The Two Seas Canal plan for resuscitating the dying Dead Sea
December 10, 2006, 9:47 PM (GMT+02:00)
Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Israel agreed Sunday, Dec. 10, to go ahead with a feasibility study for a $2-4 billion project to save the shrinking Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, with water from the Red Sea in the south. The study, sponsored by the World Bank, must reverse the 25-meter fall in the Dead Sea level by means of a 180-km Two Seas Canal plan that would snake through the Negev desert. The between the seas might include a hydro-electric plant using the drop of about 450 meters from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.
The study would also examine the effect on the environment.
All I want to know is: Who's running the controls?
In an effort to put a stop to Israeli overflights in Lebanon, the French Armed Forces has deployed an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) squadron in southern Lebanon to conduct intelligence-gathering missions in place of the IDF.
France, a member of UNIFIL, has expressed adamant opposition to IAF overflights in Lebanon. Last month, OC Planning Division Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan traveled to Paris for meetings with senior military officials during which he tried to explain Israel's operational needs. The flights, the IDF claims, are necessary for gathering intelligence and keeping an eye on the Lebanese-Syrian border through which weapons are smuggled to the Hizbullah.
Angered however from an incident in October during which French soldiers almost opened fire at an IAF fighter jet, military sources in Paris told The Jerusalem Post following Nehushtan's visit that they were still opposed to the overflights and that French soldiers stationed in Lebanon were given the authority to open fire at Israeli jets if they felt threatened by the flights.
According to Israeli defense sources, the French initiative is also meant to prove the operational capabilities of its UAVs so they can compete against Israeli defense industries on the global UAV market.
While welcoming the use of UAVs as part of UNIFIL operations in Lebanon, a high-ranking officer said Sunday that the IDF would not stop flying over Lebanon.
"We need to allow UNIFIL all of the means it finds essential to perform its missions," the officer said. "But at the same time, until Hizbullah fulfills its part of UN resolution 1701 and returns the kidnapped soldiers [Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser Y.K.] there is no reason for us to completely fulfill our part of the agreement and stop the overflights."
And then shoot the Phrench - just on general principles.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/10/2006 22:01
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#3
French soldiers stationed in Lebanon were given the authority to open fire at Israeli jets if they felt threatened by the flights.
If the French feel "threatened" now, just wait and see how they feel after loosing even a single round in the direction of an IAF aircraft. If the dead can feel, that is.
Hundreds of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be awarded millions of pounds in compensation following a ruling by the Government that they are victims of crime not war.
Forty injured servicemen are to receive payments of up to £500,000 each in a series of test cases. This is expected to lead to claims from hundreds more of the estimated 1,000 troops injured in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.
Payments will be made on a "sliding scale" of about £1,000, for a small facial scar, up to a maximum of £500,000, for the loss of a limb. The ruling was agreed, it is understood, after Government lawyers raised fears that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) could be subject to a legal challenge by troops claiming they were victims of crime because they were wounded in Iraq after the end of "at war" hostilities in May 2003.
All those injured fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, but who have decided to remain in the Army, could be entitled to lodge claims with the newly revised Armed Forces' Criminal Injury Compensation (overseas) scheme.
This is similar to that run by the Home Office, which makes payments to the victims of crimes such as muggings, rape, burglary and robbery. Troops will be informed officially of the new policy in the next few weeks and the first payments will be made in early spring.
Until now, the MOD has paid "criminal" compensation only for incidents where troops were injured in "civilian situations" such as a fight in a nightclub while off-duty.
Those injured in Northern Ireland during the Troubles were also eligible for such compensation because it was deemed that the terrorists attacking them were criminals and not enemy combatants in a conventional war.
The new ruling and expansion of compensation to the Iraq and Afghan conflicts means insurgents or terrorists launching surprise attacks and sabotage missions are also regarded as criminals and not enemy troops. It is thought the only circumstances where troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan would not be eligible for criminal compensation is when they were involved in pre-arranged, offensive operations directly targeting insurgents.
But most casualties in Iraq have received their wounds through car bombings, sniping and rocket attacks circumstances not dissimilar to most attacks sustained in Ulster. Defence sources say the ruling reflects the changing nature of the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although both theatres of conflict are described frequently as war zones, in strict legal terms British troops are not at war.
The revelation of the Government decision follows demands from MPs, military chiefs and the public, as well as a campaign by The Sunday Telegraph, for the Government to provide the Armed Forces with better pay, accommodation and medical care.
Defences sources have admitted that the awarding of compensation will be "complex and difficult", with evidence being presented to the panel by the serviceman's commanding officer.
Under the revised MoD compensation scheme, all wounded troops will be given legal advice from government lawyers as to whether their injury was as a result of a crime or of war. Those deemed to have been injured through "criminal acts" will be able to lodge compensation claims that will be assessed by a panel comprising a senior military officer, civil servants and a civilian.
The scheme will be open to troops who stay in the forces. Those who are medically discharge will receive war pensions, as is already the case.
It is understood that Major David Bradley, who was severely injured in August 2004 in an ambush in Basra, southern Iraq, is one of those about to receive compensation.
