Radio Hoax Exposes Intelligence Anti-Muslim Sentiment in U.S. Emphasis added in the following article.
WASHINGTON (Dec. 1) -- When radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly. The first caller to the station in Washington said that Klein must be "off his rocker." The second congratulated him and added: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us."
Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as crescent marks on driver's licenses, passports and birth certificates did not go far enough. "What good is identifying them?" he asked. "You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and Germans." At the end of the one-hour show, rich with arguments on why visual identification of "the threat in our midst" would alleviate the public's fears, Klein revealed that he had staged a hoax. It drew out reactions that are not uncommon in post-9/11 America.
"I can't believe any of you are sick enough to have agreed for one second with anything I said," he told his audience on the AM station 630 WMAL, which covers Washington, Northern Virginia and Maryland. "For me to suggest to tattoo marks on people's bodies, have them wear armbands, put a crescent moon on their driver's license on their passport or birth certificate is disgusting. It's beyond disgusting. Why so? It's what the Muslims would do to us? Are you stuck on stupid?
"Because basically what you just did was show me how the German people allowed what happened to the Jews to happen ... We need to separate them, we need to tattoo their arms, we need to make them wear the yellow Star of David, we need to put them in concentration camps, we basically just need to kill them all because they are dangerous." Many of us cannot believe you are idiotic enough not to understand how moral equivalency doesn't apply in this situation. The Jews were not seeking world domination. Islam is out to kill all who defy it. Only a slight difference between them, Mr. Klein.
The show aired on November 26, the Sunday after the Thanksgiving holiday, and Klein said in an interview afterwards he had been surprised by the response. Only because you are a moron.
"The switchboard went from empty to totally jammed within minutes," said Klein. "There were plenty of callers angry with me, but there were plenty who agreed." Those in agreement are not a fringe minority.
A Gallup poll this summer of more than 1,000 Americans showed that 39 percent were in favor of requiring Muslims in the United States, including American citizens, to carry special identification. Roughly a quarter of those polled said they would not want to live next door to a Muslim and a third thought that Muslims in the United States sympathized with al Qaeda, the extremist group behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. A poll carried out by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an advocacy group, found that for one in three Americans, the word Islam triggers negative connotations such as "war," "hatred" and "terrorist." I wonder if CAIR inflated these numbers for sympathy. I also wonder if CAIR realizes that any upward tampering with these figures could have severe blowback in terms of convincing fence-sitters to be anti-Muslim.
The war in Iraq has contributed to such perceptions. Klein's show followed a week of heated discussions on talk radio, including his own, and online forums over an incident on November 22 involving six Muslim clerics. They were handcuffed and taken off a US Airways flight after passengers reported "suspicious behavior" that included praying in the departure gate area. The clerics, on their way to a meeting of the North American Imams Federation, were detained in a holding cell, questioned by police and FBI agents, and released. Muslim community leaders saw the incident as yet more evidence of anti-Muslim prejudice. Only a couple of mistakes in the reporting. The imams were on there way FROM the meeting and their behavior went WAY BEYOND SUSPICIOUS in numerous respects.
Ignorance Seen as Key Problem
Several American Muslims interviewed on the subject of prejudice over the past few weeks said ignorance was at the core of the problem. Quite so, it just happens to be Muslim ignorance of just how seriously pissed off a lot of Americans are at the way that Islam continues to threaten our liberty.
"The level of knowledge is very, very low," said Mohamed Esa, a U.S. Muslim of Arab descent who teaches a course on Islam at McDaniel College in Maryland. Get a clue, Mohamed. The animosity is even greater as the knowledge level increases. What does that tell you, Mr. Esa?
"There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world and some people think they are all terrorists." From their Thundering Silence, it is certainly becoming ever more difficult to think otherwise. This Muslim-first and American-second bullshit is a prime indicator. A nearly complete and total lack of integration or assimilation is another.
Hossam Ahmed, a retired Air Force Reserve colonel who occasionally leads prayer meetings for the small Muslim congregation at the Pentagon, agreed. "Ignorance is the number one problem. Education is of the essence." I recommend you start educating American Muslims on how to assimilate before they end up in internment camps or simply being booted out of this country.
There are no hard figures on how many Muslims have been subject to harassment or prejudice and community leaders say that ugly incidents can prompt spontaneous expressions of support. Such as the e-mail a Minneapolis woman sent to CAIR after the imams were taken off their flight. "I would like to ... help," the e-mail said. "While I cannot offer plane tickets, I would be happy to drive at least 2 or 3 of them. My car is small, but at least some of our hearts in this land of the free are large." Even if their brains are microscopic. What was it that Stalin said about "useful idiots"?
And optimists saw signs of change in the November 4 election of the first Muslim to the U.S. House of Representatives, which has 435 members. Few informed people feel very optimistic about Ellison's participation in American government. His track record as a citizen and Muslim are both abysmal.
Democrat Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old African-American lawyer, did not stress his religion during his campaign for a Minnesota seat, but said his victory would "signal to people who are not Muslims that Muslims have a lot to offer to the United States and the improvement of our country." With all of the enclaves and general refusal to integrate, it's really hard to see where there has been substantial contributions by recent Muslim immigrants to America. Mostly, it comes across as whineing and sniveling about how your precious sharia law is being trampled and how you'll have nine kinds of tantrums if you don't get your way. Here's a clue; Start turning in your jihadist imams and terrorist agitators. To date, you've shown an utterly miserable track record for doing this. Until that changes, expect to be thrown out with the bathwater when that time comes.
A young man was killed and three other people were wounded Sunday in two separate street fights in Beirut between opposition and government supporters, as army troops and security forces were swiftly beefed up to prevent further escalation. Security sources identified the killed man as Ali Ahmed Mahmoud, a 20-year-old Shiite, who died of his wounds.
They said four other people were wounded in the clashes which took place in the densely-populated Tarik Jedideh neighborhood and on the Badaro-Qasqas highway.
Shiite supporters from the southern suburbs trying to infiltrate into Tarik Jedideh, a low-income predominantly Sunni quarter, clashed with pro-government supporters with stones, sticks and knives, witnesses told Naharnet.
They said sporadic bursts of automatic gunfire could be heard in the confrontation which lasted about 45 minutes before army troops and police patrols stepped in to disengage the opponents.
The army threw a security dragnet in Tarik Jedideh in an effort to prevent followers of the pro-Syrian Hizbullah and Amal movement from stirring trouble in the Sunni neighborhood.
Another confrontation was reported on the Badaro-Qasqas highway between supporters of Hizbullah and Amal on the one side, and others from the Lebanese Forces, the Christian faction led by Samir Geagea.
Meanwhile, opposition leader of the minority Druze Lebanese Democratic Party violently challenged Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's government.
"I promise you that this government will fall under the boots of the patriotic Lebanese people," said Talal Arslan, a staunch foe of anti-Syrian Druze chieftain Walid Jumblat.
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2006
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#1
This lawsuit was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the same organization that has filed the suits involving detainees, military tribunals, and which has asked Germany to open a war crimes investigation of American officials over both Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. This organization supported Lynne Stewart, the attorney convicted of aiding an Egyptian cleric who was convicted of planning attacks. It also has called for the impeachment of President Bush.
#1
I recall originally reading this article well over a year ago. Still, the piece is...timeless. Worth a second read. Welcome to a close up look at the jihad in the USA.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
12/03/2006 19:33
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Unclear as the parties involved, but the article implies the deed was done by a civil warrior (or waree or multiples of them thereof) of possible sunni adherence, notice the cities named, all sunni strongholds.
(KHARTOUM) Days of fighting between former rebels and government forces killed more than 150 people and wounded at least 400 in a southern Sudanese town, a U.N. official said Saturday.
The battle was one of the worst breaches of a January 2005 peace agreement that ended 21 years of civil war in the south, a conflict separate from the ethnic bloodletting in Sudans western Darfur region.
Aid workers said the fighting began when a government-allied militia tried to kill a local leader of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement in Malakal, a port town about 400 miles south of Sudans capital, Khartoum. The former rebels retaliated, and large-scale fighting erupted Tuesday, with the two sides using artillery, tanks and armored personnel carriers. The former rebels captured Malakals airport before U.N. officials brokered a cease-fire Friday.
The U.N. mission in Sudan appealed for volunteer nurses and supplies to cope with 400 to 500 wounded fighters and civilians. The mission said bodies were strewn in the Nile River, one of the main sources of drinking water for the town of about 150,000 people. "There are over 150 dead," said Peter Maxwell, the field manager in Malakal for the U.N. mission.
Aid workers said most of the dead appeared to be combatants from both sides, but at least two dozen appeared to be civilians. They said government forces and former rebels were separately collecting their dead.
Maxwell said U.N. peacekeepers were patrolling the town and described the situation as "fairly calm" since Fridays cease-fire. "There are many indicators that life is approaching something normal," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
But international observers in Malakal said both the army and former rebels were massing forces, and worried the truce might not hold, especially if the army tried to reclaim the airport. The observers spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The Sudanese military had no comment on the violence.
U.N. officials expressed concern about contamination of the Nile in an area where cholera outbreaks are common. "Though United Nations peacekeepers have provided critical support to the Malakal government to dispose of the dead, the Nile remains contaminated by bodies as a result of the fighting," the U.N. mission said in a statement.
Malakal has remained volatile despite the peace accord between Sudans Muslim government in the north and the mostly Christian rebels in the south. The town lies next to Sudans north-south boundary and close to some of the countrys richest oil fields.
A Muslim mob has killed six Christians in an unprovoked attack on a congregation in Ethiopia, ICC has discovered.
The US-based human rights group International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned a mob of 300 Muslims killed six Christians in early October while 15 others were left seriously wounded by the attack during a midnight worship service in Beshasha, a town located in the Agaro province in Ethiopia.
On 14 October, a group of three hundred Muslims, carrying guns and knives approached the church where the Orthodox Christians were holding a midnight worship service. When the locked doors prevented the mob from entering the church they forced the congregation out of the church by pouring gasoline around the building.
The men of the church came out first and attempted to defend the men and women but because they had no real weapons in comparison to the guns and knives used against them they were attacked by the mob.
Fifteen individuals from the church suffered severe knife wounds and six people died as a result - two priests, two elderly women, and two men.
Two weeks later, the Ethiopian media announced that the police had arrested the leader of the massacre. But ICC warns that the violence against Christians continues to increase steadily despite the arrest.
It was only two weeks before the Beshasha massacre that another attack on Christians occurred in Jimma, Ethiopia because Muslims opposed Orthodox Christians celebrating the traditional Meskel holiday.
ICC warned that Muslims in the Horn of Africa are becoming increasingly radical and violent and are being urged to export that violence to surrounding countries.
This trend is almost certainly affecting Christians in Ethiopia, ICC said. The Union of Islamic Courts in Somalis recently called for Jihad against Ethiopia, appealing to Muslims of the Horn to rise up against anyone who would dare come against the religion of Allah.
ICC remains concerned as it warned that the tragic incident may only be a precursor of things to come as Muslims in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania are radicalised.
#2
Arrested the leader? WTF?! Round them all up, hang them and burn down their mosque. This is not a police matter. Clinton tried to handle it that way and look where it got us!
Info: According to the most recent 1994 National Census, Christians make up 61% of the country's population, Muslims 33%.
Islam in Ethiopia dates back to the founding of the religion; in 615, when a band of Muslims were counseled by the Simian Prophet Muhammad to escape persecution in Mecca and travel to Ethiopia, which was ruled by, in the Pedophile for profit Muhammad's estimation, a pious Christian king. Moreover, Islamic tradition states that Bilal, one of the foremost companions of the Fake prophet Muhammad (piece of pork be upon her, was from Ethiopia. From Wiki, I had to look this one up.
Meskel (Ethiopic: መሰቀል), in the Ethiopian Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, is an annual religious holiday commemorating the discovery of the True Cross by Queen Eleni (Saint Helena) in the fourth century. Meskel occurs on 17 Meskerem in the Ethiopian calendar (27 September, Gregorian calendar, or 28 September in leap years). "Meskel" (or "Meskal" or "Mesqel") is Ge'ez for "cross". [Note: Ge'ez uses a syllabary, so Ge'ez words and names may be transliterated into Roman letters in different ways.]
The festival is known as Feast of the exaltation of the holy cross in other Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant churches. The churches that follow the Gregorian calendar celebrate the feast on 14 September.
The Meskel celebration includes the burning of a large bonfire, or Demera, based on the belief that Queen Eleni had a revelation in a dream. She was told that the she shall make a bonfire and that the smoke would show her where the true cross was buried. So she ordered the people of Jerusalem to bring wood and make a huge pile. After adding frankincense to it the bonfire was lit and the smoke rose high up to the sky and returned to the ground, exactly to the spot where the Cross had been buried.[1] This "Demera"-procession takes place in the early evening the day before Meskel or on the day itself, according to local traditions. The firewood is decorated with daisies prior to the celebration. Afterwards, charcoal from the remains of the fire is collected and used by the faithful to mark their foreheads with the shape of a cross (compare Ash Wednesday).
One reason for the high rank this festival has in the church calendar is that it's believed that a part of the true Cross has been brought to Ethiopia from Egypt. It is said to be on a table mountain "Amba" called "Amba Gishen", which itself has a cross shape.
According to the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the discovery of the True Cross is traditionally believed to be in March, but Meskel was moved to September to avoid holding a festival during Lent, and because the church commemorating the True Cross in Jerusalem was dedicated during September.[2]
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 17:27
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See what happens when Muslims are a 33% minority. It is time to boot them out of the West, and ally with their targeted countries like Ethiopia, Thailand, Philipines, Serbia, Nigeria (south), Michigan, Ivory Coast, etc.
Convincingly and without resorting to partisan politics, Kuypers strongly illustrates in eight chapters how the press failed America in its coverage on the War on Terror. In each comparison, Kuypers detected massive bias on the part of the press. In fact, Kuypers calls the mainstream news media an anti-democratic institution in the conclusion.
What has essentially happened since 9/11 has been that Bush has repeated the same themes, and framed those themes the same whenever discussing the War on Terror, said Kuypers, who specializes in political communication and rhetoric. Immediately following 9/11, the mainstream news media (represented by CBS, ABC, NBC, USA Today, New York Times, and Washington Post) did echo Bush, but within eight weeks it began to intentionally ignore certain information the president was sharing, and instead reframed the president's themes or intentionally introduced new material to shift the focus.
This goes beyond reporting alternate points of view. In short, Kupyers explained, if someone were relying only on the mainstream media for information, they would have no idea what the president actually said. It was as if the press were reporting on a different speech.
#1
Congrats! Kuypers stumbles into framing theory:
Communications scientist Robert Entman (1993) states that "Journalists may follow the rules for objective reporting and yet convey a dominant framing of the news that prevents most audience members from making a balanced assessment of a situation."
There ain't nothin' new out in the sun. But at least he poked it with a stick.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates An American pilot whose F-16 fighter jet went down in Iraq was listed as killed in action following DNA analysis of remains recovered at the crash site, the U.S. Air Force said Sunday.
Maj. Troy L. Gilbert, 34, was supporting troops fighting in Anbar province, where many of the country's Sunni-Arab insurgent groups operate. Videotape footage obtained by Associated Press Television News after the crash appeared to show the wreckage of the F-16CG in a field and a tangled parachute nearby.
Remains recovered at the crash site 20 miles north of Baghdad were identified as Gilbert's, the Air Force said.
U.S. forces investigating the crash have said insurgents reached the site before American forces could. The cause of the crash is under investigation, but officials said they did not believe Gilbert was shot down.
In this undated photo provided by the Air Force, Maj. Troy L. Gilbert is shown. Gilbert an American pilot whose F-16 crashed in Iraq earlier this week was described by military members and his family as a husband and father of five who always did what it took to get the mission done. At the time of the crash, 34-year-old Gilbert, was supporting troops fighting in Anbar province, the area of Iraq where many of the country's Sunni-Arab insurgent groups operate. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force)
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 15:55
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I'm not really sad for him, he knew what he was doing, and accepted the odds, but that's very hard for his five children, and for his wife. It will be a very sad Christmas.
#4
Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
Through the great spaces in the sky,
Be with them always in the air,
In dark'ning storms or sunlight fair.
O, Hear us when we lift our prayer,
For those in peril in the air.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
12/03/2006 20:39
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A5089 - that's a little bit cynical for me. Sure they know the risks. So, should any warriors be saluted? No? I disagree
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 22:13
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By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN
Associated Press Made-Up Person Writer
MOGADISHU, Somalia
Somalia's government has sent hundreds of troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers to recapture a strategic southern town seized by the country's powerful Islamic movement, military officials and witnesses said Sunday, as dozens of families began fleeing the area. The Islamic militia, which has seized the capital and most of the country's south since June, declared itself in control of the southern town of Dinsor on Saturday, saying it moved into the area without encountering resistance or firing a shot.
With the seizure of the town, the Islamic Courts Union has now effectively surrounded the weak, transitional government in its fortified base in Baidoa, the only town it controls.
Fears were mounting that a battle for Dinsor, about 75 miles southwest of Baidoa, could be the spark that ignites a war in Somalia. The town controls a vital bridge linking Baidoa with southern Somalia and the key port of Kismayo.
"The Courts' provocative and unjustified act of aggression in the region must be faced with force," warned the government's justice minister, Sheik Aden Nour Mohamed.
Some 600 government troops were deployed late Saturday in pickup trucks mounted with machine guns to drive the Islamic group out of the town, said a senior military official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Another official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation said two Ethiopian battalions were in support.
The Islamic movement's spokesman, Sheik Abdirahim Ali Mudey, promised that any government assault would be met with resistance. Witnesses said there were about 200 Islamic fighters with dozens of armed trucks preparing defensive positions in the town.
"Since the town is now under the control of the Islamic courts with the willingness of the local people, any attack waged against it would meet a fierce battle," Mudey said.
One shopkeeper, Mo'alim Isgow Ahmed, said at least half the town's residents have fled.
"We left Dinsor to save our lives," said Mad Ali Gab, who arrived in Baidoa by car. "They are preparing for war, so we cannot wait for the fighting to begin."
Ethiopia, a largely Christian nation, fears the emergence of a neighboring Islamic state and has acknowledged sending military advisers to help the Somali government.
A confidential U.N. report recently obtained by The Associated Press said there were up to 8,000 Ethiopian troops in the country supporting the government. Last week, Ethiopia's parliament authorized military action if attacked by the Islamic movement, which has declared holy war on Ethiopia over its troop incursions.
The U.N. report said Ethiopia's regional rival, Eritrea, had 2,000 troops in the country.
Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another. The transitional government was formed with the help of the U.N. two years ago, but has struggled to assert its authority.
The U.S. circulated a draft U.N. resolution late Friday that would authorize the deployment of a regional military force to protect the fragile government. The troops would likely come from a seven-nation East African group, but would not include Somalia's neighbors, like Ethiopia.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Friday he expects Security Council experts to discuss the draft on Monday.
Associated Press Imaginary Friend Writer Mohamed Sheik Nor in Mogadishu contributed to this report.
Now that the "realists" have ridden into town gleefully consigning the Bush doctrine to the ash heap of history, everyone has discovered the notion of interests, as if it were some new idea thought up by James Baker and the Iraq Study Group.
What do people think we've been doing for the past five years? True, the president's rhetoric has a tendency to go soaringly Wilsonian, e.g. the banishing-tyranny stuff in his second inaugural address. But our policies of democratization in Iraq and Afghanistan and Lebanon have been deeply rooted in the most concrete of American interests.
If we really had been in the grip of "idealism," we'd be deep in Chad and Burma and Darfur. We are not. We are instead trying to sustain fragile democracies in three strategically important countries Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon that form the geographic parentheses around the principal threat to Western interests in the region, the Syria-Iran axis.
We are trying to bring democracy to Iraq in particular because a pro-Western government enjoying legitimacy and popular support would have been the most enduring means of securing our interests there. Deposing Saddam & Sons was essential because they posed a permanent strategic threat to the region and to U.S. interests. But their successor the popularly elected Maliki government has failed.
#1
The United States should be giving Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a clear ultimatum: If he does not come up with a political solution in two months or cede power to a new coalition that will, the United States will abandon the Green Zone; retire to its bases; move much of its personnel to Kurdistan, where we are welcome and safe; and let the civil war take its course. Let the current Green Zone-protected Iraqi politicians who take their cue from Moqtada al-Sadr face the insurgency alone. That might concentrate their minds on either making a generous offer to the Sunnis or stepping aside for a coalition that would.
