at their home in the western town of Marburg, in October 2011. They had assisted a Dutch spy.
Police think the couple's names, used in their Austrian passports, were false. They are believed to be Russian and in their early to mid-50s. But, but, but the cold war is over !
They had acted as a conduit for a Dutch foreign ministry official with access to Nato secrets. He was unmasked and sentenced to 12 years in prison. His arrest led to the couple, who had transmitted secrets to Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR.
The BBC's Stephen Evans in Berlin reports that their daughter was born and raised in Germany and knew nothing of their activities - nor of their true identities before they became spies. "Knew nothing" but was up to 23 words per minute of code.
At the time of their arrest, prosecutors allege, Mrs Anschlag was sitting in her study in front of a wireless transmitter that was receiving encoded messages on a shortwave frequency and was hooked up by cable to a computer. The Bi-Pole Antenna wires from the garden to the study became suspicious. Short-wave radio in 2013? Boggle...
Prosecutors say they posed as Austrian citizens of South American origin after arriving in Germany in 1988 and 1990. If you must know, we are respectable citizens from South America.
Channel 4 has said it will broadcast the Muslim call to prayer live every morning during Ramadan as a deliberate act of provocation aimed at viewers who associate Islam with terrorism and extremism.
The broadcaster, which was launched with a mission to appeal to minority audiences, will return to its controversial roots by screening a season of programmes around the Muslim period of prayer and fasting, which begins next Tuesday.
A senior Channel 4 executive defended the broadcasters decision to provide extensive coverage of the most significant event in the Islamic calendar by suggesting that Ramadan was of greater interest to its viewers than the blanket coverage given to the 60th anniversary of the Queens Coronation by its rivals.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013 16:23
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So for an entire month, a government TV station is going to broadcast the Musselman call to prayer? "Allan rocks! There is no god but Allan. Mo is his profit, accept no substitutes. Let's git to prayin'! Allan rocks like sox in a box!". Yeah, that's definitely gonna pump up EDL stock.
Makes me thankful once again that the Founding Fathers had the good sense to forbid a state religion.
European lawmakers stripped French National Front leader Marine Le Pen of her parliamentary immunity Tuesday, paving the way for the far-right leader to face a probe over alleged anti-Muslim comments.
The vote at the European Parliament in Strasbourg was by a show of hands with a clear majority in favor. It confirmed a decision by the Parliament's legal affairs committee last month to recommend lifting her immunity.
Ms. Le Pen, who has been a European lawmaker since 2004, was in parliament for the vote. Her father, former National Front leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen also attended.
Ms. Le Pen finished third in last year's French presidential election, scoring the highest percentage of the vote the National Front has ever received in the first round of the vote.
After parliament's decision on Tuesday, the National Front said in a statement that the lawmakers decision "reflects the terrible anxiety of an elite against a responsible politician who has the courage to tell the truth to her compatriots."
In a television interview after the vote Ms. Le Pen said she stood by her comments. "I take responsibility for them and I will go and defend them before the court," she said.
The lawmaker who sponsored the vote, Swedish member of parliament Cecilia Wikström from the Liberal ALDE group, welcomed the result.
"I am pleased that the European Parliament with a wide majority chose to follow my recommendation, namely to waive the immunity of Marine Le Pen. Now it's up to the French judiciary to try her case," Ms. Wikström said.
When the Black Death exploded in Arabia in the 14th century, killing an estimated third of the population, it spread across the Islamic world via infected religious pilgrims. Today, the Middle East is threatened with a new plague, one eponymously if not ominously named the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV, or MERS for short). This novel coronavirus was discovered in Jordan in March 2012, and as of June 26, there have been 77 laboratory-confirmed infections, 62 of which have been in Saudi Arabia; 34 of these Saudi patients have died. CDC Link and MERS overview
With unrest sweeping the country, Egypt is believed to have moved several dozen armored vehicles to the volatile border area to contain militant activity. The Israeli military gave no details.
Under a 1979 peace treaty, Egypt is required to coordinate any special military activity in the area with Israel.
In a statement Tuesday, the Israeli army said "the Egyptian military activity in Sinai is coordinated with Israeli security elements and authorized at the most senior levels in Israel, to contend with security threats in Sinai that pose a threat to both Israel and Egypt."
Violent Islamic extremists are gaining strength in Sinai, and Palestinian militants have infiltrated through tunnels from Gaza.
President Champ called Morsi on Tuesday to express his concern about reports of violence and to urge Morsi to find a political solution to the crisis. In a statement, the White House stressed that it does not support any particular party in Egypt, but rather the Sharia based democratic process. Meanwhile, Morsi himself has remained defiant, rejecting a 48-hour ultimatum issued by the Egyptian military on Monday.
The Champ administration's careful insistence that it supports the Egyptian MB government but not the person or party in power is a clear attempt to run walk back its earlier, and costly, opposition to the demonstrations. Last week, U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson said that the U.S. government discouraged the forthcoming protests, which quickly grew to become the largest political demonstration in the history of the world. Discourages the generally peaceful demonstration of possibly millions ?
The k*k sandwich conundrum for the Obama administration is that while Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood government did come to power in a democratic election, it has since undermined the institutional pillars of Egypt's fledgling democracy, including the judiciary and the media, in an attempt to consolidate its power. It has also embraced a "jihad" in Syria at a time when Egyptians at home face extreme economic instability and stagnation. Them too? Do we need jihad ?
On Tuesday, American political commentator Charles Krauthammer called Obama's "bystander" approach to the Egyptian protests "shocking," but entirely predictable noting that he had eventually called for former President Hosni Mubarak to step down during protests in 2011. Obama claimed on Monday, implausibly, that his administration had never intervened: "Our position has always been, it's not our job to choose who Egypt's leaders are." Excuse me, but why then do we back the Morsi and the MB ? Because Champ is an honorable Chicago pol -- once bought, he stays bought...
Johannesburg - It was billed as a new chapter in relations with a continent on the move, but US President Barack Obama's whirlwind tour of Africa left many underwhelmed by pledges that were thin on detail and dwarfed by China's lavish investment. You're in excellent company. Welcome to the globally "underwhelmed".
Obama's long-awaited return to sub-Saharan Africa was seen as recognition of the region's rising significance on the world stage, and a challenge to Beijing's growing economic clout on the continent. "Challenge" or Sino-Bama facilitation ?
#1
Brave girl indeed...now she needs to watch her 6...These troglodytes don't react well to infidels who stand up to them. Speaking of He!!..Boise was 110F yesterday
#4
This. The end-state of Multiculturalism instead of assimilation and culturalization.. Book mark it, and use it as a cudgel online when confronted with multicultis
The southern Egyptian city of Assiut has long been a haven for radical Islamists, and its Christian minority has largely kept a low profile. That all changed this weekend.
An estimated crowd of 50,000 packed the streets this weekend to join protests calling for President Mohammed Morsi's ouster, prompting a violent response that left three people dead.
The show of defiance can only be fairly measured in view of the city's bloody history and the shifts in the local centers of power when Morsi became president a year ago, empowering many of the hard-line Islamist groups around the country, including those in Assiut.
The bloody end of the protest -- 32 people were also injured -- points to the high risks that Assiut residents, particularly Christians, face if they were to join the wave of opposition to Morsi's rule that culminated Sunday when millions of Egyptians came out across the country to demand his ouster.
"I, my kids Mariam and Remon and my husband, Nabil, came out because we miss the Egypt we know and we want it back," Assiut resident Mary Demian said. "These people (militant Muslims) say we are infidels and they terrorize us, but we are not scared. This is our nation and we have always lived with Muslims in peace."
The size of Sunday's rally was nearly five times the demonstration that celebrated the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. But what is equally important is that the protesters showed a level of defiance and courage that may have been unthinkable just days ago.
It defined a change of mood in a city of 1 million people where political activism has traditionally been the exclusive domain of the powerful Islamists of Gamma Islamiya, a hard-line group that fought a bloody insurgency against Mubarak's regime in the 1990s. The insurgency left more than 1,000 people dead, including foreign tourists and Christians.
I keep wondering if the best thing Egyptian Christians could do would be to join together in a relatively small, out-of-the-way place in Egypt, declare a separate nation, and put up a high fence. They'd need a military, too. But it's really clear that the Muslims and Copts aren't living together so well, and that is destined to continue.
Good fences make good neighbors. I think a poet said that once.
#7
How about we just give them Egypt? They'll do a better job of protecting the historical sites, and will likely be better hosts for tourism.
The Muslims can go back to Arabia.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/02/2013 17:23
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You WANT the Copts to be stick with the ungrateful SOB's who will try to kill them daily Rob? No, we've seen what happens when a Christian rules over a Muslim in the ME. Better to give them a piece of land Egypt can't cover/care about. Personally I think think an exchange of people is the best option. Trade the Copts for the Paleo's.
Then again I'm being cynical thinking of human beings as trade objects. Doesn't mean I can't wish for a 'mutual immigration' though.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/02/2013 19:22
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nice idea but the Egyptians wouldnt want the Paleo's. Egyptians speak the "highest" form of Arabic and the Paleo's apparently speak the "lowest" so not sure that would work.
Yesterday in Cape Town, South Africa, President Obama talked about bringing energy and power to the continent of Africa. Today, President Obama is expected to reveal that part of his Africa energy plan involves a soccer ball that carries an electric generator inside.
From the White House transcript of Obama's speech from yesterday:
I am proud to announce a new initiative. We've been dealing with agriculture, we've been dealing with health. Now we're going to talk about power -- Power Africa -- a new initiative that will double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa. Double it. (Applause.) We're going to start by investing $7 billion in U.S. government resources. We're going to partner with the private sector, who themselves have committed more than $9 billion in investment. And in partnership with African nations, we're going to develop new sources of energy. We'll reach more households not just in cities, but in villages and on farms. We'll expand access for those who live currently off the power grid. And we'll support clean energy to protect our planet and combat climate change. (Applause.) So, a light where currently there is darkness; the energy needed to lift people out of poverty -- that's what opportunity looks like.
And then today, White House aide Mike Froman explained the soccer ball idea to the press aboard Air Force One, as the pool report details:
Mr. Froman also talked about POTUS's efforts to help bring reliable power to Africa, which will be the subject of an event in Tanzania on Tuesday morning. He noted as one example an invention designed to bring electricity to many of the small villages that are not connected to the grid.
#3
Doug Powers notes The people in Fromans hypothetical example are living in a remote, off-the-grid village with no electricity but apparently theres a cell phone tower just up the road.
#4
I respect the idea. But here is the thing. The consumer is disconnected from the manufacturer. The marketing of this items is not to poor families in the third world, but to the do-gooders who all bought and wore TOMS shoes before realizing they were made in a sweatshop in China. Another Aid-Dev fail were Playpumps, a NGO fad a few years ago.
If you asked the poor family in need if they'd prefer an old fashioned hand pump & some rice to a gadgety soccket ball, they prefer the hand pump.
This plays back to the whole Playpumps fail. The communities needed hand pumps and not gadgety playground equipment. But gadgety "green" technologies chase and get the grant dollars. It took awhile, but eventually the blowback from the involved communities caused the NGOs and 501C to scrape the initiative.
And that's my point. The consumer is largely ignored. These are more happy ribbons for the Left. Cost benefit analysis be damned. It's the idea.
Kerry said the two countries both believe the meeting should take sooner rather than later, but acknowledged it might not be possible until August or later. Allowing some time for local developments.
"Our objective remains the same -- that to recognize the notion that there really isn't a military victory, per se, for Syria that keeps Syria as a country," Kerry said. "And No. 2, that we have an obligation to try to work towards a peaceful resolution because a peaceful settlement is the best way to save the state of Syria and to minimize destruction."
He emphasized that the first international conference called for a transitional government for Syria "with a neutral environment by mutual consent to a full transfer of power." Wow. Wotta intellect! The man has a knack for getting p'wned...
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/02/2013
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#1
Must be a tough spot having worked for them before. Acting isn't one of your best skills. Need to get a few sessions in with your Hollyweird friends before the show.
