TEGUCIGALPA, HondurasIn a high-stakes move to reclaim his post, ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya tried to fly to this Central American nation on Sunday. The provisional government said it would turn the aircraft away, even as it signaled a new willingness to negotiate a solution to the region's biggest political crisis in years.
Honduras' civil aviation director said Mr. Zelaya's plane was being redirected to El Salvador.
Mr. Zelaya, a leftist kicked out by Honduras' army last week in his nightshirt, departed from Washington to Tegucigalpa on an aircraft believed to belong to Venezuela's government. He was accompanies by the U.N. General Assembly president, Miguel D'Escoto. Also along for the ride was Argentine President Cristina Kirchner in her official plane and another plane carrying journalists.
"The blood of Christ sustains me," Mr. Zelaya said in a brief interview aboard the plane with Venezuela's state-run TV network Telesur.
For the first time since the crisis broke a week ago, Honduras' provisional government signaled it would be willing to negotiate a solution to the crisis, which took a dramatic turn last Sunday when soldiers forced Mr. Zelaya to leave the country after he insisted on holding a referendum that critics said was aimed at him staying in power.
Interim deputy foreign minister Martha Lorena Alvarado told a news conference the government would be willing to meet in "good faith" with the Organization of American States, according to AFP. A senior U.S. official also said Honduras was willing to negotiate, according to Reuters.
Could be a smart move -- drag it out, talk it to death, and keep Zelaya out of the country in the meantime so that people are asking, "Manuel who?"
The move by Honduras' provisional government to talk came a day after the OAS voted to suspend the country from the multilateral body, which has 34 active members. Earlier, Honduras' provisional government said it would rather be kicked out of the OAS than allow Mr. Zelaya to return to the presidential seat.
In a sign of how the crisis is causing regional tensions to flare, Honduras said Nicaragua's army were carrying out small-scale troops movements near the border between both nations, which were bitter Cold War enemies during the 1980s Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega is back in power in Managua.
Honduras' interim president Roberto Micheletti said the troop movements were "small" and "nothing to worry about," but warned Nicaragua to back off and said Honduras would be watching events closely.
The country's acting leaders have said repeatedly they would arrest Mr. Zelaya if he managed to return. In the days after he was sent packing to Costa Rica by Honduras' military, the provisional government has accused Mr. Zelaya of multiple crimes, from treason to drug trafficking. The AP on Sunday said the interim government had ordered the military to prevent Mr. Zelaya's plane or any unidentified one from landing.
If Mr. Zelaya manages to return somehow, the chances of a violent confrontation appear high. Responding to a call by the ousted president, thousands of his supporters turned up at the Tegucigalpa airport to show their support. But an equal number of Hondurans are adamant they don't want the president to return.
Honduras' influential Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez, the highest ranking Catholic Church official in the country, went on national television to urge the exiled president not to come back. "We think that a return to the country at this time could unleash a bloodbath in the country," Cardinal Rodriguez said. "To this day, no Honduran has died. Please meditate because afterwards it would be too late."
The prelate also criticized Mr. Zelaya, suggesting the Church was throwing its weight behind the provisional government. "The day of your swearing in, you clearly quoted the three commandments of the sacred law of God: Not to lie, not to steal, and not to kill," said the Cardinal, who was seen as a leading candidate to succeed the late Pope John Paul II.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009
16:45 ||
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good to see the Cardinal is supporting the legitimate government against OAS and Obama Admin/DOS lies and "meddling".
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2009 17:07
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Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2009 17:43
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good to see the Cardinal is supporting the legitimate government
Yet another reason for Zero, U.N., and the rest of the MSM to oppose the legitimate government. Can't have a christian institution involved in politics.
(Islamic, Environmental, or just plain Selfish religions are OK - just not Jewish or Christian - they tend to not allow as much corruption).
AMRITSAR: Pakistan-based terrorists attacked two villages, Dhandae and Baherwal, in Attari block in Amritsar with rockets late on Saturday night, injuring one youth and spreading panic in the region. One of the three rockets fell within the Pakistani territory.
This is the first time that Indian villages along the International Border have been targeted during peace time from Pakistani soil. It was on March 30 this year that 12 armed Taliban terrorists had attacked the Manawan Police Academy in Pakistan's Punjab, barely 8km from the Indian border (and about 10km from the two villages), and killed eight people. Three of the attackers wearing suicide jackets then blew themselves up, while four were caught and taken to an undisclosed destination.
"On Saturday night, around 9.50pm, three rockets were fired from the Pakistani side of which two landed in Dhandae and Baherwal villages close to the International Border. A youth was injured,'' said BSF Inspector General Himmat Singh.
Saying the rockets could have been fired by Pakistan-based terror groups, IG Himmat Singh said, "We held a commandant-level meeting on Saturday night with Pakistan Rangers and conveyed our strong protest." He also said Pakistan Rangers assured them of an investigation into the incident.
BSF officers said the rocket must have covered at least 4.5km, which means it must have been fired from a site 2km inside Pakistan. They also said the attack could have been a retaliatory action to the killing of a Pakistani intruder, presumably a Taliban member or from some other terrorist group, by BSF on Saturday afternoon near the border fence.
The attack poses a serious threat to thousands of locals as well as tourists who visit the Attari checkpost to watch the Beating Retreat ceremony. The BSF does not have the weaponry or defence system to thwart such rocket attacks from across the border.
The rocket in Dhandae fell in an irrigated paddy field and exploded, leaving a crater about 10 feet wide. Residents panicked and rushed out of their homes for safety. A part of the paddy field was also burnt. Senior BSF, Army and police officials soon reached the spot.
Dilbagh Singh (24), an eyewitness who received splinter injuries, said, "I saw a ball of fire falling in the paddy field and then something hit my leg. I got scared and limped away from the site."
Another eyewitness Sukhwinder Kaur said, "We panicked and ran out of our homes as it seemed like Pakistan had attacked us. What if the rocket had hit our houses?" she asked.
BSF found the tail of the rocket and another part bearing a mark, `07R'. Some BSF jawans said they saw the rocket at a height of about 300 metres from ground level coming in from the Pakistani side on Saturday night. Further measures to strengthen the security along the border are being taken.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/05/2009
16:15 ||
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Indonesia's devastating 'mud volcano' could keep spewing for the next 30 years, filling the equivalent of 50 Olympic-size swimming pools every day, a top Australian expert warned on Thursday.
Curtin University of Technology's doctor Mark Tingay, who has just returned from the disaster site in East Java, said about 100,000 people remained under threat from subsidence three years after the volcano first erupted.
"In effect, the whole region around the vent hole is sinking by about two to five centimetres each day due to the rising mud level, causing more damage to suburban villages and triggering frequent bursts of flammable gas around homes," he said, according to a Geological Society of Australia statement.
Tingay added that damage caused by the mud, which has been devouring land and homes in Sidoarjo district since May 2, 2006, was estimated at about 4.9 billion dollars.
The volcano has buried 12 villages, killed 13 people, displaced more than 42,000 residents and wiped out 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of densely populated farming and industrial land.
He said the volcano could produce enough scalding mud to fill Sydney Harbour twice over in the next 30 years but admitted the time-scale was only an estimate.
"The high flow-rate may only continue for two to three years, or it might continue for hundreds of years," Tingay said. "And like other mud volcanoes, Lusi will probably be in existence for thousands of years, even if its flow-rate subsides," he added.
Australian oil and gas giant Santos, which was drilling in the area when the volcano erupted, by September had declared previsions of just 88.5 million dollars to cover the clean-up cost.
In December, Santos exited the project and said it would pay an Indonesian firm 22.5 million US dollars "to support long-term mud management efforts" at the site.
#2
You know, this is one of those reasons why my Geology professor likes to say, "I wouldn't want to live there" And he doesn't. Apparently the criteria was no volcanoes, big earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes or polar bears.
Via Instpundit.
It seems Honduras might not be the only nation the Armed Forces may to escort a president out of the country.
With the clock running out on a new US-Russian arms treaty before the previous Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires on December 5, a senior White House official said Sunday said that the difficulty of the task might mean temporarily bypassing the Senates constitutional role in ratifying treaties by enforcing certain aspects of a new deal on an executive levels and a provisional basis until the Senate ratifies the treaty.
"The most ideal situation would be to finish it in time that it could be submitted to the Senate so that it can be ratified," said White House Coordinator for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Security and Arms Control Gary Samore. "If we're not able to do that, we'll have to look at arrangements to continue some of the inspection provisions, keep them enforced in a provisional basis, while the Senate considers the treaty."
Samore said administration lawyers are exploring the "different options that are available. One option is that both sides could agree to continue the inspections by executive agreement; that would work on our side. On the Russian side, as I understand it, that would require Duma approval."
The fact that the administration is preparing for such an extraordinary measure shows just how much pressure the two administrations are under to arrive at an agreement before the 18-year-old treaty expires. While resident Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are expected to announce progress tomorrow on a nuclear arms reduction treaty nicknamed New START -- to take effect in just five short months, many sticking points that remain unresolved.
The 1991 START treaty's pending expiration means we are under the gun to try to get something to replace it by the end of the year, Michael McFaul, special assistant to the President and senior director for Russian and Eurasian Affairs, told reporters last week. "Never Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste." Even a phony baloney made up one.
Posted by: ed ||
07/05/2009
15:21 ||
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Headline got cut off: US-Russian Arms Negotiators "Under the Gun," Might Temporarily Bypass Senate Ratification for Treaty
Also: It seems Honduras might not be the only nation the Armed Forces may need to escort a president out of the country.
Posted by: ed ||
07/05/2009 15:27
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Then it can't be a treaty!
Constitution 101 Obama.
Didn't you need that for your law degree?
#3
the difficulty of the task might mean temporarily bypassing the Senate's constitutional role in ratifying treaties by enforcing certain aspects of a new deal on an executive levels and a "provisional basis" until the Senate ratifies the treaty.
Excuse me?
Posted by: john frum ||
07/05/2009 16:03
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Adjunct Lecturer in Unconstitutional Law.
Perhaps this would be a good question for our Wise Latina Sotomayor in her hearings: "Is the President an unconstitutional hack or just a tin-pot dictator? Discuss"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2009 16:08
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This isn't a issue. This sort of thing has happened in the past, and a President can agree, on an executive basis, to abide by certain terms with another country. If it's going to cost money he has to get an appropriation, of course.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009 16:11
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Samore said administration lawyers are exploring the "different options
How about contacting someone at Room SR-228, Russell Senae Office Building United States Senate Armed Services Committee. Maybe the've got an idea or two worth exploring.
AFSPC is exploring opportunities in academia and the commercial sector that could provide suitable cost-effective means for augmenting Space Command's Space Surveillance mission. The Allen Telescope Array (ATA), located in Northern California is one such opportunity.
The ATA which is operated by the SETI Institute and its partner, the Radio Astronomy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley is a radio interferometer dedicated to cutting-edge astronomical research. This array of antennas is optimized to receive and process a very wide portion of the radio spectrum and can observe many areas of the sky at once.
AFSPC, through the Space Innovation and Development Center (SIDC), is evaluating the possible use of the ATA to augment the SSN, potentially leveraging the array to help increase space situational awareness.
Initial demonstrations show promise for the ATA to track transmitting communication satellites in Low Earth Orbit, Medium Earth Orbit and, most promising, in Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO), which is home to the most costly, highly-utilized, and vital satellites that orbit the earth. If demonstrations are successful, the ATA may prove to be a viable all-weather, day and night contributor to the SSA mission.
The Honduran president was preparing to fly home Sunday on a small jet, defying a military order from the government that ousted him to prevent the plane from landing. The U.N. General Assembly president planned to be his only international escort.
Several other planes were leaving Washington separately to avoid a direct confrontation, trailing Zelaya to see what happens in the skies over Honduras before deciding where to land. They include two planeloads of journalists and a group of Latin American presidents flying with the secretary-general of the Organization of American States.
Posted by: ed ||
07/05/2009
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They include two planeloads of journalists and a group of Latin American presidents flying with the secretary-general of the Organization of American States
a sortie with shoot-down orders if Honduran airspace is violated would do a helluva lotta good for democracy in latin america
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2009 15:26
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HONDURAS is now claiming that NICARAGUA [Daniel Ortega] is moving troops to the borders???
Huge gray military airplanes flying as low as 100 feet from the ground sprayed Minot and, for the first time, Williston to kill mosquito larvae this spring. Another mission aimed at adult mosquitoes, which can carry diseases such as West Nile virus, is planned for later this month.
The Air Forces aerial spray unit based at Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna, Ohio, has found North Dakota an ideal place for practice because of its large mosquito population, said its chief entomologist, Mark Breidenbaugh.
North Dakota is probably a lifetime customer, he said. Not many states have to call in air strikes from other states.
The shooting death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair raised questions Sunday about his relationship with the 20-year-old woman whose body was found alongside his in his downtown condominium.
McNair, a four-time Pro Bowl selection who was married with four children, was found Saturday with multiple gunshot wounds on a sofa in his living room. The woman was killed by a single gunshot wound and a pistol was discovered near her, police said.
Authorities didn't immediately say who was to blame for the killings, but they weren't looking for any suspects.
Police do not believe McNair's wife was involved, spokesman Don Aaron said. Mechelle McNair, mother of two of his four sons, was expected to collect her husband's belongings from authorities. Funeral arrangements were not expected to be finalized until Monday afternoon at the earliest. "She's still very upset, very distraught," agent Bus Cook said.
Friends declined to describe the relationship between McNair and the woman, Sahel Kazemi, who was a waitress at a restaurant quarterback and his family frequented. Police only described her as a "friend."
A man who answered the door at a house in the Jacksonville, Fla., suburb of Orange Park said it was the home of Kazemi's family, but said her relatives did not want to comment. "We don't have anything to say, please leave us alone," he said.
A Nashville neighbor saw McNair, 36, at Kazemi's Nashville apartment so often two to three times a week that he thought McNair had moved in. McNair never tried to hide his presence but kept to himself.
Neighbor Reagan Howard said Kazemi often was dropped off in the early morning hours by a limousine and upgraded recently from her Kia to a Cadillac Escalade. "It was pretty obvious that she was taken with him," Howard said.
McNair and Kazemi had been together just two days earlier, when she was pulled over driving a 2007 Escalade registered to her and McNair. She was arrested on a DUI charges, and he was allowed to leave in a taxi.
The bodies were discovered by McNair's longtime friend, Wayne Neeley, who rents the condo in the upscale Rutledge Hill neighborhood with McNair.
Posted by: ed ||
07/05/2009
14:54 ||
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That's my headline. AP's: Ex-NFL QB Steve McNair, woman found slain in Tenn.
Posted by: ed ||
07/05/2009 15:02
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Honor killing by her family? man, if that is so you will never see it reported. ROP and all...
#3
Could be. Could also be murder suicide. She was arrested 2 days before for DUI. Perhaps she was cut off from her family and wasn't getting the support she needed from the married McNair. Perhaps I should turn on Entertainment Tonight to get the real scoop.
Posted by: ed ||
07/05/2009 16:12
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Might be a murder-suicide. He says, baby it's over, and she says, you're damned right it is -- BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM. Then she says, oh, whatever have I done -- BLAM.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009 16:14
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The young lady was 20 but she had lived with a previous boyfriend for 4 years said one account. That would make her 16 when she began living with the previous boyfriend. Wonder if he might have had anything to do with it.