All difficulties aside with respect to supplying what would be our northern-based troops in the Kurdish area, this solution would provide the quickest results with the least impact upon the Coalition.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Rooters) - At least eight people were killed in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Sunday in a suicide car bombing against NATO troops and subsequent gunfire by soldiers, police and witnesses said. Three civilians died when the bomber struck a military convoy and five more were shot by troops afterwards, they said.
NATO said three of its soldiers were wounded in the attack for which the Taliban claimed responsibility.
Asked about the accounts of troops shooting civilians, NATO spokesman Major Luke Knittig said: "We will establish the facts. It is still unclear in what way the troops reacted."
The Ministry of Defense said the three injured soldiers were British Royal Marines commandoes. It said one was seriously wounded and the others were in stable condition.
"The convoy was attacked by a suspected suicide bomber in a vehicle, who attempted to ram the British vehicles. A number of Afghan civilians were also injured in the blast and at least two were killed," the ministry said. "This was a typically indiscriminate attack from the Taliban, who didn't care if they killed or injured innocent Afghans around our forces," British task force spokesman Lt. Col. Andy Price said in the statement, released in London.
With pressure to do more of the fighting, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki plans to increase the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) by nearly 20,000, according the U.S. command in Baghdad.
The plan had been for 325,000 army, police and other forces. The army number will be increased by 18,700, the command said, at the expense of the Iraqi government. The Pentagon so far has received $8 billion from Congress to build the ISF.
The increase breaks down to three new divisions, five new brigades and 20 battalions, plus one additional special operations battalion. That would give Iraq, I believe, 13 army divisions. That might also mean creating a second Corps, as that is more than a bit heavy for one Command.
#1
Still, the eventual breakdown of divisions and other military branches will be the deciding factor. Currently, only the 9th division is Mechanized.
Hungary agreed to give 77 refurbished T-72 Main Battle Tanks.
173 M113s, 44 Panhards, and 100 Spartans are being donated by Jordan, Pakistan and UAE. 600 DZIK3 APCs (option 1200) and 573 Akrep APCs for delivery by Jan 2007.
756 Cougar APCs (option 1050) for delivery by Nov 2008.
The 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Division took delivery of 10 armored HMMWVs in March 2006
713 M1114s and 400 M1151s were scheduled for delivery by July 2006.
Iraqi Air Force Combat Aircraft:
80 Chengdu F-7
53 Mirage F1
5 Dassault Super Etendard
Transport Aircraft
10 An-2
12 An-12
24 An-24
2 An-26
#6
Does that include any of the ones that were buried in sand dunes to hide them? Because I was under the belief that the sand dune planes were total write-offs.
#7
Frank, I think your idea of giving up some Tomcats is not a good idea: Iran has some, whether flying of not, they probably still have crews that could get them airborne. Unless you want to set a little bait, maybe?
We have lots of other good a/c in the desert that would be adequate; F-111, A-7 ( both USAF and USN), A-4, A-6 ( my personal all time favorite) as well as early F-16/ FA18.
Note: The system sez this is a Dupe, but I can't see the other, so I'm punching it through the net, lol.
China has started construction of its second Yuan-class attack submarine and it likely will be deployed in 2010, according to U.S. intelligence officials.
The new submarine is a key element of China's huge increase in submarine forces that some analysts say reveals Beijing is on a war-footing, while many U.S. military and intelligence officials play down Beijing's arms buildup.
Since 2002, China has deployed more than 14 new submarines, with many others in the pipeline. They include the first Yuan and one Type 094 ballistic-missile submarine, known as the Jin class. At least two Type O93 nuclear-powered attack submarines are under construction, as well as additional Jin, Song, and Shang submarines, according to Navy officials. The newly deployed subs include one Ming submarine, 10 Song submarines and one Shang class.
China also purchased four diesel Kilo submarines from Russia and is getting eight more over the next several years.
Discovery of the first Yuan-class submarine in the summer of 2004 will long be remembered for the surprise of the deployment. The submarine was built and deployed without ever being detected in development by U.S. intelligence agencies in what officials say is part of a string of intelligence failures on the Chinese military buildup.
Officials said the reason the submarine remained secret was that it was built completely underground in a secret Chinese production facility that included underground waterways to a port.
From the BBC:
Russia has protested about plans by Estonia to criminalise displays of Soviet symbols. A Russian foreign ministry spokesman said it was "blasphemous" to equate the hammer and sickle with Nazi emblems. 'Blasphemous': what an odd word to use about communist symbols.
The Estonian government has put a bill before parliament calling for fines or jail terms of up to three years for those who display such symbols. Estonia was occupied by the Nazis in World War II and then ruled by Moscow for five decades. Russia denies the Soviet years amounted to an "occupation" of Estonia. Nope, nope, never happened No, no, certainly not. It wudn't an occupation. It wuz... ummm... something else.
War veterans in the large Russian minority in Estonia often wave red Soviet flags when marking Soviet-era anniversaries. Tallinn, in particular, is starting to see a number of skinheads wearing KKK and Nazi symbols, and a rise in racist violence
The Baltic republic regained its independence became independent in 1991 and is a member of both NATO and the EU.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said on Thursday that "recently the Estonian side has been obstinately taking provocative steps aimed at seriously aggravating our relations".
"The Estonian authorities are continuing their blasphemous ... 'Blasphemy, I tell you! Of the worst kind!'
... attempts to rewrite the history, bracketing Nazi crimes with the feat of the Soviet people, who made a decisive contribution to the liberation of Europe from fascism," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying. Yea, that's how Estonians remember it, too
#4
The Soviets re-annexed Estonia and Latvia and Lithuania in June 1940 (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) with all the attendant executions and deportations to Siberia. The Germans didn't invade until June 1941. So I can see where the Latvians might dispute the liberation claims.
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2006 14:33
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#5
Latvians Estonians
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2006 14:34
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Ed, pretty much.
BTW, I broke my own tags in the story -- Estonians didn't become independent in 1991, they regained it. Somehow I reversed the strikethrough tag.
I'm a radical libertarian when it comes to free speech. I think the best thing the U.S. let, for example, the Klan do was talk, or the Nazis -- "I hate Illinois Nazis". They, over time, have become objects of scorn.
Estonia (and Europe) is different. You want to have a protest, you better have a permit.
What the story didn't say is that the Nazi flag is already banned in Estonia. This is just extending it to another symbol of totalitarianism (in the Estonians' minds).
I would like to see them enforce it, however. I see young Russians in Estonia running around with sweatshirts with the hammer and sickle and the CCCP. On Victory Day, the Soviet flags will be out. The only thing that will cure it, IMO, is the passage of time, and the veterans of WW2 dying.
#7
Apparently the Clintons haven't told Russia that FASCISM/NAZISM = NEW COMMUNISM, at least temporily until Years 2015-2020 when Hated Fascist/Nazi America = Well-Meaning but Error-ful Limited Commie Amerika, the mighty USSA = weak anti-sovereign Amer SSR/USR, etc is defeated iff not DESTROYED. Presum that Hillary fails in 2008 but wins in 2012 > after Year 2016 POTUS Hillary will have to deal wid Russian-Chicom Aircraft Carriers + possible anti-American Global Nuke War.
Britain has developed software that enables UAVs to operate independently, but cooperatively, under the command of a manned aircraft, on combat missions. The UAVs would, most of the time, take care of themselves, following the plan of the operation they were programmed with. But the pilot of manned aircraft could order any of the UAVs to deviate from the plan. The key to all this is flight control software, and artificial intelligence, that is capable enough to make it all work. The UAVs also constantly communicate with each other, and function "cooperatively" (to avoid collisions, or two UAVs attacking the same target, and so on).
Since computers are running all this, the reactions are quicker than with human pilots. The UAVs can perform a number of dangerous missions, like attacking air defenses, searching for targets on the ground, or defending the entire "package" (the manned aircraft and all the UAVs) from enemy aircraft. The UAVs can be used more aggressively, because you are not risking the lives of pilots. If the manned aircraft is shot down, the UAVs have their programmed orders to complete the mission, or immediately break off and return to base. It's also possible to use this software so that one human operator on the ground can control a swarm (half a dozen or so) UAVs for, say, a recon mission, to scour an area for enemy targets. This saves a lot of skilled manpower, as all you need is someone to review the video. And increasingly powerful software is capable of doing that as well, leaving only for the human analyst to confirm that something important has been found.
This kind of software has been around, in a conceptual form, for decades. But it took powerful enough hardware (in terms of computing power, and high quality digital vidcams), and decades of tweaking the software, to reach the point where the stuff actually works.
#1
IIUC, the muslim world taken as a whole has four times more men in fighting age than the West does. This is the kind of tech that could level this gap if Hell should ever break lose.
#2
I see the next aviation revolution as being in using vast numbers of Predator-or-smaller-sized UAVs that in mass production have about the cost of an automobile.
Flown in mass, they could easily establish air superiority by sheer numbers; overwhelm and destroy SAM defenses; be used like GPS guided buzz bombs; even jam a very large area's broadcast traffic.
If they are going to be used as buzz bombs, I can imagine them being made from the cheapest possible materials, guided by a inexpensive electronic brain and servo motor to pull its guidance wires. The shell might even be made of thick hard plastic, except in high temperature areas.
#4
You're not too far off Anonymoose. Think cheap, easy to mass produce composite attack UAVs. Polecat
Manpower differentials are not meaningful when we can inflict 200 to 1 casualty ratios such as during Gulf Wars I & II. Think what we can inflict when the PC restraints are gone.
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2006 19:09
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#5
Think what we can inflict when the PC restraints are gone.
Yup, ed, the biggest technology breakthrough required is changing a few synapses. We already have sufficient firepower.
#6
With the current costs of bombs and missiles I like the idea of printing custom ones for custom tasks. It could be a massive cost savings.
Imagine an arms depot that consists of 3d printers, power, explosives, sintering material, engines and coumputer modules.
Talk about demand inventory! one link to 3d aerospace printing discussion
#8
"Four times more men in fighting age" - but like the Russkis, are dying before or during their Middle Age. What Socialism's Wars didn't kill off, Socialism in peacetime is, even in IRAN > STRATEGYPAGE > Iranian women stopped having babies/kids.
Iran and the Palestinian Authority cement their alliance with a first-time meeting between their leaders. Iranian Pres. Ahmadinejad tells Haniyeh of Hamas that Israels demise is within reach.
Ahmadinejad met on Friday with Hamas Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Qatar.
Ahmadinejad, who is pursuing nuclear capabilities at breakneck speed, assured Haniyeh that Israel is "on the verge of disappearing," according to Irans state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
"As everybody knows, the Zionist regime was created to establish dominion of arrogant states over the region and to enable the enemy to penetrate the heart Muslim land," Ahmadinejad explained, reiterating a theory he has outlined in public forums ever since he came to power.
Haniyeh, whose Islamist Hamas group enjoys much financial and logistical support from Iran, thanked Ahmadinejad for the assistance. "The Iranian nation's brilliant stand in the rightful battles of the Palestinians encourages them and signifies their deep understanding of Islamic principles," IRNA quoted him as saying Saturday. "The Intifada of the Palestinian nation will continue until the cause of the Palestinians is materialized and Jerusalem is liberated."
Ahmadinejad assured Haniyeh that Israels destruction is no longer a dream, but well within reach. "Today, scores of Western politicians are in doubt as to the future of this illegitimate regime and its existence has come under question. There is no doubt the Palestinian nation and Muslims as a whole will emerge victorious," he said.
On Friday, Ahmadinejad, Haniyeh and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad joined Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Kuwait's Prime Minister Nasser al-Hamad Al Sabah at the opening ceremony of the 15th Asian Games.
Hamas chief Haniyeh was the only visitor to the games received at Qatars airport by the countrys Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, according to Qatars news agency.
#2
Wow, unreal: "As everybody knows, the Zionist regime was created to establish dominion of arrogant states over the region and to enable the enemy to PENETRATE the heart Muslim land," Ahmadinejad explained, reiterating a theory he has outlined in public forums ever since he came to power. "
Please see my post on the Gaza women warned of immodesty article for a further explanation. There's no dealing with this. These men must be eliminated. End of story
#3
We finally got cable yesterday. Now we can watch National Geographic, Sky News, and the Action Network, in English. We also get a Libyan station, two Egyptian stations (Nile -- one English, one Arabic), a Sudanese channel (!!), and some other interesting stuff that mainly consists of Arab men sitting around chewing qat while some hijab-ed female adoringly looks on. And whole slew of Turk crapola too.
Also a bunch of Slavic and Russian channels, all running their versions of American Idol, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and cheesy heavy metal videos. Painfully dorky, but watching the whole world trying to be America is entertaining.
And alas, no Indian MTV, but there were a bunch of Arabic stations with god-awful live music. I swear, one cornball crooner was Julio of Arabia. And there are Arabic soap operas too. Who knew?! Hours of fun supplying our own dialogue.
Notably, we also get both versions of Al Jazeera: a cursory surf showed some Brit peddling the usual bland agitprop on the English one, and Haniyeh being interviewed on the Arabic one.
300 channels of agitprop is a lot to keep an eye on, so let me know if y'all are interested in hearing more about anything in particular.
Rofl - the true calling of all exPats... Useta do the same...
in Saudi it was Orbit Network cable - Saudi-owned with lots of TVLand (totally goofy rerun stuff), CNN and MSNBC, weird Flip soaps - plus local yokel stations with prayer-reading contests, lol...
and Thailand it was UMC cable (can't remember WTF that stood for, lol) with a small handfull of English (CNN, of course) and Thai soaps - which were intracately explained to me by my girlfriend, and still - they made no sense whatsoever, lol.
Basically, it was "class struggle" soaps and Knight Rider style 'Merikkan stuff. ;-)
#10
TVLand is good, though I don't think we have it this time around. We do have Boomerang, kinda like the Cartoon Network. Good stuff -- old Bugs Bunny, with turbaned Arabs flying around on magic carpets.
Ah, the good old days, when that was the extent of Muhammedan technology.
#11
No SkyNews, ex-JAG? I've no memory what we got in Germany back in the early '90s -- videos mostly, and we'd learnt enough German to watch the local stations anyway -- but I remember the feeling of freedom, the breath of relief, when we moved to Brussels and discovered SkyNews. Of course, we were just in time for "O.J. Simpson Around the Clock", and we spent an inordinate amount of time explaining the Ami justice system. Innocent until proven guilty was a particularly difficult concept. :-/
Pres. Ahmadinejad's halo is becoming more and more distinct. At this rate, he will soon need to be translated bodily to the Afterlife in order to keep up with it.
#13
Judging by the angle of approach, those look like Nazi suicide bombers Mk I.
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2006 18:49
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the one thing the MME can be depended upon is to overreach.
I've maintained this for quite some time. And Ahmadinejad is proving it true all over again. Has this lunatic not considered that launching a single nuclear tipped missile at Israel could bring about destruction of the entire MME (Muslim Middle East)?
Israel's Samson Option would result in a carpet of glass from Egypt to Saudi Arabia (at least). The Jews will not go quietly into the night, nor is there any reason that they should. The vast collusion of genocidal forces represented by surrounding Muslim countries makes Israel's intended retribution more than undestandable.
To date, I am astonished that all other Arab and Muslim nations are not pestering Iran to sit down and STFU before these Persian wingnuts get them all killed.
Once again, I'll reiterate that Coalition forces really needs to blanket the MME with a realistic video of an Arab-style "The Day After Tomorrow" showing exactly what the outcome of nuclear bombardment entails. Few other nuggets of propaganda could motivate the Arab street to rise up against their terrorist masters and begin demanding a change in course.
Should Iran succeed in launching a single MRBM in Israel's direction, successful or not, Iran should immediately be glassed over. Let Ahmadinejad become an eternal posterboy for the price of Arab mouthing off about genocide.
Various Cabinet sessions are discussing the possible Hizbullah coup in Lebanon, as well as the demand for a "ceasefire" - an end to Israel's anti-terror activities - in Judea and Samaria.
Following the morning Cabinet session dealing mainly with the threat of a Hizbullah takeover in Lebanon, the security mini-cabinet will convene and discuss the security situation in more detail.
Regarding the possible Hizbullah toppling of the Lebanese government, most ministers feel that Israel need not take a public stand. "Israel should not intervene," said former intelligence officer Rafi Eitan, Minister of Pensioners' Affairs, "because most of the time it turns out the opposite of what we want... This is a job for the United States." Another Cabinet member said that any Israeli support for the moderate Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora would only weaken him. The Kiss Of Death.
Minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) said that a takeover by Iranian/Syrian-backed Hizbullah is a very worrisome prospect, while Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) said that Israel must be prepared for just such an eventuality.
Former IDF Intelligence Chief Gen. (ret.) Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash said today that if the present Lebanese government resigns and does not call new elections, "this will increase the chance of another war next summer."
The meetings today will also deal with the ceasefire in Gaza - violated thus far by nearly 15 Kassam rockets - and its possible expansion into Judea and Samaria (Yesha).
Ceasefire = Return to Murderous Terrorism in Israel
A ceasefire in Yesha means, according to Palestinian Authority demands, that Israel remove all checkpoints and stop anti-terror measures. For Israel, a ceasefire means an end to the thwarting of terror attacks and a return to weekly or daily reports of murdered Israelis. This is the conclusion drawn from the statistics the IDF will present today at the security mini-cabinet meeting.
The leading statistic to be presented: The IDF has thwarted this year over 130 attacks and/or arms-smuggling attempts at one checkpoint alone - the Hawara checkpoint south of Shechem. Since January 2006, Arutz-7's Haggai Huberman reports, IDF troops at Hawara have caught Arabs trying to smuggle into Israeli-controlled territory 28 bombs, 10 guns, 25 Molotov cocktails and 60 knives.
Four pipe-bombs, between four and six inches long each, were caught in the past week alone, and blown up in controlled explosions by Israeli Border Guard sappers.
In July, for instance, 32 knife-bearing Arabs were stopped, in September, three firebombs were caught, and in November, three bombs were found on persons trying to cross through the checkpoint.
On Oct. 9, a Palestinian terrorist ran towards soldiers with a knife and tried to stab one; another soldier shot him, and though soldiers and Red Crescent workers administered first aid, he died.
"Israel's military history teaches us," Huberman writes, "that every time there was a ceasefire without a clear IDF victory, it served only to help the Arabs rearm and regroup for the next round. This is what occurred in the ceasefire with Egypt ending the War of Attrition in 1970 [preparing the way for the Yom Kippur War in 1973], and with the PLO in 1981, leading to the war in Lebanon [a year later]. In addition, the Oslo Agreement [of 1993] saved the PLO from total collapse at the time that the original intifada [that began in] 1987 was dying out, and this was what happened in the hudna, etc. Each time, the cease fire was merely a time-out before the next round."
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, who met separately with Prime Minister Olmert and PA leader Abu Mazen last week, has often called for Israel to give up checkpoints, often associating them with the daily humiliation of occupation.
Even Olmert, in his famous speech at Ben-Gurion's grave last week, said that if the PA establishes a unity government and stops terrorism, "We will significantly diminish the number of roadblocks, increase freedom of movement in the territories, facilitate movement of people and goods in both directions..."
IDF officers such as Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, Central Commander Gen. Yair Naveh, Planning Division Chief Gen. Ido Nehushtan, and Operations Chief Gen. Tal Russo all agree that Israel must not agree to give up the checkpoints. Army chiefs feel that the current number of checkpoints, following the removal of some, is the "red line" minimum required to maintain a semblance of security for Israel.
The PA side, however, continues to demand a "ceasefire" in Yesha - interpreting it to mean that if Israel harms an Arab in the course of anti-terror activities, it will be within its rights to respond by firing rockets.
What does it mean that the U.S. Constitution is a constitution of limited powers? Nothing, anymore.
Name one responsibility that is only for United States citizens.
Name one of the writers of the Federalist Papers.
If you are an American citizen, you should know the answers. If you intend on becoming a naturalized citizen, you may want to bone up on U.S. history and civics. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office will enlist 5,000 citizenship applicant volunteers in 10 cities, including Tucson, next year to test-drive the questions. The proposed 144 questions will be whittled down for a new citizenship exam.
The questions, found at www. uscis.gov, deal more with "concepts of democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship," according to the agency. The pilot questions are several degrees more difficult than the current ones. Not only should immigrants be required to pass some sort of reasonable citizenship test (in English); prospective voters should have to pass the same test in order to register to vote. h/t: FR
#2
Why ? I know what I'm doing. I saw on the news that Senator Allen said 'macaca' so I voted against him.