Major Bradley, who was the commander of B company, the 1st Bn the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, almost died as he took the full blast of a rocket-propelled grenade during an operation to rescue nine comrades.
An MoD spokesman said: "Ensuring that we obtain the best for our soldiers has meant that the criteria under which normal claims are submitted have had to be better defined. It is anticipated by early spring claims will be paid."
With competing squads of imams and mullahs roaming about the country claiming to speak on behalf of authority while each gives contradictory opinions on martyrdom, the yutes might just throw up their hands and become Unitarians.
Annahar Lebanese daily reported in today's issue that Hizballah bought military uniforms in large quantities. The uniforms are of the same kind as those currently used by the Lebanese police and army. According Annahar's online affiliate, Naharnet:
Hizbullah purchased thousands of army and police uniforms from a local company trading with such items in south Lebanon.
The respected newspaper did not elaborate on its short report, which sparked concern in security circles that Hizbullah's trained and tested fighters might use the uniforms as disguise to attack the heavily-guarded government offices, which Saniora and his ministers have been using as residence, across the street from the angry protestors taking part in the city center sit-in.
A ranking security official told Naharnet, that a shipment of uniforms similar to what is used by the Lebanese army and police force has been "imported by a local merchant from India and was recently sold to a local faction."
This, the official explained, is "a very, very serious matter. It reminds us of the mysterious kidnapping in the 1980s of four professors from the U.S.-affiliated Beirut University College (BUC) which was carried out by armed elements wearing police uniforms and driving police vehicles."
A pro-Iranian faction had claimed responsibility for kidnapping the BUC professors.
The security official warned that if the army and police uniforms were used by "irregular factions, this would further escalate the ongoing confrontation and would lead us to facing a real threat of terrorism."
Lebanon you are a fluke
Of the universe.
You have no right to be here.....
Go correctly above all else
Placidly amid the noise and waste.
And remember what comfort there may be
In renting a piece thereof.
Avoid strong and assertive persons
Go to sleep.
Ro-tate your tires.
Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself
And heed well their humour
Even though they be big fat black turkeys.
Know how to kiss ass.....and when!
Consider that two wrongs never make a right
But that THREE.........do.
Wherever possible, put people on hold
and never hold a warrior's coat.
Be comforted that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment
And despite the changing fortunes of time,
There is always a big future in computer main-te-nance.
Chorus
Lebanon You are a fluke
Of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not
The rest of us are laughing behind your back.
Remember the Crusaders.
Strive at all times to bend, fold, and scold the West.
Know yourself.
If you need help, call the 911.
Exercise caution in your daily affairs,
Especially with those persons closest to you.
That lemon in the comment section on your left, for instance.
Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls
Would scarcely get your feet wet.
Fall not in love therefore;
It will stick to your face.
Gracefully surrender the things of youth:
The birds, clean air, tuna, and conspiracies
And let not the sands of time
Get in your falafel.
Hire people with hooks and salad forks.
For a good time call the United Nations
Ask for "Kofi"
Take heart amid the deepening gloom
That your dawg is finally getting enough cheese.
And reflect that whatever misfortune may be your lot
It could only be worse in New Jersey.
Chorus
Lebanon you are a fluke
Of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not
The rest of us are laughing behind your back.
Therefore, make peace with your god
Whatever you conceive him to be---
Hairy thunderer, cosmic muffin or Hizb'Allah
With all its hopes, dreams, promises and Israeli urban renewal
Lebanon continues to deteriorate.
GIVE UP!
Lebanon you are a fluke
Of the universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not
The rest of us are laughing behind your back.
As to the uniforms. Why is this a problem? Lebanon's police and military need to purchase a clue and realize that Hezbollah is trying to get them all killed. The sooner these dumbfucks start snuffing Hezbollah ass, the quicker they'll have a chance of surviving the next round with Israel.
It's really the same story everywhere. People need to understand that having terrorists in your midst does one thing, IT GETS YOU KILLED. End of story.
December 10, 2006: Billions of dollars has been spent on ways to defeat IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices, or roadside bombs), and there has been a lot of success in making these weapons less successful. Still, about a third of all casualties, and two-thirds of those killed in combat in Iraq, are the result of IEDs. One reason for the continued use of IEDs is that the teams of people who build, deploy and detonate the IEDs, are getting let out of jail.
On one level, this doesn't make sense, since the police are dominated by Kurds and Shia Arabs, while nearly all the terrorists are Sunni Arabs. And then there are the Shia death squads. How is a captured terrorist going to survive all this? It's all about corruption. Many jailers and judges are willing to take a bribe to let terrorists free. This move, by a Shia Arab judge, would seem insane, until you consider that judges taking bribes is an ancient Iraqi tradition (predating Islam), and by taking the bribe, the judge is less likely to be killed by Sunni Arab terrorists. That's because the terrorists want to keep "friendly" judges on the job.
Another problem is that in places like Western Iraq (Anbar province), everyone, including the police and judges, are Sunni Arabs. The local population is too hostile for Shia or Kurdish cops to survive. As long as the terrorists can convince the authorities that only Americans are being attacked, and a bribe is paid (or some tribal influence applied), you can walk. Terrorists who kill civilians, or Iraqi security personnel, are another matter. These guys have a much more difficult time bribing their way out.