The planet Mars conjures images of red rocks and arid, dusty plains, but as NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander showed last year, it snows on Mars.
The stationary robot observed ice crystals falling to the martian surface near the end of its 5-month mission in the arctic Vastitas Borealis plains last year. Today, scientists detail this finding and others in a set of four papers in the journal Science. The research could help shed light on the past and present action of water on the martian surface and characterize the potential habitability of the red planet.
read the comments Military Seeks Common Ground with Scientists on Fireball Data Flap
A few weeks ago I wrote about scientists who were unhappy that a purported clamp down was afoot on their use of data snagged by U.S. military spacecraft -- hush hush satellites that from time to time catch natural cosmic fireballs blazing through Earth's atmosphere.
Digging in on this story is not easy. Military higher-ups and the agencies involved are guarded about how potent their satellite sensors are as they stare at Earth for nuclear detonations, missile launches and the like.
In a new exclusive interview with SPACE.com, U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Robert Rego, who is in charge of the policy guidance behind the data release, said the Air Force Space Command is "circling the wagons" to close some loopholes in the dissemination of potentially sensitive information.
U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher said he's monitoring the situation and expects a solution that favors the needs of scientists.
#1
Actually, I've seen some of the things that the military/CIA agencies would LIKE to share, but don't, because it would comprimise our collecting efforts or provide our enemies with collateral information that would be damaging to the effort. STILL can't talk about them, but they're VERY interesting.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/05/2009 22:27
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The city of Urumqi in China's restive Xinjiang region has been hit by violence with cars burned and traffic blocked, Chinese state media says. An unspecified number of people also attacked passers-by and damaged property, Xinhua news agency said. Police had rushed to the area to maintain order, the agency said.
Xinjiang, in the far west of China, is home to about eight million Muslim Uighurs, some of whom want independence.
The Xinhua report did not say how many people were involved, or suggest a motive. But an eyewitness told a Reuters source in Beijing that the rioters were Uighurs, numbering in their thousands. Uighur activists in Japan and Germany said the same - and said that there had been arrests, AFP news agency said.
China enforces tight controls in Xinjiang and rejects calls from its Muslim Uighur people for self-rule.
The US state department accuses Beijing of human rights abuses in the region. In a report released earlier this year, it said that "severe cultural and religious repression" of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang had increased. Dissidents were being detained and harassed, and tight controls on freedom of speech and the internet were being maintained, it said.
Uighur separatists, meanwhile, have waged a low-level campaign against Chinese rule for decades and there are sporadic outbreaks of violence. But campaigners accuse China of exaggerating the threat to justify tough security clampdowns in the region.
#3
The Xinhua report did not say how many people were involved, or suggest a motive
It isnt at all clear how what seems to have started as a peaceful protest erupted into a riot in Urumqi on Sunday. But events, according to state media, left three Han Chinese dead, and, according to exiled Uighur activist groups, one demonstrator dead and dozens arrested.
Police used batons, fire hoses and tear gas to disperse what had started out as a gathering to demand an investigation into a brawl last month between Uighur and Han Chinese workers at a toy factory in Guangdong in which two Uighurs were reportedly beaten to death. Link
the sub that ran into an undersea mountain in 2005 after reconstruction, rejoins the fleet in San Diego. See the pics of the damaged nose at link and amaze at how it didn't go down,losing all hands.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2009
14:04 ||
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(Sigh)
Spellcheck is my friend,
Spellcheck is my friend
Occasional glasses wipe helps too,
So Solly.
What's with this new quiz to post?
We really get that many trolls, and while I'm at it, my nym's started vanishing again.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/05/2009 21:38
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HTto JWF who notes: "The chicanery just never ends with Connecticut's shady Democrat Senator Chris Dodd. I guess getting the truth from the guy just won't ever happen, so let's hope this Irish cottage becomes a permanent residence for him, especially when he loses his Senate seat in 2010" And I want him to lose it, not 'retire'. I want the political world to see what happens to people like him.
US Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut may have lowballed the value of a vacation property he acquired in a sweetheart deal in Ireland. According to the Democrat's latest financial disclosures, obtained by The Post, Dodd claims his three-bedroom cottage on 10 acres with breathtaking views of the Atlantic is worth $638,000.
This figure falls far short of property values on Inishnee Island, where The Post discovered Dodd's next-door neighbor was selling a much smaller property for $1.2 million. Although Evelyn O'Neill's cottage is slightly larger than Dodd's, with one more bedroom, it sits on only one quarter-acre, she told The Post.
Matt O'Sullivan Auctioneers, a real-estate firm, is handling the sale of O'Neill's property. Matt O'Sullivan said he appraised Dodd's cottage at $638,000 two months ago but refused to answer any further questions.
"Dodd continues to mislead people about the value of his Irish property," charged Tom Fitton, president of the conservative Judicial Watch, a Washington, DC-based ethics watchdog.
But a spokesman for Dodd said that the O'Neill cottage is the one that is overpriced. "The value of the other property you reference is not comparable to the appraised value of the Dodds' cottage. According to the listed real-estate agent, the other property's estimated value is based solely on the owner's asking price, not an appraisal," Bryan DeAngelis said.
In April, Judicial Watch filed a complaint regarding the cottage with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, which is already investigating him for sweetheart mortgage loans he received.
Dodd purchased a one-third interest in the Irish property in 1994 with Kansas businessman William Kessinger for $160,000.
Kessinger was a business partner of disgraced Bear Stearns principal Edward Downe Jr., a longtime friend of Dodd. In 1993, Downe pleaded guilty to insider trading and securities fraud but was pardoned, at Dodd's urging, by then-President Bill Clinton in 2001.
A year later, Dodd bought out Kessinger's share in the cottage for a paltry $127,000.
From 2002 to 2007, Dodd reported that the cottage was worth between $100,001 to $250,000 on his annual Senate financial disclosure forms. In 2002, O'Sullivan appraised Dodd's cottage at about $190,000. Two months ago, O'Sullivan's appraisal rose nearly $500,000.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2009
12:55 ||
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Good riddance.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/05/2009 14:49
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Pakistan: Here We Go Again It appears impossible to get a straight story out of the Government of Pakistan. The other day a bomber on a motorcycle attacked a bus and wounded 30 in Rawalpindi, the Army's HQ. Government said the workers were from an arms manufacturing installation at Taxila, where Pakistan has several armament factories.
Turns out the bus was carrying Kahuta nuclear facility workers.
Now, that doesn't bother us one way or the other, even though it gives the western media another chance to make stories about the danger to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Unlike the west, we aren't the least bit impressed by the handful of weapons Pakistan has, and we're becoming increasingly sure for a variety of reasons we cannot share that actually the Pakistanis are right when they say there is no threat to their arsenal.
What bothers us that there just seems to be no story originating with the Government that is wholly truthfully. This is why we've been skeptical about the counteroffensive against the Taliban in the NWFP. There really is no reason to believe the Government. This bus incident is just one more reason we say that.
#1
we're becoming increasingly sure for a variety of reasons we cannot share that actually the Pakistanis are right when they say there is no threat to their arsenal.
Inshallah maintenance by engineers who studied the abilities of djinns, perhaps? I learnt here that nuclear weapons need frequent and fiddly maintenance by highly trained technicians, else they become very highly polished paperweights.
Afghanistans only known pig, called Khanzir, trotted out of quarantine today, two months after he was locked away because of swine flu fears, to bask again in the mud at the Kabul Zoo.
The pig, a curiosity in Afghanistan where pork and pig products are illegal, was quarantined because visitors to the zoo were worried it could spread the new H1N1 flu strain, commonly known as swine flu. Our people did not understand that the disease only passes from person to person and felt that the swine influenza might even be spread from the zoo because we have a pig here, zoo manager Aziz Gul Saqib said. Other zoos abroad told us not to worry. Khanzir Pashto for pig appeared unperturbed as a team of zoo workers used sticks to gently prod him out of his temporary concrete home into his usual enclosure of lush green shrubs and a mud puddle.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/05/2009
11:31 ||
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Posted by: john frum ||
07/05/2009 11:33
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So...how about releasing razorbacks and hogzillas ... no place should be without pigs...
The head of Mossad, Israel's overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran's nuclear sites. Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad's director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility. "The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia," a diplomatic source said last week. Although the countries have no formal diplomatic relations, an Israeli defence source confirmed that Mossad maintained "working relations" with the Saudis. The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials.
John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was "entirely logical" for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace. Bolton, who has talked to several Arab leaders, added: "None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn't trumpet it as a big success." Arab states would condemn a raid when they spoke at the UN but would be privately relieved to see the threat of an Iranian bomb removed, he said. Referring to the Israeli attack on an alleged Syrian nuclear facility in 2007, Bolton added: "To this day, the Israelis haven't admitted the specifics but there's one less nuclear facility in Syria . . ."
Recent developments have underscored concerns among moderate Sunni Arab states about the stability of the repressive Shi'ite regime in Tehran and have increased fears that it may emerge as a belligerent nuclear power. "The Saudis are very concerned about an Iranian nuclear bomb, even more than the Israelis," said a former head of research in Israeli intelligence.
The Israeli air force has been training for a possible attack on Iran's nuclear site at Natanz in the centre of the country and other locations for four years.
#1
The Sunni v Shiite conflict entered the next dimension, after the Shiites took Baghdad. With US troops out of the cities, the proxy contest will heat up.
An Algerian woman has obtained the rank of general for the first time in the country's history. In a military ceremony marking the 47th anniversary of Algeria's independence, President Abdelaziz Boutaflika promoted the department head of hematology at the army's Aïn Naadja d'Alger Hospital to general.
Colonel Fatma-Zohra Aardjoun was named a general at the National Defense Ministry, in a promotion ceremony for the National Army, along with seventeen other male colonels. Four generals were also promoted to the rank of major-general. "It's a good signal," Omar Benderra of Algeria-Watch, an Algerian human rights organization based in France, told The Media Line. "But the question is not lying in the fact that a woman, a single person is put into this position, at this rank. The question is whether there is a sound policy to improve the general situation of the women in Algeria A single tree cannot hide the forest."
Aardjoun's promotion reflects a growing trend of Algerian women taking more prominent positions in the workforce, most notably in the police and military. Algeria boasts the largest number of female police officers in the Muslim world, with eight percent of its entire police force being women. In March, a woman was named head of an Algerian police academy. During the same month, 177 female officers graduated from the Algiers police training academy.
However, Benderra believes that the prestige held by women in the police and army does not reflect the general condition of women's rights in Algeria. "It doesn't translate into the visibility of the change in position of the women in society," he said. "Woman cannot work peacefully in the streets of any city in Algeria."
Women's rights in Algeria have long been under fire, mainly due to the Algerian Family Code, put into law in 1984, which established women as minors and left them with few legal rights. Although the Family Code was revised in 2005, and notably allowed women to obtain a divorce without their husbands' consent, many women's rights organizations have complained that there were too many loopholes for the laws to be effective. Because the Code had been an integral part of Algerian society, some men simply chose to ignore the revisions. "The improvement in the law regarding the personal statues of divorce and so on was a necessity," Benderra explained. "The situation is that the patriarchal society is still not challenged by the authorities There are hundreds, probably thousands of women thrown out on the streets."
President Boutaflika has long advertised his dedication to the empowerment of women in Algeria; however, his remarks and actions have been the source of controversy among women's rights organizations. After the Family Code revision in 2005, he declared to female activists, "You have obtained vested rights today. Do not demand more."
Since 2005, Boutaflika has been under pressure to enact more changes in favor of women's rights. Despite women's increasing roles in the Algerian professional world, under the Family Code they remain legally vulnerable. "These are cosmetic changes," said Benderra. "The wife beaters in Algeria are not regarded as criminals or delinquents; it is regarded as normal behavior."
#1
Actually the most notorious book burning preceded Kristallnacht by several years. The book burning, carried out in large part (but by no means entirely) by the Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (National Socialist German Student Union) was just one effort of the Säuberung (cleansing) program.
Posted by: Lord garth ||
07/05/2009 10:59
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#2
Muslims riot everywhere when a single koran is damaged or destroyed. But they are free to burn the holy texts of the real religions.
#5
Hold on to your turban for the outrage from Western human rights orgs and liberals....wait for it....just one more minute...any time now....(crickets chirping)...
[Emily LaTella]
Nevermind!
[/Emily LaTella]
#1
Easy - a toddler can't fight back. A rapist's dream.
Spit.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2009 10:29
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#2
Seems like I've read that sex with a "clean" child is a folk remedy for Aids.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/05/2009 11:21
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#3
That's sex with a virgin, Richard. I don't think the age matters (although I suppose the rapists assume any girl over the age of 12 (9? 6?) isn't a virgin anymore).
These slimeballs aren't even human.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2009 12:16
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#4
The country is now run by a man with a third grade education. It will get only worse. For those planning to attending the 2010 World Cup, don't forget the personal security detail contract.
#5
For those planning to attend the 2010 World Cup: You're insane.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2009 13:27
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#6
Confederation Cup went well. Only one team had its hotel rooms tossed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009 13:40
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#7
Yeah, wasn't it the egyptian one??? Can't recall; though, world cup most glaring hazard is not for the teams, which are well-entoured and well-managed ahyway, even for the "small" countries, but for any supporters foolish enough to come there as if it were, say, Germany. Though, clashes might be fun, in some sick way... still, I doubt even an hardcore casual from the UK of Holland would still be looking for a fight, after seeing one of his buddies with a flaming tire around the neck. Oh, well.
#8
Seems like I've read that sex with a "clean" child is a folk remedy for Aids.
In fact, this seems to be pretty common in the third world : sex with a virgin, sex with a white, heck, even read here I think about sex with an hedgehog, and this was a croat guy, with the expected hilarious end-result, too, IIRC,... most often non-consensual, is supposed to cure STD, including AIDS; as a matter of fact, one commenter here (sorry, can't recall who, sorry if that's a regular, ex or not) in this very same blog, about a similar article, reported how when he was an expat child living in india with his american family (I think), his 8 years old sister was assaulted by a primitive hoping to cure itself from syphillis.
Anyway, re the baby rape in SA, it's not new, heck, I clearly recall watching I think a BBC world reportage on sat teevee (after 2001, but at least over a couple years ago) on a surgical unit specialized in genital reconstructive surgey for infant babies being mutilated after having been gangraped in the course of such 'treatments'. Enjoy Diversity.
Zahra, an Iranian woman studying at an English university, is in a state of terror. Her husband, an activist in the cause of the defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, was arrested a fortnight ago, and has not been seen since. Zahra, whose eyes are lined in green, the colour of the country's reformist opposition, told the BBC: "Why should he be in jail? What was wrong with what we did in Tehran? It was the basic right of all Iranians to take part in the election." She went on: "They don't let my husband call me . . . this is torture." It is torture for Zahra because she has a good idea of what is happening to her husband. The Iranian state media have been broadcasting a series of "confessions" by demonstrators against the alleged rigging of the presidential vote in favour of the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. They all tend to say the same thing: "I admit that I demonstrated under the influence of the BBC, the Voice of America and other foreign media."