Posted by: Joe Union ||
12/03/2006 10:59
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While a few history lessons are useful, I can think of a whole slew of important concepts that immigrants should be tested for:
1) All people are equal under the law and all people have protection by the law. This means men, women, children, people of different races and from origins in different nations, people of other religions or no religion at all, homosexuals, etc.
2) The laws written by men are totally dominant over the laws and practices of any culture or religion. This means that while people may choose to obey religious laws *also*, they may not force or carry out those laws against anyone, even members of their own religion, who do not wholeheartedly and proactively agree to it. If there is a conflict between secular and religious law, secular law must be obeyed.
3) Slavery is forbidden. All labor must be freely offered and paid for according to US legal rules. Any slave entering the US is instantly free from any obligation to their owner. Children are only permitted to work at all under strict rules. People cannot be detained without their permission.
4) Polygamy is forbidden. Performing any variety of surgery without a license is forbidden. Forced marriage and dowry is forbidden. Honor killing is strictly forbidden. Child and spouse abuse is forbidden.
5) All children must be schooled. All vehicles and drivers must be licensed and insured. All males between 18-? must be registered for military draft. Statements of payment for employment and all other income must be submitted annually as part of our national tax, the "income tax". Most individual States also require an annual income tax payment, supported by these documents.
6) All immigrants are strongly encouraged to learn to read and write the English language, as it is almost essential to becoming self-sufficient and economically successful. All immigrants are strongly encouraged to integrate into the culture of the US as soon as possible, to interact with and respect other citizens beyond your local community.
#4
Portillo is an apologist for the transnational / colonization movement in southern Arizona. He writes for the local daily which is heavily pc. Gang crime is rising rapidly in Tucson - a fact mentioned in today's paper - you won't see Ernesto agressively comment on that issue. Of course there is no tie in between rising gang crimewaves and illegal immigration...
#8
borgboy: I had a good laugh at the gang war article in the Tucson newspaper. Trying to stimulate public fear by an increase in dead gang bangers from like 8 to 14 in a year, average, is pretty weak.
Hell, up in Phoenix, they had like 35 bodies recovered in a year from a stretch of desert west of the city, and their news media did everything they could *not* to make an issue of it. Bad for tourism and all.
Put it in the "Rooooaaaaddd Raaaaaagggge!" department.
#11
Aw heck, Pappy. Years ago the cartoonist Bob Boze Bell did a great illustration of a typical Tucson family: a mullet haired lesbian with a sneer and her two AKC dogs. That also pretty well describes their cultural scene.
Tucson even looks democrat. Sorry looking streets full of potholes, most of the city looks run down and stuck in the 1960s, lots of homeless hanging out. Plenty cheap brown snorting heroin up from Messico, marijuana by the boatload. I think landscaping is forbidden.
Any gang violence will be between Messicans, most probably illegal or worthless, so nobody will give two hoots.
HT to CQ Associates say 'joke' fallout stunned him
Senator John F. Kerry's election-eve "botched joke" about the war in Iraq -- and the fierce denunciations his comments drew from fellow Democrats -- has led him to reevaluate whether to mount a run for the presidency in 2008 and has led him to delay an announcement about his decision, according to Kerry associates.
The Massachusetts Democrat is now leaning toward waiting until late spring before declaring his intentions, even as other candidates jump into the race and begin building organizing and fund-raising teams in early-primary states. Before the joke derailed his comeback, Kerry had signaled that he would decide whether to run by the end of January.
Kerry -- who had methodically resurrected his political standing after a tough loss to President Bush in 2004 -- was stunned by the swift, angry reaction to his Oct. 30 statement that underachieving students would end up "stuck in Iraq." Aides and friends say the senator was particularly stung by the fact that so many Democrats had joined Republicans in rebuking him.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006
08:50 ||
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#1
Kerry is a secret warrior for the Repubs. He will wait until he can amass the most ammount of damage to the Donks and then he will unleash something really stupid spinning the Donks into nonstop damage control giving the Repubs the advantage. We salute you, John Kerry, master of the stupid.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/03/2006 10:09
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#2
Wasn't there a poll recently that pegged him the "Least likeable candidate for President"? He was 15th out of 15. Even if you don't like polls that has got to hurt your ego.
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#7
Truly, Ship. It's The Globe, Jawn. That's purt-near the Word of Gawd. Don't be discouraged! Don your lucky hat, give us another Python salute, save another hamster, and throw that sucker into the ring, man! The hat, I means...
#9
The Massachusetts Democrat is now leaning toward waiting until late spring before declaring his intentions...
...and, as we all know, Americans are stupid and have short attention spans, so they will probably forgotten all about it by then.
Oh. Wait. Should I have said that?
#12
I cannot comment on this issue since I was in the military; therefore too stupid to have any sort of intelligence. (but I can spell Iraq). john you are such a phuquehwad, you are indeed the ultimate poster child for oral sex.
Megumi Yokota was 13 when the North Koreans kidnapped her in 1977. She hasn't been heard from since.
by Melanie Kirkpatrick, Wall Street Journal
Scene: A lonely residential street in the city of Niigata, along the western coast of Japan.
Time: Late afternoon in the autumn of 1977.
Action: A 13-year-old girl is walking home from school, having stayed late for badminton practice. She waves goodbye to friends, turns the corner, and is never seen again.
This is the true story of "Abduction," a documentary that opened in Japan last weekend after winning accolades at several international film festivals. The lost girl is Megumi Yokota. In 2002, North Korea admitted that it had kidnapped Megumi, along with 12 other Japanese citizens, enslaving them for the purpose of training its spies to pass as Japanese. "Megumi-chan," or "Little Megumi," is now a household name in Japan. President Bush met with Megumi's mother and brother in the White House last April, calling it "one of the most moving meetings since I've been the President." . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
12/03/2006
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#1
In less enlightened times this sort of thing would have been cause for war. I suspect that Japan's phase-change is going to get very ugly for the Norks.
Translation
A Dutch Muslimah as been arrested in the UK on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. Her Syrian English husband the 27 year old Yassin N. has been behind bars since May 30th. British justice officials are accusing the Moroccan Muslimah of keeping silent about her husbands terrorism plans, which is a crime in the UK since 2000.
According to prosecutors Bouchra had written a letter in which she rejoiced in her husbands martyrdom plans for jihad. She also glorified her own martyrdom and was prepared to sacrifice her 1 year old son Mohammed. Her lawyer said she never intended to engage in terrorism and her glorification of holy war only had 'poetic' meaning.
Investigators searched her home in Eindhoven and the home of Bouchra's parents. The couples apartment in London was also searched. The police confiscated her husband's laptop and found a martyrdom letter. The couple was arrested on May 30th at Luton airport. The woman was released. She was rearrested on September 7th. The trial against the couple will begin 2007.
#3
Her lawyer said she never intended to engage in terrorism and her glorification of holy war only had 'poetic' meaning.
Much of modern law strongly relies upon precedent. To date, a significant number of terrorists have left these "martyrdom letters" behind as they trotted off to commit complete and total mayhem. Amongst those who have done so are some who have committed the most heinous atrocities in recent history.
The courts have every reason to accept such compositions as being in earnest and should act upon them as statements of intent. If they are set in sonant phrasing, go ahead and call them 'poetic', but don't hope to pass them off as Shakespeare's sonnets.
Anyone willing to bet that this woman's anticipation of killing her own infant son will not prove to be sufficient cause for the court's removing him from her custody?
#1
This is truly a great blog, a must have link....one of the best. Check it out.
Disclaimer; I never saw this blog before and this testimonial is not Bought and Paid For!
Judge Sachar is pushing hard for reservations (affirmative action) for muslims
The very visible identities of Islam-burqa, beard, skullcap and hijab-are posing problems to large numbers of Muslims in India, a country with the world's second largest Islamic population.
And Justice Rajinder Sachar, whose 404-page report on the status of Indian Muslims has been submitted to Parliament, says that the police, media as well as the society at large need to be blamed for the community's negative image.
Among the report's shocking revelations is that the mere identity of Muslims has become a headache for them in public spaces, be it a railway station, park, hospital or school. "Being identified as a Muslim is considered to be problematic for many," says the report that has sparked many eyebrows because it has gone into great details about the pathetic socio-economic conditions of India's largest minority.
"Markers of Muslim identity-the burqa, the purdah (veil), the beard and the topi-while adding to the distinctiveness of Indian Muslims have been a cause of concern for them in the public realm," it said.
#2
maybe they should identify the terrorists and radicals amongst them so they have a better group image?
sorry, what was I thinking? Nevermind
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 9:09
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"On the other hand, the police along with the media overplay the involvement of Muslims in violent activities and underplay the involvement of other groups or organisations."
Such as raising money for violent activities?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
12/03/2006 10:20
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#4
media as well as the society at large need to be blamed for the community's negative image
No it's because they follow the teachings of a terrorist! That and the horrendous history that follows the invasion of poKoranimals. The Indians were butchered, murdered.
#5
All the things mentioned by the author are perfectly natural reactions by any society of an alien group who ostentatiously tries to segregate itself and stand out from the societal norms. It should be this way. Normal Indians should do their utmost to make it impossible for muzzies to survive in their midst. They have a legitimate place to go...Pakland. Let them be away to join the other seethers. I only hope this happens in all western oriented nations. Make it so difficult for these scumbags that they slink away of their own accord.
#6
The very visible identities of Islam-burqa, beard, skullcap and hijab-are posing problems to large numbers of Muslims in India
Parliment assassinations by Muslims ... Check!
Trains blown up by Muslims ... Check!
Kashmir conflict driven by Muslims ... Check!
The list is endless. If these sick fucks can't bring themselves to stop blowing up shit all the time then they deserve to be suspected, one and all. This has nothing to do with appearances, it has everything to do with the death cult they belong to.
#7
What goes around comes around. These pricks should, just for a nanosecond, consider the problems that Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, et. al. have in Muslim countries. Better to be "discriminated against" than killed. No sympathy for Muslims any place, any time. They will not live and let live. The world would be better with them gone.
#8
Good for the non-Muzzy Indians! These bastards need to learn that their actions have serious and permanent consequences. The sooner we start treating this murderous cult in the same way, the sooner they will start leaving or changing. Personally, I'd just as soon have as many Muslims in America as there are Muslims in, let's say, South Korea. Their presence adds nothing beneficial and if every Muslim disappeared from the U.S. tomorrow we'd be exponentially better off.
Posted by: mac ||
12/03/2006 16:28
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Justin Rood at TPM Muckraker asks whether Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats will have another corruption issue in caucus leadership. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) served as ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Science, State, Justice, Commerce and Related Agencies and under normal circumstances would take the chair from Frank Wolf, the current Republican chair. However, Rood points to an ugly conflict of interest that would immediately present itself if he does:
The FBI's probing Mollohan for possible violations of the law arising from his sprawling network of favors and money which connects him to good friends via questionable charities, alarmingly successful real estate ventures, and hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarked funds.
The investigation appears to be active and ongoing. We're told that the Feds continue to gather information on the guy. Yet the Democrats look poised to make Mollohan the chairman of the panel which controls the purse strings for the entire Justice Department -- including the FBI. ...
"Mollohan should definitely be recusing himself from all appropriations decisions regarding the Justice Department, including the FBI," said Melanie Sloan, director of the left-leaning D.C. watchdog, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). For Mollohan, there is the danger of even appearing to manipulate the Justice Department's budget in response to its probe. For the FBI, it creates possible charges of soft-pedaling their investigation in exchange for favorable funding, Sloan said.
Pelosi ran on the winning message that Democrats could clean up corruption in Congress better than the Republicans. Yet even before the new session of Congress begins, the Democrats have repeatedly demonstrated that reform takes a back seat to the acquisition of power. Pelosi herself has been the worst of the lot, backing porkmeister and Abscam-tainted John Murtha as Majority Leader, followed by her support for Alcee Hastings as Intelligence Committee chair despite his impeachment and removal from the federal bench for corruption.
It's not as if Mollohan flew under the radar before the election. The FBI investigation has been widely reported, and the issues appear rather serious. It hasn't received the kind of coverage that William Jefferson has, but then again, the FBI hasn't found $90,000 in cash in Mollohan's freezer. In any event, the appointment of Mollohan to any leadership position would show a distinct pattern of corruption in Democratic leadership.
If Mollohan is allowed to chair the subcommittee that handles the budget for the law-enforcement agencies that have him under investigation, that pattern will become breathtaking. Rood mentions the potential for mischief on both sides; Mollohan could act to choke off funds to the FBI to pressure them to drop the investigation, or the FBI could pressure Mollohan for budgetary favors in exchange for a lower priority on their investigation into his actions. The former seems much more likely than the latter, and the subcommittee should be concerned about the FBI's ability to accuse them of malfeasance with every unfavorable ruling they deliver to the Department of Justice.
Mostly, though, the arrangement stinks, and everyone aware of the situation will realize that. Nothing would demonstrate the emptiness of the Democratic pledges of clean government than putting the target of a criminal investigation in charge of the budget of the Department of Justice. If the Democrats do not remove Mollohan from the panel entirely, they will have made a collosal political error. If they allow him to chair the subcommittee, they will show themselves complicit in corruption, and we will have to expect more of the same for the next two years.
#1
correct - either revoke his citizenship or indict for treason
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 10:42
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#2
he [Ibrahim Hassan Addou] is a member of a government which receives aid from al Qaeda and which is protecting terrorists involved in bombing the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania!
This is what happens when an academic thinks he is qualified to run anything larger than a sidewalk lemonade stand. Addouj needs to be brought back to America, tried, convicted and imprisoned for life as an example to all who would collaborate with our nation's worst enemies.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- India's successful test of its own anti-ballistic Prithvi missile Monday still leaves the country a long way from fielding its own, home-produced short- and intermediate- range BMD systems. But it wasn't chickenfeed either.
In the test, as the Times of India reported, an upgraded version of the Prithvi shot down a conventional Prithvi at high altitude over the Bay of Bengal. The interceptor was launched from India's Integrated Test Range at Chandipur-on-sea and the test rocket from Wheeler Island in Orissa.
The success came as an enormous relief to India's long-embattled and much criticized Defense and Research Development Organization, or DRDO. As we have noted in these columns before, over the past three decades, DRDO has invested billions of dollars into high prestige, ambitious long-range ballistic missile, high-tech light combat aircraft, a new main battle tank and even a touted nuclear submarine with almost nothing to show for it.
We also monitored earlier this year the embarrassing failure of a test of India's ambitious Agni III intercontinental ballistic missile which, if successfully developed and deployed, would give New Delhi the deterrent capability to fire nuclear warheads at any city in China including Beijing.
Rajiv Singh in an authoritative analysis published by the b-domain.com Web site Wednesday gave important details about what wa sine ffect a new Indian-developed ABM interceptor.
"According to DRDO officials, the new missile had inertial guidance in mid-course and active-seeker guidance (i.e. a radar-seeking warhead) in the terminal phase," Singh wrote. "While the first stage of the interceptor was similar to the Prithvi missile, its second stage was a totally new segment. The yet to be named "high supersonic" interceptor missile has been developed by the DRDO as part of an 'exo-atmospheric intercept system' designed to 'hit-to-kill' incoming ballistic missiles."
Singh noted that DRDO officials told reporters the new ABM could detect a target in less than 30 seconds and launching an interceptor at it within 50 seconds. "According to the officials, many technologies, like high-maneuverability of the interceptor missile, were validated in the test. The flight time for nuclear capable missiles launched from Pakistan is a bare 5 to 8 minutes," he wrote.
Monday's successful test was also an excellent omen for A. K. Anthony, India recently appointed defense minister.
However, as Singh observed, "Defense analysts at home (in India) adopted a prudent posture with regard to the development. They had sufficient reasons to be prudent given DRDO's patchy track record in developing high-tech defense systems for the country's defense services."
He noted that the DRDO had previously "failed to operationalize the much touted 9-kilometer (5.4 mile) range Trishul and the 25-km (15 mile) range Akash air-defense missiles. These missiles have been undergoing 'successful' tests for as long as anyone can remember."
Nevertheless, as Singh acknowledged, "The successful missile interception test now allows India to stand alongside a few countries, such as the U.S., Russia and Israel, that possess a missile defense capability."
The upgraded Prithvi ABM interceptor appears to rank with the U.S. Patriot PAC-3 system, Russia's S-300 and Israel's Arrow in its intended ability to intercept short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. However, the Patriot, the S-300 and the Arrow are all deployed, much tested systems. Even after the extremely positive results of Monday's test, the upgraded Prithvi ABM still clearly as a long way to go to achieve that status.
Indeed, the United States has been trying to sell the Patriot to India as part of the increasingly close strategic weapons cooperation between the two nations. However, so far the Indians have balked at that. Also Singh noted what he called "informed speculation over the years ... that India may already have deployed a few batteries of the Russian S-300 system as an interim arrangement."
Given the continuing warm ties between India and Russia, the huge high-tech weapons orders that the current Congress-UPA dominated government and the previous Baharataya Janata Party-led one have both given to Russia and the exceptional enthusiasm for Russian aerospace technology shown for so many years by long-time Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes, that "informed speculation" seems extremely likely.
Singh noted that the Prithvi-I, "first tested in 1988, has a range of 150 km (90 miles) and deploys a conventional or low-yield nuclear warhead for use against troops or armored formations. Its two variants, Prithvi-II and Prithvi-III, with lesser payloads, have an increased range of 250 km (150 miles) and 350 km (210 miles) respectively. While the Prithvi-II was first tested in January 1996, Prithvi-III underwent its first test firing in October 2004. The Indian Army has already inducted Prithvi- I and II into service."
At the end of the day, when all the cautions, caveats and qualifiers have been made, a crucial underlying fact remains: India has now shown its capability to home produce an effective anti-ballistic missile prototype. France, Britain, Germany, China and Japan have not yet developed the capability to make one of these by themselves, though Japan will certainly is on a crash program to do so with extensive U.S. cooperation and China is already lavishly supplied with S-300 systems, and possibly others, bought from Russia.
The strategic balance of the world therefore shifted on Monday. India took a very large step indeed and served notice that it has much to give, as well as to receive, in its strategic weapons and BMD cooperation with the United States.
Posted by: john ||
12/03/2006
06:26 ||
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Mostly a vanity post, I was amused by this coherent, well-reasoned one-star review of Robert Spencer's new book:
In my opinion, it is crystal clear that this book was written by its unfortunate author only to twist the facts in order to twist the minds of the uneducated readers. This is clear even before you start reading the book. It seems, the book's language is just like this review's language with all the obvious intentions to demote this extremely historical fugure (Muhammed) with 1.3 billion followers in the world. It is ironic to assume that all these followers of the religion are following a "convict". For that, author of this book must have a straight, clear intention for writing this book, which is to show his uneducated take of the religion to other uneducated readers.
The widow of a soldier killed in Afghanistan saw a Wiccan symbol placed on a memorial plaque for her husband Saturday, after fighting the federal government for more than a year over the emblem. Roberta Stewart, widow of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, and Wiccan leaders said it was the first government-issued memorial plaque with a Wiccan pentacle a five-pointed star enclosed in a circle. More than 50 friends and family dedicated the plaque at Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery, about 30 miles east of Reno. They praised Gov. Kenny Guinn for his role in getting the Nevada Office of Veterans Services to issue the plaque in September. The agency cited its jurisdiction over maintenance of the state cemetery.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes more than 30 symbols, including more than a dozen variations of the Christian cross and the atomic whirl used by atheists, but not the pentacle. VA officials have said they are rewriting rules for approving emblems, but the process requires a public comment period. Last month, Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued the VA on behalf of Stewart and others for its refusal to include the Wiccan emblem. "Our people are on the front line in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it's not right they're not getting equal treatment," said the Rev. Selena Fox, one of the Wiccan organizers of the event.
Stewart and four other soldiers died Sept. 25, 2005, when their Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.
#1
My Aunt lives in Fernley, and my Uncle (WW2 Marine vet - Iwo Jima, Saipan) is buried there. It's a real small, conservative town. I asked her about this and she said there's no controversy. Everyone says "he was a vet who gave his life for this country, and he should get the symbol he wanted"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 8:21
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#2
btw - nice job, AP. "Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery, about 30 miles east of Reno" is in the town of Ferley. I bet the writer never bothered to go there
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 8:22
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#3
*shit* Fernley....I've gotta have some coffee
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 8:33
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Thanks for doing this for her, Guys :)
Bless them.
Our Fuckin' Duh Story of the Day.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun a calculated series of meetings with top New York Democratic officials to signal that she is likely to run for the presidency in 2008 and to ask for their support if she does, according to one state Democratic official who spoke with her and two others who have been briefed on her plans.