The government also likes to practice another ancient local custom; the mass release of prisoners (to get a quick shot of popular support). Most of the people locked up are considered "innocent" by their extended families, so these mass releases are popular. But a lot of the technical people involved in building and deploying IEDs, get cut loose as well. As a result, American troops have noted an increase in attacks against them after each of these mass releases (there have only been a few).
And then there are the politically connected. Many Shia death squad members have been arrested by U.S. troops. Most of them quickly walk, since these thugs are heroes to some 80 percent of Iraqis (the Kurds and Shia). The death squad goons are also well connected politically, since most operate under the protection of one Shia political party or another.
U.S. troops are particularly vexed with this because, before the Iraqis got back control of their prisons, American interrogators could often get useful information out of captured terrorists. The Iraqis can still do that, if the suspect doesn't bribe his way out of jail, or get released because of influential patrons.
American troops have ROE (Rules of Engagement) which make it difficult to just be a little more deadly when making arrests. A bribe to a judge or prison guard won't help a dead terrorist. However, particularly interesting captives will sometimes be detained by U.S. intelligence personnel for a while, in an attempt to get information. American interrogators still have some tricks they can use to make these guys talk. But eventually, the captives have to go to the Iraqi police. In some cases, U.S. troops can offer to release a prisoner, who (as a notorious Sunni Arab killer) faces certain death at the hands of the police. In exchange for really useful information, of course. This sort of thing is rare, but there are still big fish out there that are worth taking extraordinary measures to bring in.
Corruption in general, has always been a major problem in Iraq. Not even Saddam was able to eliminate it. In fact, Saddam made the corruption another one of the tools he used to control the country. But democracy and corruption do not get on well, and that is being demonstrated in Iraq.
#3
As far as ordinary flying goes, this is all well and good. But it is when mechanical failure or damage happen that humans are critical to UAV survivability. Humans are also very important for mission critical times during flight. You don't want a UAV popping a target that later turns out to be a friendly with their IFF malfunctioning.
#9
Looks like JSTARS + TacAir RIOS just discovered their new job description. Once MiniTech becoms NanoTech, etc. and evols down to the average Grunt, then the GUNDAM/ROBOTECH = JEDI? WARS shall begin.
Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet died at 91, one week after suffering a heart attack. The ailing former strongman was rushed to the hospital last Sunday while under house arrest in connection with human rights charges during his 1973-1990 regime.
An angioplasty cleared a blocked artery that same day, and hospital officials had said he appeared to be improving before they announced his death Sunday. Stable but slowly deteriorating, eh?
#2
Remember Pinochet fondly, because he smote the hell out of the Communists brought in by Allende to do to Chile what Castro had done to Cuba. And that ended the "domino theory" for South America that the Soviets had long tried to foment.
While artillery has replaced air power as the primary source of fire support in Iraq, U.S. troops in Afghanistan are still using lots of smart bombs. As was discovered in late 2001, it's much easier to bring in bombers, armed with smart bombs, than to deploy artillery in Afghanistan. The high casualty count for the Taliban during their "Summer Offensive" was the result of some 2,000 air attacks between June and October. Not all of these attacks were with bombs (only about 45 percent were), the rest involved aircraft like A-10s and F-16s coming low and using cannon (30mm and 20mm respectively.) New fire control equipment has made these strafing runs much more accurate. Still, each cannon attack involved, on average, only about a hundred rounds fired.
The tactics in Afghanistan are still very similar to those used in 2001. Small groups of troops move around in vehicles (usually hummers) and, with the aid of UAVs and Afghan scouts, find the large groups (up to several hundred) of Taliban. Once discovered, the Taliban either gather in a village or cave complex to fight it out, and get smart bombed, or scatter, and get chased down. Even small groups (less than a dozen men) often got hit with air strikes. These included attacks by AC-130 and helicopter gunships. While the 500 pound smart bomb is preferred in Iraq, Afghanistan still sees 2,000 and 1,000 pound smart bombs used.
Bombers also make much use of their new targeting pods, which enable pilots 20,000 feet up, to make out individuals on the ground, and whether or not they are carrying weapons. Troops on the ground often rely on this sort of air reconnaissance, from the same aircraft that will either drop smart bombs or come low for a strafing run. Unfortunately, the B-1 and B-52 bombers do not have this high altitude recon ability, but do carry most of the smart bombs dropped. The fighting in Afghanistan this year has led to the use of more air delivered munitions (987 bombs and 146,000 cannon shells), than in all the time since U.S. forces entered Afghanistan in late 2001 (848 bombs and 118,000 shells). The heavy bombers spend most of their time just circling high in the spy, waiting for someone to call for a smart bomb. To enable the bombers to stay up there longer, they are now based in the Persian Gulf (Qatar), which is closer to Afghanistan than Diego Garcia island (in the Indian Ocean.)