#4
I imagine Assad is busy putting together brochures of photos of the boat people from the late 70's to show to the AQ rebels in Syria, in order to hasten their collapse.
#5
the best way to save the state of Syria and to minimize destruction."
And why is that a desireable goal? I'm sure that chopping it up and giving a piece to the Kurds and a piece to the Alawaites etc. would work out.
Just like the split of Czech and Slovakia.
#6
Thing, I think would be effective. Include a photo of kerry in his paris longface and lucky hat. "Here is your savior, negotiating surrender before the war is decided. He would not fight for his own country, what makes you think he will fight for you?"
While in Africa, Obama repeatedly has praised Bush for helping save millions of lives by funding AIDS treatment. "I'm looking forward to being able, on African soil, to once again thank him on behalf of the American people for showing how American generosity and foresight could end up making a real difference in people's lives," Obama said Monday. Funny, I don't remember hearing/reading him quoted praising Bush.
President Obama and predecessor President Bush found common ground in Africa on Tuesday, honoring the victims of a terrorist attack in an unprecedented chance encounter a world away from home. I almost took out the word "unprecedented", since it seems rather obvious. Besides, I suspect it was not "chance".
The U.S. presidents had a brief, silent appearance together at a monument to victims of the 1998 embassy bombing here in Das Es Salaam. While the two U.S. leaders didn't say anything publicly, or privately their wives engaged in a warm and chatty joint appearance at a summit on African women. There's mush more about the "warm and chatty" at the link! My keyboard made a pun!(mush/much)
"We're going to start getting these all around Africa," Obama said at the Ubungo Power Plant, which was funded by a U.S grant and built by American corporations General Electric and Symbion. "Pretty impressive stuff." In remarks afterward, he touted the "Power Africa" electricity program as a win-win for Africans and U.S. companies. Coal for Africans. And Chinese. Indians. We can export it from the US and burn it over there. Ships transporting it don't add to global warming, right? Hypocrite.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/02/2013
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#1
You know you are in trouble when the man you spent literally years denigrating has to be exploited in a public appearance to help boost your own image.
#1
Curiouser and curiouser: all this blather about "aggression" and Obama-hatred, ending in a declaration of his "right" to seek asylum... and nary a mention of which country he's seeking asylum *from*.
This little moron hasn't even secured anything from any nation, let alone his FSB captors, and he's issuing grandiose statements about oppression, freedom blah blah. The kid has earned himself an entry in the Diagnostic Manual's chapter on narcissism.
Maybe we and the Russians can agree on a plan to have him accidentally off'ed in a pod'ezd on the outskirts of Moscow...
#4
No. Just leave him there, until Putin finally ships him out to Belorussia, Moldova or some other toady state. He would just be a problem for Champ anyway.
Posted by: tipper ||
07/02/2013
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#1
Very, very sad. If only Morsi could have had time enough to harness intelligence collection technology, the Egyptian media, IRS, FBI, DHS, EPA, Google, etc.
[An Nahar] U.S. President Barack Obama Because I won... on Monday called on the countries bordering Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... to stop backing gangs there. Or what? We'll invade?
"The countries surrounding Congo, they have got to make a commitment to stop supporting gangs," Obama told a presser in the Tanzanian commercial capital, where he is wrapping up a three-nation African tour.
Both Rwanda and Uganda have been accused of supporting the M23, the gang that briefly occupied the eastern DRC town of Goma in November, routing the government troops stationed there.
Both countries have denied the charges.
He also called on DRC President Joseph Kabila to make more headway with reforming his country's armed forces, saying he "has to do more and better in dealing with the DRC's capacity on security issues".
DR Congo's army -- even the so-called elite units trained by foreign powers -- is notorious for its ill-discipline and lack of motivation, with troops often running away and engaging in looting in the face of rebel attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] A Pak schoolgirl injured in the Taliban attack on Malala Yousufzai last year has been granted a British student visa after receiving death threats in her home country, it emerged on Monday.
Shazia Ramzan, 15, had a joyful reunion with her friend Malala when she flew into Birmingham airport in central England on Saturday night, their first meeting since they were shot on their school bus on October 9.
Both girls are being supported by the office of Gordon Brown ... the hapless former British PM ... , the former British prime minister who now serves as United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... special envoy for global education.
Shazia will now have a chance to complete her studies at an undisclosed school thanks to a scholarship and support from charities, including Brown's A World At School initiative.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
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[Gulf Times] Nigerian soldiers fired wildly "at anybody in sight" during a deadly April incident in the northeast of the country, a police report cited yesterday by the country's Human Rights Commission said.
Troops completely "razed" five wards of the town of Baga during the rampage, according to police findings quoted in the rights commission's new report.
The incident was reportedly sparked by the killing of a fellow soldier.
The police report on the violence that began on April 16 in Nigeria's remote northeastern corner and may have continued into the following day had not been previously made public.
The Red Thingy has said that 187 people were killed during the incident, while a local senator put the corpse count at 228.
Nigeria's military has denied accusations of abuses, insisting 37 people were killed, 30 of whom were krazed killers, six civilians and one a soldier. Military officials further denied fires were lit during the violence, saying they were caused by Islamist snuffies terrorising the region.
The commission report, says police provided the same corpse count as the military, though it does not say if the victims were civilians.
Brigadier General Chris Olukolade, a defence front man, said the military stood by its previous account.
The police report cited differed from what had been previously discussed between the police and military, he conceded, but declined to provide further details.
A police front man said he could not comment as he had not yet read the report.
The commission's report on the Baga incident and insecurity in general in the northeast does not assign blame, as it was unable to visit the area because of safety concerns.
Mobile phone lines have also been cut in much of the northeast since the military launched a sweeping offensive in the region on May 15 to try to end a four-year insurgency by Islamist hard boy 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...
Soldiers involved in the Baga incident were part of a multi-national task force that includes personnel from Nigeria, Niger and Chad, the report said. The borders of the three countries converge in Nigeria's northeast corner.
But under the rules of the force, only Nigerian soldiers would have been operating on Nigerian territory, rights commission head Chidi Odinkalu said.
Troops are said to have returned to Baga after a soldier was rubbed out, allegedly by members of Boko Haram. Other soldiers may have also been maimed.
The commission noted allegations that the soldier's killing "was one of many acts of provocation with fatal consequences attributed to (Boko Haram) which may have inspired or invited a firm response by the military deployment in the town."
The police incident report as quoted by the commission said troops who arrived after the soldier was killed had "started shooting indiscriminately at anybody in sight", including domestic animals.
"This reaction resulted (in) loss of lives and massive destruction of properties."
The commission added later that the police report had established that five wards--Bulabulin, Bayan Tasha, Panpan Gajagaja, Adam Kolo and Bagadaza--had in the words of the police, been "completely razed down by the soldiers".
It quotes the police report saying "properties worth millions of naira were lost 'through fire which burnt over 30 vehicles, 57 cycle of violences, 100 bags of beans/maize'".
The Baga violence was among a string of incidents contributing to President Goodluck Jonathan ... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau... 's May 14 declaration of a state of emergency in the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. Baga is located in Borno, the worst affected of the three.
The rights commission report cited claims that Boko Haram "had active or dominant presence" in up to 12 of Borno's 27 districts when Jonathan declared the state of emergency.
Since then, Nigeria's military has claimed major successes in pushing out the Islamists. Independent confirmation has been impossible however, with phone lines cut and access to remote areas restricted.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
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#2
Troops completely "razed" five wards of the town of Baga during the rampage,
It's the usual third world response in draining the swamp. Makes it hard for guerrillas to swim among the population if the population isn't there to swim among.
#3
There is indeed a danger for the Nigerian army: you can be so heavy-handed that you end up pissing off the people more than Boko Haram has. They might want to study what worked and didn't work for us in Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/02/2013 8:31
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#4
Lacking the money and resources (and disciplined soldiers), they may be taking a page from the Sri Lanka experience.
#6
Ref the page from Sri Lanka's book:
Richard Fernandez of Belmont Club noted that the government had a terrific weapon in the fight against the rebels: The Sri Lankans; government, army, civil service, population, are not white. Thus, concerns about human rights violations were almost invisible and never something which needed to be calculated into various strategies.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
07/02/2013 13:58
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#7
Thus, concerns about human rights violations were almost invisible and never something which needed to be calculated into various strategies.
Except that they're fighting Muslims, so that calculation works the other way.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/02/2013 17:21
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[Al Ahram] The reign of Egypt's Moslem Brüderbund, political home of struggling President Mohamed Morsi, will end within a week, former Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafiq said on Monday.
Shafiq, whom Morsi narrowly beat in a presidential run-off vote last year, also did not rule out seeking the presidency once again.
He was speaking before Egypt's armed forces issued a virtual ultimatum to Morsi by calling on the nation's feuding opposition to agree on a roadmap for the country's future within 48 hours.
"We are going through a stage, which we knew we'd inevitably have to go through. It is not strange. The failure of the Brotherhood cannot be withstood and has led to catastrophes of all kinds and it was completely expected," Shafiq told Rooters from Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.
"In my expectation, I think that this regime will completely end its relation with Egypt within a week and will end its relationship forever within the region ... Yesterday the regime's (reign) almost ended," Shafiq said.
Millions of Egyptians erupted into the streets on Sunday to demand that Mursi quit, in crowds that were far larger than the Arab Spring uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... in 2011.
Shafiq was the last prime minister under Mubarak.
An outspoken critic of Morsi, Shafiq said the Brotherhood had "led us to catastrophe in less than a year".
Mursi specifically criticised Shafiq in a speech he gave last week ahead of the scheduled protests.
The Moslem Brüderbund's critics have accused the Islamist movement of using a series of electoral victories to monopolise power. Egyptians are also uneasy with a failing economy that has seen tourism and investment dry up, high inflation and fuel and power shortages.
Shafiq, who is on an official watch list over graft charges which he has dismissed as political, did not rule out his return to Egypt to seek the presidency once again.
"For sure, I can do this (run as president) ... my voters are present and their numbers have increased," he said.
"This talk is before its time. But there's no doubt that it's one of the possibilities ahead of me," Shafiq said.
The former air force pilot and prime minister, who along with his daughters and grandchildren fled to Abu Dhabi in June 2012 after Mursi was declared president, said he had been coordinating the street protests.
"No doubt, even though I've been sitting here (Abu Dhabi) I've had a role in what's happening," he said.
"I'm in continuous coordination with colleagues in Cairo. The coordination is over 24 hours. It's as if I'm living in Egypt," without giving details of the actual measures.
In a military career spanning four decades, Shafik served as a senior fighter pilot under ousted President Hosni Mubarak's command, and was credited with shooting down two Israeli aircraft in the October 1973 war.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
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[Al Ahram] Egypt's revolutionary political powers and parties opposed to military rule reacted with worry to the Egyptian Armed Forces' Monday statement giving political powers in Egypt 48 hours to reconcile, otherwise the army would issue a "roadmap" for Egypt's political future.
Revolutionary political groups, such as the 6 April Youth Movement , the Revolutionary Socialists, the Egyptian Popular Current and the Strong Egypt Party issued a statement last week in which they declared their refusal of both Moslem Brüderbund rule and military rule.
"The 6 April Youth Group [Ahmed Maher Front] has made it clear that there is no turning back to pre-25 January 2011 and Mubarak rule, or to post-11 February 2011 military rule," Ingy Hamdy, a leading 6 April member, told Ahram Online.
"We made this clear when we joined other political groups and parties opposed to military rule, Mubarak regime rule and Moslem Brüderbund rule," she added.
"The statement by the armed forces was clear regarding what it said about giving 48 hours to political powers to reconcile or else it would introduce a political roadmap," Hamdy said.
"We are totally against this; we support the role of the army as protector of our borders, our people and our national security, but we do not want to return to military rule or a political roadmap," Hamdy said, pointing out that the Supreme Military Council's "roadmap" in 2011 was "what brought Egypt to its current political crisis."