Senator Clinton met last week with Charles B. Rangel, the dean of the New York Congressional delegation, in what her advisers said was an effort to meet with most New York Congressional Democrats by the end of this month to discuss her plans.
#1
POTUS Hillary = Obama, etc > last vestige of PC free Amer before we're all sent to the gulag = POLITELY BUT NECESSARILY EXTERMINATED. Wid the Chicoms + Russians warning and desiring of anti-American GLOBAL NUKE WAR anytime btwn middle- to late next decade, Hillary = first and last Female Prez, Obama the first and last Afro-AMer Prez, etal. afore the the world-mighty "USSA, NOT USSR" officially overtly formally surrenders to OWG + Russia-China, aka Commie Asia. Hillary has 2008 AND 2012.
#2
bring it on. I'd crawl from my death bed to vote against this b*tch
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 8:16
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I hate John Kerry with a passion, but I utterly dispise hitlery robbem clinton. I would be willing to vote for jawn before I'd vote for her. Heck, I'd even vote for John mccain, whom I also dispise, before I'd vote for hitlery. I wouldn't trust her as village idiot in Taxachusetts, much less president.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/03/2006 15:11
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#4
You may change your mind about Hillary when you see her new campaign manager.
#5
The whole (political) world seems to be revolving around people's psych issues. I'm sure Hitlary will find common ground of comfort around the Islamists. Birds of a feather, and all . . .
Hence "bling kits" of adhesive crystals to adorn phones. And T-Mobile, which swiftly sold out of its $400 Juicy Couture bejeweled pink phones, now has a limited-edition cellphone line designed by Diane von Furstenberg.
Gucci bag? No, thank you. This year it's about the Dolce & Gabbana Motorola V3i, a $400 golden-colored phone so gilded and so thin it evokes a supermodel.
Companies are trying to get technology in touch with its inner fashionista, marketing to the fairer sex by tickling them with pink and smaller, lighter and easier-to-use devices that speak to a more feminine sensibility.
Continued on Page 49
#2
When I first joined "M" I tried to get them to decorate their phones with silver and turquoise for a west motif and semi precious stones for other motifs. I was told I was a idiot for suggesting it. Now that I am long gone... they begin to approach it.
Another call for the group Brillo pad please ...
I attended a dinner party recently in Ohio with a number of young American couples - successful surgeons, homemakers and lawyers who had small children and bright hopes. They were Muslims - quite appreciative of their American home and quite assimilated, speaking with great enthusiasm about the latest college football ranking controversies, real estate prices and the "Borat" movie. I am sure none of them will support Sharia Courts for Muslims in their state.
While flying home to Los Angeles the next day, I began to wonder: Could Osama bin Laden and America's right-wing zealots be in cahoots? It seems both parties want these families to accept that they cannot be truly American and truly Muslim. Polls of Muslims in the West consistently report that their primary identity is based on their forced indoctrination to the Islam cult.
During the pope's recent visit to Turkey, he spent time making amends for arguing that Christianity is compatible with modern civilization in a manner that Islam cannot hope to be.
Many Westerners wish he hadn't shifted his rhetoric from divisive to reconciling. Such persons are as dangerous to long-term peace as are fanatical Muslim hillbillies, because they help shape the policy of the world's lone superpower.
And the overblown "clash of civilizations" could thus become a self-fulfilling prophecy. That "prophecy" has been fulfilled.
Ann Coulter's post-9/11 suggestion that we "invade" countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" resulted in her dismissal by a conservative publication. Five years later, the Coulter Hydra effect is evident among the loyal fan bases of provocateurs such as Mark Steyn and Robert Spencer and the lively hordes on Web sites such as Little Green Footballs and WorldNetDaily... What about Rantburg? Zenster might want to sleep with Ann Coulter.
#2
Count the number of women with head coverings, Mr. Asghar.
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2006 2:15
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Article: Such persons are as dangerous to long-term peace as are fanatical Muslim hillbillies, because they help shape the policy of the world's lone superpower.
This writer is a moron. And he has something against hillbillies - he would presumably shrink from thinking of blacks as scum - but hillbillies? No problem for him.
Whatever this moron thinks, the sad reality is that hillbillies are not the people who plague us. All of the 9/11 hijackers were literate people, and most of them were college graduates. Bin Laden graduated from college with an engineering degree. Zawahiri is a doctor. None of these are soft disciplines where you can BS your way through. The people devising IED's in Iraq are the cream of Iraq (just as the Nazis were the cream of Germany) illiterates cannot put these contraptions together. Illiterates certainly cannot devise battle plans that have kept American planners up late for several years, in contrast to other American interventions, where the opposition has been quickly routed. Illiterates cannot fly planes. Foreign-born illiterates certainly cannot mingle easily with Westerners and speak European languages.
#4
Doubt it, as Osama's concubine = "sex slave" has been wid him since the teen yarns. And then there's Osama's desire for WHITNEY.
* "America's right-wing zealots" > SSSSSHHHHHH, CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC, is now also the DemoLeft, Clintonian America = Amerika, USA = USSA/USR, favorite anti-Elite Elitists, anti-Conservative Conservatives, etal. CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC...., SSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH, CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC....
#13
there are lots of prosperous moderatemuslims in places like San Gabriel county.
However, reporters like Rob Asghar don't realize (or don't want to acknowledge) that all Muslims are supposed to strive toward establishing Sharia states and when they do, these prosperous moderatemuslims will be executed or have their wealth used for jihad.
#15
Actually Crack heads can be quite dangerous when looking for their fix... Maybe Whitney should be encouraged to move in with Osama. Tell her he knows all the major crack suppliers.
Is it just me, or do people usually say things like that just before being bumped off? LISBON, Dec 2, 2006 (AFP) - British author Salman Rushdie no longer fears for his life because of the death threats issued against him by Islamic clerics in response to his book "The Satanic Verses" nearly 20 years ago, he said in comments published Saturday in Portugal. "I don't know what the Iranians think of me except for the fact that at one point they wanted to kill me and now they don't seem as interested," he told a conference in Portugal's second-city Oporto, daily newspaper Publico reported. You're forgetting that the Mad Mullahs have a very long memory. Khomenini wanted you dead and that's good enough for the present generation.
"I don't see what happened as a publicity tool for my books. And if anyone doubts that, I strongly encourage that person to experience what I lived through," he added, according to the paper.
Rushdie was forced into hiding for a decade after Iran's late Ayatollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or opinion on Islamic law, ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie because the book allegedly insulted Islam. In 1998, the Iranian government declared it would not support but could not rescind the fatwa. Since then his life has gradually returned to that of a literary star, with frequent foreign travel for speeches and public appearances. He's still going to catch a knife someday from some crazed turban.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2006
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#1
"I don't know what the Iranians think of me except for the fact that at one point they wanted to kill me and now they don't seem as interested," ...
Talk about a case of a man whistling past his own freshly dug grave.
#4
Salmom is in denial. I suppose it's a defense mechanism of sorts. I note the dateline on this story is Lisbon, Portugal as opposed to, say, Tehran, Iran. Let's see him spend time in any city in the muslim world without the need for body guards. Hell, let's see him spend time in any European city without the need for body guards. It's not going to happen.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
12/03/2006 7:57
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Rushdie converted to islam. Lacking balls if you ask me.
ABC or CBS just had Cat Stevens on calling for Rushdie's murder. Anyone remember when the rock apes for Allen over at CAIR called Cat Stevens's expulsion from New York, "racist"? Apparently the goat monkeys of Mecca think Stevens's half Swede and half Greek heritage is a protected class...
The Satanic Verses controversy (Wiki)
The publication of The Satanic Verses in September 1988 caused immediate controversy in the Islamic world due to what was perceived as an irreverent depiction of the pedophile for prophet Muhammad. The title refers to a Muslim tradition that is related in the book. Muhammad (Mahound in the book) added verses to the Qur'an accepting three goddesses that used to be worshipped in Mecca as divine beings. According to the legend Muhammad later revoked the verses (something he commonly did) saying the devil tempted him to utter these lines to appease the Meccans (hence the Satanic Verses).
I saw the story you refer to this morning on the CBS "Sunday Morning" program.
I was reminded from the story that "Yusef Islam's" first recorded hit was entitled : The First Cut is Deepest and that his first album was entitled" New Masters.
How ironic. The titles are so...islamic.
I'm certain I still have a Cat Stephens LP album or two stored away down in the basement. As I recall I own "Buddha and the Chocolate Factory" and "Tea for the Tillerman". Which reminds me: I need to throw them away. Today.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
12/03/2006 14:16
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#11
I'm thinking this story calls for the toast graphic.
#12
Ehhhh... maybe he just thinks he is farther down on their "to-do" list, and his odds of dying of old age before they get around to him are a little better.
BAGERHAT, Dec 2 (UNB): At least four pirates and one coastguard were reportedly killed while a coastguard and a RAB member went missing after a gunfight at the estuary of the river Pashur near Mongla Friday night. Wherever the hell that is.
RAB sources said RAB-6 member and Battalion Ansar Platoon Commander Kanchan went missing in the river with his AK-47 rifle at one stage of scuffle with the pirates. Two coastguards were also reportedly missing but their identity could not be known. Kanchan went down with the ship, eh?
RAB and coastguards arrested a gang of 10-12 pirates in a trawler on the river at about 10pm and recovered 40 rounds of bullet following a tip-off that a consignment of arms was being sent to the Sundarbans forest. Transferring arms to the New Biplobi Communist Party, no doubt.
The gang later attacked the coastguards and RAB members on the trawler while the law-enforcers were returning after arresting the pirates. At one stage of scuffle, the pirates threw the coastguards and the RAB member into the river and took control of the trawler, triggering the gunfight, RAB and coastguards sources said. RAB guys were shooting from the water? Now that's tough for you.
According to sources, at least four pirates were killed in the gunfight. However, there was no official version about the reported death of the pirates. Navy, RAB and coastguards started rescue operation in the river for their colleagues. "Keep dragging, Kanchan's got to be in there somewhere!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2006
00:49 ||
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#1
Heavens, 40 bullet? Sounds like a major operation by the new Old Biplopi Communists faction.
The Gaza death spiral continues.
A hitherto unknown group calling itself the Just Swords of Islam issued a warning to Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip over the weekend that they must wear the hijab or face being targeted by the group's members. The warning was directed primarily against female students in a number of universities and colleges who do not cover their heads in line with Islamic tradition. Gaza has universities? Who knew?
The group said its followers last week threw acid at the face of a young woman who was dressed "immodestly" in the center of Gaza City. They also destroyed a car belonging to a young man who was playing his radio tape too loudly.
Addressing female students, the group said: "We will have no mercy on any woman who violates the traditions of Islam and who also hang out in Internet cafes."
According to the group, its members used rocket-propelled grenades to attack 12 Internet cafes and a number of music shops in different parts of the Gaza Strip. It said the places were targeted because they were "distracting an entire generation of Palestinians from their duty to worship [Alla] and jihad so that they could serve their Zionist masters and the Crusaders." From all the pr0n surfing?
Hamas officials denied any connection to the group, noting that their movement does not resort to methods of "intimidation and terror" against the people. Then their lips fell off and their noses grew.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip reacted with mixed feelings to the group's threats. While many seemed to support the demand that all women wear the hijab, others expressed fear that the group was trying to create a Taliban-style regime. Gee, ya think?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2006
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#1
Once again - elect terrorists, die with the result. But remember, we have to "respect" your democratic choices, How's it working for you?
#2
"According to the group, its members used rocket-propelled grenades to attack 12 Internet cafes and a number of music shops in different parts of the Gaza Strip."
Holy crap! Talk about the ultimate in censorship! And you thought Tipper Gore was bad with the whole bit about labeling CD's for their explicit lyrics.
No mercy for women hanging out in Internet Cafes? Problem with these Islamo-Nazis is there utterly sexless lives rendered more miserable when five times a day they have to look up at a man's rear end during prayer. Advantage goes to he who prays in the front row. At least he experiences a bung-hole free zone.
#3
Problem with these Islamo-Nazis is *their* utterly sexless lives rendered more miserable when five times a day they have to look up at a man's rear end during prayer.
#6
"Just Swords of Islam. That's us to be sure, Just Swords."
"What about guns?"
"Oh, all right. Swords and some guns, as well. But that's all."
"What about bomb vests?"
"Yeah, those too. Swords, guns and bomb vests."
"What about RPGs?"
"Well ... somtimes RPGs but mostly swords, guns and bomb vests."
"What about Qassam rocke..."
"Look, shut up already! When we say 'The Just Swords of Islam', its not a reference to exclusive use of any one type of weapon. It's all about looking cool while dispensing street level justice, beating up women and threatening little kids. We're much more modern than that, it's only that 'The Just Swords of Islam' sounds a lot more manly and violent!"
#13
Since upwards of 60% of Moslem men have been sexually abused by religious leaders or older relatives in childhood, they readily look to victimize those they can under whatever excuse they come up with. It's called "acting out" in the psychology arena. Since they don't deal with the trauma directly, then instead "act it out" as a type of play. This allows them to, at least momentarily, feel more powerful than their abusers, allows them to identify with the abusers and thereby feel, at least momentarily, that their own abuse wasn't that bad, and it also allows them to vent and discharge their reams and reams of pent-up rage. To be violent and agress puts them "in the driver's seat" once again. As for the prayers in the mosque--putting their behinds up in the air, it's kind of a group context for abuse. "We've all been abused. We will offer our anuses together in submission to allah." No one would ever complain, because to do so would then negate the group experience of mutual (albeit unspoken) recognition of their sodomization. Raging aginst freedom and female sexuality is, for them, a necessary thing or they would be forced to confront their own feelings about what happened to them, and the fact that no one in their society is standing up against this widespread child abuse. The acid in the face thing is so diabolical, because women naturally generate sexual feelings in men, but those sexual feelings are linked to their past abuse, so when the feelings (and other things) start to "come up" they panic, become angry, act out. It's like "stop, stop, don't remind me of what happened to me. I will stop you from reminding me of what happened to me." And then, their religion complicates it because the representatives, the "holy" men of their religion are typically involved, so they have a choice: submit and support Islam, or stand alone against everything in their culture, and be killed by others who are trying to run from the horror of their experience. They almost all go along with it and are "welcomed" into a kind of fellowship of the abused, where they get all kinds of support and honor for acting out. Those that are "brave" enough to act out in the worst ways, get the best praise.
That's my 2-cent's worth. Oh--sorry about what happened to them, but like any other criminal who acts out in unacceptable ways, they need to die.
Last thing--don't underestimate the potency of this drive. That's why, if we want to protect ourselves, we must draw the lines clearly and decisively. It would take YEARS, rather generations, to undo what passes for religiously condoned abuse and it's aftermath, and unfortunately, there's not time, even if they wanted to get free of it.
It so pisses me off to see what they do to women in these KKK Nazi redneck hick equivalent countries.
#16
Yeah, the US govt should hire the RPGgangsters, train them, and then let them loose in Gaza to clean up the place. I mean, it would probably be an improvement, right?
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Judges at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague have suspended the trial of a prominent Serb suspect, who is on a hunger strike, due to his weakening health. In other words, the hunger strike is working, precisely because the target is Europeans. Try this in Russia, Iran or Burma and see what happens.
In the decision dated Friday, judges said Vojislav Seselj would likely be too weak to instruct his lawyer next week and ordered "postponement of the presentation of evidence in this case until further notice." Carla del Ponte was so-o-o-o disappointed she went to lunch.
Seselj, 52, is accused of conspiring with former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and other leaders to purge non-Serbs from parts of Croatia and Bosnia to create a "Greater Serbia" during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Seselj has been on a hunger strike since Nov. 11, protesting a court-appointed legal adviser who was to step in if Seselj were stripped of his right to act as his own lawyer. He was protectively moved to a prison hospital on Nov. 29 but has so far refused any treatment.
The court, which already has seen Milosevic die in detention of a heart attack and another suspect commit suicide in March - has hinted it will not allow Seselj to starve himself. "The tribunal believes that if Seselj persists with his refusal to accept food, a medical necessity will arise in the near future justifying medical intervention," the court said in a statement Thursday. You mean -- gasp! -- a feeding tube? Why, that would make you guys complicit in torture, wouldn't it? After all feeding tubes are used in Guantanamo.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2006
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#1
Next week we'll get the news that a starving Seselj accidentally killed himself by trying to swallow a pillow whole.
KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait is to sign a security agreement with NATO during an international conference it will host on December 12 that will discuss boosting security links with Gulf Arab states, an official said on Saturday. The agreement will regulate the exchange of security information between the 26-member NATO and oil-rich Kuwait as part of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), said the deputy head of the National Security Agency, Sheikh Thamer Ali Al Sabah.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, his assistants and member country representatives will lead 120 NATO delegates to the International Conference of NATO and Gulf Countries: Facing Common Challenges through ICI, Sheikh Thamer said. Nice junket.
Through ICI, NATO offers practical cooperation with interested nations in such areas as counter-terrorism, cooperation on border security, participation in NATO exercises and counter-WMD. ICI stands alongside NATOs long-standing Partnership for Peace program and Mediterranean Dialogue.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2006
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LAHORE NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has asked the people of Punjab to follow the footsteps of people of NWFP and bring to power the MMA for the enforcement of Shariah in the country. Thought the MMA was walking out of power: guess they're reconsidering their options in the various provinces.
This he said while addressing a conference on Nifaz-e-Shariah at Bhakkar city in southern Punjab, where JUI-F Amir and Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri and others were also present. Durrani said the MMA government in NWFP had done its level best to enforce Shariah in the province. "Shariah today! Shariah tomorrow! Shariah forever!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2006
00:29 ||
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This has to be the most telegraphed coup in history. Aren't these supposed to be done in secret?
SUVA - Fijis military chief is likely to carry out his threat to overthrow the government early Monday, a report quoted government and military sources as saying on Sunday. The Fiji Sunday Post quoted the sources as saying the capital Suva was expected to be sealed by military roadblocks at the start of the operation from 3:00 am Monday.
Speculation about when military commander, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, would move has mounted since midday Friday when a deadline passed for the government to accede to a series of demands or face the countrys fourth coup in two decades.
The Sunday Post said under the plan, the government would be dismissed, parliament dissolved and an interim administration installed. The interim government was believed to include some current legislators, former politicians, indigenous chiefs and soldiers.
Roadblocks would be installed on the main roads in and out of the capital. The newspaper added, however, that other scenarios could be under consideration.
Bainimarama has said little about his plans, other than saying he planned to install an interim government. Radio New Zealand quoted him Saturday saying he had not finalised his plans but intended to act within the next week.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2006
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HAVANA - Cubas communist interim leader Fidel-LiteRaul Castro, in a shift from the tack of his ailing brother Fidel Castro, on Saturday pushed for negotiations with the United States to end decades of tense ties. Let me take this opportunity to express our willingness to settle the long US-Cuba disagreement at the negotiating table, Raul Castro told troops at Cubas first military parade in a decade.
Of course, that is, as long as they accept that we are a country that does not tolerate any reduction of its independence, and based on the principles of equality, reciprocity, non-interference and mutual respect, Raul Castro said, speaking before Communist Party and military leaders. We don't respect you and you don't respect us, I suppose that is mutual.
Until that happens, after almost half a century, we are prepared to wait patiently for the moment when common sense takes root in the halls of power in Washington, added Raul Castro, who is also the defence minister. We've been waiting patiently for your brother to kick off, and it won't be too many more years before you yourself join him at Himmler's permanent Monday night card game in Hell.
In Washington, the US response was firm. The dialogue that needs to take place is one between the Cuban regime and the Cuban people about the democratic future of the island. As we have consistently stated, any deepening of our engagement with Cuba depends on that dialogue and the Cuban regimes willingness to take concrete steps toward a political opening and a transition to democracy, said Janelle Hironimus, a State Department spokeswoman.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2006
00:21 ||
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#1
"Well, is he dead?"
"I'll pop 'round and have another peek."
"And is he?"
"He's not at all well, coughing up blood and all that."
"You can let us know when he's dead."
"Look, can't we just start discussing cigar quotas and stuff?"
MONTREAL - Canadas opposition Liberals on Saturday unexpectedly chose former Environment Minister Stephane Dion as their new leader, overlooking his political shortcomings that could undermine the party in an election widely expected next year. Dion, 51, who was in fourth place at the start of the race, beat favorite and former Harvard academic Michael Ignatieff on the fourth and final ballot at a Montreal leadership convention. He won by 2,521 votes to 2,084.