In Iraq, the preferred fire support weapon now is the 227mm MLRS GPS guided rocket. With a range of 70 kilometers, and a 200 pound explosive warhead, a few GMLRS (G for "Guided") vehicles (each carrying eight rockets), can cover a huge area with very accurate fire. The air force and navy still provide reconnaissance, and cannon fire support, but not as many bombs. The troops have missiles (TOWs, usually) fired from the ground, or from helicopter gunships. Moreover, most of the fighting in Iraq is being done by the Ira
#3
Just wait until 2015 when persistent rumors that Blue Team players in the wildly popular MechWar on-line game are actually controling US robotic warfighting assets turn out to be true.
#5
#3 SteveS Just wait until 2015 when persistent rumors that Blue Team players in the wildly popular MechWar on-line game are actually controling US robotic warfighting assets turn out to be true.
Ender's Game. When is this going to be made into a movie?
Do the fighter pilots get to paint little jihadist outlines on their plane after making a strafing run?
Ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile from 1973-1990 and spent his old age fighting human rights, fraud and corruption charges, died on Sunday a week after suffering a heart attack, Chilean television reported. He was 91.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2006
12:58 ||
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#3
Expect plenty of aticles lamnting he died unpunished. When Castro will die expect pleeeenty of articles laudating him despite the fact he has killed AT THE VERY LEAST six times more people than Pinochet and that without counting the collateral dead caused by Castro running Cuban economy into the ground.
#4
"at the very least six times more people than Pinochet"
Try 30 times more. The problem with Pinochet was he sent too many people into exile instead of killing them. This left them alive to testify against him.
(Unlike the Argentinian Generals who would wipe out entire families . . . and were never prosecuted as a result.)
Al
Posted by: frozen al ||
12/10/2006 15:52
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#6
No, no fat lady.
On the whole, he was sucessful and did the right thing by his country, in my opinion.
The Internationalistas are pissed just because he beat them at their own game. Beat them like a drum. That, and he sided with the Eeevil Amurrikkkans during the cold war.
From what I have read, Allende's death spared Chile from Cuber's fate. Allende was a Marxist people! All of you here at the 'burg know perfectly well what happens when the Marxists/Socialists/Tranzis get in charge.
And to think, the same bunch that wants to bomb the snot out of the muzzies whine about a few lefty poli-sci types getting shot!
Posted by: N guard ||
12/10/2006 16:20
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#7
Gen. Pinochet's so-called "reign of terror" consisted of wiping out about 3,000 communists and their allies. Most of them, about 2,000, were killed within the first few months of his regime. Were their liberal dissidents among them? Yes, invariably and tragically there were a few not deserving of the fate they met.
He prevented a Marxist-Leninist ally of the Soviets and Fidel Castro from strenghtening his strangle-hold on Chile.
Gen. Pincochet allowed free market ideology and practice to flourish in Chile, and as a result, it retains Latin America's most dynamic as well as fastest growing economy.
The dictator stepped down from power in 1990, ending a reign of 17 years. What came next is one of Latin America's most viable and successful democratic systems.
Compare Pinochet to Fidel. The Cuban dictator came to power in January 1, 1959 and, despite promises of eventual democratic elections, held unto power until a recent bout with what appears to be intestinal cancer has rendered him hospital and bed ridden since August of 2006.
During Castro's nearly 47 years of tyranny, an estimated 40,000 Cubans have been executed, with about 15,000 killed during the Revolution's first few years. Another estimated 110,000 have died trying to flee the island workers' paradise. Cuban losses in overseas military adventures -- Angola and Ethiopia -- are said to number about 12,000. That's at least 162,000 violent and/or avoidable deaths. And these are said to be low-ball figures. Some place the number closer to 200,000.
Lastly, where's there any indication that Cuba is prepared to move toward a representative democracy supplemented with an independent juidiciary, a free press, and a citizenry protected by Constitutional freedoms?
#9
If you a leftwing or third world dictator you get to die peacefully even if you are in exile, but save a country from communism and deliver a stable prosperous democracy, the Left will hound you to the grave.
Combat is a dynamic process, with both sides constantly adapting to each others tactics. Such is the case with the American use of snipers in Iraq. During the first two years of the war, U.S. snipers were each getting several kills a month. Now, most get less than one a month. The easy targets are all dead, and the survivors have adapted.
The enemy now knows what American snipers can do, and operate much more carefully when American troops are around. The enemy also knows what the American ROE (Rules of Engagement) are, and one of these rules stipulates that snipers can only fire on armed hostiles. So the enemy do not carry weapons openly until they actually have to use them. The enemy also uses human shields more frequently. Some times the civilian shields are paid, often they are just terrorized into complying.
Civilians are rewarded if they find where an American sniper is hiding, and report the location. This reward program has been a major problem for U.S. snipers, because it has turned into a major activity for kids in combat zones. Find a sniper, make a large sum (for a poor Iraqi) of money.
But by keeping the sniper kills down, the enemy has also had to limit their movement, and the kinds of operations they can carry out. A few teams of snipers can keep several kilometers of highway free of roadside bombs, or keep enemy fighters out of certain neighborhoods. The enemy has adapted, and so have the Americans, who now often use their snipers just to scare the enemy away.
#1
So the enemy do not carry weapons openly until they actually have to use them.