"The roadmap is already there; it has been provided by revolutionary youth in the form of the roadmap of the 30 June Front and the youth of the 'Rebel' campaign and 6 April," said the political activist. She added that the people should listen to revolutionary youth and follow their roadmap this time around.
"We don't want anyone to adopt this roadmap, whether the military or remnants of the Mubarak regime or Morsi. We want the people to adopt it," said Hamdy.
The roadmap proposed by the 30 June Front stated that President Morsi should be replaced by the head of Egypt's High Constitutional Court; that Egypt should have an independent prime minister; and that a technocratic cabinet be appointed for six months until a new constitution is drafted, to be followed by presidential and parliamentary elections.
"The statement suggests direct intervention by the armed forces in politics, and this is the result of the political elite's failure, which resulted in dictatorship by one group and a president," said Ahmed Emam, leading member of the Strong Egypt Party.
"As a political party against military intervention in politics, we are being put in a very critical situation as political powers in Egypt are trying to drag the Egyptian armed forces back to the political scene," Emam told Ahram Online.
The moderate-Islamist Strong Egypt Party has been demanding early presidential elections and participating in the 30 June protests and sit-ins.
The Revolutionary Socialists movement, which stands against military rule, refused the armed forces statement altogether.
"The Revolutionary Socialists demand Morsi step down and at the same time refuse the armed forces statement," Ahmed Ezzat, a member of the leftist movement, told Ahram Online.
Ezzat believes that the statement by the armed forces was issued for two reasons.
"I believe the armed forces had to issue this statement and take this step because it does not want civil disobedience," he said. "The people were leading the movement and wanted to launch a civil disobedience campaign; at the same time, after the arrogance the Moslem Brüderbund showed, the army had to move."
"We are not a political group and will not comment because we do not know what is going to happen, but we would like to remind the people that there were more than 15,000 civilians dragged before military trials during the military council's rule," Sarah El-Sherif, a member of the 'No to Military Trials' campaign, told Ahram Online.
She added that President Morsi's new constitution allowed civilians to be tried in military courts.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] A Chinese law requiring family members to visit their elderly relatives went into effect Monday to howls of online ridicule, as the country's huge population ages rapidly.
The regulation "forces" children to visit their parents, the state-run Global Times newspaper said, with concerns growing over increasing numbers of "empty nest" homes.
China's rapid development has challenged its traditional extended family unit, and reports of elderly people being neglected or mistreated by their children have shocked the country.
Last year a farmer in the eastern province of Jiangsu faced a barrage of online criticism after domestic media revealed he had kept his 100-year-old mother in a pig sty. More than 14 percent of China's population, or 194 million people, are aged over 60, according to the most recent figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.
The United Nations ...an idea whose time has gone... estimates that by 2050, 30 percent of Chinese will be 60 or over, up from 10 percent in 2000 and compared to a worldwide average of 20 percent.
The growing proportion of the elderly is the result of China's controversial one-child policy, which was launched in the late 1970s to control population growth. Internet users generally express concern over the aged, who are highly respected in the close-knit Chinese family unit. But many took to China's Twitter-like microblogs to criticise the new measures. "A country actually legislates respecting its parents?" said one of the eight million people to comment on the story on Sina Weibo.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
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#1
Build homes with basements, offer health insurance until age 26. They will come.
[An Nahar] Unrest erupted Monday afternoon in the northern city of 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... as a man was locked away Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! for interrogation after he appeared alongside singer-turned-Islamist Death Eater Fadel Shaker in a video circulated in the wake of the Abra battle.
"A hand grenade was hurled near Tripoli's Serail as gunnies appeared on the city's streets and blocked roads in al-Nour Square and al-Beddawi," MTV reported.
LBCI television said gunnies were roaming the city's streets on cycle of violences while firing their guns in the air.
A percussion bomb was hurled at al-Nour Square as businesses closed in the area, state-run National News Agency reported.
"Clashes erupted between the army and gunnies at al-Salam roundabout in Tripoli," LBCI said.
Later on Monday, Voice of Leb radio (93.3) said "more gunnies" arrived at al-Nour Square and "some of them tried to provoke security forces by firing an RPG over the serail."
"Unknown individuals are hurling hand grenades in Tripoli's Abi Samra, al-Mitain, al-Zahriyeh and Dam wal Farz," it added.
Al-Jadeed said gunfire was heard in the vicinity of the Rashid Karami International Fair Complex.
"An army post tasked with preserving security near the Syrian Social National Party's office in Tripoli has come under gunfire and the army sent reinforcements to the area," Voice of Leb said.
Army units started deploying across the city later on Monday in a bid to contain the unrest.
"The Lebanese army has deployed along the road linking Nini Hospital to the Abdul Hamid Karami Square," al-Jadeed said.
Voice of Leb said the army "stormed al-Nour Square and fired a flare bomb in the location, which prompted protesters to leave the square after army troops and vehicles deployed in it."
"The army has seized full control of the al-Behsas, al-Jemmayzet and al-Nour Square areas and the commando and airborne regiments have arrived on the scene to settle things decisively," military sources told LBCI.
"The army reopened roads in al-Behsas and the Abdul Hamid Karami roundabout and gunnies have retreated to the city's internal alleyways," state-run National News Agency reported.
Earlier on Monday, LBCI said "a threat has been issued that all roads in Tripoli would be blocked in case the army did not release Ghali Haddara, who was arrested by intelligence agents in Tabarja after appearing in a recent video with Fadel Shaker."
For its part, Voice of Leb radio (93.3) said gunfire erupted at Souk al-Qameh in protest at the arrest of Ghali Haddara in al-Qobbeh.
Shaker is now on the run with fellow runawayholy man 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 18 soldiers and at least 20 gunnies dead.
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07/02/2013
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#1
Guess the Arab Spring Obama helped impose on the peoples of Tunisa and Egypt was not well liked by their citizens.
BALTIMORE (WJZ/AP) -- The surge in violence continues in Baltimore as the police report more shootings, the last of which happened late Saturday in Northeast Baltimore. At least 40 shootings have happened in the last 10 days and 16 of them were deadly.
Police say two people were shot on Saturday. Neither of the shootings was fatal. Shortly after 8:30 p.m. Saturday, police say a man was shot in the back while standing on Edison Highway in northeast Baltimore. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital.
Earlier Saturday afternoon, a man was shot in the leg in west Baltimore.
Police have stepped up their presence on the streets in response to a surge in violence that included 11 fatal shootings in the span of a week. Commissioner Anthony Batts has said nearly three times the usual number of officers would be on the streets this weekend.
City clergy are now asking residents to step up and end this violent trend.
[Pak Daily Times] United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... peacekeepers took over security duties from African troops in Mali on Monday with a mission to ensure stability in the conflict-scarred nation just four weeks ahead of planned elections.
A 12,600-strong force officially replaced the AFISMA military mission, which has been supporting French soldiers who entered Mali in January to halt an krazed killer advance and to help the government re-establish its authority over the vast country.
Soldiers from troop-contributing west African countries and UN officials took part in a "re-hatting" ceremony in Bamako on Monday, replacing their head gear with the distinctive light blue berets of the UN.
La Belle France is winding down its deployment from its peak of nearly 4,500 but is to keep up to 1,000 troops in Mali and will maintain responsibility for military strikes against the myrmidons.
Rwandan General Jean-Bosco Kazura, formerly second in command of 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... troops in Sudan's western Darfur region, will lead the UN mission -- known as MINUSMA.
The force is made up largely of Africans already stationed in Mali but China has offered to supply more than 500 troops in what would be its biggest contribution to UN peacekeeping.
The mission is due to play a key role in presidential polls announced for July 28 but the election commission has raised doubts over its ability to stage a free and fair vote with such short notice.
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[Pak Daily Times] Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said previous rulers simply generated commission and not electricity during their 5-year tenure.
"We will salvage the nation from scheduled power outages and fulfil our promise of clearing the circular debt," he said during his meeting with Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq at Model Town.
"Tough decisions would have to be taken to put economy on the right track. Circular debt is over Rs 500 billion and we will pay it within 60 days. It is ironical that both rich and poor are benefiting from subsidy given on electricity. Only the poor deserve it," he said. The chief minister said that the cost of production of electricity could be reduced by generating power from alternative sources.
"Punjab government has made a plan to produce electricity from solar energy, biomass, biogas and coal with cooperation from the private sector. The provincial government is evolving a 5-year energy policy," said the chief minister.
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#1
Punchline to an old joke.
So my friend look out the window and behold!
Behold hold what? I don't see a bridge.
That's how.
[BUSINESSWEEK] Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission said it received credible allegations security forces have been involved in human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. violations, including rape, in their fight against the 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... Islamist group.
According to the allegations, the Joint Task Force, which is fighting the Death Eater group, has carried out "summary executions, torture, arbitrary detention amounting to internment," the government's human rights watchdog said in a report released yesterday.
"In particular, we have received persistent and credibly attested allegations of indiscriminate disposal of dead human remains" by JTF personnel and the northeastern Borno state Environmental Protection Agency, the Abuja-based agency said.
Nigerian authorities have been battling Boko Haram, which has killed thousands in gun and kabooms across Nigeria's north and Abuja, the capital, since 2009, while fighting to establish an Islamic state in Africa's top oil producer.
At least five wards in the town of Baga in Borno state were "completely razed by the soldiers," as they responded to an April 16 attack by Boko Haram that killed a soldier, the commission said, citing a police report. Local officials and residents in Baga, a town near Lake Chad, say at least 185 people were killed and more than 2,000 houses were burnt town.
"Properties worth millions of naira were lost" amid the fire which burned more than 30 vehicles, 57 cycle of violences and 100 bags of beans and maize, the commission said, citing the police report.
'Thresholds of Killing'
The military said only six non-combatants were killed, while one soldier and 30 Boko Haram fighters died in fighting. They said 30 thatched houses were burned due to incendiaries set off by weapons used by Boko Haram.
Defense Headquarters front man Chris Olukolade in Abuja declined to comment on the report when contact today by phone for comment by Bloomberg News.
"The impression has been created in the controversy that has followed this incident that certain thresholds of killing may be permissible as long as they are made to appear low enough," the commission said. "Tragically, Government has not done enough to discourage this impression."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
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#1
Attention Nigeria's Human Rights Commission: Nigerian authorities have been battling Boko Haram, which has killed thousands
Did you protest when Boko Haram killed thousands? If not, then STFU.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/02/2013 0:18
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#2
Nigeria's National Human Rights Commission is the watchdog ? All I've got to say about the watchdog is:
[Shabelle] the Raskamboni militia of Ahmed Madobe and the Kenyan peacekeeping forces took full control of Kismayu after they jointly fought militias loyal to colonel Bare Hirale who hails from a majority clan in the Juba regions.
The militia group backed by Kenyan troops fought off Hirale's forces yesterday in a fierce battle which claimed many casualties.
Many residents fled the Somalia's second largest city which is home to almost 30 clans.
All of whom dislike each other...
An eye witness in Kismayu said that the militia group are now searching houses and at the same time looting valuables belonging to the residents.
Bare and his allied forces have withdrawn from the city are now based at a town not far from Kismayu where they are regrouping to attack the Kenyan forces in Kismayu.
"We have changed our tactics and starting from today we will attack the Kenyan forces too. We viewed them as peacekeepers but chose to support directly the Raskamboni militia" said a top official from Hirale's troops.
Maybe it's because the Raskambonis were willing to keep the peace and you weren't. Or maybe the Raskambonis offered the Kenyans a better deal...
It has been confirmed that the Kenyan troops took part in yesterday's battle as the Raskamboni militia surrendered most of the cities districts.
The Somali federal government has called for calm in Kismayu and urged the fighting opponents to come to the table and negotiate. However the defiant Raskamboni officials dismissed the calls and opted to fight.
Gedo a region which is among the three regions which constitutes Jubaland has criticized Kenya and AMISOM for supporting a clan militia against another clan militia. They warned that they too will give support to Hirale if the matter is not solved immediately.
'' We will start with the Kenyan troops based in El Adde and head to Kismayu'' said the governor of Gedo region Mr. Kalil in today's protests which occurred in most towns in Gedo region.