Their identities are not discernible, because their faces have been obscured. The reason for this was made horribly clear by remarks in The Guardian from a shopkeeper friend of an 18-year-old who had been "questioned" by the Iranian security services: "You could tell straight away he had just been released. His face was bruised all over. His teeth were broken and he could hardly open his eyes . . . [Later] the doctor told me that he had suffered rupture of the rectum." The shopkeeper quoted his 18-year-old friend to the effect that he had not "confessed" despite several days of beating while being hung from a ceiling with his hands and feet tied together. At that point two men tore his clothes off while a third "did it" -- that is, inflicted the assault that ruptured his rectum. He was raped several times in this way, in front of four other detainees, but continued to refuse to sign a confession along the lines suggested by his interrogators. So when we hear Ayatollah Jannati, chief of the Guardian Council, say of arrested Iranian employees of the British embassy in Tehran, "Naturally they will be put on trial, they have made confessions," we should be only too aware of what will have been happening to some of Her Majesty's servants.
Few people, men or women, are able to withstand such interrogations, especially if they have family members vulnerable to the threat of arrest. Even such a strong personality as the Canadian-Iranian journalist and film-maker Maziar Bahari -- who was brave enough to work in Iraq after the invasion of 2003, and also to make films about an HIV-infected man's search for love in theocratic Iran -- has now made a confession. After nine days' detention, Bahari emerged to describe western journalists in Iran as "spies". Immediately before he disappeared, Bahari had given Britain's Channel 4 News footage of members of Iran's volunteer paramilitary force, the basiji, opening fire on a crowd of protesters. Press TV, the Iranian English-language service which broadcasts internationally from London, did not manage to show this film of the basiji in action. However, it did report Bahari's confession without a scintilla of scepticism, thus: "Bahari explained the nature of some of his activities in Iran over the past years and the role that the western media had played in the events which unfolded . . . Bahari specifically highlighted the role of the BBC, CNN [and] Euronews." This account could almost have been designed as a self-advertisement for Press TV; it was launched two years ago by the Iranian government to counter what Ahmadinejad described on its first day of broadcasting as "a media global war" against Iran.
Continued on Page 49
Morocco has shifted from mass arrests to tight surveillance in its fight against Islamic militants and hopes a new campaign to reinforce the authority of state-appointed imams will cut off support for jihadism.
As militants reach a growing audience through DVDs and the Internet, the government has tried to seize back the initiative, revising laws governing mosques and adding new theological councils to tighten control of religious life in the regions. Now it is preparing to send 1,500 supervisors into the north African country's towns and villages to make sure that imams are preaching the moderate local version of Islam and respect for King Mohammed in his role as leader of Morocco's Muslims.
Suicide bombings in May 2003 killed 45 people and tarnished a reputation for stability that helped staunch U.S. ally Morocco draw growing numbers of tourists and record foreign investment. An anxious security sweep saw the closure of unregulated mosques and the arrest of more than 3,000 people on terrorism-related charges. "The security services may have been badly prepared, which explains why we arrested thousands of people," said Moroccan political analyst Mohamed Darif. "They have now begun to master the situation and no longer arrest just anyone."
Around a third of those rounded up since 2003 remain in prison and Islamist advocacy groups say many are held on flimsy evidence after being forced to sign false confessions, something the government denies. Security experts say the authorities have a better grip on the situation after building up a database of potentially dangerous Islamists and managing to infiltrate some networks to ward off attacks before they happen.
European governments are hungry for Morocco to share its knowledge, fearing Algeria-based Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb could use the kingdom as a springboard for attacks in Europe, according to European security experts. "There's a suspicion that a lot of traffic goes through Morocco and lots of people who are important in facilitating that are sitting in Morocco," said Peter Neumann, director at the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College London.
Last year Sheikh Mohammed Maghraoui, a Saudi-funded religious figure, told followers that girls as young as nine could marry. His comment was interpreted as a fatwa, or religious edict, and was condemned by media and human rights groups. The government ordered the closure of dozens of Koranic schools linked to Maghraoui. In Morocco, only the Senior Council of Ulemas, or religious experts, is authorised to issue religious decrees.
Government officials say counter-terrorism is not the main goal of the imam training programme. They say the aim is to ensure that imams have the necessary skills to do their job and are in tune with modernising reforms carried out since King Mohammed came to the throne in 1999. Knowing a few verses of the Koran will no longer be enough to confer authority. They will be taught how to dispense advice, arbitrate in disputes, help with literacy programmes among the poor and made aware of new laws such as one giving married women more rights.
"This is more than just a response to 2003. It's a demand from society today that the state does what is necessary," said Hakim el Ghissassi, a cabinet member at Morocco's Ministry for Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs. "In this era of satellite TV, people no longer accept to see religious officials who are not trained."
Morocco is also sending religious experts to Europe under agreements with countries including France and Spain that have large Moroccan expatriate populations. A new European Council of Ulemas will help improve Islamic instruction in Europe and ensure imams are better trained and more socially involved, said Ghissassi. "If today we deny religious instruction to the young, where will they look for it?" said Ghissassi. "On extremist Internet sites with self-proclaimed radical Imams."
Some analysts are doubtful that improving the quality of Islamic instruction will stop young, second-generation Moroccans in Europe signing up for jihad. "It's not the control of religious organisations that will put an end to terrorism," said Olivier Roy of France's National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS). "The young who radicalise do so outside the context of the mosque."
#1
FTA: Some analysts are doubtful that improving the quality of Islamic instruction will stop young, second-generation Moroccans in Europe signing up for jihad. "It's not the control of religious organisations that will put an end to terrorism," said Olivier Roy of France's National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS). "The young who radicalise do so outside the context of the mosque."
It makes me wonder where Mr. Roy has been doing his "research". The zoo?
President Barack Obama said strengthening human rights and the rule of law in Russia should be a part of the much-heralded "reset" in U.S.-Russian relations, according to an interview with an embattled Russian opposition newspaper. Obama also said he applauded President Dmitry Medvedev's efforts to reform Russia's creaky judicial system, according excerpts released by Novaya Gazeta before Obama's arrival Monday in Moscow, when the full interview to be published. "I agree with President Medvedev when he said that 'freedom is better than the absence of freedom'," Obama was quoted as saying. "I see no reason why strengthening democracy, human rights and the rule of law cannot be included as part of our reset" in relations.
Bambi is clueless ...
It was unclear whether Obama's comments were a signal that he intends to press Medvedev - or the man considered his co-ruler, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin - on judicial reforms or human rights issues during his two-day summit in Moscow.
No, it's a signal that he's going to roll over and let Putin/Medvedev do as they wish.
Rights groups, U.S. lawmakers, and Russian and U.S. foreign policy experts have urged Obama not to ignore those issues in order to reach agreement with Medvedev on broader disputes - such as a new arms control treaty or NATO expansion.
Obama declined to answer the newspaper's question about Russia's most prominent prisoner - the former oil tycoon and billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The businessman's supporters say the criminal trial that convicted Khodorkovsky on tax evasion and fraud charges was designed to punish him for his political aspiration. But Obama said he supported Medvedev's efforts to strengthen the rule of law in Russia, "which naturally includes making sure that all those accused of crimes have the right to a fair trial and that the courts are not used for political purposes," he was quoted as saying.
And when's the last time a court in Russia was used for political purposes?
"I also believe that Americans and Russians have a common interest in the development of rule of rule, the strengthening of democracy, and the protection of human rights," he told the newspaper. "As I said in my inaugural address: "To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
Putin will just do back-handed slaps. It works ...
In the interview, Obama repeated U.S. assurances that the missile defense system isn't aimed at Russia. "We are not building and will not build a system that is aimed to respond to an attack from Russia. Such thinking is simply a legacy of the Cold War," he was quoted as saying.
Novaya Gazeta is Russia's most prominent opposition newspaper and its most embattled, known for investigative articles and acid commentary about Kremlin policies. Four of its reporters have died in the past eight years - one beaten to death, one allegedly poisoned, two shot - the most recent on Jan. 19. Medvedev himself gave his first newspaper interview to the publication, something Putin never did during his eight years as president.
#1
So Putin's Russia is getting court orders before shooting or poisoning dissidents? No doubt Comrade Obama wants to move the US judiciary closer to his ideological forebears.
Posted by: ed ||
07/05/2009 16:19
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British militants are pushing for the overthrow of the Pakistani state.
Shocka ...
Followers of the fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir have called for a "bloodless military coup" in Islamabad and the creation of the caliphate in which strict Islamic laws would be rigorously enforced.
But if they can't have a bloodless coup, one with buckets of blood would be fine ...
Members of the group, which describes itself as the Liberation party in Britain but is banned in Pakistan, revealed last week that it had targeted the country as a base from which to spread Islamic rule across the world.
Hmmm, militant Islamicists who want to spread their 'faith' to the rest of us. Can't be a threat can they ...
The Sunday Times has obtained the names of a dozen British Hizb ut-Tahrir activists based in Lahore and Karachi, or commuting between Britain and Pakistan. There are believed to be many more.
You could count on it ...
Tayyib Muqeem, an English teacher from Stoke-on-Trent, said he had moved to Lahore to convert Pakistanis to the movement.
But the pickings are better at Finsbury Park ...
At Lahore's Superior College, where Muqeem has set up a Hizb ut-Tahrir student group, he said the organisation's aim was to subject Muslim and western countries to Islamic rule under sharia law, "by force" if necessary.
Buckets of blood, etc ...
In a caliphate, "every woman would have to cover up" and stoning to death for adultery and the chopping off of thieves' hands would be the law, he said.
He added that Islamic rule would be spread through "indoctrination" and by "military means" if non-Muslim countries refused to bow to it. "Waging war" would be part of the caliphate's foreign policy.
A big part, in fact ...
One of Hizb ut-Tahrir's strategies in Pakistan is to influence military officers, he revealed. Shahzad Sheikh, a Pakistani recruit and the group's official spokesman in Karachi, talked openly about persuading the army to instigate a "bloodless coup" against the present government who, he said, were "worse than the Taliban".
"It is the military who hold the power (in Pakistan) and we are asking them to give their allegiance to Hizb ut-Tahrir," he said. "I can't explain to you in detail how we are trying to influence the military . . . We never disclose our methodology of change. You may say it's a coup."
Don't count on Bambi speaking out against that kind of a coup, either ...
#1
These idiots need to be hunted down in the UK and then hung from the Tower of London. Of course that will never happen. Instead they will continue to be on the government dole, free to spread their filthy brand of islamic hell on the world.
#3
What one politician does, another can reverse, Paul2. Your current prime minister is not at all fond of his predecessor or his predecessor's policies.
#4
The Tower of London isn't really a good place to hang anyone, but Tower Bridge is. Imagine driving across and seeing the bodies of 20-30 militants hanging above you. Just the thought of it cheers me up immensely.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/05/2009 13:04
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D.C. councilman and former mayor Marion Barry was arrested Saturday night and charged with stalking a woman, police said.
The United States Park Police said Barry was arrested in Washington after a woman flagged down an officer and complained that Barry was stalking her. Barry was charged with misdemeanor stalking and released.
NBCWashington.com first reported that Barry was taken into custody in Southeast Washington on charges that involved a domestic situation, a high ranking D.C. police source said.
A message left seeking comment from a spokeswoman for Barry wasn't immediately returned early Sunday.
Barry served four terms as mayor. In his third, he was videotaped in 1990 in a hotel room smoking crack cocaine in an FBI sting. He served six months in prison and in 1994 regained the mayor's office.
A Wisconsin fireworks store has yanked a brand off its shelves after complaints from a Minnesota Muslim group. The fireworks were called "Run Hadji Run." The packaging showed a cartoon drawing of Uncle Sam yanking the beard of a man dressed in Muslim attire, and the other showed a bomber jet flying over a group of Arab men on camels. "Hadji" is a title given to Muslims who have completed a pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations demanded their removal after learning the fireworks were for sale at Fireworks City in Baldwin, Wis. They were removed late Friday. The Muslim group has also asked the Missouri-based manufacturer, Red Rhino Fireworks, to remove the product from circulation.
Anybody stupid enough to put such a name on an item for public consumption is either stupid enough to need five fellow masterminds or asking for exactly the kind of trouble they got. In private speech you can insult anyone you want, but when it comes to business, insulting potential customers is a good way to end up bankrupt. The manufacturer could have as easily called the item "ARCLIGHT" or "Daisycutter" to communicate the visual effect, without angering people like me.
Yes, I'd refuse to buy anything from a shop that carried such merchandise, and I'd tell everyone I know. How many sales have Red Rhino Fireworks and Fireworks City lost, I wonder?
The company that imported the fireworks from China, Missouri-based Red Rhino Fireworks, said that they are at least three years old and were distributed by the firm's previous owners But they are still listed in the company's online catalog, which said they send off 16 red, green and blue "strobe comets" over a period of 28 seconds.
The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the countrys supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the countrys clerical establishment.
A statement by the group, the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qum, represents a significant, if so far symbolic, setback for the government and especially the authority of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose word is supposed to be final. The government has tried to paint the opposition and its top presidential candidate, Mir Hussein Moussavi, as criminals and traitors, a strategy that now becomes more difficult if not impossible.
This crack in the clerical establishment, and the fact they are siding with the people and Moussavi, in my view is the most historic crack in the 30 years of the Islamic republic, said Abbas Milani, director of the Iranian Studies Program at Stanford University. Remember, they are going against an election verified and sanctified by Khamenei.
#1
The Assembly of Experts has no day to day role in running Iran, but they can ensure that the ruling Ayatollah complies with shiite principles of "Islamic Government." They have the power to terminate status, and examine all financial accounts. It appears they won't whitewash Khomenei, after his hardline Friday Prayer speech. Its funny: acting like an oligarch is okay, as long as you don't act like a dictator. Makes sense in Persia.
The Rev. Rick Warren, one of America's best-known evangelical Protestant pastors, pleaded with about 8,000 Muslim listeners on Saturday night to work together to solve the world's greatest problems by cooperating in a series of interfaith projects. "Muslims and Christians can work together for the common good without compromising my convictions or your convictions," Mr. Warren said during an evening session of the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) at the Washington Convention Center.
"I am not interested in interfaith dialogue but interfaith projects," said the pastor of the 24,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., who is widely known for his bestseller "The Purpose-Driven Life." "Talk is cheap ... but love is something we do together," he added. "As the two largest faiths on this planet - more than 1 billion Muslims and 2 billion Christians - as Muslims and Christians, we must believe in this. As more than half the world, we must do something to model what it is to live in peace, to live in harmony."
His 25-minute speech, which was met with light applause at several intervals, included three suggestions: create a coalition to end religious stereotyping, work together to restore civility to American society and take a common stand against attacks on freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Criticizing the media as being "clueless as to what you believe as well as what I believe," Mr. Warren called for a "coalition of people of good will to say we are not going to allow this stereotyping of anyone. It is the truth that sets us free and we're not going to allow this."
ISNA U.S. President Ingrid Mattson introduced the pastor as a "distinguished guest" whom organizers wanted to invite because of his worldwide charitable projects. Noting that Mr. Warren gives away 90 percent of his salary, she added, "Here is someone who, in charitable giving, is very stiff competition."
The pastor, who usually dresses in informal Hawaiian shirts, arrived in a beige suit and yellow tie. He began his speech with the common Arabic greeting "Asalam alakum," or "Peace Be Upon You." Mr. Warren said he was "deeply humbled and honored by this invitation," then cracked a few jokes about his unworthiness in being there.