Meaning they are less likely to get shot, but also that they miss all sorts of targets of opportunity, and of course the entire neighborhood knows when Mahmud is in one of those moods. Much less fearsome that way, I should think. Oh, and change up the ROEs. Even a little civilian housewife like me knows that predictability is not good in a war zone.
The enemy also uses human shields more frequently. Not good. I saw the Wall Street Journal report on FoxNews last night (it's a half hour round-table show the editors do Friday evening and Sat. night or early Sun morning -- I watch when I happen across it, whenever it is), and they had on an Israeli bloke who is currently professing over here, and he said the thing that is stymieing both Israel and the US is allowing the use of human shields to shield the bad guys, when that is clearly against the Geneva Conventions. He said that until we both are willing to kill the shields, the terrorists will continue to win, both battles and hearts & minds.
The enemy has adapted, and so have the Americans, who now often use their snipers just to scare the enemy away. Bravo, gentlemen!
#3
Doesn't matter, gromky. The key is that the Geneva conventions don't prevent our guys from shooting or otherwise through the human shields to get to the target.
#4
Iranian and Saudi money ensures that the terrorists get good intelligence in Iraq. Again, if we play one Sect against the other, then the pacification problem is solved. Last week, the Wall Street Journal editorialized that we favor the Shiites. That is what Iran wants.
#5
He said that until we both are willing to kill the shields, the terrorists will continue to win, both battles and hearts & minds.
Which is what I've been saying all along. Those who willingly or unwillingly serve as human shields must keep on dying until terrorists have the unmistakable reputation of always getting people around them killed, not wounded, killed.
Only when there is a high risk involved in being anywhere near a terrorist will the public's attitude begin to change. Winning hearts and minds is all well and fine but dropping body temperature works just as nicely.
#6
You're right about that, Zenster, though we shouldn't target the shields, either. We should try to kill the target and regret unavoidable collateral damage.
#7
Based on Guam vets whom have been to Iraq since 2003, I'm told that the Burqua Boyz have been making use of house-to-house tunnels, plus are also manufacturing personal weapons based on anti-US, stealth or ECM-resistant tech/materials. Tis why the Army-USDOD is investing in DEEP BELOW-GROUND AREA IMAGING EQMPT, for SPACE + espec TACTICAL SYSTEMS.
December 9, 2006: High resolution radar is being installed in a Global Hawk UAV. This Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar consists of thousands of tiny radars that can be independently aimed in different directions. An AESA radar was used on the JSTARS aircraft, enabling it to locate vehicles moving on the ground. A new AESA radar for JSTARS enables them to spot smaller, man sized, objects. AESA type radars have been around a long time, popular mainly for their ability deal with lots of targets simultaneously, and produce a more accurate picture of what is out there.
A sufficiently powerful AESA radar can also focus enough energy to damage aircraft or missiles. The U.S. has already been doing this with the high-powered microwave (HPM) effects generated by similar AESA radars used in F14, F35 and F22 aircraft. This is sort of like the EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) put out by nuclear weapons. AESA has demonstrated that it can disable missiles and aircraft. AESA in a Global Hawk could disable electronics on the ground.
The air force has said that the larger AESA radar it plans to install on its new E-10 radar aircraft would be able to zap cruise missile guidance systems up to 180 kilometers away. The E-10 AESA is several times larger than the ones found in fighters and the Global Hawk, so make your own range estimates.
#4
More importantly, this may be able to be used for frying the cell phones being employed as triggers for IEDs. Too bad there's not some convenient way of mapping high signal absorption points to chart buried IEDs once their triggers have been fried. Similarly, this may also be able to kill cell phones used by terrorists as walkie-talkies. The fact that it can neutralize the guidance packages of some AA platforms is merely a bonus.
#5
The US needs to be very careful about using such means to fry electronics, because the Russians learned long ago, that old-fashioned tubes are far more resistant to such radiation; so they put tube electronics in high performance aircraft to protect them from EMP.
It would be a real drag if all of a sudden the enemies' electronic signatures remained loud and clear, when you expected them to be subdued.
#7
... old-fashioned tubes are far more resistant to such radiation; so they put tube electronics in high performance aircraft to protect them from EMP.
In a world that is increasingly dependent upon digital processing, conventional vacuum tubes cannot be configured into compact bulk arrays like the high speed microelectronic circuits required for tactical calculations in combat dog-fighting and target acquisition.
New advances in solid state circuit design, such as fast switching zener diodes and, more importantly, vacuum microelectronics can fabricate solid state vacuum tubes (see image below) on a microscopic scale that exhibit all of their more bulky brethern's resistance to EMP.
Vacuum Components & Circuits
SMD's edge emitters can be made into the main elements diodes, triodes (transistors), tetrodes - needed for integrated circuits. This technology makes possible for the first time true vacuum integrated circuits.
Wireless/High-Speed: SMD is developing vacuum transistors for high speed RF amplifiers elements. This technology has the potential for frequencies > 100 GHz.
Power Electronics: VME devices are similar to vacuum tubes in their ability to handle high power levels. SMD's devices can be formed into power electronic circuits.