The Liberals dominated Canadian politics for the past century but lost power to the Conservatives in a January election. The Conservatives have a minority government that looks set to fall in 2007, sparking a new election.
Dion focused his campaign on the need to do more to protect the environment a topic that polls show is increasingly important to Canadians and the need to defeat Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper as soon as possible. It will not be difficult to find the priorities by which well show that our vision for the country is much more generous than the one of Mr. Harper, he said afterward. Translation: he'll promise everyone a pony.
Dion has two potential strikes against him. He speaks English with a heavy French accent, which could make it hard to win over voters in what is a predominantly English-speaking country. He is also unpopular in his home province of Quebec, which accounts for a quarter of the seats in the federal Parliament.
French-speaking separatists strongly dislike him for his efforts to make it harder for them to hold a successful referendum in the future on whether Quebec should break away from the rest of Canada. Separatist Quebec governments lost two previous referendums on the issue.
An Ipsos-Reid opinion poll published on Friday said that if Dion won the leadership, the Liberals would win 27 percent support if a federal election were held now, compared with 35 percent for the Conservatives. Since Canada became a country in 1867, only one Liberal leader has failed to become prime minister.
Dion was the only one of the four front-runners to have any experience in a federal Cabinet. He served in the previous two Liberal governments.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/03/2006
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sick to death of Quebecers lattempting to lead the country. Doesn't matter how inept they are, gotta be from Quebec to run the country. Bloody fed up with the pandering. So's Quebec.
#3
French-speaking separatists strongly dislike him for his efforts to make it harder for them to hold a successful referendum in the future on whether Quebec should break away from the rest of Canada. Separatist Quebec governments lost two previous referendums on the issue.
Only because Canadians outside Quebec couldn't vote too.
My how things haven't changed.
The Russian intelligence services, the prime suspects behind the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, have a network of more than 30 spies operating in Britain, it can be revealed. The sophisticated ring represents the greatest espionage threat facing Britain, Whitehall sources told The Sunday Telegraph.
The agents, equivalent to one in five of the Moscow government officials based in Britain, are known to be monitoring the movements and activities of Russian emigres and opponents of the Putin regime. But they are also involved in a widespread operation targeting businessmen, MPs and scientists in an attempt to steal commercial and state secrets. Only the United States, it is understood, has more Russian agents operating on its soil.
Whitehall sources claim that the agents are as active today as they were at the height of the Cold War, despite the fact that the Kremlin is now one of Britain's major allies in the war on terrorism.
Continued on Page 49
Food for thought here. I don't agree with a lot of what Mr. Kasparov says, but he makes an interesting point.
By Garry Kasparov
For the past few years, the dictators and terrorists have been gaining ground, and with good reason. The deepening catastrophe in Iraq has distracted the world's sole superpower from its true goals, and weakened the U.S. politically as well as militarily. With new congressional leadership threatening to make the same mistake--failing to see Iraq as only one piece of a greater puzzle--it is time to return to the basics of strategic planning.
Thirty years as a chess player ingrained in me the importance of never losing sight of the big picture. Paying too much attention to one area of the chessboard can quickly lead to the collapse of your entire position. America and its allies are so focused on Iraq they are ceding territory all over the map. Even the vague goals of President Bush's ambiguous war on terror have been pushed aside by the crisis in Baghdad.
The U.S. must refocus and recognize the failure of its post-9/11 foreign policy. Pre-emptive strikes and deposing dictators may or may not have been a good plan, but at least it was a plan. However, if you attack Iraq, the potential to go after Iran and Syria must also be on the table. Instead, the U.S. finds itself supervising a civil war while helplessly making concessions elsewhere.
#2
Thanks for posting this, Steve. I've seen some of Kasparov's other op-eds (esp. in the WSJ) post-9/11, and there's no doubt whatsoever that he's on the side of the good guys. About the only thing his analysis is missing is why GWB and Co. failed to anticipate the damage the fifth-column media would cause to both the Iraq campaign and the larger GWOT.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
12/03/2006 0:49
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It is an interesting analysis, but I don't buy it. Viewing the world as a chess board neglects the fact that foriegn policy has many participants that can influence outcomes, beyond the two players at the board.
Taking the chess analogy a little further, imagine being a player whose pieces can have their capabilities restricted by defensive rules of engagement. So your queen can suddenly only move left to right, your bishop can only move one square at a time, you can only move every second pawn, and only when there is a black pawn less than 2 squares away. pretty screwball way to play chess, but our ROEs limit the aggresive use of combat forces in exactly this way.
Imagine being the white player, but some of your allies are black pieces, and you don't know which. And there are some other colours that pop onto your board every now and again and take out your pieces, and players from other boards keep telling you how to play, and squares on the board randomly explode every now and then.
Imagine that the spectators in the chess stadium can't really see the board, so they make up whatever they like to explain what is happening. But they make it up in a way that they think will impress their friends "back home". And it does, even though it has nothing to do with what is actully happening on the board.
#4
To expand on Bunyip's analysis: What if I walked up to one of the chess players and sawed his head off with a scimitar while making a "lulululululu" sound. That's going to screw-up a well planned Lucena position...
#6
Viewing the world as a chess board neglects the fact that foriegn policy has many participants that can influence outcomes, beyond the two players at the board.
Remember, "Almost everyone who has been around me turned out to be a secret agent working for the Jews, working for the CIA... The Jews have planted so many of their Jew agents and CIA rats all around me. So many people... Girlfriends, lawyers, everybody almost, turned out to be working for the CIA and the Jews! Unbelievable but true."
Yes - I really believe this!
Posted by: Bobby Fisher ||
12/03/2006 9:11
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Not smart enough to spell my own name.
Posted by: Bobby Fischer ||
12/03/2006 9:12
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lol "Bobby". Somehow I just knew you'd make an appearance
(the bonefish told me so)
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 9:16
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Hmmm..Obsessed With Iraq, We've Lost Sight Of The Rest Of The World
America has always been accused of losing 'sight of the rest of the world', before, during, and most likely after Iraq. Maybe we pay attention to things we think are important to us! Wow, what a concept, not like any other nation seems to ignore what seems important to some people. Like I see all the hard work being done on Darfur by others. Maybe, our attention wouldn't be necessary if others actually started carrying the load and not simply pass resolutions and make proclamations about numerous and various crisis around the globe.
#11
Those of us who watched President Reagan and Elliot Abhrams export US model democracy and prosperity to Latin America, have to wonder why the leftist wreckers are returning to office. The model worked, and I saw it in person in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Columbia and Central America. Unfortunately, Latin Americans are buying quick fix Jimmy Carter snake oil. Could anything have been done to maintain Reagan-Abhrams?
#12
Politics is not chess, it is poker. In this case the player holding the Cards (bush) has folks yelling his cards and demanding to know every move prior to any move.
Police have been asked to protect Australia's largest mosque next weekend because of concerns that a bikini march staged to coincide with the anniversary of the Cronulla riots may get out of control. The caretaker of Lakemba Mosque, the Lebanese Muslim Association, says it is taking no risks, requesting at least 32 police officers to protect the place of worship on Saturday and Sunday.
Association president Tom Zreik said he met police on several occasions to ensure there would be adequate numbers of officers present to defuse problems and arrest troublemakers. "We are treating this as something that is funny and hilarious but also taking precautions," Mr Zreika said of the bikini march. "Some people may see this as provocation and the last thing that we want is to see anyone being attacked."
The organiser, Melbourne grandmother Christine Hawkins, has asked women nationally to dress in bikinis and colourful beachwear and rally outside large mosques to show their disgust at comments by leading Muslim cleric, Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly, who likened cats women to "uncovered meat".
A white supremacist website has promoted the march. So is this the truth - or asshat MSM spin 'n sneer? Ozzies?
Members of Sydney's Muslim community began raising their concerns last week, with hundreds joining an internet discussion to find a "peaceful avenue" to protect their mosque. Always being picked on, aren't they.
Many Muslim women suggested joining the march in their hijabs and burqas to voice their outrage at comments made by Senator Bronwyn Bishop and Prime Minister John Howard about the way they dress. "We're really asking people not to bother coming to the mosque," Mr Zreika said. "All this is doing is degrading women and giving men a great excuse to have a perv. There are better ways women can express their concerns."
In Cronulla yesterday members of the Lakembaroos sports club attended a barbecue at North Cronulla Surf Club to mark the progress of more than 20 Muslim lifesavers, who are training for their bronze medallions. "If we didn't have the events of Cronulla last December in the back of our minds, we wouldn't even be conscious that the people here were of Lebanese background," Community Relations Commission chairman Stepan Kerkyasharian said. "They look Australian, they are taking part in an Australian activity and you have to ask 'what's the problem?"'
The training is an initiative of Surf Life Saving Australia.
#3
Members of Sydney's Muslim community began raising their concerns last week, with hundreds joining an internet discussion to find a "peaceful avenue" to protect their mosque.
Protect it from what? Direct attack from photons contaminated by being reflected off a bikini?
Looks like they have no choice. All able-bodied muslim males to the mosque for protective duty! Bring your binoculars to scan the crowd for suspicious tits activity! Don't forget to bring a box of tissues. :-)
#6
Are they worried that the marchers will be carrying concealed weapons?
Posted by: James ||
12/03/2006 5:10
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To all photobloggers in Cronulla: Don't wait until the last minute to charge the batteries on your digital cameras. We're expecting full, in depth reports on the upcoming and highly anticipated protest march.
Tim Blair's website will be the portal to current affairs in Oz next weekend.
We here at RB wish Cronulla sunny warm weather.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
12/03/2006 8:31
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Holy smokes batman! Good for the Aussies! Can hardly wait for the digital reporting!
Muslime lifeguards, WTF? I'm thinking big contradiction.
#12
Aside from the stereotypical neo-Nazi crap, white "supremacy" is sounding a lot better than Islamic supremacy. Fact is, we all have to play by somebody's rules. Better mine than theirs. And who would rather hang out with a bunch of Aussies than mullahs and burkabimbos?
Wierd rant, I know, but I'm getting sick of the Islamic threat. Okay, back to being a nice person now . . .
#14
Earlier announcements said the White Supremacist group supported the Bikini Marc but did not organize it. I believe that's asshat MSM Spin'n'Sneer that they organized it.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/03/2006 17:44
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The most revolting thing of all is that your rant made sense, ex-lib. When compared to Islam, just about anything on earth is the lesser of two evils.
(Itar-Tass) - - Police officers and officers of the Federal Security Service Department have detained local resident Sultan Abalayev, 37, in Chechnyas Achkhoi-Martan. As Itar-Tass learnt at the Chechen Interior Ministry on Saturday, the detainee had been on the international wanted list of the National Interpol Centre Bureau of the Kyrgyz Republic in connection with the murder of deputy Erkinbayev since 2005. An issue of his extradition is being solved now.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2006
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THE trail of clues in the mysterious death of Alexander V. Litvinenko may lead to Moscow, as the former spy claimed on his deathbed. But solving the nuclear whodunit may prove harder than Scotland Yard and many scientists at first anticipated.
The complicating factor is the relative ubiquity of polonium 210, the highly radioactive substance found in Mr. Litvinenkos body and now in high levels in the body of an Italian associate, who has been hospitalized in London. Experts initially called it quite rare, with some claiming that only the Kremlin had the wherewithal to administer a lethal dose. But public and private inquiries have shown that it proliferated quite widely during the nuclear era, of late as an industrial commodity.
You can get it all over the place, said William Happer, a physicist at Princeton who has advised the United States government on nuclear forensics. And its a terrible way to go.
Continued on Page 49
MANAMA - Sunni Islamists made gains in the second round of Bahrain's legislative polls as the Shiite opposition boosted earlier wins, giving the Gulf state an Islamist-dominated parliament, results showed Sunday. Saturday's second round ended with Islamists controlling 30 of parliament's 40 seats in a country considered liberal by the standards of the conservative Gulf region, and whose government is a close US ally and hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.
But while Sunni Islamists are supporters of the government, the main political formation of the Shiite majority in Sunni-ruled Bahrain which had boycotted the last elections in 2002 made a spectacular entry into parliament on an opposition platform. The Islamic National Accord Association (INAA) headed by charismatic Shiite cleric Sheikh Ali Salman grabbed 16 seats in the first round of the elections on November 25. On Saturday, the INAA won the 17th seat it had been certain to take in a constituency where two of its members faced off as independents, according to results announced on state television early Sunday.
The Sunni National Islamic Tribune Association, which represents the Muslim Brotherhood, clinched three mandates in the second round to regain the share of seven seats it held in the outgoing parliament. Its Salafi ally, the Assala (Authenticity) Association, gained one more seat Saturday to claim a total of five mandates.
Continued on Page 49
#3
Let's get rid of terrorists, then promote democracy. This is another victory for Iran and another defeat for American security. When will we drop the religion-of-peace-hijacked-by-a-mere-handful-of-extremist fiction?
Refugee camps in the Sudanese region of Darfur are being infiltrated by Al Qaeda, Chad said yesterday. Backed by wealthy Saudi Arabians and the Sudanese government, mercenaries are gaining power in Darfur, Chad said. A neighbor of Sudan, Chad is strongly advocating a U.N. force for Darfur, though Sudan rejected a U.N. Security Council proposal yesterday to boost the small African Union force now in the region.
The U.N. proposal would have added more troops and equipment for a new force operating under the command of the United Nations. Chad hosts millions of Sudanese refugees who have crossed the border from Darfur to escape the murder, rape, and pillaging committed by Sudanese government-backed Arab militias known as the janjaweed, in a campaign described by the Bush administration as genocide.
When American officials offered recently to involve NATO in stopping the violence in Darfur, Sudanese officials said the presence of Westerners in their mostly Muslim country would only inspire the militants, including Al Qaeda, who would unite to fight the foreigners. But the Chadian ambassador to the United Nations, Mahamat Ali Adoum, wrote to the president of the Security Council yesterday that unless foreign troops are sent to control the refugee camps, Al Qaeda will join forces with anti-government rebels there.
According to Mr. Adoum's letter, Chad is "again the victim of a major operation of destabilization from neighboring Sudan." Khartoum, he added, is "sending mercenaries and others to attack the positions of our security forces" in eastern Chad, near the border with Darfur. "Strangely enough," he added, "this new operation also bears the mark of Saudi Arabia, or at least of certain influential circles close to the royal family, which are helping to recruit and equip the young mercenaries linked to the mysterious al Qaeda," Mr. Adoum wrote.
The State Department yesterday expressed concern that in addition to the western region of Darfur, fighting has begun again in southern Sudan, where a U.N. force is charged with holding together a fragile power-sharing agreement. Also in CAR, which coincidentally also borders Sudan.
After months of Security Council negotiations, President al-Bashir of Sudan yesterday reverted to his previous rejection of any Darfur force under U.N.command. "We can take technical, advisory, and financial support from the U.N., but no U.N. force," he told an African Union gathering in Abuja, Nigeria. "We can get by with a force of AU troops, as long as they're not under any kind of competent command. A professional force would be out of the question."
" Chad accepts the United Nations proposal to place forces on its frontier to protect the population and stabilize the sub-region," President Déby of Chad countered during a meeting with Prime Minister de Villepin of France in the Chadian capital, N'Djamena. That'd be the effective counter to Bashir's imperial dreams, of course.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2006
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Chad accepts the United Nations proposal to place forces on its frontier
Bangladeshs list of voters contains 12.2 million false names, a US-based election monitor said on Saturday. Bangladeshs voters list has approximately 12.2 million names which are either in error or are duplicates, a report by the Washington-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) said. A 14-party alliance led by the Awami League of Sheikh Hasina has threatened a nationwide transport blockade, the third in three weeks, from Sunday. It has demanded a recasting of election schedules and an overhaul of voters lists. Owen Lippert, the NDIs resident representative in Bangladesh, said his group checked more than 22,000 names across the country and interviewed 11,000 people during a survey of voters ahead of an election set for January 21. The (NDI) delegation is deeply concerned that the new voters list runs to over 93 million names, a size that is substantially inconsistent with the 2001 census data, Lippert told a news conference. A voters list containing two-thirds of the population strains credibility.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2006
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When most of your voters are either named Mohammed or Ali, it can get hard to keep track of them.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 10:56
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Now I understand why Pakistan and Bangladesh had to split. Pakistanis are expected to maintain at least three false identities. This disgracefully inadequate effort by the Bangladeshis amounts to well under one false identity per capita. How pathetic!
#5
I understand that Chicago and King County (Seattle) WA want to talk to Bang. elections supvr to see "just how he does it" so they may learn some process improvement.....(Ron Sims, you reading this?????)
Muttahida Majslis-e-Amal Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Saturday that the party might review its decision to resign if it is harmful for democracy. Wimped out, did they? Barked worse than they bit.
Rehman told reporters on Saturday that the MMA would discuss the danger of a civil war in the country if by-elections were forcibly stopped following the MMAs resignation from the assemblies. Nobody said a word about by-elections being forcibly stopped that we saw. And I believe that's the first time the words "civil war" have been uttered in the context of Pak politix.
He said a meeting of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islams majlis-e-shura had been called in Islamabad on December 4 and 5 for this purpose. The decision of the JUI shuras meeting would be presented at an MMA parliamentary party meeting on December 6 and 7, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Napalm and nukes would put an end to this nonsense, along with most of pakiwakiland and its derivatives - terror for its neighbors. Address the root cause of the problem - paki islamists. Destroy the root cause, and you end the problem.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/03/2006 18:47
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Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro was not present as a military parade marking his 80th birthday began on Saturday in Havana's main square. The event, expected to last perhaps 1 1/2 hours, is being closely watched to see if Castro is well enough to appear in public for the first time since he had intestinal surgery in late July and temporarily turned over power to his brother, defence minister Raul Castro.
Castro's health and questions about his future have overshadowed the military display that experts say is a show of muscle to anyone who thinks communist Cuba is vulnerable because of uncertainty about the man who has led it for 47 years.
The parade began with a standing Raul Castro riding on a jeep through Havana's main square after a 21-gun salute. The event will put on display tanks, rocket launchers and MiG jet fighters provided by the Soviet Union, which was Cuba's biggest benefactor before its collapse in 1991.
The loss of Soviet aid forced the Revolutionary Armed Forces to cut its troop strength by 80 percent. It is now believed to have no more than 60,000 active-duty soldiers
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2006
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I saw some video on the news of this parade. Damn! The tanks were smokin' up the street with white plumes, indicating that they were burning lube oil, big time, probably the piston rings were shot. Quite the force. Hid behind the couch.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/03/2006 15:52
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FARGO (AP) - Hunter, a black lab whose barking awoke a family in time to escape a house fire, is now looking for a house of his own. Melisa Sherrard said she and her two sons must spend the next three or four months in a hotel until damage to their home is repaired. Hunter and Riley, a dachshund-Pomeranian mix, are being put up for adoption.
"We tried him (Hunter) in the hotel for two days, and that was very interesting," Sherrard said. "We couldn't keep him in (the hotel). It's very tough for all of us, especially the kids." A third dog, 11-year-old Amber, a cockapoo, will remain with the family, Sherrard said.
The 4-year-old Hunter and 1-year-old Riley are being boarded at Sheyenne River Kennels in West Fargo, said manager Jamie Floan. Adopt-A-Pet of Fargo-Moorhead has the dogs listed on an emergency list for a foster home or adoption.
Hunter was a hero about 3 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving, when he woke up Sherrard and alerted her to a fire in the living room of the family home. No one was hurt. The cause of the fire was believed to be a malfunctioning power strip.
She said she had tried to place Hunter and Riley with friends, without success. She hopes to find a farm where Hunter can run off his energy. "The kids haven't adjusted to it yet," Sherrard said. "That will be a while." Well that's gratitude for ya.
The Egyptian president and Russia's foreign minister on Saturday called for the containment of political upheaval in Lebanon, warning of the potential for widespread violence to erupt. Their meeting came a day after Friday's mass protests in Beirut that drew hundreds of thousands of supporters of the Shiite militant Hizbullah group.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas convened the PLO's top decision-making body on Friday to map out a strategy after declaring that talks to form unity government with ruling Hamas militants had collapsed. Abbas has two options, both problematic for him - fire the Hamas-led government or hold a national referendum on whether to call early elections.
Recent polls have shown that Abbas' Fatah Party would not have enough support to oust the militantly anti-Israel Hamas in new balloting. But if he dismisses the Hamas Cabinet, the Hamas-dominated parliament would veto any new government he appoints, leading to a constitutional crisis that could force elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Well, he found this darling little villa near the Lake Geneva...