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07/02/2013
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#3
"Cheez, there we were in Kismayo, minding our own business, and all of a sudden there was a thunder clap and we got raskambonied."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/02/2013 11:28
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#4
Tne gunnies, supposedly the good-guy gunnies, are searching houses and looting valuables.
Figure they'll give the stuff back if the owners can prove ownership?
Or was that the RCMP in Canada?
Hard to keep up.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
07/02/2013 11:41
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#5
An armoured Zamboni for when you really, really, want to own the ice.
Did the Russ every build an armoured something for Lk. Lagoda use?
[An Nahar] The Cairo-based Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's top authority, voiced concern on Monday about the infiltration of gunnies into "peaceful" protests across Egypt demanding the resignation of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
"Al-Azhar is monitoring with deep concern what is happening, particularly reports of casualties and the arrest of arms smugglers who seem to have infiltrated the peaceful scene in a bid to turn their weapons on gatherings and cause further bloodshed," a statement said.
It came after at least 16 people died across Egypt on Sunday in festivities between supporters and opponents of Morsi.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] U.S. President Barack Obama We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us... touted his new climate change proposal in his weekly address Saturday, calling for Americans to lead the charge against the warming environment.
"Those who already feel the effects of a changing climate don't have time to deny it -- they're busy dealing with it," said Obama in his pre-recorded address on radio and the Internet.
"The firefighters who brave longer wildfire seasons. The farmers who see crops wilted one year, and washed away the next. Western families worried about water that's drying up.
"The cost of these events can be measured in lost lives and livelihoods, lost homes and businesses, and hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency services and disaster relief. And Americans across the country are already paying the price of inaction in higher food costs, insurance premiums, and the tab for rebuilding.
"The question is not whether we need to act. The question is whether we will have the courage to act before it's too late," the president said.
Obama laid out a broad new plan to fight climate change on Tuesday, using executive powers to get around deniers who have blocked action in Congress. He called for new restrictions on existing and new power plants to curb carbon emissions, pledged to push new generation clean energy sources and to lead a fresh global effort to stem global warming.
"This is the fight America can and will lead in the 21st century. But it will require all of us, as citizens, to do our part," the president said Saturday, calling for scientists to develop biofuels and farmers to grow them, engineers to design clean technology and businesses to get them to market.
"We will be judged -- as a people, as a society, and as a country -- on where we go from here," Obama said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
It's the only battle he is willing to lead in.
Of course, no one is shooting back. And, as a nice side benefit, he gets to wreck the US economy.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
07/02/2013 0:20
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Ultimately, if you think about all the youth that everybody has mentioned here in Africa, if everybody is raising living standards to the point where everybody has got a car and everybody has got air conditioning, and everybody has got a big house, well, the planet will boil over -- unless we find new ways of producing energy.
#10
Lost on guns. Begged by Congress to keep a low profile on immigration. Doesn't want to talk about healthcare, foreign relations or the economy. TOTUS is running out of things to talk about.
#12
Yeah, but his proposal is not to win the war against nature, but to surrender by dismantaling the very tools which help people live through the rough weather. Over centralized government and regulation prevents rapid local response. Less personal wealth means less ability to deal with problems. Wealth without responsibility uses resources at a meager efficiency.
Its the same kind of crap which would prevent you from quarrying stone for spearheads because the runoff would pollute the spotted dick salamanders' sunning location. Then they bring in spearheads from halfway around the world, and give them to the guys who would just assume sit around the campfire rather than go on the hunt, or even just improve the campsite, in the hope that for an hour every night they talk about how cool their spearheads and bag of beads are.
[An Nahar] A Jordanian air force captain has allegedly "deserted" and joined Syria's jihadist Al-Nusra Front to fight against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Light of the Alawites... forces, a member of his family and a Salafist leader said on Monday.
"Ahmad Atallah Shbeib al-Majali, born in 1984, took a leave from his job last Wednesday and traveled to Turkey on Friday and from there he went to Syria to join the rebels," the family member told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The relative added that Majali was promoted just two weeks ago.
The Jordan Armed Forces refused to comment, while there was no immediate reaction available from the government.
A Salafist leader confirmed Majali's defection and that he has joined Al-Nusra, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in Syria.
"The captain from the southern city of Karak has been in touch with members of Nusra and has decided to join them. There are eight people fighting with Nusra from his area," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Al-Nusra Front is among the most prominent groups fighting against Assad's forces in the Syrian conflict
Another source told AFP that Majali was not a pilot.
"He has deserted and could face the death penalty if convicted of desertion," the source added without elaborating.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
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Egyptian security forces Monday arrested several guards of Khairat al-Shater, the deputy leader of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood movement, after an exchange of fire near his house, a security source said, dpa reported.
Al-Shater's son, Saad, told Al Arabiya broadcaster that police forces opened fire on their house in Cairo and arrested the driver. It was not clear whether al-Shater, seen as the most influential man in the brotherhood, was at home at the time.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/02/2013
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[An Nahar] The Moslem Brüderbund has proven a failure in Egypt, Syria's Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said on Monday, as Egyptian protesters demonstrated for a second consecutive day against Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
"It is clear the Moslem Brüderbund is incapable... of running the state in Egypt. Their model has failed for ever," Zohbi said at a presser broadcast by Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
.
"The Moslem Brüderbund's regime in Egypt is dead, but the death certificate has not yet been published," the minister said.
There is long-standing animosity between the Syrian regime and the Moslem Brüderbund, and membership in the group has been punishable by death in Syria since the 1980s.
The Brotherhood today plays a key role in the exiled opposition National Coalition, which is recognized by more than 100 states and organizations as legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
A year on from taking power in Egypt, "they have managed to demolish... the state's reputation", said Zohbi.
Egypt's opposition Monday gave Morsi a day to quit or face civil disobedience.
The Egyptian health ministry said 16 people died on Sunday in nationwide protests against Morsi, including eight in festivities between his supporters and opponents outside the Moslem Brüderbund headquarters in Cairo.
Zohbi meanwhile lashed out against the group for "destroying national unity" in Egypt.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
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[Pak Daily Times] QUETTA: At least four people, including three labourers, were killed in Naseerabad and Jaffarabad, while unidentified people kidnapped a government official in Quetta on Monday.
According to police, unidentified gunnies opened fire on a group of labourers in Khan Kot area of Naseerabad, killing three of them. The dear departed were identified as Noor Muhammad, Jabar and Gul Muhammad.
In Jaffarabad, on a tip-off, police recovered a body from Dera Allayar Bypass. He deceased was identified as Abdullah, 27. Police said the dear departed, who belonged to Orangi Town of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , was tortured to death. In another incident, gunnies kidnapped a section officer of the Home Department from Sariab Road of Quetta. Police said that Syed Manzoor Shah Bukhari was heading towards Sariab Mill when four gunnies kidnapped him.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Pak Daily Times] The United States is encouraging "terrorism" in Xinjiang, Chinese state media said Monday, also claiming that separatists in the region -- which has a large Uighur minority -- had fought alongside Syrian rebels.
Beijing denies that the unrest in the vast region bordering Central Asia -- which last week left at least 35 people dead -- is due to ethnic tensions between Uighurs and China's majority Han.
It has vowed to crack down on "terrorist groups" and ordered military exercises ahead of Friday's anniversary of major riots in 2009 that left around 200 dead.
But rights groups for the mostly Mohammedan Uighurs blame unrest on economic inequality and religious repression, and Washington has raised concerns about discrimination.
The People's Daily, a mouthpiece for the ruling Communist Party, slammed the US government and media for what it said was its role in the violence.
"For fear of a lack of chaos in China," it said in a commentary, the US was "conspiring to direct the calamity of terrorist activities toward China".
"America's double standards on the issue of countering terrorism is no different than incitement and indulgence... How is this different than those who act as accomplices to terrorism?" it said.
It asked if the 9/11 attacks and Boston marathon bombings in April meant "America's ethnic and religious policies also have problems", while rejecting such linkages in China.
"The violent terrorist incidents in Xinjiang are not an ethnic issue or a religious issue," it said, calling the "massacres" of officials and bystanders "inhumane".
Posted by: Fred ||
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[FOXNEWS] Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... 's chief prosecutor says his preliminary investigation suggests there is enough evidence to charge the ex-president of Chad, Hissene Habre, with war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture.
Mbacke Fall said Monday that Habre will appear before judges the following day in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, where he sought refuge 22 years ago after being ousted in a military coup.
Habre is accused of using cash he allegedly brought with him from Chad's state coffers to buy his freedom in Senegal. Successive governments have dragged their feet on prosecuting him.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Shabelle] it has been reported by residents of Berhane that the Kenyan war planes last night bombarded military bases in the lower Juba region of Somalia.
Col Abshir Abdi Hashi who is among the officials in Berhane confirmed with Shabelle radio station in Mogadishu that the planes specifically targeted SNM bases in the region a town situated 60 km from Kismayu.
The colonel said that the military bases were destroyed completely by the planes and some of his soldiers got injured during the bombardment.
The colonel added that the bombardments caused civilian casualties and destroyed many properties.
Mr. Abshir said that the Kenyans used special bombs designed in the UK against the SNM forces.
Mr. Abshir finally said that the Kenyans are invading Somalia and are using Alshabab as a scapegoat to launch attacks on Somali civilians and SNM troops.
This comes as the Kenyan troops actively took part in the Kismayu fighting as they sided with the Raskamboni militia of Ahmed Madobe.
Ahmed Madobe who was a top leader in The Islamists fighting in Somalia declared himself the president of Jubaland and is now in control of Somalia's second largest city with the help of Kenyan forces.
The Kenyan forces have been accused of committing atrocities in the Juba regions and the federal government has called for the replacements of more neutral ones.
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[Al Ahram] Forty-six sexual assaults are reported by Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment (OpAntiSH) during the huge protests covered by international media in Tahrir Square that intend to oust Egypt's President Morsi.
"There [were] men with sticks at the entrance of the metro station across from KFC in Tahrir who are attacking women," reports OpAntiSH, a volunteer group that works to combat sexual violence in protests within the square's perimeter in downtown Cairo.
Hundreds of thousands gathered in Tahrir Square on Sunday in a mass rally against President Mohamed Morsi demanding he step down and call for early presidential elections.
Sexual harassment, mainly in the form of mob assaults, has become an issue that plagues Tahrir Square during political protests. OpAntiSH asks any volunteers to join them on Monday, since protests are expected to continue.
The group, along with Tahrir Bodyguard, another grassroots initiative fighting harassment, urged women to stay away from Tahrir Sunday night.
"The area is not safe and we recommend leaving, if possible," Tahrir Bodyguard tweeted.
Virtual arguments between anti-harassment activists and the Brotherhood's media outlets peaked on Sunday, when Morsi supporters holding a counter-demonstration in Nasr City, a Cairo suburb, criticised the sexual harassment at the the opposition protests.
The Brotherhood English-language site 'Ikhwanweb,' retweeted reports by activists on harassment.
Noting this, activists and Twitter users said the Brotherhood are retweeting only to tarnish the image of the anti-Morsi rally in Tahrir Square.
OpAntiSH retorted to Ikhwanweb: "Good you are RTing [retweeting] us, this way it is clear to the world that the ruling party knows, thus the regime knows & still does nothing."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
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[Al Ahram] Egyptian security forces tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! 15 armed bodyguards of the number two in the ruling Moslem Brüderbund, Khairat El-Shater, on Monday after an exchange of fire in which no one was injured, security sources said.
The sources said the shootout occurred when security forces went to arrest the guards for alleged unlawful possession of firearms they are suspected of having used to shoot at protesters attacking the Brotherhood's headquarters on Sunday.
Eight people were killed and more than a dozen injured in festivities around the Brotherhood building on a suburban hilltop overlooking Cairo.
Shater's family telephoned Al Jazeera television station to report that his home was under attack.