Hardened Circuits:VME devices can withstand radiation and EMP (electromagnetic pulse) doses that would destroy semiconductor ICs. Interest in hardened circuits is increasing for defense, space and homeland security applications. SMD believes it has the most versatile, economical way to make invulnerable circuits.
Our ability to fabricate complex multimode mixed signal hybrid microelectronis of this sort is unparalelled by any other nation on earth. Such designs provide a degree of compactness, power efficiency, complexity and superior processing speed that conventional vacuum tubes cannot even dream of approaching.
#8
Ask old "dinnerjacket" in a couple of weeks after he's zapped for the second or third time. I'm sure the answer will be something like "wubba, wubba".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/10/2006 19:04
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#9
STRATEGYPAGE > Chicoms-PLAN UNDER-WHELMED about new Type 093/094 SSN designs + operability. LOTSA $$$ REWORK likely iff to use as basis for 094-style SSBN/FBM hulls [first SSBN/FBM deployment planned for circa 2008].
*STAR WARS "EMPIRE" THEME NOW, BOYZ, WID FEELING > DA DA DA DA DU DEDA DU DEDA .................@
Beirut - Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese opposition supporters, led by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, gathered Sunday in the central district of Beirut to take part in a mass rally to exert pressure on the anti-Syrian government to resign.
The demonstration comes on the 10th day of a sit-in outside the offices of Prime Minister Fouad Seniora. The Hezbollah-run al-Manar television station described the rally as a 'historic one which Lebanon has not witnessed before.'
Organizers estimated the crowd to be more than 1 million, but police on the ground questioned the figure, saying the two squares where the demonstration took place could not hold so many people especially as tents had been set up there. Most of the roads leading to the squares were blocked to traffic.
'Death to America, death to Israel,' Hezbollah's deputy chief Sheikh Naeem Kassem shouted to the protestors, many of whom were waving Lebanese flags. Yawn. Can't they be more original than that? It's so .. 1979.
Kassem called on Seniora to resign 'either tonight or tomorrow' and stressed that the protests would continue and that the protestors would 'not be tired.' He accused the government of taking 'Lebanon towards the American hegemony.' If he had accused the govnerment of 'taking Lebanon towards American citizenship', 99% of the mob would have dropped to their knees in thanksgiving, shouting hallelujahs.
#3
Before: Naturally, I did what most average Western girls do. I focused on my appearance and appeal, basing my self-worth on how much attention I got from others.
After:I was delighted with the new looks of wonder on peoples faces . . . I no longer spent all my time consumed with shopping, makeup, getting my hair done, and working out. Finally, I was free.
I told my husband I wanted to wear Niqab. My reason, this time, was that I felt it would be more pleasing to Allah.
She's not any kind of feminist, nor has she changed in any fundamental way. She's a bimbo who depends on others' approval for her self-worth.
To you, the ill-fated corrupting conquerors of civilization, so-called crusaders, I say: BRING IT ON.
Aw, how cute, declaring war on her fellow citizens. Whatever makes you feel important, toots.
#6
For those of us who are not standard sizes, two-piece bathing suits are a necessity. As for this woman, she seems to think that going covered outside the house means she can be sloppy and unkempt for her husband -- what a lovely marriage that must be!
#7
Dumb twit never had the courage or conviction to be her own person back when she had the freedom to do so, then buys hook, line, and sinker into a system that will not let her back out.
Expect the epilogue in two years when she wants her freedom back and hubby and brothers-in-law whack her.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/10/2006 16:49
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#8
They make medication and have therapy for this kind of thing. Or give her a few years and maybe she'll figure it out. But it may well be too late by then depending how vulnerable she is.
I swear this religion takes advantage of mental states to guarantee its continued existance.
#9
After reading the article, I'm not sure who wrote it....her owner, oh sorry, husband, or her local imam. I can't imagine any woman writing this kind of crap voluntarily.
#11
SB - After reading the article, I'm not sure who wrote it....her owner, oh sorry, husband, or her local imam. I can't imagine any woman writing this kind of crap voluntarily.
That's the way I read it, too. And it was probably approved by a committee. I find it hard to believe that an American female libertarian activist, former or otherwise, would write such al-Stepford boilerplate.
#12
It's not even an article, it's a sales pitch.
There's not one personal experience within, it's a fill in the blanks screed.
From the midwest, not a state ?
One day I found, not my friend Diane said ?
My fill of eastern religions, not yoga didn't help ? This is straight propaganda, without any personification. It stinkith !
Strategic redeployment. Phased drawdown. Exit strategy. However one phrases it, Washington seems to be turning a page in the story of Iraq. The midterm elections, the subsequent resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the release of the Iraq Study Group's report last week all suggest that the transformational objectives that led U.S. forces into Iraq are being supplanted by an unmistakable and bipartisan desire to bring troops home, end this mess and move on.
That impulse, while understandable, reflects the national narcissism that dogs much of U.S. foreign policy. We think Iraq is about us. We made it happen and we can undo it. But one-sided solutions for ending the Iraq war are as unrealistic as the one-sided impulses that started it. Even as we seek to remake history, it is remaking us.