A powerful blast outside a Frontier Corps (FC) camp in Naushki killed a young boy and injured two others on Saturday, while an FC check post came under a rocket attack in Dera Bugti district. Unidentified assailants planted the homemade bomb under a power-supply pylon outside the FC camp in Naushki. A source told Daily Times that the blast took place at around 12 noon, disconnecting power to most parts of the district. Meanwhile, police arrested a terrorist in connection with bomb blasts and rocket attacks in Quetta, Aaj TV reported.
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Three parked car bombs exploded in central Baghdad on Saturday near a predominantly Shiite area packed with vendors, killing at least 91 people and wounding dozens, officials said. The bombs were about 100 meters apart and exploded nearly simultaneously at about 4:30 p.m., said police Lt. Ali Muhsin and hospital officials.
Most of the victims were in the busy al-Sadriyah shopping district in central Baghdad, Muhsin said. At least 10 other parked vehicles were destroyed in an area where street vendors sell fruit, vegetables and other items such as soap. Muhsin and hospital officials said 91 people were killed and 43 were wounded, raising the death toll from 38 after many of the victims died of their wounds.
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#1
"Three parked car bombs exploded in central Baghdad on Saturday near a predominantly Shiite area packed with vendors, killing at least 91 people and wounding dozens, officials said."
Okay, to the point of utter exasperation: Who is the friggin' idiot that declines to ban all automotive transportation in Baghdad?
Make the idiots walk or ride a bicycle! You're still going to have the problem with cyclist and bipedal boomers, but what the heck, they cannot pack 500 pounds or more of explosives on their persons or bikes.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan left for Teheran on Saturday, where he said he would meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to discuss how the two countries can help stabilize in the Middle East. Erdogan said discussions would touch on the situations in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. He did not say whether he would bring up Iran's nuclear program, and denied suggestions that he would be passing along a message from Washington.
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There's a really good reason why this twit is the head of some EU thingy or other - it's cuz he's fucking brilliant! Relatively speaking, that is. Sheesh.
Gaza - European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Saturday blamed the governing Islamic movement Hamas for the breakdown in talks on a Palestinian national unity government. Damn! And we were sooo close, too.
Solana, who met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza, told a joint press conference afterwards that Abbas was not responsible for the political impasse in the Palestinian territories. 'We believe that the responsibility for this failure is not on the president ... it is the failure of the others,' said Solana, praising the 'tremendous efforts' made by the Palestinian president to establish a new, more moderate government. Yep. Abbas is fucking brilliant, too.
Solana said Abbas would have to find another way to regain international support. 'He has now to take another important decision and I can say very clearly that he can count on us (the European Union),' Solana said. We're there for ya, man. *sniff*
Abbas has been trying to form a government composed of Hamas and his Fatah party, but has been unable to persuade Hamas to accept conditions laid down by the Mideast Quartet (the US, Russia, the EU and the UN) for ending the international blockade on the Palestinian Authority. The "blockade" thingy is kinda growing on me. I think we should just make it permanent. That'd save time and the cost of lunch, later.
Hamas is refusing to recognize the State of Israel, recognize past interim agreements signed by Israel and the Palestinians and condemn the use of violence by Palestinian militants. I think I see the problem... well, one of them, anyway.
The latest round of talks between Abbas and Hamas broke down on Thursday. I missed that. This is like, what, the 537th time... this week? Who would bother to count that high?
Given Hamas' refusal to budge on these issues, Solana warned 'the situation will continue.' And the brilliance just won't stop... I gotta wear shades.
Abbas, for his part, merely told reporters that they 'were studying options that would end our people's suffering.' Uh huh.
#2
Mr Solana is too well bred to say so aloud in public, gromgoru. Besides, he loves Jews. It's those damned Zionists he can't stand, with their declasse' insistance on continuing to exist, and suchlike nonsense.
(Itar-Tass) -- More than 100,000 contract servicemen will serve in Russias Ground Forces by the end of 2007, their commander, Colonel-General Alexei Maslov said on Friday. Looks like they're a little behind schedule in converting to a volunteer force. I have no idea what the quality of the "contract" troops is.
Twenty five thousand people were hired on a contract basis in 2006 and the total number of contract servicemen is 72,000 and will increase to 102,000 next year, the general said. In his words, more than 60 units and formations have been manned with contract servicemen and their number will grow to 80 by the end of 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Russian contract troops is just graduates of the obligatory service who have signed up for a specified period.
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#7
Contract servicemen in Russia have already served their mandatory service and who are volunteers in the general sense of the word. The Russians had to kick in better pay, equipment, and conditions in order to attract contractees - which is why they are a much smaller number than conscripts. However, the most effective units in Chechnya are contractees who had already served there when they were conscripts.
If Russia's economy were stronger and the government actually would improve equipment, they could afford/attract many more contractees, especially for Chechnya and any other zone that involves Muslims.
Worried by Irans deepening involvement in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia has been working quietly to curtail the Persian nations influence and prevent the marginalisation of Sunni Muslims in the regions hotspots. In every major conflict zone in the region - in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian areas - the Sunni kingdom has been putting its economic and diplomatic weight behind allies in direct confrontation with groups backed by Shiite Iran.
Analysts say the tug-of-war between the two Mideast powers signals a new chapter in an uneasy relationship, one that has swung over the years between wariness and - at certain times - outright coldness and confrontation. On the surface, both countries have maintained the same civil front that has marked ties since a thaw in relations in the early 1990s. But events on the ground indicate that the two countries are working against each other as their differences are played out outside their borders, said Ibrahim Bayram, a Beirut-based journalist for An-Nahar newspaper who follows Lebanons pro-Iranian Hezbollah group.
The vicious violence pitting Sunnis against Shiites in Iraq, the quick rise of Irans influence in that country, Tehrans support for the militant Palestinian Hamas group and the events in Lebanon - where Hezbollah is staging open protests to bring down the Saudi-backed government of Fuad Saniora - have cast a shadow on Saudi-Iranian ties. In addition, the kingdom has expressed concern over Irans nuclear programme. Saudi Arabia is worried about even a peaceful programme because of the possible environmental threat - and fears of the Gulf getting caught in the middle of any fight between Iran and US troops stationed in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.
A Saudi official says Iran has sent messages expressing its desire to work with the kingdom to resolve the areas conflicts. But the deeds on the ground are louder than those messages, a Saudi official said. Thats making us more cautious in dealing with Iran, he added. It has also made the kingdom more determined to be involved in exploring ways to find a settlement for the upheavals.
It has stepped up attempts to reconcile Iraqs fractious groups and has invited several Iraqi leaders for talks, including anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and Harith al-Dhari, head of Iraqs influential Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars. It has also been talking to Iraqs Sunnis to urge them to renounce violence and increase their involvement in the political process.
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#1
The idea that El Saud's brood is doing something useful, is hard to swallow.
#4
Those fucking Flomotings, of course. Just one chromo removed from Bolly Sol and two removed from the Hunts. Some say there's a touch of T Cullen in there too. Bastahds!
#5
The damn Snopes. Those bastards own half of Haliburton and 3/4 of Texxon-Mobile. Montgomery Ward Snopes parlayed 437 French postcards into power over 40 percentum of the worlds oil. I sez it's time for an investigation.
#7
What idiot over there keeps telling Evergreen students they are capable of coherent thought, when they so consistently demonstrate that they aren't?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 17:59
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Well, they may not be primarily Texas-based, but the Rockefellers have been up to their collective noses in the Saudis' business since the first wells were drilled there.
AP / ABC. Spin Cycle.
RAMADI, Iraq Dec 2, 2006 (AP) Even as leading Democrats talk about gradually sending troops home from Iraq, thousands of recently deployed Marines are getting their first taste of the war.
About 2,200 Marines left their ships in the Persian Gulf two weeks ago for the dangerous city of Ramadi and other locales around Anbar province, where entrenched and well-financed insurgents use roadside bombs, rocket and mortar attacks, ambushes and snipers to kill American troops at rates approaching one per day.
Two battalions from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit have been assigned to this city of mansions with towering, gilded columns and crescent-shaped windows, the capital of a Sunni Arab province that stretches west from Baghdad to the Iraqi borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Only about 20 percent of those in the battalions arriving in Ramadi have fought previously in the Iraq war though some have combat experience from Afghanistan, Kosovo and the first Gulf War, said 1st Sgt. Eric Carlson from the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines. He said he didn't want specific numbers to appear in print, fearing it could help insurgents plan.
"This is why they joined the Marines, for combat," said Carlson, a 38-year-old Chicago native who fought in Iraq during the first Gulf War but is on his first deployment here since the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. "There's a lot of bad people in this city, all over this province," he said. "We're here to help in whatever way we can."
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#2
I am amazed that the media quotes a kill/loss rate of "approaching one per day" as this horrific loss rate : we were taking that per MINUTE in the D-Day landings.
Saudi funding to charities has fallen by 40 percent after the September 11 attacks as Muslims fear falling foul of strict US efforts to monitor terror funding, the head of a leading Saudi charity said this week. Saleh Wohaibi, secretary-general of the Saudi-based World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), said total funds collected in the oil-exporting Gulf region do not exceed $1 billion a year. He said this was miniscule compared to annual US charity spending and the wealth of the oil and gas-producing region. If you take WAMY, the reduction goes up to 40 percent, if you compare 2001 and 2003-04, he said in an interview. Plenty of money for the Widows Ammunition Fund, however.
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I edited out the lame AP Socialista propganda so the story reflects the title / topic and makes sense.
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's new president pledged Saturday to substantially raise the wages of the armed forces, calling them a crucial weapon against heavily armed drug gangs terrorizing the nation.
At a breakfast with the military's top brass, Calderon praised the army for defending the nation and battling organized crime. "I will propose a substantial increase in troops' wages in recognition of the unquestionable effort and loyalty of our armed forces," he said.
Mexico's military plays little role in international conflicts and instead is used mainly in the fight against drug traffickers and leftist guerrilla groups and in recovery efforts after natural disasters.
The new president has vowed security will be among his top priorities, acknowledging the nation is wracked by violent crime, killings and kidnappings. "Today, crime is trying to terrify and immobilize the public and the government," Calderon said in a Friday speech before invited guests at a Mexico City concert hall. "The lack of public safety threatens everybody and has become the main problem of whole states, cities and regions."
Calderon said Friday he will cut his own salary and that of top officials, one of the central campaign platforms of Lopez Obrador. Mexico's politicians are among the highest paid in the world; Fox's pay was about $245,000 in 2006. Wowsers. Heh.
#2
Actually, you need to pay more to the pols than the drug lords can bribe them. The other way around doesn't work well for 'good' government. Not that the Mexican people could tell the difference.
Hundreds of Palestinian police engaged in a roving gunbattle Saturday with a well-armed Palestinian clan in the streets of Gaza City near President Mahmoud Abbas' official residence, security officials said. Nine people were wounding in the fighting.
The fighting started about 3 p.m., when police tried to arrest several members of the Abu Amra family in connection with drug and weapons smuggling and charges of stealing government land. Members of the family, which live in large, Bedouin-style tents on government land near Abbas' residence, responded with a major counterattack, using assault rifles, and rocket propelled grenades to try to drive off the police, security officials said.
Police, some of them masked, took over five rooftops during the running street battles that lasted for hours and left seven police and two members of the family wounded.
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#2
Police, some of them masked, took over five rooftops during the running street battles that lasted for hours and left seven police and two members of the family wounded.
Pathetic.
How did it end up? Draw? Hudna? Abu Amra family gets visited in the middle of the night by hooded police?
#3
A nice sumation of the pali plight. Got tents, tribes, drugs, weapons, stealing land, hooded police, the inability to hold a line and piss-poor shooting.
(Itar-Tass) - - An active participant in illegal armed groups was detained in Nazran. As Itar-Tass learnt at the Interior Ministry of the republic, 29-year-old Maisum Daskiyev took active part in the armed attack on Ingushetias law enforcement structures on June 21-22, 2004. As a result of the attack of a group of gunmen led by Basayev on Ingushetia in 2004, 79 people were killed and 114 wounded. The Department of the Russian Prosecutor-Generals Office is engaged now in investigating the detainees case.
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(Itar-Tass) - - Convoys with police officers sent to Chechnya from other regions of Russia have been fired at twice in the republic over the past 24 hours. As Itar-Tass learnt at the Chechen Interior Ministry on Saturday, on the eve, at about 18.00 Moscow time, unidentified persons fired at a convoy of three cars in the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny. As a result, an officer of the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Khakasia was injured. The convoy was moving from Mozdok to a point of temporary dislocation. The wounded was hospitalised.
Besides, as a law enforcer told Itar-Tass, a convoy of three cars was attacked on the highway Kavkaz in Gudermes at approximately the same time. As a result, a police officer of Interior Department Ministry of the Khabarovsk Territory was injured. Okay. I'm confused. Khabarovsk is in the Russian Far East. Gudermes is in the Caucasus, to whit, in Chechnya. TDY? A personal visit? A secret mission?
A 3-car convoy implies he's a fairly large cheese and that the mission wasn't secret. Unless he's a larger than 3-car cheese he's not going to get an official reception even if he's visiting Maw and Paw back at the old homestead. So it's probably TDY.
Khabarovsk is the next major stop on the Baikal-Amur railway after Birobidzhan, which is the capital of the stretch of Siberia that used to be the "Jewish Autonomous Region." Khabarovsk is a larger city, but it has the advantage of being even colder and the surrounding territory more desolate, the area where they used to keep some of the better Gulags.
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#1
Okay. I'm confused. Khabarovsk is in the Russian Far East. Gudermes is in the Caucasus, to whit, in Chechnya. TDY? A personal visit? A secret mission?
They use police, mainly russian analog of SWAT, for short term service in Chechnia.
#5
The Chechens are a typical case of Soviet divide-and-rule. They were moved from their home to Siberia (I'm not sure where) by Stalin. Then Kruschev let them come back, but, oh, all their land and houses were in the hands of others (usually Russians) now.
I would have a great deal of sympathy for them except that the horned head of Islam has reared.
By the very SAME Sharon Cohen (AP) from the "Emotional Rollercoaster story...
A goodwill mission to deliver kerosene heaters to Iraqi schools erupts into the fiery chaos of a roadside bombing _ and Maj. Mary Prophit shields a comrade so he can rescue a critically burned Iraqi soldier.
A convoy outside Baghdad is ambushed by machine-gun wielding Iraqi insurgents - and Spc. Ashley Pullen races down a road to save an injured sergeant.
A Black Hawk helicopter is struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in Iraq - and co-pilot Tammy Duckworth, bloody and severely wounded, struggles to stay conscious until the damaged aircraft is down and her crew is safe.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, women warriors are writing a new chapter in military history, serving by the tens of thousands, fending off enemy fire and taking on - and succeeding in - high-profile roles in the battlefield and the skies as never before. "The American public is beginning to realize that women are playing an equal part in this war and that they are facing the same risks," says Duckworth, who lost both legs in the 2004 insurgent attack. "This is the first time in our nation's history ... when it's normal to see female names as part of the war wounded or those killed in action."
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#1
This is the first time in our nation's history ... when it's normalSHAMEFUL to see female names as part of the war wounded or those killed in action."
Just the humble opinion of an old man eating dust as a "fobbit" in a northern kill zone.
*Fobbit: Forward Operating base inhabitant/REMF who seldom if ever leaves the wire.
#2
Beo, in Afghanistan they are called FOBRATS. Stay safe.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/03/2006 10:18
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Beo: This is perhaps an unintended consequence of all the women's lib actions of the past. But please remember, all these women are in place voluntarily; not one was drafted, in fact they cannot register for the selective service.
The real shame is that the name of those wounded or killed are Americans, regardless of gender.
Three prominent tribal elders from Khyber Agency and their driver were killed and another elder was injured when gunmen opened fire on them in a settled area in Bara Qadeem bordering the agency headquarters, Bara. The elders were reportedly returning after attending a jirga at the office of the political tehsildar in Bara. The dead were identified as Haji Zareef, Haji Kabul, Haji Mohammad Lal and their driver Gulab. Haji Amir Khan sustained bullet injuries but survived.
Khan told Daily Times at his residence in Kajori, Khyber Agency, that they hired a taxi to Karakhano Market, where they left their bodyguards. We routinely come to tehsil (Bara) via the settled area and therefore we left our vehicles and bodyguards, who are armed with unlicensed weapons, in Karakhano Market. We did not expect an attempt on our lives, he said. Khan said that he did not see the attackers. But I do know that somebody showered bullets at us from the front. I dont know if the attackers were standing on the road or if they fired at us from some vehicle, he said.
The bodies of the deceased were taken to Khyber Medical College for autopsy while police registered an FIR against unknown assailants.
Rival groups the Lashkar-e-Islami and Ansarul Islam continue to target each others men in Khyber Agency while putting pressure on non-aligned tribal elders to join them. All those killed on Saturday had denounced both groups and urged the authorities to bar their activities in the agency.
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Saudi Arabia has detained 139 suspected Islamist militants including a would-be suicide bomber, Al Arabiya television said on Saturday. The militants were not Saudi nationals and included leaders of several cells, it said, citing a Saudi Interior Ministry statement. Saudi authorities have been seizing dozens of al Qaeda members or sympathisers around the country for months. Arabiya said the suspected suicide bomber was captured with the equipment to carry out a large attack but gave no more details about the plot.
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#1
Tomorrow's headline. Saudi Arabia: 189 suspected militants released
#3
Actually, the Saudis have an interesting take on this. Most of the militants are pretty ignorant, and are impressed by high-ranking Imams. So when they capture a militant, he gets an extended series of meetings with a non-militant senior Imam, who tries to persuade him of the error of his ways.
If they are true fanatics, they will insist on violence, so it's off to prison. But if they are open to persuasion, and they haven't done anything illegal yet, the Saudis give them a second chance to behave.
Unfortunately, they don't publish recidivism rates, so no idea if it works. I suspect that it might, since a lot of these bucks fell under the influence of some young, radical cleric, and once they are separated from him their programming rapidly wears off. Especially under the influence of someone they respect.
The naivete of young men is well known to the recruiting sergeant around the world. Were they not so dense, there would have been a lot fewer wars.
#6
Moose I'm not sure you understand the promised rewards of Muhamhead pedophilic heaven and Muhamhead's instructed violence required to get there.
The militants were not Saudi nationals
Well not the ones they arrested. I'm willing to bet the Saudi Muslim terrorist are funded by their own. Caused after all by USA's foreign policy against Islamic terrorism.
#7
The little they said of the policy, I gather it was for Saudis only. Now, another good reason is that these young men are probably connected, which would create all kinds of ill feeling if they were sent to prison, unless they were clearly unredeemable.
So the government is always judicious when it comes time to summon the headsman (literally), or to give these young men serious prison time.
Foreigners, on the other hand, are under much stricter rules, so I wouldn't expect much slack be given to them.
#8
Moose just where are the Saudi's going to get non-militant Whahabi Imams?
I'm not certain where you got your info but to be politely blunt I find it lacking. The Saudis were pretty quick to behead the Saudi bombers of the Marine barracks. But feel free to post your sources.
By the way it's not recruiting sergeants that bring the soldiers in. 9-11, Pearl Harbor, the Maine, the Alamo, York Town. I could go on but the point is refuted.
#9
The bottom line is that the instigating Imams must go. Who does it is open to question---if the Saudis do it, then fine. If they are not willing to do it, then someone else must. The Saudis are producing an army of robots in the madarasas that they finance. Cut off the money which means the financiers, and cut of the instigators, which means the Imams, and then the pressure will be off. We are wasting too much treasure and too many good military people on treating the symptoms. All we need is the will.
Too much wealth and power are in the hands of a few in Saudi. They have proven that they are incapable of responsibily handling such unprecidented wealth.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/03/2006 14:05
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#10
what other religion gets their holy? men to preach hatred and violence??????
by SHARON COHEN (AP) - Spc. Ashley Pullen wasn't thinking about the dozens of Iraqi insurgents who had just ambushed the convoy. Or their piles of guns and grenades or the bullets ripping through the air around her.
Her bloody comrade lay on the road south of Baghdad, and she had to help the gravely wounded soldier - fast. So she hustled as quickly as her short legs would carry her, ignoring the heat, the ferocious battle and her heavy gear.
She ran 100, 200, 300 feet - the length of a football field.
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#1
Her father does, too. "He says just forget it," she explains. "I say, 'Dad, you can't forget it. You just have to learn to live with it.' ... He doesn't want this to haunt me and hold me back the rest of my life - being just 22 years old."