The session, held in a cavernous hall with huge screens hanging from the ceiling, began 40 minutes late with a melodious chant from the Koran. Next were several videos, presentations, tributes, speeches and a lengthy session of fundraising. Several speakers talked of progress among America's millions of Muslims, culminating with their being recognized by President Obama - whose father was Muslim - in his inauguration speech.
#1
"d take a common stand against attacks on freedom of religion and freedom of speech"
Good luck getting the Islamists to go along with that other than in a Fitna fashion. For them, freedom of religion means the freedom to force you to accept their religion, and let it becomes the freedom to force ONLY their religion into the law.
#2
Pleadings to muslims? Yes, more feckless pissing into the gale and "cheap talk." That's right, the applause was "light" and as you indicated, you are an "unworthy" infidel. Be a good gentleman now father and move along. Move along now will you. Someone get his hat please.
#3
While there are Muslims who would respond open-heartedly to such a plea from the good reverend, I don't think many of them are to be found at a national ISNA convention.
Suspected Muslim guerrillas detonated a bomb near a Roman Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines on Sunday, killing at least five people and wounding 46.
The bomb exploded outside the Immaculate Conception cathedral in Cotabato city as churchgoers were attending Mass. Two people were killed instantly in the attack and three others, including a militiaman, later died in hospitals, military officials said. Among the wounded were six soldiers and militiamen who were in an army van that passed by the cathedral when the device, fashioned from a mortar round, exploded, Cotabato city Mayor Muslimin Sema said.
The improvised explosive, which was set off remotely by mobile phone, was hidden near a row of food stalls selling roasted pig, Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton said. Police arrested one man seen using a phone during the explosion. He was carrying three identification cards with different names, Sema said.
Cathedral guard Nestor Luna said shrapnel flew in all directions, inflicting wounds on his head, arms and feet. "I wanted to help the wounded, but I felt dizzy and saw my white uniform soaked in blood. Somebody helped me walk away," Luna told The Associated Press by telephone from the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center. "Whoever did this should know that they hit so many innocent civilians," he said.
At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI deplored the bomb attack. "While I pray to God for the victims of this ignoble gesture, I raise my voice to condemn yet again the recourse to violence, which is never a worthwhile way to solve existing problems," Benedict told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square.
Chief nurse Norma Reyes said at least seven of the wounded were in critical condition and needed surgery.
TV footage showed four wounded soldiers sitting dazed on the sidewalk and a militiaman lying unconscious, face down on the seat of the shrapnel-damaged van. Two bodies lay sprawled near the sidewalk while a stunned woman limped out of a food stall, blood dripping from her foot. Soldiers helped the wounded into ambulances with sirens wailing. Army troops with assault rifles surrounded the cathedral and cordoned off nearby streets, footage showed.
Cayton immediately blamed the 11,500-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has been targeted by a monthslong military offensive in nearby Maguindanao province and outlying regions. "Nobody has the motive, the capability and the track record to carry out this terrorist attack except" the group, Cayton told The AP.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu denied his group was involved and condemned the bombing. He said the rebels would not do anything to foment a religious war.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Romero Brawner said investigators were trying to determine if the attackers targeted the military van. "They will hit any place where civilians congregate. They have no regard for life," Brawner said.
A similar bomb went off on a roadside in Datu Piang township in nearby Maguindanao late Saturday, wounding three people in an attack believed to have also been staged by the rebels, Brawner said.
#2
Peace, like when Afghanistan was run by the Taliban, shooting women in the head at soccer games as a half time entertainment, or the stonings every thursday in Rhiad, or the acid baths for women in Pakistan, or the raping of young boys, or, or, or....
EL, don't get me wrong, your snark is appreciated. Your point is talen, Islam can never be peacefull...
This bombing is doubtfull to be MILF. MILF will get the blame but they dont normally attack churches. ASG, JI, and AQ in the Philippines do.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/05/2009 21:00
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THE wife of the new head of Britain's spy agency has posted pictures of her husband, family and friends on internet networking site Facebook. The information could compromise security, a newspaper said today.
Sir John Sawers is due to take over as head of the Secret Intelligence Service in November. The SIS, popularly known as MI6, is Britain's global intelligence-gathering organisation.
Is there a potentially hostile intelligence service in the world that doesn't know what Sir John looks like?
In what the Mail on Sunday called an "extraordinary lapse", the new spy chief's wife, Lady Shelley Sawers, posted family pictures and exposed details of where the couple live and take their holidays and who their friends and relatives are.
The details could be viewed by any of the many millions of Facebook users around the world, but were swiftly removed once authorities were alerted by the newspaper's enquiries. "There were fears that the hugely embarrassing blunder could have compromised the safety of Sir John's family and friends," the newspaper said.
It was the latest in a string of security blunders, lapses and leaks by British officials that have embarrassed the government of embattled Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
John Reece Roth, 71, a prominent plasma physicist was sentenced for 18 counts of conspiracy, wire fraud and violations of the Arms Export Control Act, after he allowed a Chinese graduate student to see sensitive information on Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs). Despite warnings from his University's Export Control Officer, in 2006, he took a laptop containing sensitive plans with him on a lecture tour in China. He also allowed graduate students Xin Dai of China and Sirous Nourgostar of Iran to work on the project. The contract he was working under prohibited the sharing of sensitive data with foreign nationals.
Saudi Arabia has indicated to Israel that it would not protest use of its airspace by Israeli fighter jets in the event the government resolves to launch a military assault against Iran, according to a report which appeared in the British newspaper The Sunday Times.
According to The Sunday Times, Mossad chief Meir Dagan held secret meetings with Saudi officials who gave their tacit approval to Israel's use of the kingdom's airspace.
"The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia," The Sunday Times quoted a diplomatic source as saying last week.
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/05/2009
00:21 ||
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#2
Even if the Saudis HAD made such an agreement it would never have been for public display. So somebody released a false statement in order to shake someone or something up. Or somebody released a true statement in order to get it denied and prevent such an attack from being made.
#3
Considering the attack by the Israelis--which didn't happen--that destroyed a nuke facility in Syria--which didn't exist--that nobody can prove, and nobody saw coming, going, or happening, except for those explosions--which didn't happen, it strikes me the Israelis could go through SA and apologize later on, presuming anybody found out about it.
Remember? Syria IADS had not a clue. Not a clue.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
07/05/2009 8:03
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#4
"Israelis could go through SA and apologize later on, presuming anybody found out about it"
I agree, Richard - except I don't see why they should apologize.
Israel needs to quit being nice to those who would destroy her.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2009 8:19
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#5
Barbara.
Because apologizing afterwards, in this case, is an insult.
"Sorry we were so superior to your bassackwards version of air defense. We knew in advance we'd be taking advantage of you and we felt bad. We really did. We promise not to do it again, unless we really, really need to."
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
07/05/2009 8:27
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#6
I like the way you think, Richard. :-D
From your lips keyboard to the Israelis' ear eyes.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2009 8:30
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#7
So Iran will watch the sky while Subs rain death?
#9
Wahabis despise Khomeinists more than Jews, but I don't believe Saudi leaders would make contacts with Israeli diplomats. Who remembers the reports from Gulf War 1 command center, of Saud personnel cheering when Saddam's scuds struck Israel? That is not to say that the Sauds might have obliquely signalled tacit approval, given deniability.
#10
Interesting, even if coincidental, that such speculation comes out on the same day that Biden said this on ABC:
When asked whether the Obama administration would restrain Israeli military action against Iran, Biden responded: "Israel can determine for itself - it's a sovereign nation - what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else."
Stephanaopoulos posed the question three times, and each time Biden repeated that Israel was free to choose its actions. "If the Netanyahu government decides to take a course of action different than the one being pursued now, that is their sovereign right to do that. That is not our choice."
It seems that Iranian nukes, not North Korean missles, were seen as the most pressing geo-political worry by many world leaders this weekend.
[Bangla Daily Star] A 29-year old woman lost her life in Narsingdi yesterday after her dowry demanding husband beat her up and allegedly forced her to drink poison. Suraiya Akhter, 28, a mother of two from Joshor village under Shibpur upazila, died on the way to the local hospital.
Relatives said that Suraiya's husband Anwar Hossain, 32, of the same village has long been torturing his wife for dowry from her parents. He wanted Tk 1 lakh in cash. As her parents were not able to cough up this amount, Anwar regularly tortured his wife.
On Friday night, an argument broke out between the husband and wife again over this matter, and Anwar mercilessly beat his wife and later tried to strangle her with his own hands. As she struggled to breathe, Anwar allegedly forced her to drink poison before taking her to the hospital. She died on the way, and Anwar told everyone that Suraiya had committed suicide. Suriaya's relatives refuted this, citing the regular beatings she received at his hand for dowry.
When they confronted Anwar and accused him of murdering Suraiya, Anwar and his brother Iqbal attacked Suraiya's relatives with a daa (curved chopper), seriously injuring Arun, Al Amin, Sohrab, Saidur, Khokan and Shamim. The injured men were admitted into different clinics.
A case has been filed in this regard with Shibpur thana.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
Cultural differences doesn't cut it as an excuse for the horrific abuse women get in countries around the world.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/05/2009 10:56
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This sort of thing happens a lot more than you actually hear about.
[Jerusalem Post Middle East] American engineers who serve as consultants for the Egyptian military have recently informed Israel that Hamas has succeeded in digging 60-meter deep smuggling tunnels to avoid detection and destruction by the IDF, defense officials said on Thursday.
The American engineers, deployed as consultants along the Philadelphi Corridor in Egyptian Rafah, have been using technology that can detect seismic movements to uncover tunnels. But it is more difficult to detect them once they have reached the 60-meter depth, the engineers told their Israeli counterparts.
According to IDF assessments, Hamas now has several hundred active tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor, even though close to 300 were reportedly bombed by the Israel Air Force during Operation Cast Lead in December and January.
Digging to the new depths required special techniques, one official said. "The Palestinians are experts at digging tunnels," the official said. "They reach 60 meters, pump out the groundwater, and pump in air so they can continue digging."
So the IAF doesn't necessarily have to bomb the tunnel so long as they clobber the pumps ...
If the pumps are on the power grid, that's even easier to attack. If gasoline-powered, the CO2 no doubt becomes an issue at depth...D
efense officials said that since Cast Lead, Cairo had increased its efforts to uncover and destroy smuggling tunnels. The Egyptian efforts have also focused on stopping weapons before they reach the Philadelphi Corridor and as they make their way to the border with Sinai.
A senior IDF officer said the army was reassessing the effectiveness of bombing tunnels from the air. "We found that it takes the Palestinians just a few days to rebuild the tunnels after we bomb them," the officer said.
According to a recent report on Al-Arabiya TV, the tunnel-smuggling industry in Gaza is valued at $200 million annually, yielding huge profits for the Palestinian and Egyptian owners of the tunnels. There are 800 tunnels along the Gaza-Egyptian border, Al-Arabiya said. "These tunnels are the lifeline of the Gaza Strip. This is the only place where you don't feel you are in a besieged city. All products are available - electronic appliances, flour, sugar and all other food products - and even diapers and Viägra pills," according to a transcript of the TV report provided by MEMRI: The Middle East Media Research Institute.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
Then call Globalgeophysical. They will find the rats.
#2
once groundwater starts to flow into a well, the well is doomed unless they can seal it
yes, you can pump it out for a time but as the flow continues it decreases the integrity of the tunnel structure
IIRC, at one time the water table was only 50 m below the surface in Gaza; overpumping has been ongoing for many years, it may be at 55m or lower by now
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/05/2009 0:14
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#3
This could be one of the shovel ready jobs in the Gaza stimulus package earmark.
#5
Yep. Geophones, active sonar....and dynamite would be a good start, all right.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/05/2009 2:54
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All this should remind the world that Gaza has a common border with an arab speaking state. So much for the starvation-siege crap on al-Jazeera/al-Arabiya. Watch them on tvweb60.com (they have the "panda cam" and "gorilla cam" too)
Hundreds of British troops have seized key canal crossings in a Taleban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, military officials said Friday, part of a new US-led operation to wrest the initiative from insurgents.
The British troops slipped the leash?
The British push, one of the largest its overstretched troops have made in the Taleban heartland and key opium-producing province of Helmand, is part of a wider offensive launched by thousands of US Marines on Thursday.
Go Brits, go!
The Marines met little resistance on the first day of Operation Khanjar, the first big test of US President Barack Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the Taleban and its allies and stabilize Afghanistan. Their objective is to seize virtually all of the lower Helmand River Valley, the world's biggest opium poppy-producing region, and hold the ground they win, something British-led NATO troops have so far been unable to do.
I'm no expert on these matters, but perhaps it would have helped had they been issued ammunition and transportation.
Violence in the Taleban-led insurgency is at its highest since the Taleban's ouster in 2001 and the offensive, in the short-term at least, is meant to provide a secure environment for an Aug. 20 presidential election. In the longer term, US and NATO troops want to engage with local populations as part of a new counterinsurgency strategy under Gen. Stanley McChrystal, appointed as the new commander of foreign troops in Afghanistan after previous conventional warfare tactics failed. With new tactics to win over the Afghan population and new commanders in place, the US military hopes the operation will mark the turning point of a war some in Washington have admitted they are not winning.
Hundreds of British soldiers have seized 13 canal crossings since Operation Panchai Palang, or Panther's Claw, began 10 days ago with an airborne assault north of the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. It is part of the overall Marine-led operation.
On Friday, another 800 British troops began pushing north toward Gereshk, Helmand's main industrial city. "Taking control of the crossings will now allow British troops to prevent insurgents' movements between Helmand's two largest cities, Gereshk and Lashkar Gah, and will ultimately improve security and freedom of movement for the local people," the British military said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
As I read this -- I couldn't help but hear the whistle march of the British troops at the beginning of the movie, Bridge Over River Kwai
US President Barack Obama urged Americans, who celebrated Independence Day on Saturday, to implement broad economic and social reforms, expressing confidence the country will be able to overcome the challenges it is facing. A particularly fitting call for Independence Day.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
But that some get special treatment. Procrustes considered that all men were equal, and if they didn't fit his theory he made them fit...
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
Which are subject to abrogation and curtailment by the State in an emergency, or in the name of the common good, or to protect you from yourself, or to avoid offending anybody ...
that among these are life,
But not the right to be born, nor the right to live out all your days if you are old, feeble, or cost the public too much to keep going
liberty
Which is the right to be left to do as you please unless the State decides it's not good for you or not good for itself.
and the pursuit of happiness.
Always within approved boundaries, of course. And as long as you pay your taxes. And no smoking! And watch your cholesterol.
That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,
"All men have governments, therefore all governments are similar. That's logic," said Humpty Dumpty...
deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
The governed are there to pay their taxes and to vote in blocs...
That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it,
This can go the way of storming the Winter Palace or it can come by way of Hindenberg appointing a new chancellor. Sometimes it comes by way of chopping the king and queens' heads off -- a minor variation on storming the Winter Palace -- or of the man with the most artillery stepping in to restore order. Seldom does it come by way of thoughtful men throwing off the bonds of oppression and then attempting to guarantee "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" for their fellow men and their descendants.
and to institute new government,
Most new governments are much like the old governments, only with different faces making all the decisions, except for those cases where the new governments turn out to be worse. As a general rule, unless they're the Khmer Rouge governments are much like wine: they tend to mellow, to get better with age, until eventually they turn sour and have to be disposed of. As a general rule, you can't use a used-up government in salad dressing.
laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Most governments involve high-sounding phrases and most of that number are headed by men with an eye on the main chance and a hand in the till.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;
For one thing, you never know what the new one's going to be like until the second or third election -- if there is one.
and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
No government is perfect, and politicians are least of all perfect. Probably the only thing less perfect than a politician is a revolutionary.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
Eventually the breaking point comes. Eventually government slips by degrees into oligarchy, hereditary princes, and unrestrained rapacity. Eventually the barricades will come out, and no one knows what life will be like when the firing squads have finished their work. Nor does anyone know for sure which side's going to be looking through the sights and which side's going to be counting muzzle blasts.