The economic and political forces that drew the United States into Iraq -- quite different from the reasons the Bush administration gave for the invasion -- remain powerful, exerting a pull that will be hard to resist. Oil, of course, is foremost among them. But also important are the threats and tensions linked to oil: Washington's decades-old rivalry with Iran, the growing dangers posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the fear that the Middle East's simmering conflicts will erupt into a broader, bloodier and far more costly war.
Posted by: Bobby ||
12/10/2006
11:57 ||
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#1
We gave those assholes a chance for freedom, the chance to make and control their owne destinies. The decided they'd rather loot and murder instead. We overestimated them I guess. They much prefer to kill and bomb and mutilate than work on making a unity government
#3
However, many conservative post-election analyses continue to evade the War as the primary culprit for the electoral debacle. For example, S.T. Karnick writing for National Review Online pointed the finger at the Republicans' abandonment of "classical liberalism":
The Right lost because the Republicans failed to govern as classical liberals. Instead, in the economic sphere they ran up huge, unnecessary budget deficits attributable solely to massive spending increases. Small government went out the window as the Republicans massively increased federal control over elementary and secondary schools and passed numerous constraints on political freedom in the Homeland Security Act and the McCain-Feingold restrictions on political speech. -- S.T. Karnick, New Age Conservatism: Election Day was a big loss for classical liberalism.
Though he later acknowledged that the Iraq War was an issue because "Republicans failed to get it done in Iraq and stood idly by while Iran and North Korea worked to develop nuclear weapons," this assessment comes late in his article. It also ignores one salient point: How exactly do we define victory, much less achieve victory in a place where the enemy is not radical Jihad, but a number of disparate groupings of Sunnis, Shiites, Baathist secularists, unemployed and disgruntled military men, criminal gangs, foreign Jihadist and home-grown Al-Qaeda terrorists all wanting a piece of us and mostly each other? There can be little doubt that since (and perhaps since before) the bombing last February of the Mosque of the Two Holy Imams in Samarra, Iraq is slowly spiraling toward civil war. A series of horrible bombings only seem to be proceeded by even worse attacks. A U.N. report cites a figure of 1,000 Iraqis fleeing their homes daily largely due to terror from militias and criminal gangs. Another UN study claims 3,709 Iraqis were killed by violence in the month of October, thus reaching a numerical figure that puts Iraq within the projected monthly death toll (4,000) of a full-fledged civil war. Noticeably absent is any reference to Islamist terrorists. In other words, our military now is stuck between sectarian factions made up of ingrates that reject the gift of liberty and instead embrace centuries's old clan, ethnic, tribal, and religious animosities.
#4
In other words, our military now is stuck between sectarian factions made up of ingrates that reject the gift of liberty and instead embrace centuries's old clan, ethnic, tribal, and religious animosities.
In other words, it's time to get truly Medieval all over their pathetic Muslim asses. No more Mister Nice Guy ... EVER. Break things, examine rebuilt systems, break again as needed. Rinse and repeat, ad infinitum.
#5
This is worth the read for the history lesson. However, due to internal political presure US troops have to be taken out of the fight soon. Otherwise, Congress will limit war fighting funds. Bush made a giant tactical error when he sent troops back into Baghdad prior to elections. Things were sort of on simmer, then he threw gasoline onto fire. Now troop retraction out of danger zones will be needed soon. As for author's contention that we'll be back. Not the same way, I think. This pause is needed for some sober thinking. I agree with Grom, the next round will be fought at distance, with no real combatant troops. I think we'll go after strategic targets we've seen and identiified in Iran. If they have populations on top of them, they'll be sacrificed this time. If this still doesn't stop them, I think we'll attack with unrestrained ferocity. This will quiet the ummah for some time when they see millions of fried turbans and see that there will be no more restrictions.
An attempted terrorist attack in Britain over the Christmas period is "highly likely", the Home Secretary said today.
John Reid said that around 30 conspiracies were under preparation, and the current threat level was "very high indeed". He told GMTV Sunday that he did not think it an attack was inevitable, but that "the terrorists only have to get through once, as they did on July 7, for us to see the terrible carnage that it causes".
"Our security services have to be successful on every occasion to prevent that happening," he said. "I try to walk the tightrope between being truthful and honest about the threat to the public but, on the other hand, to say we are doing everything possible to combat it and to try to keep our lifestyle as near as possible to the British way of life."
The Home Secretary added that he thought the battle against Islamic terrorism was likely to last longer than a generation. Mr Reid's comments echo statements made by last month by Tony Blair and Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, the head of MI5, about the rising threat posed by Muslim fundamentalist terrorists. Mr Blair warned that Britain faced a "long and deep struggle" to defeat al-Qa'eda.
The official terror assessment, posted on the Government's Intelligence website, currently rates the threat as "severe" - the second highest level. "We ought to be very grateful to the people in the security services who work night and day to try to protect us," Mr Reid said. "We can never guarantee that we will get 100 per cent success but we do get 100 per cent effort from the security services."