It hits every generation that experiences the environment of close combat. That is why from primitive societies till the Vietnam period the clan, the village, or the community celebrated the return of its hunters/warriors. It was a cultural means to cleanse the individual of their experience and trauma. Father doesnt understand because in the male environment, you dont complain about injury because the hunting group will not take you out to perform your evolutionary function. There were no medics out there when the moose fell on you or the boar sliced through your leg. So you take it like a man. When you grow older, then and only then, do you bear your scars and tell tales of great hunts or battles among your peers. You recite the names of your comrades now gone. That is when you purge yourself of the fear and scars that haunt you. No one explains this to you, because most of them dont understand the process either. They just live it.
However, the parasites of society have taken positions of power and now for decades have actively sought to marginalize and rid the community of its watchdogs and protectors, who not only keep the bear away from the village but who also stand in the way of total rule over the community. So they remove the social mechanisms that have worked among human social groups for millennia to permit its protectors to properly reenter the daily existence of life. That is the true evil you see today as the parasites steal not only the fruit of you and your comrades blood, but deny you the real grace from the trauma and chaos that you so willingly place yourself into for us.
(Bloomberg) -- Mario Scaramella, an Italian contact of poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, is showing no signs of illness after tests detected radioactive material, a spokesman for the London hospital treating him said.
Tests yesterday detected polonium 210, the substance that poisoned Litvinenko, according to a site manager at University College Hospital, who declined to be identified. The spokesman, speaking by telephone today, didn't name the patient. Italy's government yesterday identified him as Scaramella, an academic. ``He is currently well and showing no symptoms of radiation poisoning,'' the hospital spokesman said.
The Italian met Litvinenko on Nov. 1, the day the former spy fell ill, the British Broadcasting Corp. said. An investigation into Litvinenko's death on Nov. 23 led to polonium 210 being found in at least 12 buildings in London, and at least five airliners have been examined.
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Ex-KGB agent says he named spy suspect In an interview with Italy's RAI TG1 television news, Scaramella said doctors told him that his body contains five times the dose of polonium-210 considered deadly. "So my mood isn't the best," he told the channel.
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2006 19:50
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#2
Well that's a big change from previous reports, ed. Thx. Sorry for Scaramella. I hope he pulls through. With Litvinenko dead and Scaramella alive to tell the tale, it does help to knock the shiny bits off of Tsar Putty's BS. Though I prolly shouldn't, I pity the poor Russians.
#3
Scar is dead, make no mistake. If the radiation doesn't get him, he will suffer some other casualty, ptobably after the world's spotlight has shifted to some other tantalyzing morsel.
He's dead, Jim.
Egyptian security forces began a large-scale search throughout Sinai on Saturday for four Palestinian terrorists suspected of planning attacks against Israeli tourists. "Egyptian security received intelligence regarding the four Palestinians, who belong to one of the extreme Palestinian factions, and infiltrated into Egyptian territory through the Rafah Crossing," a security source said.
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Moved to today from yesterday. AoS.
Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter vetoed plans to commission the Makin Island, the Navy's newest and most powerful warship, in San Francisco in 2008 because of a perception that the city is anti-military. Gee, where would he get that idea?
Retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. J. Michael Myatt, chairman of a high-powered committee that was to support a commissioning ceremony for the Makin Island, said he has been informed that the ship would not be commissioned in San Francisco, as scheduled, but in San Diego. Myatt said he had been told that the Navy was concerned about San Francisco's refusal to provide a homeport for the retired battleship Iowa, which would be turned into a museum, and for the city school board's decision to abolish junior ROTC training in San Francisco high schools. Payback
One of the factors that turned the Pentagon against San Francisco, he said, was widely quoted anti-military remarks made by various city politicians. Some of the remarks got considerable attention, especially ones made by Gerardo Sandoval, a member of the Board of Supervisors, who was quoted on national television as saying national defense should be left to "the cops and the Coast Guard.''
Myatt said the Navy had mistaken the views of some political leaders for the views of the majority of citizens in the Bay Area. Ya think? Now just who elected hosers like Sandoval?
"There are lots of veterans living here,'' he said. "One in every nine members of the military now serving come from California. Sure, Mojave, Compton, Bakersfield... but how many from SF?
These people in Washington don't understand. They understand cause and effect, something that escapes Myatt.
"Bringing this ship here is a great opportunity to showcase what great people we have in the military. Instead, they are trying to poke a stick in the eye of local politicians. I think it is shortsighted.'' "and it leaves the whole world blind..." When oculesic metaphors attack....
A commissioning is a ceremony where the officers and crew formally take charge of the ship on behalf of the Navy. It differs from a christening ceremony in that the warship is fully operational and ready for service. The Navy had decided several months ago to commission the ship in San Francisco on the recommendation of Capt. Bob Kopas, the new ship's commanding officer. Kopas, Joseph Hanna, who coordinates all ship commissionings for the Navy, and other officers paid at least three visits to the Bay Area to inspect facilities and make arrangements. And what does the Captain say about this now? Nothing if he is smart...
Myatt was commanding general during the 1991 Persian Gulf War of the 1st Marine Division, which captured Kuwait City. Now CEO of the Marines Memorial Association in San Francisco, he and several others formed a committee with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, former Secretary of State George Shultz, former Secretary of Defense William Perry and Stephen Bechtel Jr. of the Bechtel Corp. as honorary co-chairs. The group was organizing an elaborate program and preparing to raise money for a big ceremony in the summer of 2008. Good, these fatcats can afford to build their own ship, the USS Sensitivity, and donate it to the homeless or something. When the taxpayers of flyover country foot the bill, it's our call and Secretary Winter has made it.
The Navy officers, who attended meetings of the commissioning committee, were enthusiastic about San Francisco's Fleet Week and two previous occasions when Navy ships were commissioned in the city.
The last ship to be commissioned in San Francisco was the frigate McCampbell, which went into commission at Pier 32 in the summer of 2002. At the time, retired Rear Adm. Tom Brown described San Francisco's support for the ceremony as superb.
The Navy recommendation for the Makin Island went up the chain of command early this fall, only to be rejected earlier this week by Winter's office. The secretary's office did not return calls Friday seeking comment, but other military sources indicated that the Navy had in fact vetoed San Francisco as a venue for commissioning the Makin Island.
The ship, which is under construction in Pascagoula, Miss., was christened in August. It would have to steam from the Gulf Coast around South America to the Pacific on its inaugural voyage because it's too wide for the Panama Canal. After commissioning, the Makin Island will be part of the Third Fleet, based in San Diego.
#1
Hey, Gerardo? What are you gonna say after the Big Earthquake when only the "cops and the Coast Guard" show up? Think the AIDS Brigade and the homeless advocates will make everything all better?
#3
If the people of San Francisco think that their representatives on the board of supervisors are way out of line in their hostility to the military, then they better change their leadership. Cause ===> Effect. SF has made it very clear that the Navy is not welcome there, so off to San Diego, where they will be welcomed with open arms.
Rantburg will have a representative on hand for the ceremonies, who will give us a full report of the goings on in text and pictures. Commodore Frank G, you have your orders. That is all.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/02/2006 20:10
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#4
San Diego welcomes and salutes them. Remember that when you want to knee-jerk bash Californians
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/02/2006 20:11
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#5
Gerardo Sandoval, a member of the Board of Supervisors, who was quoted on national television as saying national defense should be left to "the cops and the Coast Guard.''
Interesting... that was what another leftist type, Nehru, said in another country, India.. only he had to power to implement things..
He had to eat his own words when the Chinese attacked...
The roots of politicisation of the army are to be found in Nehru's hatred for the man in uniform. Soon after Independence the first commander-in-chief of the Indian armed forces, General Sir Robert Lockhart, presented a paper outlining a plan for the growth of the Indian Army to Prime Minister Nehru.
Nehru's reply: "We don't need a defence plan. Our policy is non-violence. We foresee no military threats. You can scrap the army. The police are good enough to meet our security needs."
He didn't waste much time. On September 16, 1947, he directed that the army's then strength of 280,000 be brought down to 150,000. Even in fiscal 1950-51, when the Chinese threat had begun to loom large on the horizon, 50,000 army personnel were sent home as per his original plan to disband the armed forces.
After Independence, he once noticed a few men in uniform in a small office the army had in North Block, and angrily had them evicted.
"I remember many a time when our senior generals came to us, and wrote to the defence ministry saying that they wanted certain things... If we had had foresight, known exactly what would happen, we would have done something else... what India has learnt from the Chinese invasion is that in the world of today there is no place for weak nations... We have been living in an unreal world of our own creation."
Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajya Sabha, 1963
Posted by: john ||
12/02/2006 20:27
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#6
The military should petition Congress to preemptively declare San Francisco an open city so that no civilian lives are unnecessarily lost defending it in the event of an invasion.
#7
San Francisco's refusal to provide a homeport for the retired battleship Iowa, which would be turned into a museum
Fucking idiots! Few machines on earth are as impressive as a teak-decked Iowa class battleship. That San Francisco turned down what should easily have become a major tourist attraction and job site is nothing short of idiotic. I've stood on the USS Missouri's deck at the exact spot where Japan's surrender was signed. The like of these boats will never be built again. Despite San Francisco's deservedly poor reputation at the Pentagon, it still remains one of the top-rated shore leave spots on earth. There's a lot of people in the bay area who were part of the WWII ship building and general military service in that era. They still have a lot of respect for those who serve our nation, even if our moron politicians do not.
#9
With a conflict of interest, I have to welcome the Makin Island to San Diego (hometown and current location). In fact, I actually talked to some folks about grabbing the Iowa for San Diego when SF f**ked that situation up. I'm afraid an east bay city might have moved in on it - but nothing would match the combo of the Midway downtown, and the Iowa on the south bay waterfront, all basking in this perfect climate .....
(and now I'll have to go re-read all about the Makin Island raid)
#10
Considering that the Bay area lost nearly all its military installations thanks to that region's attitude (and its politicians), the commissioning-veto is the cherry on the just-dessert.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 13:40
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#14
Too bad the Army turned over the Presidio instead of turning it into a bombing range or chemical weapons dump.
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2006 14:47
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#15
Too bad the Army turned over the Presidio instead of turning it into a bombing range or chemical weapons dump.
Because of corrupt pork barrel politicians, too bad DoD didn't get an opportunity to bid the land to commercial interests. Would have brought a pretty penny into the Treasury. Instead the ungrateful parasites got a gift.
Alexander Litvinenko was most probably murdered by "rogue elements" in the Russian state, it was claimed today. The claim comes on the day a postmortem examination took place on Litvinenko. Scotland Yard indicated that the result may not be available for several days because of tests to be carried out.
Investigators believe that while the former spy's assassination was not officially sanctioned by Vladimir Putin's government, the polonium 210 which killed him must have come from state nuclear laboratories.
The killers must have had access to the laboratories, indicating a level of state involvement, according to intelligence sources. Reports say the source of the polonium 210 has now been traced by British scientists working at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston to a nuclear power plant in Russia.
Aldermaston scientists have been following the trail left by the polonium at 10 sites across London and on three British Airways planes that had been used between London and Moscow. One of the grounded BA planes was due to fly back to London for further inspection; the other two are already at Heathrow.
Lord Coe and Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell are expected to undergo health checks. The pair had flown to Barcelona on an Olympic fact-finding trip, boarding one of the two Boeing 767s currently grounded while undergoing radiation tests.
Ms Jowell said she had laughed when she found out she had flown on one of the "radioactive" planes. It was only when a sharp-eyed civil servant realised their aircraft was one of those involved in the radiation scare that Ms Jowell learned she could have been exposed to polonium 210. "I'm not at all worried because I know the health risks are infinitesimally small," she said. "I don't expect to be tested. Seb and I and the whole Olympics team were on the flight, which was packed. It came as a surprise but we're among 33,000 or so people involved." Nevertheless, the minister and her staff have been advised to go for medical tests if they feel ill.
About 33,000 people who took 221 flights across Europe between 25 October and 29 November may have been exposed to radiation although the risk to passengers is said to be extremely low. By last night, about 5,500 people had contacted BA.
A post-mortem examination will be carried out today at the Royal London Hospital with the medical team taking special precautions because of the nature of Mr Litvinenko's death. After the post mortem, his body will be released to his wife for burial.
The amount of Plonium-210, as well as any of the isotopes we sell is an 'exempt quantity' amount. These quantities of radioactive material are not hazardous - this is why they are permitted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to be sold to the general public without any sort of license.
Although we do sell these isotopes, distributors such as United Nuclear Scientific Supplies (and just about any isotope distributor) do not actually stock them.
All isotopes are made to order at an NRC licensed reactor in Oak Ridge Tennessee. When the isotope is made, it is shipped directly to the customer from the reactor to insure the longest possible half-life.
The Po-210 isotope is either made there or somewhere else. Maybe the Russian reactor supplies the world by regularly shipping out parcels of Po-210 every few days.
#4
The isotopes are made in the High Flux Isotope Reactor at the Oak Ridge National Labortory. It's a relitivly small reactor and a very interesting design. Did some work there in the mid-90's.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/03/2006 11:14
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#5
What's all this I hear about "rogue elephants" in the Russian state?...
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 Two days before he resigned as defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld submitted a classified memo to the White House that acknowledged that the Bush administrations strategy in Iraq was not working and called for a major course correction. In my view it is time for a major adjustment, wrote Mr. Rumsfeld, who has been a symbol of a dogged stay-the-course policy. Clearly, what U.S. forces are currently doing in Iraq is not working well enough or fast enough.
Nor did Mr. Rumsfeld seem confident that the administration would readily develop an effective alternative. To limit the political fallout from shifting course, he suggested the administration consider a campaign to lower public expectations. Announce that whatever new approach the U.S. decides on, the U.S. is doing so on a trial basis, he wrote. This will give us the ability to readjust and move to another course, if necessary, and therefore not lose.
Recast the U.S. military mission and the U.S. goals (how we talk about them) go minimalist, he added. The memo suggests frustration with the pace of turning over responsibility to the Iraqi authorities; in fact, the memo calls for examination of ideas that roughly parallel troop withdrawal proposals presented by some of the White Houses sharpest Democratic critics. (Text of the Memo)
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#2
See MOVIE > AFRICAN AMER SCHOOL PRINCIPAL WID BASEBALL BAT > NYC School students cannot learn from a "learning environment" where adult
"professional/certified" faculty DOES NOT = CAN NOT = WILL NOT CONTROL. PRINCIPAL > CONTROL/SECURE SCHOOL FIRST, THEN TEACHERS CAN TEACH WID OUT GETTING SHOT AT OR BEATEN UP BY ABUSIVE STUDENTS ANDOR OTHER ADULTS. Ditto for IRAQ. Will say again that the GOP would prob had won 2006 iff the US Voter = US Parent = Mainstream America had seen evidence of DEMOCRATIC REGIME CHANGE/REVOL TAKING PLACE in IRAN, etc. or in altern MOUD + MULLAHS changing their "attitudes" for the better. AMERS LIKE THEIR WARS QUICK + DECISIVE + PROACTIVE, THEY WANT MOUD + RADICAL MULLAHS, etc. KILLED, OUSTED, OR PACIFIED - they don't wanna hear "US Boyz fighting in IRAQ, AND ONLY IRAQ, FOREVER AND EVER, FOR DECADE AFTER DECADE". Iff America needs to INVADE, THEN INVADE; iff we need to ARM LOCAL RESISTANCE ala CONTRAS-ANTI-SOVIET AFGHANS, THEN ARM 'EM; NEED DO BOTH, THEN DO BOTH. I do NOT agree at all that America need not NATION-BUILD > "winning hearts and minds" does include the indirect promo of democracy by helping mainstream Iraqis live a better quality-of-life than under Saddam or any other post = potens future Dictator. MACARTHUR + PATTON KNEW THE VALUE OF LETTING ALL SIDES, ALLIES + ENEMY + NEUTRALS, KNOW WHOM WAS IN CHARGE OF THE COUNTRY, BY MILITARY FORCE IFF NEED BE.
*"BLACK HAWK INDIAN WAR" MILITIA VETERAN POTUS ABE LINCOLN [paraphrased]> "Iff General MCCLELLAN is NOT using his [massive/well-equipped] Army of the Potomac [to attack South/Southern armies], tell him I'd like to use it for awhile [if Mac won't]", or words to that effect.
Thousands of Hizbullah supporters set up camp in the heart of Beirut on Saturday in a carnival-like, open-ended sit-in, vowing to topple the US-backed government of Fuad Saniora through street pressure. But the political crisis, which has disrupted life in the capital's commercial district and threatens to erupt into violence, was likely to drag on for days - if not weeks - as each side stuck to its guns.
Saniora, who has been holed up in his office only few meters (yards) from the protesters, made clear he has no intention of stepping down and urged Hizbullah to abandon its protests. "This government will continue as long as it enjoys the support and backing of the constitutional institutions in the country, most importantly Parliament," he told reporters Saturday. He called on Hizbullah to return to the negotiating table but offered no suggestions for how that might happen. "Taking to the streets will not lead us anywhere ... There is just one way to solve our problems and that is to sit behind a table to discuss all our differences," he said. "Other than that it is a waste of time, waste of resources and waste of opportunities," Saniora added.
As he spoke, thousands of Hizbullah supporters were noisily clamoring around hundreds of tents set up in central Beirut, where they vowed to stay until Saniora's government falls. Hizbullah's support among Shiites skyrocketed after its strong showing in its war with Israel over the summer, and that has in part emboldened the group to demand a greater role in government. Six pro- Hizbullah ministers resigned last month after the group's demand for a national unity government that would effectively give its and its allies veto power was rejected by the anti-Syrian majority.
Hezbollah and its allies contend the real fight is against American influence, saying the United States now dominates Lebanon in the interests of Israel. "This government is a puppet. Saniora's Cabinet takes its orders from (US President George W.) Bush and has lunch with (US Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice while its own people are being killed," said Hussein Shuqair, a 20-year-old student.
Many in Lebanon, particularly Hizbullah supporters, were angered by TV footage of Lebanese government officials having lunch with Rice at the U.S. Embassy during Israel's 34-day bombing blitz against Lebanon, at a time the US was seen as encouraging the Israeli bombing campaign aimed at destroying Hizbullah 's military capabilities. "This government promised a lot of things but did not deliver and that's why it must go," said Shuqair, as he sat eating a cheese sandwich on a white plastic chair outside his tent.
On Friday, hundreds of thousands of Hizbullah supporters flooded downtown Beirut, the Lebanese capital, in a massive, peaceful demonstration, chanting nationalist slogans and songs just outside the main government offices. Barbed wire and armored vehicles separated the demonstrators from government headquarters where Saniora and some of his ministers have hunkered down. Following the demonstration, participants set up hundreds of white tents across the downtown area - a dozen or so just 50 meters (yards) from Saniora's offices. Hizbullah's Al-Manar television station said about 500 tents were pitched in central Beirut.
Hizbullah supporters set up water tanks and portable latrines and distributed sandwiches, tea and coffee to those camped out. Young men sprawled on mats in and outside their white tents under the bright, warm sun. Some read newspapers, others smoked water pipes. Dozens of white-capped Hizbullah workers swept the streets, littered with leftover food and drinks from the night before.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2006
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#1
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Whatever happened to the Chedar relovution?
Yemeni state security prosecutors began on Saturday questioning 22 suspected al-Qaeda operatives believed to have planned terror attacks against Western interests and vital installations in the Arab state, official sources said.
A source said the group was recruited by Fawaz al-Rabyee who was killed in a police raid on his hideout near the capital Sana'a on October 1. Rabyee was sentenced to death in 2004 for leading a group linked to al-Qaeda. Security authorities had linked the group to the September suicide attacks on two oil facilities in northern and eastern Yemen, siad the source, adding that among the 22 suspects were four suspected al-Qaeda members arrested in Sana'a four days after the oil attacks. Four attackers and one security guard died when bombers drove four cars into two oil facilities in eastern Yemen on September 15. The four pick-up trucks detonated inside the two facilities in the south- eastern province of Hadhramout and the north-eastern province of Marib.
An al-Qaeda arm in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the September suicide attacks and threatened to launch new attacks against US targets in the country. The group said in an internet statement that 'those operations were only the first spark, and what is coming shall be harsher and more bitter.'
Posted by: Fred ||
12/03/2006
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Sri Lankan police detained two people over an attempt to assassinate the presidents brother, officials said, as 11 people were killed in fresh fighting. The Police Criminal Investigations Department took into custody two men who owned the auto-rickshaw used in Fridays suicide bombing targeting Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakses heavily armed convoy in Colombo. We have tracked down the owner of the vehicle used in the bombing, a police official said. Two are being questioned.