"We are facing an array of challenges on a scale unseen in our time," the president said in his weekly radio address. "We are waging two wars. We are battling a deep recession." The president said that in order to lay the foundation of growth and prosperity, Americans would have to revamp their education system and build schools that would prepare every child to compete with workers around the world. ... and unrestrained rapacity ...
He pointed out that the United States also needed to reform its health care system, bringing down medical costs for all Americans. ... and unrestrained rapacity ...
Obama also urged Americans to make clean energy the profitable kind of energy "so that we can end our dependence on foreign oil". ... and unrestrained rapacity ...
"We are not a people who fear the future," the president concluded, reminding Americans of the spirit of the country's founding fathers. "We are a people who make it. And on this July 4th, we need to summon that spirit once more." "When in the course of human events..."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
Your war with God is going pretty well.
Please take your boot off of the throat of Honduras now.
#3
US President Barack Obama urged Americans, who celebrated Independence Day on Saturday, to implement broad economic and social reforms
Yes, 'urge'. Reforms are the responsibility of the people not the government. Society is not changed from above without a lot of pain and blood. Change from below comes in evolutionary spurts and spasms, but it does happen and when it does it takes. In the end all 'revolutions' are betrayed. How's that separation from a powerful and distant London going with a powerful and distant beltway instead today?
Posted by: James ||
07/05/2009 12:20
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What we, the people of the United States, need to do is to re-establish Constitutional government, not overthrow it. It also means cleaning up some messes that have been made by bad Amendments to the Constitution (17th) and bad decisions by the Supreme Court (Roe vs Wade, etc.). Unfortunately, as long as politicians can lie and get away with it because of the support of the leftist media and college campuses, it's going to be a hard battle. Pitchforks and rope may end up being the only recourse the rest of us have.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/05/2009 14:16
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17th is THE one to remove.
All the others are restrictions on the states powers.
"Congress passed a law in 1866 regulating how and when Senators were to be elected from each state. This was the first change in the process of senatorial elections. While the law helped, there were still deadlocks in some legislatures and accusations of bribery, corruption, and suspicious dealings in some elections. Nine bribery cases were brought before the Senate between 1866 and 1906, and 45 deadlocks occurred in 20 states between 1891 and 1905,"
So nothing much has changed in the last century and a half....
"resulting in numerous delays in seating Senators. Beginning in 1899, Delaware did not send a senator to Washington for four years."
And this was a problem how, exactly?
I'd be happy if the entire Congress didn't meet for the next four years - or even one year. They can even keep the money we pay them; it would be cheap at twice the price.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2009 20:18
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[Geo News] Two minor boys received injuries in hand grenade blast in the outskirt area Saryab Mill Colony of Quetta here on Saturday, Geo news reported. According to police, the unknown armed militants hurled a hand grenade on a house of Ghulam Muhammad located in Saryab Mill Colony here which caused serious wounds to two children Ramzan and Zahoor playing the courtyard of the house. The injured children were rushed to hospital for-medical attainment where they have been said to be out of danger, hospital sources claimed.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
Which of the children was throwing the hand grenade? Make sure the kids are strong enough to toss it out of range before giving them the assignment, Tali-jerks.
Aswat al-Iraq: Security forces arrested the mufti of the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq group in the district of Buhrez, south of Baaquba city, according to Diala's police chief on Saturday. "Policemen conducted an operation in Buhrez, (5 km) south of Baaquba, capturing Hussein Medhat Mahmoud al-Kilani, the mufti of the armed group Islamic State of Iraq," Maj. General Abdulhussein al-Shimari told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Kilani is involved in issuing fatwas (religious opinions) that sanctioned the murder and forced relocation of a large number of Diala residents," said Shimari. He added that Kilani is wanted by the judicial authorities in accordance with Article 4 of the law on terrorism on charges of working with armed groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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[Straits Times] UN CHIEF Ban Ki-moon gave a rare public speech on Saturday outlining his vision for a democratic Myanmar, just hours after the ruling junta refused to let him meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
He told an audience of diplomats, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations that the military regime must free the pro-democracy icon and introduce other reforms for the good of the country's people. 'I am here today to say: Myanmar, you are not alone. We want to work with you for a united, peaceful, prosperous, democratic and modern Myanmar,' Mr Ban said at the Drug Elimination Museum in the commercial hub Yangon.
'We want to help you rise from poverty ... work with you so that your country can take its place as a respected and responsible member of the international community,' the secretary general said. 'But let me emphasise: neither peace nor development can thrive without democracy and respect for human rights. Myanmar is no exception.'
Junta chief Than Shwe earlier Saturday refused to let Ban visit Aung San Suu Kyi, who is in prison facing trial over an incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside house in May.
Mr Ban earlier described Mr Than Shwe's snub as 'deeply disappointing' and said in his speech that all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, 'should be released without delay'.
'The primary responsibility rests with the government to move the country toward its stated goals of national reconciliation and democracy,' Mr Ban said.
Myanmar was one of the first UN members to adopt its Declaration of Human Rights, he said, but added: 'Unfortunately that commitment has not been matched in deed. Myanmar's human rights record remains a matter of grave concern.'
Mr Ban also urged the junta to ensure that elections promised in 2010 should be free and fair. Critics say they will be a sham that will allow the ruling generals to entrench their power.
'The upcoming election, the first in 20 years, must be inclusive, participatory and transparent if it is to be credible,' he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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WOODWARD, Okla. (AP) Former President George W. Bush was greeted by thunderous applause on the Fourth of July as he told thousands of spectators in a rural Oklahoma rodeo arena that the U.S. was "the greatest nation on the face of the earth."
Bush was given six standing ovations as he spoke in GOP-friendly Woodward, a town of about 12,000 residents in northwest Oklahoma. About 9,200 tickets were sold for the event, which would mark the biggest crowd for Bush since he left office in January.
Bush spoke of the bravery of injured soldiers he'd met throughout his presidency, and thanked members of the military for their service. He joked with the crowd, telling them it was "nice of you to give a retired guy something to do."
The former president has turned up in a handful of out-of-the-way places since leaving office, and he surprised city leaders in Woodward by accepting their invitation to speak at festivities celebrating the $25 million renovation of a local park.
Woodward is friendly territory for Bush, who visited the town two decades ago while campaigning for his father's presidential bid. Oklahoma hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964, and was the only state in the 2008 election to have every county vote for Republican candidate John McCain. In 2004, Bush won 80.9 percent of the vote in Woodward County as he defeated Democratic challenger John Kerry.
A banner welcoming Bush hangs from a restaurant on a highway entering Woodward. Not far down the road, marquees for a local Atwoods store and a steak restaurant also bear welcoming messages.
Bush's principles ring true in Oklahoma, said Kris Day, who owns The Cowboy's Tack Shop with her husband, Neal. "We're conservative," she said. "We don't spend money we don't have."
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009
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#3
I disagreed with a fair amount of what Pres. Bush did, but I respected and continue to respect the MAN. Over the next few years I feel we (at least some of us) will gain a whole lot more admiration for the President we had and disrespected. How does the saying go? Character is what you do when no one is looking?
Political operatives descended on Alaska last August, digging for dirt. The ethics law I championed became their weapon of choice. Over the past nine months I've been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations - such as holding a fish in a photograph, wearing a jacket with a logo on it, and answering reporters' questions.
Every one - all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We've won! But it hasn't been cheap - the State has wasted THOUSANDS of hours of YOUR time and shelled out some two million of YOUR dollars to respond to "opposition research" - that's money NOT going to fund teachers or troopers - or safer roads. And this political absurdity, the "politics of personal destruction" ... Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight. And what about the people who offer up these silly accusations? It doesn't cost them a dime so they're not going to stop draining public resources - spending other peoples' money in their game.
It's pretty insane - my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with THIS instead of progressing our state now. I know I promised no more "politics as usual," but THIS isn't what anyone had in mind for ALASKA.
If I have learned one thing: LIFE is about choices!
And one chooses how to react to circumstances. You can choose to engage in things that tear down, or build up. I choose to work very hard on a path for fruitfulness and productivity. I choose NOT to tear down and waste precious time; but to build UP this state and our country, and her industrious, generous, patriotic, free people!
Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and "go with the flow".
Nah, only dead fish "go with the flow".
No. Productive, fulfilled people determine where to put their efforts, choosing to wisely utilize precious time... to BUILD UP.
And there is such a need to BUILD up and FIGHT for our state and our country. I choose to FIGHT for it! And I'll work hard for others who still believe in free enterprise and smaller government; strong national security for our country and support for our troops; energy independence; and for those who will protect freedom and equality and LIFE... I'll work for and campaign for those PROUD to be American, and those who are INSPIRED by our ideals and won't deride them.
...
We need those who will respect our Constitution where government's supposed to serve from the BOTTOM UP, not move toward this TOP DOWN big government take-over... but rather, will be protectors of individual rights - who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed and are willing to call an audible and pass the ball when it's time so the team can win! And that is what I'm doing!
...
In the words of General MacArthur said, "We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction." I think she's correct about doing the best thing for Alaska. For all you disappointed fans, hang in there...let's see what she does next. Hope y'all go to the link and read it all.
#1
I like to think of her more as a Patton than a MacArthur. Whatever, I will be surprised and saddened if she folds. I suspect that she is going on the attack, but from another front, one that she can't do as governor.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/05/2009 10:28
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As governor, she can't be seen as attacking the media. As a private individual, the laws of libel and slander are more easily pursued. I hope she sues the socks of a lot of people, including Schmidt, that insane "campaign worker" for John McCain.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/05/2009 14:39
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#4
As has been pointed out in other places, O.P. Smith, not MacArthur, said that.
#6
First thing she should do is shame the McCain staffers who are leaking everything to make her look bad. I've never seen such blue-on-blue backstabbing in decades of political watching. Its pathetic and those guys should never work again.
She is nice, and pretty, and has an attractive momma-bear attitude. I'm all about that. I think she's much more qualified to be vice-president that our current one. That speech she gave yesterday was full of shiat excuses.
She's also seems to be thin-skinned, and doesn't know how to manage/put together a staff, in the campaign or in the months after. I mean, her biggest political news before Letterman was her staff couldn't book her at Republican fundraisers properly.
Personally, I'm looking for a little more in my presidential nominees.
#9
I like her and support her and note that the years available to her offer many opportunities to build a base and enhance her standing with trips, foreign and domestic, briefings and education. She should also work to overhaul the current incompetence at the RNC, starting with a purge of McCain advisors, staffers with backstabbing tendencies. We don't need or want those self-interested traitors in our midst. Blackball Steve Schmidt, if for nothing else than complete incompetence. Burn his career and income stream to the ground
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2009 17:12
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#10
Thin-slinned? She's shown toughness beyond the call of duty.
They continuously attacked her children. There is no excuse for that...ever. I am in awe of her patience and strength dealing with those brave souls like Leadvermin and virtually all of the liberal (and even some of the conservative) chattering class. My reactions to such attacks would not be so restrained. Whatever she decides -- retirement or an NHL-quality political deke -- I'll back her up. Like W, she may not be perfect, but she's the real deal.
#14
Hmm... She has a book coming out soon doesn't she?
You have to wonder if the contents of the book might be part of the reason - and what kind of things are in it. Tell all? About the campain and the idiots (such as Steve Schmidt) who ran it?
#15
Once she is clear of the restrictions of being an elected offical, she will have room to throw (legal) elbows. Liek defamation against the peopel flinging lies against here without consequences at the moment.
More importantly, she will be able to speak freely without another expensive bogus e4thics charge being filed every time to goes to a political speech or private fundraiser.
Third, this gives her time to go bitch-slapping the "GOP Elite" by pulling in grass roots conservatives and taking over parts of the party to force "TEA Party" type candidates past the Country Club blue-blood old-boy's "Its My Turn" bunch that are ruining the GOP now.
Aswat al-Iraq: An Iraqi soldier was wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near his patrol in central Baaquba city on Saturday, a security source in Diala said. "The IED ripped through Khreisan street, central Baaquba, on Saturday evening targeting an Iraqi army patrol. One of the soldiers on the patrol was wounded," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The Iraqi forces managed to arrest the bomber right after the incident," he added, noting the bomber most probably belongs to Al-Qaeda Organization in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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[Quqnoos] Poppy cultivation has shrunk down by 60 percent in one of the major Afghan drug producing province, officials said
That's rather a lot. Well done, all!
The poppy growing in the Afghan southern Uruzgan province has 'remarkably' fallen down this year despite no major efforts have taken place by the central government, said provincial governor Asadullah Hamdam. "This has been the decision of people [farmers] to avoid growing poppy and hashish this year," governor Hamdam further said.
There is no exact statistics that how many hectares of lands are grown poppy this year but government officials in the restive Afghan province are optimistic to eradicate all poppy farms in Uruzgan.
The claim of a major downsize in the level of drug production in Uruzgan comes as poppy cultivation jumped to a record level in the province in 2008, according to a UN report.
What changed since last year, pray tell?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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Aside from canceling all of Zelaya's government backed credit cards (before which, he had spent 80,000 dollars in less than five days), terminated also was the leasing of 50 luxury vehicles and 61 cellular phones with a credit of over 47,500 lempiras, and over 100 bank accounts, all backed by Honduran government funds.
The chancellor of Honduras confirmed that Mel Zelaya ordered the withdrawal of 40 million lempiras from the Central Bank of Honduras. When the investigations were made at the presidential house, black garbage bags filled with thousands and thousands of dollars were found, as well as in almost every drawer.
Did they find any in the freezer? There's precedent for that.
It's the tropics. I'd look in the coconuts ...
Investigations documented over 600 million lempiras worth of expenditures that Zelaya had spent on his quest to hold the "opinion poll" to allow the fourth vote.
Now they know where the country's budget went.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009
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#1
the 47k lempiras are worth about $2-3k
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/05/2009 2:57
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#2
Bailout! I smell a bailout coming from his friends. I just hope it's not part of our stimulus package.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/05/2009 10:42
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Seoul will raise the issue of a South Korean citizen who has been held incommunicado in North Korea for over three months during the ASEAN Regional Forum in Thailand later this month.
Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan told reporters Thursday the issue will have to be brought to the international forum. Last year, Seoul took the issue of a South Korean tourist shot to death in the North's Mt. Kumgang resort to the ASEAN forum.
The foreign minister also said consultations among the five members of six-party nuclear talks excluding North Korea on the sidelines of the forum are unlikely.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009
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Taliban on Saturday warned people of North Waziristan against holding public gathering, including jirgas. Pamphlets distributed in Miranshah bazaar by the Taliban in the tribal agency said no tribe was allowed to hold a gathering of more than five people in any area of the agency. The Taliban said any public gathering would be considered a pro-government committee, warning that group leaders would be killed and suicide attacks would be carried out against such groups. They also banned people from entering the FC Fort and government offices in the agency. The pamphlets said the people visiting public offices for any purpose "should be ready to face the consequences".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
So any gathering would be Taliban and therefore a legit target for the predators?