Shater's own whereabouts were not immediately known. He is widely regarded as the strongest personality in the Islamist movement, but who was barred from running for president last year because he had been locked away Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! under toppled ex-President Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... 's authoritarian rule.
The incident occurred on a day when the armed forces issued an ultimatum to Islamist President Mohamed Mursi to agree within 48 hours on a power-sharing consensus with opposition parties or face more direct military intervention.
Generals from Egypt's powerful armed forces ruled Egypt for six decades until Mursi was elected last year after an uprising in 2011 ended Mubarak's rule.
Shater, a wealthy businessman and influential Brotherhood leader, was seen by many Egyptians as the shadow power behind Mursi's throne. He was hated by Mubarak who put him in jail for many years.
One of Shater's bodyguards was sentenced to one year in prison earlier this year for owning an illegal weapon. A security source said his other guards had "illegal arms and were a threat to Egypt's security".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/02/2013
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#1
For a second I thought it read 'Khairat El-Shatner'.
[Pak Daily Times] A petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday requesting contempt proceedings against President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... , former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, former federal law minister Farooq H Naek and Law Secretary (r) Justice Yasmin Abbassy for secretly communicating to the Swiss authorities that the Pakistain government was not interested in pursuing the graft cases against President Zardari.
Syed Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi filed the petition and nominated as respondents President Zardari, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Farooq H Naek and Justice Yasmin Abbassy. He stated that during the premiership of Raja Pervez Ashraf, Law Secretary Abbasy had sent a secret communication to a law firm, Fontanet Associes Geneva, for official confirmation on the Swiss authorities' inability to revive graft cases against Zardari.
The petitioner submitted that existence of the letter became public last week when Attorney General Munir A Malik informed the Supreme Court that although the PPP government had written a letter to the Swiss authorities in compliance with the court order in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case, it also sent a second secret communication to a law firm requesting an official confirmation of the Swiss authorities' inability to revive $60 million corruption cases against the president. Naqvi submitted that the communication made to the law firm was tantamount to committing contempt of court.
He contended that the purpose of the second letter was to obstruct justice and requested that President Zardari, former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, former law minister Farooq H Naek and former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar be made party to the case and their names be put on the Exit Control List (ECL). Naqvi further stated that the secret letter written to Dr Nicholas Jeanding of law firm Fontanet Associes Geneva requested explaining the position of the Pakistain government to the attorney general of Geneva that the order of closing the cases by the former attorney general had attained finality and the cases could not be reopened under the Swiss law.
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[MAGHAREBIA] As Tunisian politicians resume debating the draft constitution on Monday (July 1st), legal and media experts are criticising the document for failing to protect freedom of expression and access to information.
They called in particular for a review of articles 30 and 31.
"The main problem is not these articles, but in how to guarantee them," constitutional law professor Slim Laghmani said on June 22nd.
In the past few weeks, Tunisia has seen a flurry of "free speech" trials, including ones that ended in prison sentences for rapper Weld El 15, and for foreign and local "FEMEN" activists.
The National Union of Tunisian Journalists (SNJT) on June 17th warned of the "continuous decline of public freedoms, foremost among which is the freedom of opinion, expression and innovation".
According to the SNJT, the country is witnessing "the continuous decline of public and personal freedoms, foremost among which is freedom of opinion, expression and innovation, whether through the new draft constitution, repeated unjust trials, or attacks on journalists, innovators and civil society activists".
Tunisia's "current version of the constitution fails to fully protect freedom of expression", Amnesia Amnesty International also noted last month.
The group urged the Constituent Assembly to refine the applicable articles to conform to Tunisia's obligations under the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... ' 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
"Tunisians expect the new constitution to strongly consolidate freedoms, foremost among which is the freedom of expression and media, and to give it legal and institutional guarantees," media law professor Mostafa Beltaief said.
"The media is finding itself faced with 3 challenges: creating a legal framework that makes it independent of the ruling power; establishing regulatory committees; and confirming the freedom of creating media institutions," Beltaief told Magharebia.
The professor also pointed out that while articles 30 and 31included an arsenal of freedoms and rights, they "unjustly restricted them".
"Article 148 also restricts such information in a stark violation of international standards," the legal scholar said.
The "Civil Coalition for the Defence of Freedom of Expression in Tunisia" has called for cancelling an article in the new draft constitution that stipulates activation of a new "media body".
"Creating this body, which will be tasked with amending all components of the media sector and overseeing the right to freedom of expression and access to information, is an unmatched novelty in democratic systems," the activist group noted.
Hichem Senoussi, a member of the High Independent Authority for Audio-Visual Communication (HAICA), commented that there had been a decline in the right to access to information in the last version of the constitution.
"The law on access to information has two enemies: financial corruption and political despotism," Senoussi said.
Former Prime Minister Béji Caid Essebsi's government approved a law on accessing information, but it was never activated due to the lack of governing provisions and an ''information culture" among Tunisian bureaucrats.
"There is no awareness or training, and without that, employees at departments wouldn't know the meaning of the right to access information," said Professor Ridha Jnaieh of the Sousse Faculty of Law.
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[Pak Daily Times] Indian-held Kashmire (IHK) largely shut down on Monday and hundreds of police were deployed in the troubled region's main city after the weekend shooting of two civilians by the army, a police chief said.
The shutdown to protest against the shootings came as a police officer and a bully boy were killed in a separate incident south of the main city Srinagar, said Kashmire's police chief Abdul Gani Mir. The officer and the rebel died in the village of Mandoora, 35 kilometres from Srinagar, during a shootout that also maimed three soldiers, the police chief said. "We launched an operation based on intelligence of the presence of snuffies in the area," Mir said.
"One of our boys was martyred in the operation," Mir said, also confirming the death of the rebel. In Srinagar shops and other businesses, along with schools, were closed and traffic was light after a separatist group called for a strike in the region to protest at the weekend killings. The region was tense after the weekend shootings in which soldiers opened fire on angry villagers, killing one. The villagers had been protesting the shooting of a teenager by the military just hours earlier during a hunt for snuffies in Markondal village north of Srinagar. Hundreds of police and paramilitary troops were deployed in the inner parts of Srinagar on Monday to try to prevent protests, while a curfew was imposed on parts of the region. Despite the curfew, hundreds of villagers in the northern town of Hajin erupted into the streets, shouting anti-India slogans, while some tried to torch an army-run school. "Curfew is strictly implemented. The area is calm now," police superintendent Bashir Khan told AFP.
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[An Nahar] A Saudi court sentenced 18 men, some of them foreigners, to jail terms of between seven months and 15 years on Monday after convicting them of fighting in foreign conflicts on behalf of Sunni Mohammedan Death Eater groups, state media reported.
The official SPA news agency did not specify which foreign conflicts they were found guilty of participating in but in recent months Saudi officials have expressed growing concern about Saudi volunteers fighting in the war in Syria, and Saudis have also been active in Iraq.
The 18 men were found guilty of "adopting a Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed... (Sunni Death Eater) ideology, and breaking away from the rule of the ruler by travelling to the lands of sedition to take part in fighting," the news agency said.
Some of the accused were also convicted "forging identification papers and sheltering runaways wanted by the security services," it added.
Some were found guilty of possessing weapons and plotting to kill a Saudi policeman.
Other charges included "collecting funds to support fighters in Iraq" and posting recruitment videos on the Internet.
The statement did not detail the nationalities of the foreigners among those convicted.
It said 13 of the 18 had lodged appeals.
Saudi officials have issued increasingly stern warnings against volunteers from the conservative Sunni Mohammedan kingdom heading off to fight alongside the mainly Sunni rebels trying to oust Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... .
But diplomats say hundreds of Saudis, perhaps even several thousand, have gone regardless.
The involvement of Saudis in jihadist groups active in Iraq and Syria has stoked concerns in Riyadh of a resurgence of the deadly Al-Qaeda attacks that rocked the kingdom between 2003 and 2006.
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[An Nahar] Caretaker Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn warned on Monday from the proliferation of Death Eaters in Leb, accusing Lebanese political factions of playing a role in the rise of Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.
Some "Lebanese factions protected him all this time. Had the army locked away Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! him, they would have said that a certain party is being targeted" through this arrest, Ghosn told al-Akhbar newspaper.
Asir, a controversial Sunni holy man who gained prominence for his criticism of Hizbullah, has not been seen since a fighting last week between his armed supporters and the Lebanese army in Abra outside the southern city of Sidon.
Around 18 soldiers and more than 20 gunnies were killed in the gunbattles that began when Asir's supporters opened fire on an army checkpoint.
"The Sidon incidents wouldn't have taken place had soldiers were not been killed in a cold blood," he said, adding "the army's reaction was natural."
Several parties have accused the military of targeting the Sunni sect and abusing the gunnies that it arrested for taking part in the fighting.
"Let them stop targeting the army and casting doubts ... Or else they will regret it when it is too late," Ghosn said. "It is the only unified institution left" in the country.
The caretaker defense minister confirmed that Hizbullah did not take part in the Abra fighting despite accusations that the party's members had opened fire on Asir's supporters.
"With due all respect to all parties, the army's decisions are independent," Ghosn told al-Akhbar. "It does not accept to belong to a certain party nor it allows anyone to interfere in an issue that targets the country's security."
He warned that among the biggest dangers facing the country was "the proliferation of extremism and terrorism."
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[An Nahar] State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr has asked for the DNA samples of Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir's mother and the brother of singer-turned Salafist Fadel Shaker, the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday.
NNA said the results of the tests will be compared with the DNAs of two burned bodies found by the army after taking control of the complex of al-Asir near the southern city of Sidon following two days of heavy gunbattles last week.
Saqr, who is overseeing the initial investigation carried out by the military intelligence into the fighting in Abra, released nine people who had been locked away Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! at the end of the battles.
Thirty suspects remain in jug, the agency added.
The fighting, which was sparked last Sunday when Asir's supporters opened fire on an army checkpoint, left around 18 soldiers and more than 20 gunnies dead.
The gunbattles concentrated in the area of Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque and nearby buildings.
Al-Asir, a 45-year-old holy man who supports the overwhelmingly Sunni rebels fighting to topple Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... , is no where to be found along with Shaker, a onetime prominent singer-turned Salafist.
Asir teamed up with him when around two years ago he began agitating for Hizbullah to disarm.
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North Korea has stepped up its rhetoric against Seoul, threatening that Imjingak, a park near the demilitarized zone, is within its striking range.
This comes after North Korean defectors in Seoul and U.S. human rights activists announced they would fly anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border. The North Korean military, through its state-run Korean Central News Agency, slammed the government here for purposely plotting the leaflet-dropping event.
However, police stopped protestors from proceeding with their plan so as not to stoke tensions after the North threatened to retaliate.
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07/02/2013
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[Al Ahram] Eight independent non-Islamist parliamentarians officially resigned from Egypt's upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, on Monday in protest at the simmering political stand-off in the country.
Speaker of the Islamist-dominated Shura Council, Ahmed Fahmy, is to look at the resignations in a board meeting on Tuesday.
The members include Nadia Henry, Sameh Fawzy, Kamal Soliman, Suzy Adel, Gamil Haleem, Farid El-Bayaad, Magdi El-Maasarawy and Nabil Azmy, according to state-run news agency ...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?... MENA.
Among the reasons cited by the resigned members are mounting political polarization, continuing deadlock and solidarity with the opposition's demands.
On Saturday, Shura Council member Nadia Henry announced during a conference convened by the anti-President Morsi 'Rebel' campaign the resignations of independent parliamentarians in solidarity with the signature drive.
The resignations were tendered officially on Monday.
In their Monday meeting with Fahmy, resigned members reiterated calls for snap elections to end the current political standoff.
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[Pak Daily Times] Somalia's government has demanded that Kenyan troops stationed in the volatile port city of Kismayo as part of an African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... force be replaced, accusing them of backing a militia force opposing Mogadishu.
Calling for a "more neutral African Union force", Somalia's information ministry accused the troops of supporting militia soldiers "in violation of their mandate", as well as attacking civilians and arresting a top government army commander.