Forensic experts suggested the three-wheel rickshaw was fitted with eight to 10 kilograms of plastic explosives and packed with ball bearings which acted as pellets, he said. Two army bodyguards of Rajapakse died in the attack, which also wounded 15 people, including five civilians. The suicide bombers body was found on the back of a pickup truck caught up in the powerful blast on the high-security Dharmapala Mawatha road. The head was destroyed beyond recognition, police said.
Within hours of Fridays blast, two policemen were killed in a Claymore mine attack in northern Jaffna peninsula, police said, adding that troops killed eight Tiger rebels in two separate clashes in the restive east. A soldier was also killed in a Tiger grenade attack on troops in Jaffna on Friday, the defence ministry said. The violence came as Norways top envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer visited Colombo for talks with Sri Lankan leaders on reviving a stalled peace bid. Hanssen-Bauer is due to travel to the rebel-held north of the island Monday.
Despite Fridays attack on defence secretary Rajapakse, the government said it was still committed to a peaceful solution to the three-decade-old Tamil separatist conflict.
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From Iguanas to Armadillos, New York State Cracking Down on Mystery Meats
NEW YORK Dec 2, 2006 (AP) A food safety inspector noticed an interesting special posted in the front window of a market in Queens: 12 beefy armadillos.
In Brooklyn, inspectors found 15 pounds of iguana meat at a West Indian market and 200 pounds of cow lungs for sale at another store. A West African grocery in Manhattan sold smoked rodent meat from a refrigerated display case.
All of it was headed for the dinner table. All of it was also illegal. All of it diverted to school lunch programs instead.
Authorities say the discoveries are part of a larger trend in which markets across New York are buying meat and other foods from unregulated sources and selling them to an immigrant population accustomed to more exotic fare. State regulators have stepped up enforcement, confiscating 65 percent more food 1.6 million pounds through September than they did in all of 2005.
In this ethnically diverse city, everything from turtles and fish paste to frogs and duck feet make their way onto people's plates. "At one time or another, we've probably seen about everything," said Joseph Corby, director of the state's Division of Food Safety and Inspection.
Continued on Page 49
#1
This is important for national public health because the best theory for the interspecies jump of Simian Immunodeficieny Virus (SIV) to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) occurred some time back in Africa when a human ate or processed infected "bush meat" - a chimp with SIV.
#9
"Exotic fare"? I have seen Mexican peasants carrying Iguana that they caught for food. They eat it as a last resort. Same with South Americans who eat Guinea Pigs (Cuy). However, there is a huge Texas export market for Cattle heads; Mexicans hack off the soft flesh and peddle it in tortilla as "Tacos de Cabeza."
#10
Bor Kee Food Market has been caught selling unidentified red meat and mysterious fish paste
Well, that's very encouraging! If you're not eager to eat "unidentified red meat" and "mysterious fish paste", then, you've got no sense of mystery and adventure!
#11
Philb -- viral infections are nearly all caused by inhaling, eating or absorbing viral material into conjunctiva. This is how the commonest viral diseases, upper respiratory infections, common viral gastroenteritis, and influenza are contracted, which together have to make up the vast bulk of viral infections world-wide. Limiting viral exposure to "ingestion" - the taking of material as food, is too restrictive for this topic. Some exceptions to this are by needle injection, by implantation/transplantation of tissue, or when virii are transmitted by sexual contact as in HIV or Herpes simplex.
--- A 2004 The Lancetstudy Naturally acquired simian retrovirus infections in central African hunters confirmed:
simian retroviral zoonosis in people who have direct contact with fresh non-human primate bushmeat, and suggest[ed] that such zoonoses are more frequent, widespread, and contemporary than previously appreciated
The researchers went into the jungle of Central Africa, interviewed and tested > 1000 residents: 10 carried antibodies and 3 were infected by conventional medical standards, with a specific non-SIV/HIV simian retrovirus that could be tracked by DNA analysis back to specific types of simians which the victims recognized as "bush meat" and acknowledged being exposed to. The researchers also found other simian retroviruses have been transmitted to human beings there.
Due to economic and other social conditions in Africa, the exposure of people to simian viruses through "bush meat" is increasing, and this poses a danger for emergence of yet another deadly and hard-to-treat condition like HIV.
The theory as I've outlined it is neither PC nor BS. Exposure of humans to simian "bush meat" continues to be a danger to public health whether it occurs in Africa or NYC.
#12
Ah, come on now. Do you really really know where that piece of meat slapped down on that plate at some fancy or not fancy restaurant or even nicely wrapped and packaged for retail sale came from? Ever check how many real meat inspectors there are against the number of distribution points between the living breathing donor and you? Its all mystery meat. Which is one of the four major food groups along with protein, carbohydrates and grease.
It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people. - Det. Thorn
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
12/03/2006 11:21
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#17
Yeah, they just pulled eggs and flatfish off the shelves here in my city in China. The eggs were injected with a carcinogenic industrial red dye, and the flatfish were fed toxic fertilizer to make them grow. Yippee.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/03/2006 15:12
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#20
However, there is a huge Texas export market for Cattle heads; Mexicans hack off the soft flesh and peddle it in tortilla as "Tacos de Cabeza."
In reality, the facial muscles or "cheeks" are some of the most tender meat on the entire animal. Ask your fishmonger for salmon cheeks sometime. These small collops of meat are incredible. Same goes for the "collar" from around the neck area (on fish).
It has to do with muscular tissue that does not undergo extensive use. This is why mammilian leg meat tends to be tough and stringy whilst the finer cuts come from "high on the hog". If you wish to confirm this fact, merely try a salmon filet from the tail end and one from far forward on the fish.
Ok, now everybody go read The Jungle.
Upton Sinclair's exposé of Chicago's meatpacking industry was a prime mover in the enactment of food processing regulations. While certainly a fiction, it is nonetheless based largely in historical fact. Note the intense racism against "hunky Swedes".
My "favorite" part in the book was when the waste water reservoir next to the slaughterhouse would freeze over during winter and the plant would hack up the frozen effluent and sell it to the locals as block ice for food refrigeration purposes.
It's a tough call between "The Jungle" and Scrapple as to where the old saying came from; "Everything but the squeal."
#23
Cultural thing...eggs with a red yolk are supposed to be healthier or good luck or something. Red eggs are sold at a markup, which makes it pretty obvious that someone is going to cheat. Being Chinese, they can't just use food coloring...nooooo...they have to save 10 cents a gallon and use Sudan IV instead. Yet another totally stupid cultural oddity from our friends the Chinese.
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#26
AH9418, You are right, while you can't catch HIV from ingestion, there are viruses you can. And handling HIV infected raw meat with cuts on your skin would expose you to risk of infection.
#27
So expect the capitalists amonnst the populations affected to open a pet store that features armadillos, rodents and other assorted "housepets."
think of it as a free range petshop.....
North Korea has offered Russia exclusive rights to its natural uranium deposits in exchange for open support at the six-way talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons, a Japanese daily said on Sunday. Citing Russian government sources, the Tokyo Shimbun report said Moscow and Pyongyang had been in secret talks since 2002 over a plan for Russia to import the uranium and enrich it before selling it on as nuclear fuel to China and Vietnam, in what the sources said would be a highly profitable venture.
The North Korean government has recently shown a positive attitude toward the idea, but introduced a requirement for back-up at the stalled nuclear talks, which may resume in the next few weeks. The United States, Japan, South Korea and China are also involved in the six-way discussions aimed at persuading the North to scrap its nuclear weapons program.
After North Korea shocked the region by conducting a nuclear test in October, the United Nations passed a resolution barring trade with Pyongyang in dangerous weapons. Russia would therefore need to guarantee any uranium it imported from North Korea would be used for peaceful purposes, the paper said.
#2
wait til they offer the secret grass and tree bark soup recipe. Apparently the chinese aren't happy about the threat of Japanese military rearming, huh? Need Russian whoring for support?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/03/2006 7:45
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#3
Russia has so much Uranium and other minerals.
Like trying to bribe Newcastle with coal, or Sri Lanka with tea...
Posted by: john ||
12/03/2006 8:05
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Actress Lindsay Lohan, who has been a frequent target of the tabloids for her partying ways, has begun attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, her publicist said on Friday.
"It's positive and she hopes the press leaves her alone," publicist Leslie Sloane-Zelnik said of the 20-year-old film star, whose penchant for parties and nightclubs have made her the focus of tabloid stories portraying the auburn-haired actress as out of control. Sloane-Zelnik on Thursday blasted Lohan's critics in the media, saying they had crossed a line by mocking a barely literate heartfelt letter the screen star wrote following director Robert Altman's death last week. Sloane-Zelnik said the note, which one columnist suggested was composed by Lohan on "one of her legendary party benders" and contained misspellings and grammatical errors, was instead dashed off by the distraught young actress on a Blackberry, moments after she learned Altman had died.
In a 2005 article in Vanity Fair, she admitted to having an eating disorder and bulimia, then later denied her statements.
"Yeah. It ain't true."
"Then why'd you say it?"
"I wuz drunk."
#1
What an airhead. Money doesn't buy happiness, but it does give one security. If nobody will work with this bimbo she won't have a career that keep the party money flowing in.
#2
"Actress Lindsay Lohan, who has been a frequent target of the tabloids for her partying ways, has begun attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, her publicist said on Friday."
#3
Hollywood knows Big Cinema is dying, thus Hollywierd POLITIX OF POLISCHTICK has moved to "Cinema-Lite", aka TV, Home Theater + Personal Computers. OPIATE OF THE MASSES, MAKING THAT BIG CAREER MOVE TO CABLE PORN, etc. don't ya know.
#8
The recent photo of her at some awards dinner - one should get a hi-res version is quite distubing.
Zoom in on the skin on her back. She has seriously hurt her skin with too much sun. It looks worse than an 80 year olds. She is a prime victim for skin cancer.
AP / Seattle PI Spin Warning...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush is deciding whether to lift a ban on oil and gas drilling in federal waters off Alaska's Bristol Bay, home to endangered whales and sea lions and the world's largest sockeye salmon run.
Leasing in a portion of the area rich in oil and natural gas ended nearly two decades ago - while Bush's father was president - in the outcry after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. But with natural gas prices higher, the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service proposed reopening up the North Aleutian Basin. That includes Bristol Bay and part of southeastern Bering Sea.
#6
Fine, but understand that "Subsidy" is very unpopular for now and drilling does minimal damage and maximum contrubution to what it is we are trying to build. In 30 years from now, Even though you are driving a Hydro vehicle, Someone in China may still need oil to run a vehicle way up there in the mountains.
#7
How about banning Alaskan oil exports to the Puget Sound and SF Bay Areas? I can sleep quite soundly knowing Alaskan oil is air freighted nightly to Texas oil refineries.
Posted by: ed ||
12/03/2006 15:00
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#8
I wouldn't mind Evergreen turning to Everfrost... might focus his neuron.
#9
Wow, WHAT is wrong with Mr. President? Over the past 4 decades, environmental concerns are thee #1 rallying point across party lines. When it comes to the health of the land, water, and sky, party lines disappear. This is the indisputable record. Like his father before him, the younger Bush seems to be shooting himself in the foot on the way out. With a machine gun. And like dear old dad, he's taking the Republican Party down with him.
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.
or 
?
?
(KHARTOUM) Days of fighting between former rebels and government forces killed more than 150 people and wounded at least 400 in a southern Sudanese town, a U.N. official said Saturday.
A Muslim mob has killed six Christians in an unprovoked attack on a congregation in Ethiopia, ICC has discovered. 
The Islamic militia, which has seized the capital and most of the country's south since June, declared itself in control of the southern town of Dinsor on Saturday, saying it moved into the area without encountering resistance or firing a shot. 
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Rooters) - At least eight people were killed in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Sunday in a suicide car bombing against NATO troops and subsequent gunfire by soldiers, police and witnesses said. Three civilians died when the bomber struck a military convoy and five more were shot by troops afterwards, they said.
by Ezra HaLevi
Diamonds on a cellphone are a girl's best friend.
LISBON, Dec 2, 2006 (AFP) - British author Salman Rushdie no longer fears for his life because of the death threats issued against him by Islamic clerics in response to his book "The Satanic Verses" nearly 20 years ago, he said in comments published Saturday in Portugal. "I don't know what the Iranians think of me except for the fact that at one point they wanted to kill me and now they don't seem as interested," he told a conference in Portugal's second-city Oporto, daily newspaper Publico reported. 
BAGERHAT, Dec 2 (UNB): At least four pirates and one coastguard were reportedly killed while a coastguard and a RAB member went missing after a gunfight at the estuary of the river Pashur near Mongla Friday night.
LAHORE NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has asked the people of Punjab to follow the footsteps of people of NWFP and bring to power the MMA for the enforcement of Shariah in the country.
THE trail of clues in the mysterious death of Alexander V. Litvinenko may lead to Moscow, as the former spy claimed on his deathbed. But solving the nuclear whodunit may prove harder than Scotland Yard and many scientists at first anticipated.
MANAMA - Sunni Islamists made gains in the second round of Bahrain's legislative polls as the Shiite opposition boosted earlier wins, giving the Gulf state an Islamist-dominated parliament, results showed Sunday. Saturday's second round ended with Islamists controlling 30 of parliament's 40 seats in a country considered liberal by the standards of the conservative Gulf region, and whose government is a close US ally and hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.
Refugee camps in the Sudanese region of Darfur are being infiltrated by Al Qaeda, Chad said yesterday. Backed by wealthy Saudi Arabians and the Sudanese government, mercenaries are gaining power in Darfur, Chad said. A neighbor of Sudan, Chad is strongly advocating a U.N. force for Darfur, though Sudan rejected a U.N. Security Council proposal yesterday to boost the small African Union force now in the region.
Bangladeshs list of voters contains 12.2 million false names, a US-based election monitor said on Saturday. Bangladeshs voters list has approximately 12.2 million names which are either in error or are duplicates, a report by the Washington-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) said. A 14-party alliance led by the Awami League of Sheikh Hasina has threatened a nationwide transport blockade, the third in three weeks, from Sunday. It has demanded a recasting of election schedules and an overhaul of voters lists. Owen Lippert, the NDIs resident representative in Bangladesh, said his group checked more than 22,000 names across the country and interviewed 11,000 people during a survey of voters ahead of an election set for January 21. The (NDI) delegation is deeply concerned that the new voters list runs to over 93 million names, a size that is substantially inconsistent with the 2001 census data, Lippert told a news conference. A voters list containing two-thirds of the population strains credibility.
Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro was not present as a military parade marking his 80th birthday began on Saturday in Havana's main square. The event, expected to last perhaps 1 1/2 hours, is being closely watched to see if Castro is well enough to appear in public for the first time since he had intestinal surgery in late July and temporarily turned over power to his brother, defence minister Raul Castro.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas convened the PLO's top decision-making body on Friday to map out a strategy after declaring that talks to form unity government with ruling Hamas militants had collapsed. Abbas has two options, both problematic for him - fire the Hamas-led government or hold a national referendum on whether to call early elections. 
A powerful blast outside a Frontier Corps (FC) camp in Naushki killed a young boy and injured two others on Saturday, while an FC check post came under a rocket attack in Dera Bugti district. Unidentified assailants planted the homemade bomb under a power-supply pylon outside the FC camp in Naushki. A source told Daily Times that the blast took place at around 12 noon, disconnecting power to most parts of the district. Meanwhile, police arrested a terrorist in connection with bomb blasts and rocket attacks in Quetta, Aaj TV reported.
Three parked car bombs exploded in central Baghdad on Saturday near a predominantly Shiite area packed with vendors, killing at least 91 people and wounding dozens, officials said. The bombs were about 100 meters apart and exploded nearly simultaneously at about 4:30 p.m., said police Lt. Ali Muhsin and hospital officials. 
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan left for Teheran on Saturday, where he said he would meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to discuss how the two countries can help stabilize in the Middle East. Erdogan said discussions would touch on the situations in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. He did not say whether he would bring up Iran's nuclear program, and denied suggestions that he would be passing along a message from Washington.
(Itar-Tass) -- More than 100,000 contract servicemen will serve in Russias Ground Forces by the end of 2007, their commander, Colonel-General Alexei Maslov said on Friday. 
Worried by Irans deepening involvement in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia has been working quietly to curtail the Persian nations influence and prevent the marginalisation of Sunni Muslims in the regions hotspots. In every major conflict zone in the region - in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian areas - the Sunni kingdom has been putting its economic and diplomatic weight behind allies in direct confrontation with groups backed by Shiite Iran. 
Saudi funding to charities has fallen by 40 percent after the September 11 attacks as Muslims fear falling foul of strict US efforts to monitor terror funding, the head of a leading Saudi charity said this week. Saleh Wohaibi, secretary-general of the Saudi-based 
Hundreds of Palestinian police engaged in a roving gunbattle Saturday with a well-armed Palestinian clan in the streets of Gaza City near President Mahmoud Abbas' official residence, security officials said. Nine people were wounding in the fighting. 
(Itar-Tass) - - An active participant in illegal armed groups was detained in Nazran. As Itar-Tass learnt at the Interior Ministry of the republic, 29-year-old Maisum Daskiyev took active part in the armed attack on Ingushetias law enforcement structures on June 21-22, 2004. As a result of the attack of a group of gunmen led by Basayev on Ingushetia in 2004, 79 people were killed and 114 wounded. The Department of the Russian Prosecutor-Generals Office is engaged now in investigating the detainees case.
(Itar-Tass) - - Convoys with police officers sent to Chechnya from other regions of Russia have been fired at twice in the republic over the past 24 hours. As Itar-Tass learnt at the Chechen Interior Ministry on Saturday, on the eve, at about 18.00 Moscow time, unidentified persons fired at a convoy of three cars in the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny. As a result, an officer of the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Khakasia was injured. The convoy was moving from Mozdok to a point of temporary dislocation. The wounded was hospitalised. 
Three prominent tribal elders from Khyber Agency and their driver were killed and another elder was injured when gunmen opened fire on them in a settled area in Bara Qadeem bordering the agency headquarters, Bara. The elders were reportedly returning after attending a jirga at the office of the political tehsildar in Bara. The dead were identified as Haji Zareef, Haji Kabul, Haji Mohammad Lal and their driver Gulab. Haji Amir Khan sustained bullet injuries but survived.
Saudi Arabia has detained 139 suspected Islamist militants including a would-be suicide bomber, Al Arabiya television said on Saturday. The militants were not Saudi nationals and included leaders of several cells, it said, citing a Saudi Interior Ministry statement. Saudi authorities have been seizing dozens of al Qaeda members or sympathisers around the country for months. Arabiya said the suspected suicide bomber was captured with the equipment to carry out a large attack but gave no more details about the plot.
(Bloomberg) -- Mario Scaramella, an Italian contact of poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, is showing no signs of illness after tests detected radioactive material, a spokesman for the London hospital treating him said. 
Egyptian security forces began a large-scale search throughout Sinai on Saturday for four Palestinian terrorists suspected of planning attacks against Israeli tourists. "Egyptian security received intelligence regarding the four Palestinians, who belong to one of the extreme Palestinian factions, and infiltrated into Egyptian territory through the Rafah Crossing," a security source said.
As he spoke, thousands of Hizbullah supporters were noisily clamoring around hundreds of tents set up in central Beirut, where they vowed to stay until Saniora's government falls. Hizbullah's support among Shiites skyrocketed after its strong showing in its war with Israel over the summer, and that has in part emboldened the group to demand a greater role in government. Six pro- Hizbullah ministers resigned last month after the group's demand for a national unity government that would effectively give its and its allies veto power was rejected by the anti-Syrian majority. 
Yemeni state security prosecutors began on Saturday questioning 22 suspected al-Qaeda operatives believed to have planned terror attacks against Western interests and vital installations in the Arab state, official sources said. 
Sri Lankan police detained two people over an attempt to assassinate the presidents brother, officials said, as 11 people were killed in fresh fighting. The Police Criminal Investigations Department took into custody two men who owned the auto-rickshaw used in Fridays suicide bombing targeting Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakses heavily armed convoy in Colombo. We have tracked down the owner of the vehicle used in the bombing, a police official said. Two are being questioned.
From Iguanas to Armadillos, New York State Cracking Down on Mystery Meats
Actress Lindsay Lohan, who has been a frequent target of the tabloids for her partying ways, has begun attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, her publicist said on Friday.