[Iran Press TV Latest] After his reelection as Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad extends an invitation to his American counterpart Barack Obama for a debate before the eyes of the world.
Addressing Iranian heads of medical universities on Saturday, President Ahmadinejad offered to debate President Obama at the United Nations headquarters in New York before the eyes of all nations of the world.
President Ahmadinejad had previously urged a debate with former US president George W. Bush.
The Iranian president wrote an 18-page letter to President Bush in 2006 that touched on religious values, history and international relations. The letter was viewed as an offer extended to the United States for dialogue.
However, the Iranian official's letter never received an answer from the former US president.
Under the former US president, Washington pursued a carrot-and-stick policy toward Tehran over its nuclear program and by setting preconditions, snubbed calls by President Ahmadinejad for talks on the long-standing dispute.
Meanwhile President Obama has adopted a new tone for engaging Tehran, drawing a sharp line between his foreign policies regarding Iran and that of his predecessor.
The call for talks come as earlier in February, Ahmadinejad expressed willingness for dialogue but stressed that negotiations should be held "in a climate of fairness with mutual respect."
Earlier in May a report by the Israeli daily Haaretz said the United States had set October as its deadline for engaging Iran in the first round of talks over the country's nuclear activities.
The report quoted the special US envoy on Iran, Dennis Ross, as saying that "unless the US sees a change in Iran's position on its nuclear program, Washington's stance toward Tehran will stiffen at that time."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
Obama would wipe the floor with you anyway - even being weal as he is.
Looks like the Iranians may hang you from a streetlamp anyways so whats the use?
#4
Obama would lose, horribly, without his teleprompter and a lot of help - if you take the blinders off, you can see that he is, after all, a fucking idiot who can read lines well and that's about it.
Remember, US presidential "debates" are NOT real debates -- they are dumbed down press Q&A sessions. They do not question each other, nor do they have to defend their position against others questions or analysis. US Politicians are wimps compared to parliamentarians when it comes to this.
#6
Having a 30 minute 'Question Time' in the US House once every other week, in which the President would walk in and answer the opposition, would do wonders for this country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009 10:58
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Agreed, assuming there were an effective and articulate opposition ...
#10
I watched all the Iran Presidential debates on Press TV links. Ahmadinejad is an inarticulate and insufferable bore, and a poor liar in spite of all his practise. Liars look down when they utter deceit; Ahmadinejad did exactly that. And he refused to explain his claim that angels accompanied him at his UN speech. He didn't want to have to say: I made it up to appeal to pious idiots. Then there was the $1-3 billion in unaccounted state funds. Actually he might have a kindred spirite in Hussein O. But all they would be debating would be the content of Obama's apologies.
[Quqnoos] A massive operation is to launch in Taliban strongholds in the Afghan western province of Herat prior to August polls, officials said. The major offensive will target any militant elements known as a threat to the upcoming Afghan polls in the relatively peaceful Herat province, said provincial police chief, Brig Gen Esmatullah Alizai. "Afghan and International troops will be reinforced to open the operation in the outskirts of Herat city," Gen Alizai added.
Happy hunting, gentlemen. The more y'all do for yourselves, the fewer foreigners will be needed.
Although the targeted locations have not yet revealed but insurgents' presence is reported in the provincial capital's nearby districts of Guzara, Robat Sangi and Khosh-e Kohna. The operation is termed similar to the on-going US offensive in the southern Helmand province where more than 5,000 multinational troops, mostly American, are battling the Taliban militants.
Herat police chief voiced of preparations to safeguard the national polls in the restive districts, added that tribal elders vowed to support the operation. "If the security situation gets better, we welcome the elections and will take part in it," Ahmad, 34, a resident of Herat city said.
At least 100 policemen are under special training in the province to protect the ballots and pave the ground for people to cast their votes.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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President Obama, strategizing yesterday with congressional leaders about health-care reform, complained that liberal advocacy groups ought to drop their attacks on Democratic lawmakers and devote their energy to promoting passage of comprehensive legislation.
In a pre-holiday call with half a dozen top House and Senate Democrats, Obama expressed his concern over advertisements and online campaigns targeting moderate Democrats, whom they criticize for not being fully devoted to "true" health-care reform.
"We shouldn't be focusing resources on each other," Obama opined in the call, according to three sources who participated in or listened to the conversation. "We ought to be focused on winning this debate."
Specifically, Obama said he is hoping left-leaning organizations that worked on his behalf in the presidential campaign will now rally support for "advancing legislation" that fulfills his goal of expanding coverage, controlling rising costs and modernizing the health system.
In the call, leaders of both chambers expressed optimism that they will hold floor votes on legislation to overhaul the $2.2 trillion health system before Congress breaks in early August.
For his part, the president vowed to use his strong approval rating with voters to continue making the case for sweeping reform, according to one congressional staffer with knowledge of the conversation. Obama also hinted that efforts are under way to discourage allies from future attacks on Democrats, according to the source, who did not have permission to speak on the record about the discussion.
The White House had no comment on the president's call.
In recent weeks, liberal bloggers and grass-roots groups such as MoveOn.org, Democracy for America, Service Employees International Union and Progressive Change Campaign Committee have targeted Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Arlen Specter (Pa.), Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.).
A fundraising video produced by Democracy for America suggests Landrieu is a "sellout" because she has received $1.6 million in campaign contributions from the health-care industry and has yet to endorse the concept of a government-run health insurance plan to compete against the private companies. The public-option concept, which Obama supports, has become a litmus test for many pro-reform activists who accuse the insurance industry of failing to deliver affordable, accessible care.
"Tell Senator Landrieu to support the people of Louisiana, not insurance companies," the spot concludes.
Founded by former Vermont governor Howard Dean, Democracy for America argues that inclusion of a Medicare-style public option in health-care legislation is "non-negotiable."
MoveOn, a Web-based political action committee that works to elect "progressive" leaders, intended to run commercials over the Fourth of July holiday criticizing Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) for her silence on the public option. But after she endorsed legislation crafted by Democratic colleagues on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that includes that provision, the group dropped its plans.
"This measure is the heart of health-care reform and is supported by MoveOn's 5 million members, as well as the majority of the American people," said MoveOn's executive director, Justin Ruben. "With the support of legislators like Senator Hagan, we can come closer to our goal of making quality health insurance accessible and affordable for everyone."
Health Care for American Now, a labor-based coalition of 1,000 groups, has organized a petition pressuring Feinstein to support legislation that includes a public option.
"We need a senator who is championing, not nay saying, the need for reform," the petition says. "We're hoping Sen. Feinstein becomes a 'champion' for the people of California and stands up for President Obama's health reform."
Richard Kirsch, who runs the coalition, said most of the group's ads are educational or focused generally on the need for broad-based change.
"We've been promoting reform and yes, asking members of the public to contact their senators," he said yesterday. "It's all in support of reform."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I need more attacks like tonight. whitehouse.gove is down. What a plesant void in the cybersphere.
For once your request may not be found, and after the bond market sinks next week, none of your other requests should be found either.
You are dick, Obama. Plain and simple. If you made a decision, you can bet on God Above it was wrong.
#3
Landrieu is one of my Senators. She may be a Democrat, and a 'Lord' (hereditary office) but she's been a better Republican than those northeastern RINOs. No wonder the libs are hassleing her.
#4
Obama also hinted that efforts are under way to discourage allies from future attacks on Democrats, according to the source, who did not have permission to speak on the record about the discussion.
Necklacing? Flaming Michelin neckties? How very Kenyan.
"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."
Rep. Charles Rangel defended colleague Carolyn Maloney's right to take on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and lashed out anew at President Obama for butting into New York's Democratic primary. "I really cannot say anything negative about a senior member who wants to run and whose polls, at this point in time, appear to be in her favor," Rangel, dean of the New York House delegation, told the Daily News.
Rangel stood up for Maloney while the state's senior senator, Chuck Schumer, and the Democratic establishment are rallying around Gillibrand. "Nobody can challenge that she's not a hardworking member of Congress," Rangel said of Maloney, citing her work on behalf of 9/11 victims and her landmark legislation protecting credit card holders.
"She is certainly one of our most active members," he said.
In May, President Obama phoned Long Island Rep. Steve Israel to nudge him away from a challenge - a move that also prompted Rangel to criticize the President. Last month, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said publicly Team Obama favored Gillibrand. "I really don't understand why President Obama got involved in our primary," Rangel said. "I don't want to use the word wrong, but it doesn't seem like the astute political thing to do," he said.
Rangel said he hasn't yet decided between Maloney and Gillibrand, who was named by Gov. Paterson in January to replace Hillary Clinton. "I would have to really think hard for me wanting to remove her from her office that she has been duly appointed," he said of Gillibrand.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for former President Bill Clinton said Thursday the ex-President will not take sides in the primary. Clinton headlined a fund-raiser for Gillibrand earlier this year and is scheduled to headline a cash bash for Maloney on July 20. A Clinton spokesman said he is keeping his promise to help Democratic lawmakers who supported his wife's presidential bid.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Let's do all we can to make sure neither one wins. Presumably somebody else will run. Maybe even a Republican. Or a Conservative. Or a Libertarian.
#2
If I were in New York and the only other candidate was in the Know Nothing Party, she would get my vote. Anyone but a person pushed either by Obama or Rangel.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/05/2009 10:13
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[Straits Times] MORE than a thousand Muslim rebels have been killed in the southern Philippines over the past year, despite the recovery of only 278 bodies, a military spokesman said on Saturday.
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Ponce also said he knew of only 22 soldiers killed in the fighting, despite claims by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that its rebels had killed 500 soldiers in its current offensive.
In August three MILF commanders broke a 2003 ceasefire and began attacking Christian communities in Mindanao, after the Supreme Court suspended a draft accord on Muslim self-rule in the southern Philippines.
In Manila, armed forces spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner earlier issued a statement saying that military fatalities against the rebels 'do not even reach a hundred.' Speaking during a military patrol in Banasilan, in central Mindanao, Col Ponce pointed out MILF positions on hills in the distance.
Despite having the MILF in their sights, Col Ponce told AFP, the military was not actively attacking the rebels. 'We are on a defensive stance. We are not conducting offensive operations. We are just conducting law-enforcement operations,' he said.
The last gunbattle had been five days ago, although there had since been instances of bombs and mortar attacks, Col Ponce said.
'If the rogue MILF attacks civilian communities... that is the time we will do a counter-action,' he said.
International aid agencies say that more than half a million civilians have been displaced by the fighting that began in August.
Although many civilians have returned to their homes in recent weeks, several hundred still remain in evacuation centres due to fears of more MILF attacks, said Col Ponce.
The 12,000-member MILF has been waging a separatist rebellion since 1978 to carve out an Islamic state in the southern part of the largely Catholic Philippines.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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Aswat al-Iraq: Policemen in Diala seized large amounts of explosive materials inside a house and arrested its owner on Saturday, the province's police chief said. "The police seized these explosives in an operation inside al-Tahreer neighborhood, central Baaquba, based on accurate intelligence tip-offs," Maj. General Abdulhussein al-Shimari told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The owner of the house, a suspected member of Al-Qaeda network, was arrested," Shimari said, not giving more information.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
Send Iraq a Cat D-9 to flatten this house and send a message.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
Re: Gaza tunnels. They'd hit natural gas first, I think, which would be amusing given the tunnelers' dangerous propensity for smoking. As I recall, natural gas was found just offshore, but Hamas was uninterested.
#2
I wondered yesterday about where Obama was. You know, like it's the fourth of July and do you know where your President is? Didn't see anything about how he was celebrating the Fourth. He must be too cool to do any of that stuff.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/05/2009 10:20
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Security forces on Saturday arrested two suspected terrorists from a checkpost in Takhta Baig area of Khyber Agency, sources said. They told Daily Times that the terrorists were identified as Zakir Alam and Ibrahim, both Afghan nationals, and were moved to an undisclosed location. The sources said the two were apprehended while trying to enter Jamrud through the Shakas-Jamrud Road on a motorcycle, adding that the forces also recovered weapons from their possession.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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DURHAM/NORTHUMBERLAND — The war mission in Afghanistan has taken the life of another Canadian soldier and injured five others.
Corporal Nicholas Bulger, 30, was travelling behind his senior commander on Friday when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. Five other soldiers were hurt, but Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance, who commands coalition forces in Kandahar, escaped unhurt.
Cpl. Bulger was a member of 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton. He is the third Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan in less than a month and the 121st since 2002.
A repatriation ceremony will be held in Trenton at 2 p.m. on Monday, July 6, with the motorcade travelling through Northumberland around 2:45 p.m. and Durham at about 3:30 p.m. Hundreds of area residents are expected to pay tribute on overpasses as the motorcade makes its way to Toronto along the Highway of Heroes.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez's government assumed control of Venezuela's third-largest bank on Friday - making the state the largest player in the nation's banking system.
Sorta like Bambi and Timmy seizing the New York banks, but on a smaller scale ...
The purchase of the Spanish-owned Banco de Venezuela gives Chavez's socialist government control over more than one-fifth of bank deposits as he tightens his grip over the economy. The acquisition will "strengthen the public banking system," which favors sectors including agriculture, energy, housing and tourism, Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez said in a statement.
How much of the money gets moved to 'safe' locations?
In May, the Venezuelan government agreed to pay Spain's Grupo Santander $1.05 billion for the bank, ending months of stalled negotiations. At the time, Banco de Venezuela had 3.2 million clients, 10 percent of the country's deposits and 6,000 employees.
Combined with other state banks, the government will now control about 21 percent of deposits and 16 percent of loans, a payroll of 15,000 employees and 651 bank branches.
The deal went into effect on Friday with an initial payment of $630 million. The rest will be paid in two equal installments in October and December.
Like the rest of the economy, Venezuela's banking sector is already highly regulated, with the government dictating just about everything interest rates and commissions.
Under Chavez, Venezuela has nationalized major players in the steel, electricity and other sectors, including four major oil projects, since 2007. The Venezuelan consulting firm Ecoanalitica calculates those nationalizations have cost Chavez's government some $23 billion.
But have provided jobs and graft for all of Hugo's people ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009
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#1
Doc White, there should not BE any 'safe locations' for such funds. Time for banks and civilized governments to see to it. But I guess that's a hopeless dream with all those big US banks now part of the Obama neo-com (as opposed to the 'evil' Bush neo-cons) administration.
#3
Glenmore, it's taken forever to get banking sanctions against the Norks and the Mad Mullahs, and we're still not there. Good luck trying to get sanctions against Oogo ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009 10:46
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Three weeks after Iran was shaken by its most serious unrest since the 1979 revolution, the dust seems to have settled. Banned and broken up by force, the largely peaceful, massive protest demonstrations have fizzled out.
The Guardian Council - the powerful, appointed watchdog body - has formally endorsed the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose unexpectedly large declared margin of victory triggered the protests.
On the face of it, Tehran and other Iranian cities now look much as they did before the 12 June elections. So does that mean everything is back to normal, and nothing has changed?
That seems unlikely.
The disturbances, and the crisis they expressed, have left much unsettled business, and many unanswered questions.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Taliban militants fired rockets and mortar shells at an American base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing two United States soldiers and wounding several more in a two-hour battle, officials said.