Several rival factions are battling for control of Kismayo, a strategic and economic hub in the southern Jubaland region: these include former krazed killer chief Ahmed Madobe, who in May appointed himself "president" of Jubaland, and Bare Hirale, a former Somali defence minister who also leads a powerful militia.
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Mohamed Morsi's regime has indicated that it will not give in to the threat of a military coup, just hours after the Egyptian army gave it 48 hours to placate the millions who have taken to the streets calling for the president's departure. The head of Egypt's armed forces, General Abdel Fattah Sisi, threatened direct military involvement in the political process "if the demands of the people are not realised", in a statement implying that Morsi should either step down or at least call early elections. The presidency indicated that it viewed the statement as a coup d'etat, and implied that Morsi was safe as long as his administration still had US support.
"Obviously we feel this is a military coup," a presidential aide said. "But the conviction within the presidency is that [the coup] won't be able to move forward without American approval."
The aide's comments implied that the regime was hopeful of continued American support. They also suggested the presidency was banking on the likelihood that the military would not risk upsetting America, which provides it with significant funding.
The US ambassador to Egypt has spent recent days trying to persuade opposition figures to engage in dialogue with Morsi instead of supporting protests.
#2
..don't forget his cabal of sycophants. When your world view is shaped by lies and distortions, its hard to grasp how truly screwed up your actions are when things don't happen they way you expect them.
#3
If it wasa coup, morsi would be making his statement from exile. Or not at all...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/02/2013 11:04
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#4
..don't forget his cabal of sycophants. When your world view is shaped by lies and distortions, its hard to grasp how truly screwed up your actions are when things don't happen they way you expect them.
Posted by Procopius2k
#6
Honduras had their Aid cut off. Won't happen with Egypt no matter what. I wouldn't be surprised if this explodes in the next day or two. Though the question is, if Egypt descends into Civil War, where do the refugee's flee?
Posted by: Charles ||
07/02/2013 19:29
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There is a rally planned in support of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in the Sarachane district of Istanbul, Anadolu agency said on Monday.
The demonstration will be held by a group of activists supporting Morsi's political, economic and religious views.
Mass demonstrations are underway in Egypt demanding the resignation of the current president Mohamed Morsi. Organizers of the protest rallies claim that they have collected more than 22 million signatures for Morsi's resignation. The latter marked the first anniversary of arrival to power on June 30.
Supporters of the president also gathered for a mass rally in Cairo "to support the legitimately elected president".
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/02/2013
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#1
Birds of a feather...
Cheep, cheep, cheep.
Yet another demonstration of Islam(ist)'s regard for the population.
[Al Ahram] Supporters and opponents of Egyptian Islamist President Mohamed Mursi exchanged gunfire in the city of Suez at the mouth of the Suez Canal on Monday, witnesses said.
At least 16 people have been killed in festivities between rival protesters since Sunday, when millions of Egyptians flooded the streets to demand Mursi resign.
"The sound of gunfire is everywhere. Supporters and opponents are going back and forth," said one witness, Karim el-Sayed, in Suez.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
The people are speaking. They had a taste of radical islam imposed on them and said, "Hell No" !
#4
Um, no. The opposition in Egypt may not be the Tea Party but large parts of them are preferable to the Brøderbünd. I don't think we're going to get a democratic republic out of the Egyptians but something that is a lot less Islamicist would be good enough for now.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/02/2013 8:37
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#5
Steve, I was pointing out that we're already arming the government, MB, Islamist side.
#6
I don't think we're going to get a democratic republic out of the Egyptians but something that is a lot less Islamicist would be good enough for now.
Well, there was a guy named Hosni Mubarek who fit that description...
[Al Ahram] Egyptian Armed Forces front man Ahmed Ali issued a statement on Facebook on Monday stating that Egyptian military doctrine did not allow for "military coups."
"What do you call it then?"
"We call it .. something else."
"Egyptian Armed Forces' doctrines do not include military coups as a policy. The armed forces already deployed on Egypt's streets in 1977, 1987 and 2011 and this did not lead to a coup, but rather [led the army] to stand with the will of the great Egyptian people and their desire for reform and change."
Earlier on Monday, the armed forces issued a statement giving all political powers 48 hours to resolve Egypt's current political standoff or else face a military-imposed "roadmap" for the country's political future.
"The armed forces statement was issued to push all political players to find a solution to the current political crisis and reach national reconciliation in line with the demands of the Egyptian people," Ali said.
The armed forces front man added that the military would not take part in politics or accept a role other than that laid down for it by established democratic norms.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Earlier on Monday, the armed forces issued a statement giving all political powers 48 hours to resolve Egypt's current political standoff or else face a military-imposed "roadmap" for the country's political future.
Will you kids settle down or mommy's coming up there and you won't like it when mommy's mad.*
*I brought you into this world and I can take you out
#3
Thousands of protestors waving enthusiastically to Egyptian Army helicopters flying Egyptian flags was moving. I think we may have seen a glimpse of how this will end.
[FOXNEWS] The director of the embattled Vatican bank and his deputy have resigned following the latest developments in a broadening finance scandal.
The Vatican said Monday that Paolo Cipriani and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, offered to step down "in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See."
Cipriani, along with the bank's then-president, was placed under investigation by Rome prosecutors in 2010 for alleged violations of Italia's anti-money-laundering norms after financial police seized 23 million euro ($30 million) from a Vatican account at a Rome bank. Neither has been charged and the money was eventually ordered released.
But the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, has remained under the glare of prosecutors and now Pope Francis amid fresh concerns it has been used as an offshore tax haven.
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#1
This certainly gives a black eye cat to the Vatican Bank, Institute for Religious Works Paolo Cipriani as the cat and his deputy, Massimo Tulli as the fox.
#2
This is one place Pope Francis actually has the experience to go after, which is one of the reasons why the College of Cardinals elected him - to clean out the Curia and the rot within.
[An Nahar] A Dubai court on Monday upheld four-year jail terms for three Britons, convicted on drugs charges, who were allegedly tortured during their detention, a newspaper based in the emirate reported.
In April, a lower court convicted the trio of possessing for consumption more than one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of synthetic cannabis known as Spice, jailing each one for four years.
"The Dubai Appeal Court rejected the Britons' appeals and upheld the four-year jail term against each of them after they were convicted of possessing and taking drugs," Gulf News reported on its website.
The three men will be deported after serving their sentences, it added.
Monday's verdict is still subject to appeal before the Cassation Court within 28 days, Gulf News said.
The British government had raised the case of Grant Cameron, Karl Williams and Suneet Jeerth, during an April visit by United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan to Britannia.
Britannia-based campaign group Reprieve had said the three men had been "subjected to torture including beatings and electric shocks" by police.
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#1
Probably would have gotten 20 years for possession and consumption of beer in UAE. Count yourself lucky it was only "Spice".
[THEHILL] A freshman House Democrat filed a resolution Friday that would allow members of Congress to vote remotely on bills from their home districts.
Rep. Eric Swalwell's (D-Calif.) proposal for a mobile Congress would amend House rules so politicians can take care of business using the latest communication technologies, including video conferencing.
Swalwell, whose district is located just north of the heart of Silicon Valley, hopes the amendment will update how Congress works and allow politicians to spend more time at home with their constituents.
The resolution would create a secure, remote voting system
...that the NSA could never, ever crack...
so members
...or Nancy Pelosi generously acting on their behalf...
could vote on bills that are being considered under a suspension of regular rules, meaning they require a two-thirds majority in the House to pass. The process is usually reserved for bills that are noncontroversial.
Additionally, the resolution would allow politicians and witnesses to participate in committee hearings held in Washington via videoconferencing technology. Rather than jetting back to Washington to attend a committee hearing, a House member could join the hearing with a tap of a button right from his or her district office.
Only if C-SPAN can show pictures of the hearings using potted plants...
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Do it. In fact ban Congresscritters from spending more the 60 days a year within the Beltway. If nothing more it would force K Street Lobbying Corps to disperse to fifty states just to cover the Senators. Further it would make the 'representatives' immediately subjected to their real constituents within a days driving distance. It would also force the entrenched bureaucracy to travel beyond their fish bowl 'comfort' zone of the Potomac to conspire coordinate work, exposing them to other cultures and environments. "My God, I have to go to fly over country? Do I need shots?"
Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
07/02/2013 8:50
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#5
Eric,
Nothing in there says they can't do work outside the Beltway. Congresscritters travel all the time during sessions. They've had hearings and other activities outside the Beltway for quite a while. Doesn't mean they have to adjourn when away. That's the whole issue surrounding the recess appointments and pro forma daily conduct of business. They just need to be in place to conduct formal business. Thus 60 days.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/02/2013 10:46
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#7
No.
In person, in their seat. Some of these committee meetings are closed for good reason, never know who else would be sitting in the room.
Turn off the heat and AC, 60 days in the Spring and 60 days in the Fall to conduct business. That leaves 2/3rds of the year to make their under table deals - but everything must be FOIA, down the to receipt for damned waffles. Every phone call, every log-in, and I want to be able to spectate their games of Sim City.
#9
P2K - Congressmen travel during sessions, yes. But *Congress* can't. And this would dis-locate Congressional sessions. The plain text of Article 1, Section 5 seems to prohibit this resolution on its face. Makes a mockery of quorums, anyway. And it's already too damn easy for aides to vote for their senile senators, rolling them around like Mechanical Turks in wheelchairs...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/02/2013 16:25
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#10
60 days a year. Some just pull 'duty' in the beltway while the rest are out. 12 months that 5 days a month, normal business week. The original Congress didn't work Sundays and wasn't considered adjourned to be away. 4 to 5 shifts of congresscritters in that month, place is covered.
#11
Better yet - move the 'Capital' so that congress has to meet in some randomly selected congressional district every 2 years. And by random I mean truly random - if they find themselves meeting in some cow barn in Bumfuck County, Minnesota in January - then so be it.
[Al Ahram] 16 people have been killed and 781 maimed in violence across Egypt since Sunday, according to the health ministry.
Nine of the deaths took place in Cairo and seven in the governorates of Alexandria, Beni Suef, Kafr El-Sheikh, Fayoum and Assiut.
Eight of the nine Cairo deaths happened as violence flared outside the Moslem Brüderbund headquarters in the suburb of Moqattam, when those inside fired at youth hurling petrol bombs and stones at the building.
The four-storey headquarters was overrun and ransacked by dozens of youths on Monday morning following a night of deadly violence which the Islamist group blamed on "thugs."
Also in Cairo, 23-year-old man died "from pneumonia and shortness of breath" outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace, a focal point of Sunday's million-strong rallies against Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
Millions of Egyptians erupted into the streets across the country on Sunday to call for Morsi to step down, while tens of thousands of the president's mostly Islamist backers have been camped out for the fourth consecutive day outside a local mosque in Cairo in support of his electoral mandate.
Factional rivalries have triggered street fighting across Egypt over the past week, with mounting fears of further violence over the coming days of demonstrations.
On Sunday, three protesters were rubbed out in Upper Egypt's Assiut in festivities between supporters and opponents of the beleaguered president.
One protester was killed in similar deadly festivities in Egypt's second city of Alexandria, one in the Nile Delta's Kafr El-Sheikh, one in Beni Suef and one in Fayoum.
In Alexandria, a woman died on Monday after succumbing to injuries sustained on Friday. She had been accidentally shot by a birdshot pellet while standing on her balcony watching festivities between rival demonstrations in the Mediterranean city
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[MAGHAREBIA] Algerian troops uncovered a terror support network east of blood-stained Tizi Ouzou, Tout sur l'Algerie reported on Sunday (June 30th). The operation followed the arrest of a terrorist in possession of grenades in the town of Aïn El Hammam. The four suspects are from Ihesnaouen, where ANP troops last week discovered a terrorist bunker full of supplies.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#3
Yep. Oakland. Right up front. It was too close. Couldn't hear the guitar very well. Those guys are looking real ropey. It was a good show but not going to see them again.