During the clash, which ended only after United States forces called in airstrikes, a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck toward the bases gates. It blew up when American troops fired on it.
The multipronged attack in Paktika Province, near the Pakistan border, was hundreds of miles from the major Marine assault in southern Afghanistan and underscored the militants ability to fight the American-led coalition on multiple fronts. More than 30 insurgents were killed in the battle, in Zerok District, said Hamidullah Zawak, the provincial governors spokesman. Seven American soldiers and two Afghan soldiers were wounded, a United States military spokesman said.
Helicopters, airstrikes and fire from American troops killed at least 10 militants, according to a statement from the NATO force that the Americans were fighting under. The coalition troops detained one militant, the statement said. The discrepancy in the militants death tolls could not immediately be reconciled.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009
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#1
As I understand it the US forces counterattacked aggressively and pretty much destroyed the attacking force.
The best defense is a good offense. Some football coach said that.
At least 13 Taliban were killed when fighter jets and helicopter gunships pounded their hideouts in Orakzai Agency on Saturday, sources said.
They said at least three soldiers were injured in gunbattles with Taliban. Three Taliban hideouts were destroyed.
Separately, at least nine members of a tribal lashkar and three Taliban were killed in fighting in Mohmand Agency, officials said. They said Taliban attacked the lashkar with rockets and mortars in Pampoha. Five Taliban were injured when the lashkar retaliated. Separately, security forces arrested seven terrorists and recovered a large cache of arms, ammunition and equipment from various tunnels in Swat, an ISPR statement said.
During a search operation around the Shamozai Mines, the forces sealed three tunnels and recovered 15 rifles, three pistols, and 11 sub-machine guns.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
It sounds like someone in the Pakistani armed forces is having fun, although whether it's as described or a clerk in an office somewhere, giggling as he makes up dispatches out of whole cloth, I dare not venture to guess.
[Kyodo: Korea] The Japanese government lodged a protest with North Korea through diplomatic channels in Beijing over its launching of multiple ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Saturday, Japanese officials said. Tokyo said in the protest that Pyongyang carried out a ""grave act of provocation toward neighboring countries, including our country, in terms of security,"" adding that it infringes on U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding that North Korea cease all activities related to its ballistic missile programs.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] The United States will press China and other key players to enforce U.N. sanctions imposed against North Korea in response to its nuclear test in May, the government said Saturday, following Pyongyang's firing of ballistic missiles. ''North Korean missile launches highlight the importance of fully implementing the provisions of the U.N. resolutions,'' said a State Department spokesman. ''North Korea should refrain from actions that aggravate tensions and focus on the denuclearization talks and implementation of its commitments on the Sept. 19, 2005, joint statement.''
Posted by: Fred ||
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Thanks W
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday celebrated America's Independence Day with U.S. troops, including his soldier son Beau, at their base near Baghdad, giving a speech that mocked Saddam Hussein. It's much easier to mock when they're safely dead...
Biden, who U.S. President Barack Obama has asked to take a leading role in coordinating U.S. Iraq policy, also presided over a naturalization ceremony for 237 soldiers from 59 countries taking an oath of U.S. citizenship. "We did it in Saddam's palace and I can think of nothing better," Biden said of the naturalization ceremony, held at Al-Faw Palace near Baghdad airport. "That SOB is rolling over in his grave right now," he said of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Easy on the red meat, Joe, you'll choke yourself ...
Baghdad remained cloaked in a sandstorm that grounded flights and forced Biden to scrap a planned trip to Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdistan region to meet Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani.
U.S. forces pulled out of Iraq's towns and cities this week under the terms of a bilateral security pact that paves the way for a full U.S. withdrawal by 2012, raising concerns Iraq has not made enough political progress to prevent more fighting.
Violence has dropped sharply but there remain deep and worrying divisions between Iraq's majority Shi'ite Arabs, Sunni Arabs, ethnic Kurds and other minorities, which some fear could threaten Iraq's future stability.
During his meetings with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Friday, Biden warned that resurgent sectarian or ethnic violence in Iraq was "not something that would make it likely that we'd stay engaged," a U.S. official told reporters on Friday.
He added that in Washington, there is no longer "any appetite nor intestinal fortitude to put Humpty Dumpty back together again", should Iraq fall apart.
After the citizenship ceremony, Biden went to the main mess hall at Camp Victory, where he met privately with the Delaware National Guard unit where his son, Beau, serves. He walked through the main cafeteria, grasping soldiers' hands and giving them hugs as they surveyed a July 4th menu of barbecued ribs, hamburgers and elaborately decorated cakes.
#2
Just imagine --- if anything happens to The One, this fool will be in charge of our country. And next in line is Queen Nancy ----
I'm looking for someone to channel a colonist in our New England area, in, oh about the year 1774 -- to find out what he and his friends, his family were thinking -- we are in great need of their thoughts, their wisdom.
Aswat al-Iraq: Five civilians were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in southwestern Baghdad on Saturday evening, according to a security source. "An IED planted by unidentified persons on the main road in al-Bayya neighborhood, west of Baghdad, went off, leaving five civilians wounded," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The source did not give further details about the explosion.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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[Bangla Daily Star] A gang of thirty criminals launched the gun attack in broad daylight at Karwan Bazar on June 26 that left three persons killed for taking a revenge for the killing of their cohort Mamun and establishing supremacy over toll collection in the kitchen market. Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner AKM Shahidul Haque said this based on the primary investigation at a press briefing at DB Office yesterday.
The arrestees confessed at the DB office that extortion and establishing supremacy over Karwan Bazar were the main reasons behind the shooting.
The DMP commissioner said a gang of 30 criminals was involved in the shootings. Nine of them carried arms, eight kept a close watch on the victims and law enforcers' movement and communication among them while six played a role as mastermind of the killings.
Six masterminds? They couldn't find one person clever enough to do the job all by him- or herself?
He said on the day of killings, the criminals received Tk 1.45 lakh from the plotters who also assured them of giving Tk 500 per day after taking control over the bazar.
He, however, denied disclosing the names of the plotters behind the killings. Four persons whose names were mentioned in the killing case are not among the 30 criminals, he said adding that police will arrest the four (four BNP leaders) for interrogation. He said "Extortionists are collecting toll money from Karwan Bazar in the name of different business organizations."
Detained Rakib at DB office said, "On the day we took position in front of deceased Faruque's mango wholesale shop to kill him but failed due to presence of the law enforcers. But when Faruque along with two other victims went to the association office, we rushed in and sprayed bullets on them. I fired four bullets at that moment."
He said the plot was made 15 to 20 days before the killing and they made a futile attempt on June 24. "Senior brothers engaged us saying that Faruque Mollah is collecting toll but he does not give them any share and if Faruque is killed, they will be able to collect toll money and provide us (killers) the share," Rakib said. Rakib also said Faruque had hand in the killing of Mamun who was killed around one and half a month ago.
The DMP commissioner said "We have found the names of all killers but we will not disclose their names for the sake of investigation and arresting the rest of them."
Sources said top listed criminal Ashik who fled for India might have links with the killings.
The gunmen killed three persons--M Faruque Mollah, 55, Ashraf Miah, 53, and Nuruddin Sarkar Jewel, 35 and wounded another on June 26.
Police produced six arrestees--Emdadul Haque, Shakib, Rafiqul Islam Babu, Siaful Islam Ripon, Mamun and Rakib Ahmed Sohel-- but the rest arrestees are yet to be produced before the court for the sake of investigation.
Detective Branch (DB) of police recovered one microbus, one gun and five bullets and arrested 10 persons in this connection over last five days.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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TW, let's assume it takes an IQ of 120 to be a mastermind. So it takes 6 guys with an IQ of 20 each to be a Bangla mastermind.
#2
For some reason, the translation of many of the reports out of Banglash sound comic instead of serious. I assume better translation services would help.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/05/2009 11:00
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The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has asked the federal government to take concrete steps to end drone attacks and ensure the safe return of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their homes.
A JI delegation, led by Secretary General Liaquat Baloch, on Saturday called on Interior Minister Rehman Malik and expressed concern over the expanding military operation in the conflict-hit areas of the country. The delegation expressed concern that American and Indian interests were trying to destabilise Pakistan, gain control of its nuclear assets and create rifts between the army and the people, a statement issued by the JI said.
Malik said despite political differences with the government, no one doubted the patriotism of the JI, added the press release. "If they do, we'll have them beaten to death!"
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
concrete steps are kind of hard to throw at drones.
Aswat al-Iraq: Policemen captured a leader of a Special Group in the city of al-Kut on Saturday, a security source in Wassit said. "The man was captured on intelligence tip-offs while returning home in al-Kut coming from Iran by virtue of an arrest warrant," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The wanted man is charged with leading a terrorist special group. Initial investigations with the man aim to detect other groups associated with him," the source added. The Special Groups is the name given to elements receiving training and support from Iran to wage attacks against Iraqi security sources.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
If there's justice in the world this guy will be water-boarded, then have his kneecaps drilled...
[Quqnoos] Russia has agreed to let US troops fly through its airspace to fight in Afghanistan, a top US official has told the BBC.
The new US-Russia agreement which is termed a significant achievement for the American troops is expected to be officially announced in President Barack Obama visit to Moscow, early next week. The new agreement allows US military planes to transit weapons as well as troops thousands of times a year through Russian airspace. According to the BBC report, a Russian official in Moscow confirmed the agreement but suggested it referred to weapon transit only, not military personnel.
Russia, who is not much in favor of US war in Afghanistan, restricted the use of its territory for both the US and NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan. Previously, Russia allowed US to transit only non-military supplies to Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
Comments from Poland, Ukraine and Georgia unavailable.
#2
Yah, the assymetry is as obvious as the brazen concealment. The Ruskies wouldn't have changed the exclusion policy without major concessions. No Euro-Defense Missiles must have been promised by the Enlightened One, and with neither public knowledge nor debate.
The Enlightened One is still talking about global nuclear disarmament. That delusional pipe dream is such a non-starter that an advocate of same has no business serving in the highest US office. Put on those impeachment shoes.
All Things Considered, July 4, 2009 · President Obama signed a bill Wednesday granting the Congressional Gold Medal to a group of women most Americans have never heard of: the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP.
These were the first women to fly military aircraft. During World War II, they volunteered for noncombat duty, as test pilots and trainers. They freed up their male counterparts to go to Europe and fight in the war. But even though they wore uniforms and worked on bases, they were never considered members of the military. Their contribution to the war effort was so controversial, in fact, that all records pertaining to their service were sealed and deemed classified in 1944. That pretty much consigned the WASP to the dustbin of history for decades.
One of the WASP, Deanie Parrish, started an organization called "Wings Across America" to document the story. For the past 10 years, she and her daughter Nancy have led the effort to get a Congressional Gold Medal for the women. But it wasn't until a young female fighter pilot in today's Air Force championed their cause that the bill became a reality.
That pilot is Maj. Nicole Malachowski, the first woman to fly in the ultra-elite Thunderbirds. The WASP are her personal heroes, so she spent months of her own time, out of uniform, making sure these women finally got their due.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Ahead of a complete US withdrawal from Iraq, US Vice President Joe Biden warns that Washington would disengage politically if violence in the country intensified.
A senior US official told reporters on Saturday that Biden said that America's role in Iraq was switching from deep military engagement to one of diplomatic support..
He however warned "if by the actions of different parties in Iraq, Iraq were to revert to sectarian violence or engage in ethnic violence, then that's not something that would make it likely for us to remain engaged."
"If it actually reverts to violence, then that would change the nature of our engagement. He was quite direct about that," said the official.
Biden was addressing newly sworn-in American soldiers at Camp Victory near Baghdad a day after meeting with Iraqi leaders when he warned of a "hard road ahead if Iraq is going to find lasting peace and stability."
US combat forces left the country's cities and towns on June 30 and handed over security control to the country's 500,000 police and 250,000 soldiers.
At least 133,000 US troops are now based outside major cities to play a training and support role in the country. Under a security agreement signed last November, all US forces should be out of Iraq by the end of 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
thanks Joe! You just added to the violence by confirming their goal. STFU moron
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2009 11:57
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#2
"If it actually reverts to violence, then that would change the nature of our engagement. He was quite direct about that," said the official.
Which would have as it's origins the Bush Administration's failure in Iraq which we have indicated was the problem all along.....
#4
"IF you oppose our wishes, we will quit" This guy sums up the perfect "sick man" politician. Here's to reading his name in the breaking news section soon.
[Geo News] The president Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Imran Khan has ruled out terrorism's links with the religion of Islam and urged scholars, hailing from all school of thoughts, to devise joint strategy to end misnomer linked to Islam. This he said while expressing condolence with the son of martyred Molana Sarfaraz Naeemi, here on Saturday. "No religion can allow suicide bombing", he said adding that there is no solution to this problem in Islam as he termed the suicide bombing an entirely political issue. "Pakistan is heading towards disaster as the ruling political leadership is in pursuit of dollars for their personal gains", Imran stated adding, "The growing extremism in Pakistan cannot be curbed as long as US stays in Afghanistan".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#2
"No religion can allow suicide bombing", he said adding that there is no solution to this problem in Islam as he termed the suicide bombing an entirely political issue"
that's why they shout 'politics is great' when they detonate
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/05/2009 0:20
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Morteza Kazemian
In a letter to the head of Iran's judiciary, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has requested an investigation into the death of Neda Agha Soltan.
In his letter he writes, "In view of the extensive commentary about this painful incident and the wide-ranging propaganda by foreign media and other evidence, the interference of those who oppose the Iranian nation or are inimical to it for the purpose of using this event for political purposes and to destroy the image of the Islamic republic is definitively clear."
While the difficult and cold conditions that are prevalent in Iran today may appear that pondering on this letter may not be appropriate, there are quite a few issues in it that deserve comment.
" More fundamentally, what is Ahmadinejad's clear position on the violent street crackdown and actions against those protesting the results of the election in the days after June 12th, and the wide arrests, mistreatment of those detained, etc? "
1-As the highest executive official of the country, is Ahmadinejad aware of other killings that took place after the tenth presidential election?
2-Do the deaths of a number of Iranian citizens deserve the creation of a special investigative committee?
3-Does Ahmadinejad know the perpetrators of the other deaths, or those who may have ordered them?
4-From Ahmadinejad's perspective, did the people who lost their lives following the June 12 election deserve to die or where these homicides?
5-Is Ahmadinejad's letter to Hashemi Shahrudi to clarify the facts over the murder of Neda Agha Soltan or to confirm the view and his determination about the "involvement of the opposition" in this regard for political purposes?
6-Had not been "extensive commentary" and "wide-ranging propaganda" over Neda Agha Soltan's heartbreaking murder, as Ahmadinejad believes there was, would he still have called for an investigation on this?
7-Why is it that Ahmadinejad calls for investigating the violation of basic rights of Iranians only when the issue is covered widely in the media or takes a global perspective?
8-More fundamentally, what is Ahmadinejad's clear position on the violent street crackdown and actions against those protesting the results of the election in the days after June 12th, and the wide arrests, mistreatment of those detained, etc?