[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: At least four people including three activists of Sunni Tehrik ...formed in Karachi in 1992 under by Muhammad Saleem Qadri. It quickly fell to trading fisticuffs and assassinations with the MQM and the Sipah-e-Sahaba, with at least a half dozen of its major leaders rubbed out. Sunni Tehreek arose to become the primary opposition to the Deobandi Binori Mosque, headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was eventually bumped off by person or persons unknown. ST's current leadership has heavily criticized the Deobandi Jihadi leaders, accusing them of being sponsored by Indian Intelligence agencies as well as involvement in terrorist activities... (ST) were rubbed out in separate incidents of assassination on Monday.
A worker of ST was shod dead at Sector 5-F, New Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... .
Police officials said the victim Junaid Sultan, 22, was standing outside his home, when unidentified armed riders approached him and opened fire. As a result, he was struck down in his prime. The body was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) for an appointment with Dr. Quincy.
A local leader of ST was bumped off in Block-2, Baldia Town. Police said the victim Farooq, 35, son of Noor Mohammad left to his home for a workplace, where unidentified gunnies riding a cycle of violence intercepted him and opened fire. He was struck down in his prime. Further investigation is underway.
Another activist of ST was rubbed out at Sector 11-F, New Karachi within the remits of New Karachi Police station.
Police officials said person or persons unknown riding a motorbike sprayed bullets on victim Aslam Qadri and escaped. The boy succumbed to his wounds. ST Spokesman said four activist of ST had been rubbed out in separate incidents of assassination in last two days and slammed the law enforcers for not providing their workers protection.
A rickshaw driver was rubbed out near Jona Masjid within the limits of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... i cop shoppe.
Police said unidentified armed motorcyclist intercepted the victim, Zubair, and shot him multiple times, thus killing him on the spot. Police said the victim was a resident of Haji Peer Mohammad Goth and ran a rickshaw. The body was shifted to (CHK) for postmortem.
A body of a man was found near from graveyard, Indus Plaza within the remits of Soharab Goth cop shoppe.
Police said the dear departed was identified as Javed Khan, resident of Machar Colony. They said unidentified culprits kidnapped the victim from somewhere and later dumped his body after shooting him multiple times. Police said that deceased was affiliated with criminals group.
Another body of a man was found at Dee silva Town within the remits of Shahreh-e-Noor Jahan cop shoppe.
Police said unknown culprits kidnapped the victim and later threw his body at the said place after torture. The body was shifted to Civil Hospital, Karachi (CHK), where the dear departed was identified as Imran aka Kawa, resident of Qasba colony.
Similarly, a bullet-riddled, tortured mark body of a man was found near from Dua Hotel within the remits of Kalri cop shoppe.
Police said unidentified culprits kidnapped him from somewhere and later threw his body after torture and shooting him multiple times. The body was shifted to the CHK for an appointment with Dr. Quincy. Deceased was later identified as Imran, resident of Qasba Colony.
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[Al Ahram] The headquarters of the moderate Egyptian Islamist party Wasat was set on fire on Monday, in an expansion of attacks on Islamist organizations across the country.
Unidentified assailants threw petrol bombs at the building.
Earlier on Monday, the headquarters of the ruling Moslem Brüderbund was overrun by youths who ransacked the building after those inside were evacuated following a night of violence that killed eight people.
The Wasat Party was founded in the 1990s by former members of the ruling Moslem Brüderbund but was not officially permitted until after the 2011 uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
The party has allied itself with the Brotherhood since President Mohamed Mursi took office a year ago. It proposed a draft law for judicial reform in the Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament, sparking a revolt among thousands of judges earlier this year.
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[MAGHAREBIA] With turbulent conditions across North Africa, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is trying to take advantage of the situation by stepping up its multimedia campaign.
Last Thursday (June 27th), al-Andalus Media Productions aired an audio and video news bulletin entitled "Monthly Report of AQIM".
The piece recorded 3 days earlier contained a summary of recent terror tapes and a full report on recent al-Qaeda operations in Sahel-Saharan countries. It also drew attention to the terror network's new Twitter account and AQIM blog.
The new video sought to target citizens by using the terrorist organization's own "country names", such as al-Manara [i.e. Mauritania] and Kairouan [i.e. Tunisia].
The list included an admonition to Ennahda in Tunisia by Algerian AQIM leader Sheikh Abu Abdulillah Ahmed al-Jijeli. Mauritanian Abu Yahya al-Chinguetti also delivered an address to the people of Tunisia urging them to support Sharia.
Other propaganda messages were aimed at audiences in Mauritania and Mali while Sheikh al-Jijeli wrote an article where he railed against the Algerian government.
The most prominent points in the latest recorded message focused on addressing the political regime in Tunisia, represented by Ennahda, according to Islamion.com.
The message also included a repetition of what Sheikh al-Jijeli said when he confirmed that the group would adhere to the recommendations of Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... not to target post-revolution governments, extend a hand of co-operation with them to apply Sharia, "liberate" Mohammedan countries and consider the country of Kairouan as land of preaching.
The sheikh then demanded Ennahda review its policies towards the group and to apply Sharia. Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter awoke groggily, his hand still stuck in the Ming vase... he warned it of the consequences of injustice.
However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... the spokesperson for the terrorist organization said al-Qaeda was prepared to discuss any issue with Ennahda and reiterated their support of Ansar al-Sharia ...a Yemeni Islamist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends... and other radical groups.
Although AQIM's intervention in Maghreb politics is not new, the latest bulletin carries symbolic connotations that may be different from previous connotations, said Sid Ahmed Ould Tfeil, an expert in salafist groups' ideology.
"Al-Qaeda's speech and its various statements are only a political, security manoeuvre that mainly targets the political elite in Arab Spring countries. However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... these statements also carry implied messages for the peoples," he said.
Ould Tfeil added that "Al-Qaeda wants to say that it sympathises with the vulnerable governments in Arab Spring countries. This is, however, in the interest of al-Qaeda itself because it too suffers from precariousness and crackdowns, but hides this feeling with this show of force."
Hamdi Ould Abdullah, a political analyst, told Magharebia that through this statement, the Maghreb branch of al-Qaeda wants to say that it was a partner in the Arab Spring revolutions and, on the other hand, it wants to prove relations with the parent al-Qaeda at a time when all other terrorist branches, whether in Syria or Iraq, are suffering from lack of harmony.
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[Al Ahram] Egypt's interior ministry has issued a statement declaring its "full support" for the armed forces' Monday statement regarding political developments in Egypt.
"The police forces announce their full solidarity with the armed forces' statement out of concern for national security and Egypt's best interests at this critical juncture," read the ministry statement.
The interior ministry reiterated its vow to perform its role of protecting the citizenry and vital institutions, as well as safeguarding protesters' security.
"The police force stands at equal distance from all political powers; it is not biased towards one faction of society at the expense of another," the statement read.
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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is in Moscow to attend the second Summit of Gas Exporting Countries Forum, met with a group of Iranians residing in Moscow and told them Iran and Russia cannot be enemies of each other, IRNA reported.
On relations between Iran and Russia, the president said the two countries are historical neighbours and cannot be enemies of each other.
'Our friendship is in favor of the two nations and all regional countries and must be strengthened', said President Ahmadinejad.
Fortunately for Iran, the president of Russia follows the same policy.
Stressing that development of relations is the basis of social life, the president said further relations with all countries and people who are against hegemony is among the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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[Pak Daily Times] Law enforcers killed an alleged bandit in an encounter, and placed in durance vile Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! around 20 suspects during separate targeted raids on Monday.
Mobina Town police claimed to have arrested an alleged hit man Babu Bangali, son of Qadir Sheikh, wanted in the murder case of a Pakistain People's Party (PPP) worker Imran Butt.
Police officials arrested the suspect in a targeted raid carried out in Rajput Colony, an area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Police said that the accused killed PPP's worker along with his brother Babal Bangali and accomplices Anwar and Nanno in 2010 in Surjani Town. It is worth mentioning that the police nabbed the brother and accomplices after few months, however, Babu was in hiding.
Separately, Steel Town police patrol foiled a robbery bid after a brief encounter, and arrested one alleged robber in Surjani Town. Bandits started shooting to escape the scene, however in retaliatory firing one bandit Husnain sustained bullet injuries and was abandoned by his accomplices who fled.
Moreover, Rangers claimed to have held 17 notorious criminals including members of banned outfits and hit mans during raids in Ittehad Town, an area of Baldia Town and Liaquatabad. Officials also claim to have recovered huge caches of weapons, eight bombs and police uniforms from their possession.
Similarly, West zone police apprehended an alleged targeted killer Naveed alias Choto during a raid at Kunwari Colony, an area of Manghopir and recovered TT pistol, snatched police SMG and a cracker bomb from his custody. Police said that the accused is wanted in 16 cases of murder, including liquidation of six coppers.
In another foiled robbery bid, an alleged bandit Mohammad Gulab died and another escaped after a brief police encounter. Police also recovered a TT pistol from his custody.
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[Osun Defender] The military's Joint Task Force, JTF, in Borno State, Sunday, allayed the fears of people in the state over the activities of the youth vigilante groups hunting the Islamic Fundamentalist sect, 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...
The JTF said the young men are operating under the supervision of the military.
Maiduguri residents had recently began to raise concerns and fears over the activity of the Civilian-JTF especially as regards the possibility of being infiltrated by the Boko Haram or myrmidons.
The JTF Spokesman, Sagir Musa, said in a statement that the Task Force supports and "commends the heroic and patriotic efforts of citizens and residents of the state especially the youths who are daily rising against Boko Haram Terrorism in the state".
"The JTF has since commenced the process of monitoring, guiding and regulating the activities of the vigilant youths with the view to making them operate within the ambit of the law.
"This is in order to making them more useful in fighting Boko Haram terrorism in Borno without becoming a nuisance to the society.
"The JTF therefore requested the public to support, cooperate with the youths and report any noticed unwholesome acts of the youths to the security agencies or any JTF locations nearest to them".
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[Pak Daily Times] On the same day, 28 people were killed and 65 maimed in a suicide kaboom near a holy manbargah (mosque) in Quetta, 17 people were killed and 46 maimed in a car kaboom on a Frontier Corps (FC) convoy in Badaber in the outskirts of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , and eight people were killed and 12 maimed in kabooms in South Wazoo. If the count of those killed and maimed is totted up, the day could rightly be termed Bloody Sunday. The suicide kaboom attack in Quetta was aimed at the imambargah in congested Hazara Town, where massive bombings killed more than 200 people earlier this year. Prayers had just finished in the imambargah, and had the jacket wallah succeeded in reaching it, the toll would almost certainly have been higher. Fortunately (if one can use that word for an incident that nevertheless killed and injured so many), the attacker was stopped at a checkpoint set up by local volunteers and went kaboom! some 50 yards from the imambargah. It is inexplicable why, when the area in question and the Hazara community in particular had been the target of horrendous bombings a few months ago, the security forces were not manning checkpoints instead of local community volunteers (many of whom must be amongst the dead and maimed as a result). This 'lapse' is likely to resurrect the Baloch nationalists' contention that the security forces are concentrating on Baloch dissidents, attempting to quell the trouble through their 'kill and dump' policy, while turning a 'blind eye' to the activities of bully boyz such as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... (LeJ), which took responsibility for the attacks earlier this year. If the security forces wish to avoid such odious accusations, they should ensure the LeJ and other terrorist outfits 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... are taken out and the kill and dump policy is at least put on hold if not abandoned to give peace a chance in the troubled province. In the Badaber bombing, although the target was a FC convoy, most of the victims were innocent people since the boom-mobile was parked in a busy market and detonated by remote control. Security forces sources said this attack may have been a response to the security sweeps carried out in the area in recent days. In two separate attacks, four members of a peace committee and four soldiers were killed and at least 12 people injured in the Wana/Miranshah ... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas... area of South Waziristan.