There are many questions that exist for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are not few, and without being presumptuous, one can be patient and wait to receive a response. But sooner or later, real and truthful answers will emerge, even if they don't come from Ahmadinejad, and they will be recorded in history and in books, where they will remain intact.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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Manuel Zelaya, the ousted Honduran president, has vowed to return to his country and retake the leadership nearly a week after a military-backed coup led him into exile. Zelaya told Al Jazeera on Saturday that he would return to Honduras on Sunday, despite a warning from the interim government that he would be arrested.
Zelaya made the comment upon his arrival in Washington, DC, for an emergency session of the Organisation of American States (OAS). He called on supporters to prepare to greet him at the airport on Sunday, and on Saturday more than 10,000 of them gathered near the heavily guarded presidential palace and pledged they would be ready if he returned. "We are going to show up at the Honduras International Airport in Tegucigalpa ... and on Sunday we will be in Tegucigalpa," Zelaya said in a taped statement posted on the Web sites of the Telesur and Cubadebate media outlets.
In comments later on Saturday to a local radio station, Zelaya said Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and Ecuador's Rafael Correa, several foreign ministers and 300 journalists would accompany him. Zelaya implored supporters to remain peaceful. "I ask all farmers, residents, Indians, young people and all workers' groups, businessmen and friends ... to accompany me on my return to Honduras," he said earlier. "Do not bring weapons. Practice what I have always preached, which is nonviolence. Let them be the ones who use violence, weapons and repression. I hold the coup plotters responsible for the lives of each and every person," he added.
Members of the OAS are meeting to consider suspending Honduras from the regional bloc for failing to reinstate Zelaya, who was deposed on June 28. The 35-member OAS had set Saturday as the deadline for the military-backed interim government to comply with its demands, or be expelled from the bloc.
Prior to the meeting, the interim government in Honduras announced it was pulling out of the OAS rather than meet the bloc's demands. "It is better to pay this high price ... than live undignified and bow our heads to the demands of foreign governments," Roberto Micheletti, the interim president, said. But OAS officials said on Saturday that they would not recognise Honduras' decision to withdraw.
Al Jazeera's Nick Spicer, reporting from Washington, said OAS leaders called the request to leave the OAS illegitimate, because the bloc does not regard the current Honduran government as legitimate. "So what we expect is that the OAS, minus Honduras, will proceed to suspend that country from the organisation," he said. "It will likely be a very long and messy procedure."
Lucia Newman, Al Jazeera's Latin America editor, said that several scenarios to solve the crisis had been proposed by OAS member states. "One of them is that this de facto government, as the OAS calls it, would issue a blanket amnesty that would annul the arrest order for Zelaya," she reported from Tegucigalpa. "In exchange, elections [currently scheduled for January] would be brought forward. But the deposed president would have to be reinstated [pending the election's outcome]. I understand that this proposal was put forward by Argentina."
Newman said that the current crisis is the "biggest challenge that the OAS has ever had to face". "There is absolute consensus in the international community that they have to use their diplomatic might to reverse this coup d'etat. There is consensus that this kind of thing can not happen, and should not happen."
Zelaya was removed from power as he was about to press ahead with a non-binding referendum on constitutional change.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009
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#1
Umm no. INTERPOL, please arrest him. There is something under the covers here.
#3
"Zelaya was removed from power as he was about to press ahead with a non-binding referendum on constitutional change."
This is fucking disgusting. Its a COMPLETE distortion of what happened there. Who the hell is writing this crap?
If I get to meet the author I'll punch him or her square in the chops for publishing such a blatant lie. And they should thank God we don't simply lynch them.
Its crap like this that is destroying the country - we are being fed a diet of LIES by the MSM in their scraping and bowing to the international (OAS) and east-coast US, collectivist "elites".
#4
Article 239 No citizen that has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President.
Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform, as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.
Art 331: [The Supreme Court of Justice has the power] To begin initial proceedings against high state officials and deputies.
The "ballots" Zelaya wanted were legally impounded by their Supreme Court, and had originally been printed and flown ion by Chavez and Venezuela. Zelaya had weaseled on this and changed the name several times to try to wiggle out of his violation of the constitution Art 239. Then Zelaya's followers broke into the base and took the ballots illegally.
The Honduran constitution allows its Supreme Court to deputize the Honduran military to carry out its orders, including removing politicians from office who seek to extend a presidents term - which is exactly what it did after its finding on Zelaya.
#5
of course this version is from al jazeera, which is sadly pretty close to the Obama line
however, some sources are reporting more objectively noting the large size of anti Zelaya rallies (the 10k pro Zelaya rally referred to in the Al J version is probably from pro Zelaya types)
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/05/2009 2:36
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#6
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."
"The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over"
When the hell will the press stop LYING to us?
Never!
The constant repetition of the lie is a simple yet effective propaganda technique. It is the method behind the madness.
#8
The WaPo this morning was more somewhat more objective on the situation than previously. They even allowed two letters to the editor that were anti Zelaya (one from a former US ambassador to Honduras, one from a Honduran diplomat).
Still a way to go however
Posted by: lord garth ||
07/05/2009 9:40
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#9
When the hell will the press stop LYING to us?
When we go back to the basis of the real foundation of the 1st Amendment protection for the press. That is the colonial era case of the Royal Governor of New York vs John Peter Zenger. The basic finding was that the truth was a viable defense. Since then, the usual suspects got 'special class protection' to engage in disseminating lies and fabrications without consequences.
Major corporations and holdings should be treated like any other business that engages in interstate commerce and be subject to FTC scrutiny in distributing products that are sold with blatant misrepresentation, false content, and poor workmanship. Now, I do believe that said distribution could continue as long as the print or other media were properly labeled [For Entertainment Purposes Only. Owners and operators of this media make no claim to the authenticity or truthfulness of content.]
#10
"[For Entertainment Purposes Only. Owners and operators of this media make no claim to the authenticity or truthfulness of content.]"
"Owners and operators of this media admit this is mostly a pack of lies to advance a Leftist agenda" would be more honest, P2k.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2009 10:27
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#11
I'd like to see him return to face the Supreme Court's verdict. It sounds like the army will hold things civil until the little tin pot dictator gets the justice due him.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
07/05/2009 10:34
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#12
Let him in - and arrest shoot him as soon as his feet touch the ground.
Fixed.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/05/2009 14:44
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#13
Honduras announced they won't allow Zelaya's plane to land.
Maybe he can hitch hike in (or parachute).
Posted by: Lord garth ||
07/05/2009 15:23
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#14
Aside from canceling all of Zelayaâs government backed credit cards (before which, he had spent 80,000 dollars in less than five days), terminated also was the leasing of 50 luxury vehicles and 61 cellular phones with a credit of over 47,500 lempiras, and over 100 bank accounts, all backed by Honduran government funds.
The chancellor of Honduras confirmed that Mel Zelaya ordered the withdrawal of 40 million lempiras from the Central Bank of Honduras.
When the investigations were made at the presidential house, black garbage bags filled with thousands and thousands of dollars were found, as well as in almost every drawer.
[Geo News] The local court has issued orders for the production of the Chairman Sindh National Front (SNF) Mumtaz Bhutto, accused of plotting attack on a Sindhi language newspaper, before court on July 17. The judicial magistrate, charging Mumtaz Bhutto and other accused persons involved in the case, has ordered them to appear before court on July 17. So far Mumtaz Bhutto was exempted from appearing before court but after the court has charged him with offensive, he and other accused will have to appear before court.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country is suspending oil supply to Honduras, which benefited from energy cooperation agreement Petrocaribe. The ruler announced his decision late Thursday during his weekly radio and TV program Aló, Presidente Teórico (Theoretical Hello President). "We have suspended shipments of oil," Chavez stated. He reported that Petrocaribe energy supplies to Honduras were scheduled for next week. "One of the effects of this measure is that gasoline prices in the Central American country are going to soar." The measure seeks to put pressure on the Honduras government to reinstate Manuel Zelaya, an ally of Chavez, as Honduras President. Zelaya was ousted in an army coup on June 28.
Honduras joined Petrocaribe energy alliance in December 2007, under Zelaya. Petrocaribe is a cooperation agreement established in 2005, under which about 20 Caribbean and Central American countries receive some 200,000 barrels per day of oil from Venezuela with long-term credit facilities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2009
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Former US lawmaker Cynthia McKinney, who is in an Israeli jail for trying to take humanitarian aid to Gaza, says the White House has done nothing to secure her release.
McKinney has been in Israeli custody since Tuesday when she and 20 other humanitarian activists were arrested by the Israeli Navy while trying to take humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. Speaking to Press TV from inside the Israeli jail, she said US taxpayers paid for Israel's 22-day war on the Gaza Strip.
"Operation Cast Lead was made possible by the US taxpayers' gift to the Israeli war machine in the form of F16s, helicopters gunship, white phosphorous, uranium cluster bombs and anything that kills," she told Press TV from inside the Israeli jail on Saturday.
Uranium cluster bombs?
She also criticized US President Barack Obama and his special envoy for their policies in the region, saying she was seeking to do what "neither President Obama nor his special envoy has done and that is to visit Gaza in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead."
McKinney along with her group refused to sign a document admitting they violated Israel's blockade soon after they were taken to custody. Family, friends and supporters say Cynthia McKinney believed she was in international waters and was free to pass. "The Israelis hijacked us because we wanted to give crayons to the children of Gaza," McKinney said.
They are due to appear in an Israeli court on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2009
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#1
What? do you want the feds you slapped around to come bail you out of jail you crack wh@@e?
#2
It must drive Stormfronters and Ku Klux Kretins crazy (an admittedly short drive) that the sleaziest black politician this side of Zimbabwe is a fellow Jew-hater.
#10
She also criticized US President Barack Obama and his special envoy for their policies
As General Powell recently said, "he really has gone too far." There really is little left to do at this point with those crayons save the drafting of Articles of Impeachment and forwarding to through the Embassy to the CCB. Make it so!
#11
It's damn bad enough this hag roam America spouting her hate and bigotry, now the pwold gets to see our bafoons. I need a rock to crawl under. Hope they keep her and force her to 1,000 hours of community service on the gaza border.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/05/2009 21:34
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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.
British militants are pushing for the overthrow of the Pakistani state. 
A Wisconsin fireworks store has yanked a brand off its shelves after complaints from a Minnesota Muslim group. The fireworks were called "Run Hadji Run." The packaging showed a cartoon drawing of Uncle Sam yanking the beard of a man dressed in Muslim attire, and the other showed a bomber jet flying over a group of Arab men on camels. "Hadji" is a title given to Muslims who have completed a pilgrimage to Mecca. 
The Rev. Rick Warren, one of America's best-known evangelical Protestant pastors, pleaded with about 8,000 Muslim listeners on Saturday night to work together to solve the world's greatest problems by cooperating in a series of interfaith projects. "Muslims and Christians can work together for the common good without compromising my convictions or your convictions," Mr. Warren said during an evening session of the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) at the Washington Convention Center. 
Saudi Arabia has indicated to Israel that it would not protest use of its airspace by Israeli fighter jets in the event the government resolves to launch a military assault against Iran, according to a report which appeared in the British newspaper The Sunday Times.
[Jerusalem Post Middle East] American engineers who serve as consultants for the Egyptian military have recently informed Israel that Hamas has succeeded in digging 60-meter deep smuggling tunnels to avoid detection and destruction by the IDF, defense officials said on Thursday.
Hundreds of British troops have seized key canal crossings in a Taleban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, military officials said Friday, part of a new US-led operation to wrest the initiative from insurgents.
[Geo News] Two minor boys received injuries in hand grenade blast in the outskirt area Saryab Mill Colony of Quetta here on Saturday, Geo news reported. According to police, the unknown armed militants hurled a hand grenade on a house of Ghulam Muhammad located in Saryab Mill Colony here which caused serious wounds to two children Ramzan and Zahoor playing the courtyard of the house. The injured children were rushed to hospital for-medical attainment where they have been said to be out of danger, hospital sources claimed.
Aswat al-Iraq: Security forces arrested the mufti of the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq group in the district of Buhrez, south of Baaquba city, according to Diala's police chief on Saturday. "Policemen conducted an operation in Buhrez, (5 km) south of Baaquba, capturing Hussein Medhat Mahmoud al-Kilani, the mufti of the armed group Islamic State of Iraq," Maj. General Abdulhussein al-Shimari told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Kilani is involved in issuing fatwas (religious opinions) that sanctioned the murder and forced relocation of a large number of Diala residents," said Shimari. He added that Kilani is wanted by the judicial authorities in accordance with Article 4 of the law on terrorism on charges of working with armed groups.
WOODWARD, Okla. (AP) Former President George W. Bush was greeted by thunderous applause on the Fourth of July as he told thousands of spectators in a rural Oklahoma rodeo arena that the U.S. was "the greatest nation on the face of the earth."
[Quqnoos] A massive operation is to launch in Taliban strongholds in the Afghan western province of Herat prior to August polls, officials said. The major offensive will target any militant elements known as a threat to the upcoming Afghan polls in the relatively peaceful Herat province, said provincial police chief, Brig Gen Esmatullah Alizai. "Afghan and International troops will be reinforced to open the operation in the outskirts of Herat city," Gen Alizai added.
Rep. Charles Rangel defended colleague Carolyn Maloney's right to take on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and lashed out anew at President Obama for butting into New York's Democratic primary. "I really cannot say anything negative about a senior member who wants to run and whose polls, at this point in time, appear to be in her favor," Rangel, dean of the New York House delegation, told the Daily News.
DURHAM/NORTHUMBERLAND — The war mission in Afghanistan has taken the life of another Canadian soldier and injured five others.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez's government assumed control of Venezuela's third-largest bank on Friday - making the state the largest player in the nation's banking system.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Taliban militants fired rockets and mortar shells at an American base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing two United States soldiers and wounding several more in a two-hour battle, officials said.
[Kyodo: Korea] The United States will press China and other key players to enforce U.N. sanctions imposed against North Korea in response to its nuclear test in May, the government said Saturday, following Pyongyang's firing of ballistic missiles. ''North Korean missile launches highlight the importance of fully implementing the provisions of the U.N. resolutions,'' said a State Department spokesman. ''North Korea should refrain from actions that aggravate tensions and focus on the denuclearization talks and implementation of its commitments on the Sept. 19, 2005, joint statement.''
The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has asked the federal government to take concrete steps to end drone attacks and ensure the safe return of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their homes.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Ahead of a complete US withdrawal from Iraq, US Vice President Joe Biden warns that Washington would disengage politically if violence in the country intensified. 
[Geo News] The president Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Imran Khan has ruled out terrorism's links with the religion of Islam and urged scholars, hailing from all school of thoughts, to devise joint strategy to end misnomer linked to Islam. This he said while expressing condolence with the son of martyred Molana Sarfaraz Naeemi, here on Saturday. "No religion can allow suicide bombing", he said adding that there is no solution to this problem in Islam as he termed the suicide bombing an entirely political issue. "Pakistan is heading towards disaster as the ruling political leadership is in pursuit of dollars for their personal gains", Imran stated adding, "The growing extremism in Pakistan cannot be curbed as long as US stays in Afghanistan".
Manuel Zelaya, the ousted Honduran president, has vowed to return to his country and retake the leadership nearly a week after a military-backed coup led him into exile. Zelaya told Al Jazeera on Saturday that he would return to Honduras on Sunday, despite a warning from the interim government that he would be arrested.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Former US lawmaker Cynthia McKinney, who is in an Israeli jail for trying to take humanitarian aid to Gaza, says the White House has done nothing to secure her release. 