This toll of human lives in one day in the troubled western borderlands adjoining Afghanistan serves to focus minds on the impending withdrawal of foreign troops and the efforts to get some sort of political settlement in Afghanistan before that withdrawal. Visiting British Prime Minister (PM) David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... in a joint presser with PM Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... in Islamabad on Sunday put what he thought was needed unequivocally: "...a tough and uncompromising security response..." to terrorism. He added that such a response must be accompanied by investment in education and tackling poverty. Cameron went on to describe the situation because of terrorism as a common threat and huge global challenge. As part of the strategic dialogue with Pakistain, the British PM has promised help in providing technical support for the new counter-terrorism policy being contemplated by Nawaz Sharif's government along with equipment to deal with improvised bombs, the weapon of choice of the terrorists. He has also extended help to Pakistain in ensuring the security of infrastructure and sharing expertise on safeguarding sporting events. Nawaz Sharif on the other hand, while condemning the bombing attacks, expressed his government's resolve to conduct the struggle against terrorism until it was overcome. He also reiterated his government's commitment to a peace deal in Afghanistan, a precarious process that was almost stillborn after the Taliban opened their office in Doha. Peace in Afghanistan, as both PMs reiterated, is crucial for Pakistain, which has lost over 40,000 people killed since 2004, 2,500 of them in this year alone (signifying an intensification of the terrorists' campaign), and suffered estimated losses of $ 60 billion to the economy. The new counter-terrorism policy of the PML-N government is anxiously awaited, not the least because of the happenings on Bloody Sunday.
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[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain has floated the concept of an Afghan power-sharing arrangement between Kabul and the Taliban as part of a peace talks "end game", Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Ershad Ahmadi said on Monday, a suggestion met with outrage in Kabul.
The idea was raised in a Friday meeting between Pak National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz and Afghan ambassador Umer Daudzai, Ahmadi told Rooters. It involved a form of federalism and ceding power in some Afghan provinces to the Taliban. The suggestion dashed hopes of a reset in the relationship between the South Asian neighbours following the election of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... last month. It also suggests a visit by British Prime David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... to the region at the weekend to promote the Afghan-Pakistain relationship as well as peace talks with the Taliban had failed before he had even arrived.
"We believe this federalism is a means for the Paks to achieve what they could not achieve through their proxy (the Taliban) on the battlefield," Ahmadi said. In Islamabad, Foreign Ministry front man Aizaz Chaudry denied any suggestion of ceding territory had been made during the meeting. "It was a courtesy call during which the adviser and ambassador also discussed bilateral relations. No reference was made to ceding of provinces to Taliban," Chaudhry told Rooters. Pakistain has a considerable influence over the Afghan Taliban leadership, thought to be based in Quetta.
It is seen as crucial to US and Afghan efforts to promote peace in Afghanistan, a task that is gaining urgency as NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... troops prepare to withdraw from the country by the end of 2014. Afghanistan has long accused Pakistain of playing a double game regarding the 12-year-old war, saying its neighbour, facing a Taliban insurgency of its own, makes public pronouncements about peace, but allows elements of its military to play a spoiling role. Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... also voiced his concern about Pakistain's motive in the grinding of the peace processor during a Saturday news conference with Cameron, saying that "delivering a province or two to the Taliban" would be perceived as an invasion by the Afghan people.
Pakistain was not immediately able to comment on what was said by Aziz or its view of Ahmadi's assertions. Ahmadi also said the ceremonial opening of the Taliban office in the Gulf state of Qatar's capital, Doha, which raised angry protests in Kabul that the office had the appearance of a government-in-exile, was part of a Pak plan designed to increase the bully boys' international prestige. "There are elements within the Pak government who have a grand design of using the grinding of the peace processor as a means to undermine the Afghan state and establish little fiefdoms around the country in which the Taliban -- its most important strategic asset in Afghanistan -- play an influential role," he said.
Before Afghanistan suspended talks in Doha, US officials had said they would have stuck to an insistence that the Taliban break ties with al Qaeda, end violence and accept the Afghan constitution, including protection for women and minorities. Ahmadi said despite hopes the new Nawaz administration "may curb meddling in Afghan affairs", Kabul now felt the civilian administration was aiding the double game played by the military and the country's powerful intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
"While we believe there are elements of the military and the ISI who endeavour to weaken the Afghan state, their narrative seems to be getting some kind of buy-in from other state institutions and that's a major concern," he said. In particular, the ISI had played a significant role in the events in Doha, Ahmadi said. Part of the reason Kabul was so outraged by the opening of the Taliban office was the use of symbols, including the Taliban flag that had not been approved as part of the peace deal. Soon after that flag was taken down, some or all of the Taliban delegates held a meeting with ISI officers in Doha, Ahmadi said. "We do monitor these things and we know there have been regular interactions," Ahmadi said.
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#1
We believe this federalism is a means for the Paks to achieve what they could not achieve through their proxy (the Taliban) on the battlefield,"
How true! Paks are no friends of the West/India/Afghanistan etc.
Posted by: Paul D ||
07/02/2013 11:35
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#2
Pakistan is working to consume Afghanistan via the Taliban (again) by differential amounts.
[An Nahar] Two bombings, one a suicide kaboom, in Shiite Mohammedan areas of confessionally mixed Diyala province, north of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... , killed eight people and maimed dozens on Monday evening, officials said.
The attacks were the latest in spiraling violence that has coupled with a prolonged political deadlock and months of anti-government protests to spark concern Iraq could see a revival of brutal sectarian war.
In Muqdadiyah, northeast of Storied Baghdad, a jacket wallah set off his explosives-rigged vest in the middle of a funeral for a Shiite man, a police colonel said.
The 10:00 pm (1900 GMT) attack killed at least five people and maimed 15, the officer and a doctor at the local hospital said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Alamo, Davy was counting their remaining cannon balls and not liking the results... in the nearby thriving provincial capital Baquba, a bomb went off at a cafe in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood, killing three people and wounding 12.
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
[Al Ahram] "I want to tell the US administration: you are so fake because when you talk about democracy you don't really mean it. You supported [ousted President Hosni] Mubarak for 30 years because he was serving your interests and when you found someone else [President Mohamed Morsi] who could serve these interests you decided to support him -- against the will of the population," said Madiha, a woman in her 30s protesting near the presidential palace in Heliopolis on Sunday.
Wearing a headscarf in the colours of the Egyptian flag, Madiha, a pharmacist, said that she could not believe "the stupidity of the Americans. They are making the same mistakes; they are siding with the dictator and I am sure that in a few days they will realise they've made a mistake and they will try to convince us that they were on our side. But this time it will not work."
Madiha and her friends were marching among endless crowds expressing their anger against President Mohamed Morsi who was celebrating his first year in office.
There were even larger demonstrators in Tahrir Square and elsewhere across the nation. For Western diplomats in Cairo and in Western capitals, especially Washington, it was a surprise to see millions of demonstrators demanding a premature end to the four-year term of Morsi, the Moslem Brother who made it "from prison to palace."
In the words of one European diplomat in Cairo, "This is so much bigger than what we anticipated. I mean even bigger than we were anticipating yesterday [Saturday] when it was becoming clear that the demonstrations would be bigger than we had anticipated," she said.
Speaking before the marches that began at sunset, she added, "At the end of the day, and despite what we had expected, we will have to come around and acknowledge the choices made by the Egyptian people."
Until last week, Washington was under the impression that "nothing really big is expected in Cairo" and only a few thousand middle class people who had never liked the Moslem Brüderbund would show up.
By sunset in Cairo, the number of demonstrators was growing and according to Ahram Online sources there was an extended debate in Washington over whether or not the US should go beyond the "we are concerned and all parties must talk" comments adopted by US President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... two days ago, or if the line should be to "wait and see" the outcome to make sure that it was not a one-day show of strength by Mubarak regime remnants.
"[The US] is confused; they are not sure what to predict simply because nobody knows how things will unfold. I think when it becomes clearer that the people will stick to their demands and the number of demonstrators will not decline in the next few days, then one can expect a shift of the announced position from the US -- especially because it seems clear the army is not going to turn against the people," one Washington-based foreign diplomat said.
Several Western capitals have been asking the Moslem Brüderbund leadership for their reaction. For the most part the Islamist group's reaction has been three-fold: the volume of demonstrators is bound to decline; there are also demonstrators supporting Morsi; it will take a few days before the whole matter is defused; and Morsi is capable of getting over this difficult period as he did last autumn when he was faced with demonstrations over the constitutional declaration.
But according to Western diplomats, the Moslem Brüderbund leadership does not sound comfortable. "Actually, they tell us they will have the upper hand but they don't sound it at all," said a Cairo-based Western diplomat.
Speaking to Ahram Online, some Brotherhood members reiterated the traditional line that the "Moslem Brüderbund does not interfere in the affairs of the presidency," but added that there would be more demonstrations in support of President Morsi in the coming days.
So far, Morsi supporters have only been protesting in Cairo's Nasr City. This offers a striking contrast to the protests against Morsi in almost every governorate.
For the Brotherhood members who spoke to Ahram Online, these demonstrators are to the credit of Morsi because it shows a truly democratic president who does not oppress protestors like Mubarak did.
"Yes, we feel safe of course and that is why we are here with our children and wives," said Hassan, an engineer in his 40s demonstrating against President Morsi outside the presidential palace on Sunday. "It is very obvious from everything the police and army have been saying during the past few days that demonstrators would be safe."
Hassan's words were interrupted by an SMS from a friend in Tahrir Square. He read it and announced "army helicopters flying over Tahrir Square are dropping Egyptian flags; it is a sign that we will have our way."
He added, "Yes, we will have our way and the Americans and everybody else will have to agree because their interests are with the people. It was clear by what they did with Mubarak who had been their obedient servant all the time."
A merger between the will of the people and the army is something Washington would have to heed. In the words of an Egyptian diplomat, "Perhaps there will come a moment when the Americans will decide that it is in their interests to speed up and support the demonstrators, especially because there are indications that Jihadists are already creating unrest in Sinai -- this is the red line that Israel, and therefore the Americans, will not allow anyone to pass."
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A medical examiner's investigator says Chris Kelly of the `90s rap duo Kriss Kross died of a drug overdose.
Kerry said the two countries both believe the meeting should take sooner rather than later, but acknowledged it might not be possible until August or later.
While in Africa, Obama repeatedly has praised Bush for helping save millions of lives by funding AIDS treatment. "I'm looking forward to being able, on African soil, to once again thank him on behalf of the American people for showing how American generosity and foresight could end up making a real difference in people's lives," Obama said Monday.
Gordon Brown
Goodluck Jonathan
BALTIMORE (WJZ/AP) -- The surge in violence continues in Baltimore as the police report more shootings, the last of which happened late Saturday in Northeast Baltimore. At least 40 shootings have happened in the last 10 days and 16 of them were deadly.
[An Nahar] U.S. President 
[An Nahar] A Jordanian air force captain has allegedly "deserted" and joined Syria's jihadist Al-Nusra Front to fight against 
President Asif Ali 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr has asked for the DNA samples of Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir's mother and the brother of singer-turned Salafist Fadel Shaker, the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Mohamed Morsi's regime has indicated that it will not give in to the threat of a military coup, just hours after the Egyptian army gave it 48 hours to placate the millions who have taken to the streets calling for the president's departure. The head of Egypt's armed forces, General Abdel Fattah Sisi, threatened direct military involvement in the political process "if the demands of the people are not realised", in a statement implying that Morsi should either step down or at least call early elections. The presidency indicated that it viewed the statement as a coup d'etat, and implied that Morsi was safe as long as his administration still had US support.
[FOXNEWS] The director of the embattled Vatican bank and his deputy have resigned following the latest developments in a broadening finance scandal.
[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: At least four people including three activists of 
Zawahiri
[Pak Daily Times] Law enforcers killed an alleged bandit in an encounter, and 
Wazoo
David Cameron
Nawaz Sharif
[Al Ahram] "I want to tell the US administration: you are so fake because when you talk about democracy you don't really mean it. You supported [ousted President Hosni] Mubarak for 30 years because he was serving your interests and when you found someone else [President Mohamed Morsi] who could serve these interests you decided to support him -- against the will of the population," said Madiha, a woman in her 30s protesting near the presidential palace in Heliopolis on Sunday.