It isn't a crime in Britain to conspire to inflict a terror attack? Arrest them all, then all their phone and computer contacts. Expel all non-citizens for either associating with miscreants or for not reporting the plotters, whichever will stick... and their dependents. The taxpaying British citizenry shouldn't have to support Jihadi cuckoos. Charge the citizens with conspiring to murder, and jail the buggers. Let the truly moderate Muslims (and I do believe they exist, although there are those here who don't) caught in the net earn their freedom by grassing on the rest.
#2
Nothing to worry about. They'd never commit acts of murder and mayhem during a holy day. Aren't we repeatedly told by the media about the sacred Muslim holidays and how we can't fight insurgents during those days. Surely the Muslims will show respect for the sanctity of Christmas and respect the peace of the holiday season. Won't they?
#3
Arrest them all, then all their phone and computer contacts. ExpelHang all non-citizens for either associating with miscreants or for not reporting the plotters, whichever will stick... and expel their dependents. The taxpaying British citizenry shouldn't have to support Jihadi cuckoos. Charge the citizens with conspiring to murder, and jailhang the buggers.
#5
Let the truly moderate Muslims ... caught in the net earn their freedom by grassing on the rest.
Because if they don't, then they really weren't moderates anyway, right? The final question arises as to why the Mythical Moderate Muslim must be compelled by force to do any reporting. Don't they value the sanctity of their religion enough to do so without compulsion? Sorta takes the wind out of their claims of being a moderate, now doesn't it. More like a tacit but cowardly accomplice who can be turned with even slight pressure. And this is the crux.
As someone who spent a lot of my early days here defending Moderate Muslims, the fifth anniversary of 9-11 has seen a sea change in my attitudes. I'm not posting this to start a battle with you, trailing wife, and I'm sure there are millions of Muslims who do not have any dog in terrorism's fight.
Unfortunately, there are just as many, if not many more, millions of Muslims who either overtly or covertly support terrorism. I've been forced to draw a line at the concept of Radical Reform. If Muslims want to preserve the life of their religion, and eventually their own, they had best make quick work of outing jihadist imams and terrorists in their midst. Radical Refomation demands a proactive, not a passive "wait-and-see", stance in thwarting terrorism. Moderate Muslims must take back their religion by force or find themselves lumped with the terrorists. No exceptions.
As I've mentioned many times before; We're not obliged to sort delicately through the Muslim population in order to winnow out their terrorists and traitors. That is Islam's obligation should it wish to survive. To date, Islam has shown not the least inkling of being prepared to do so. Nor is there any groundswell movement urging it in that direction.
Islam's only pressure comes from the monstrously expensive campaign against terrorism that America and a bare few other countries have committed themselves to. Such expenditure of precious blood and hard-earned treasure is simply not conscionable in the light of Islam's dogged refusal (there is no reluctance about it) to begin any sort of reformation.
As seen above, if pressure must be applied to certain Muslims in order to obtain any information about jihadists, then they really aren't moderates at all. They are merely weak-willed terrorists who can be turned readily by slight coercion.
By this definition, my own estimate is that the pool of truly Moderate Muslims suddenly drops by a factor of some +90%. That 90% are merely the "unrecruited" or "sleeper" population that .com has often referred to in his convincing arguments against the role of so many supposedly moderate Muslims.
It is this recalcitrance, this dogged refusal to interdict their own violent population that will permit some crazed segment or sect to commit an atrocity of such dumbfounding proportions that nuclear annihilation will be the only appropriate response.
Just as much as any terrorists, so too are the vast majority of supposedly moderate Muslims bringing about their own extermination. The only difference is that their holocaust will never be spelled with a capital "H".
#7
Let the truly moderate Muslims ... caught in the net earn their freedom by grassing on the rest.
Because if they don't, then they really weren't moderates anyway, right?
Yup. In a situation like that, give them one opportunity to prove it. In the midst of a shooting war, however, collateral is as collateral does.
I understand your frustration, Zenster. A great many of those claiming to be moderates are clearly spewing taqiyyah in warm, brown, stinky showers. An act of war against the host civilization, on a small scale. Entirely too many of the Muslim community in the States as well as the rest of Dar al Harb are indeed more or less passive fellow travellers rather than non-actively against jihadist efforts.
But there are those others who are quietly reporting to the authorities on the bad guys in their midst -- remember that the Lackawanna Six were turned in by some of the elders in the community. There are others wearing the uniform of this country who honestly stand with us. And quite a few others who've quietly drifted away from Islam without openly declaring themselves because they don't want to face their mother's tears, but who are nontheless disgusted by the viciousness of Islam -- Apostate who posted here for a bit was one of those.
But up till now nobody has demanded that they choose sides -- and until forced, they simply won't openly declare themselves. It would be like an Italian-American calling the police to report that Cousin Vinnie is running drugs for the Mafia... and probably about as dangerous.
There will come a point, soon I hope, when an open declaration will be demanded, those do not stand with us are at least expelled, and those who claim to forced to prove it. Quite possibly as a step before destroying the Ummah. But in the meantime what you want simply isn't going to happen, even were the ratio of passive non-acceptors 90% of the whole.
Even if the Jews had never existed, Islam would still be out to forcefully impose global sharia law upon this world. The number of moderate Muslims who decry terrorism drops precipitously to near-zero when it comes to any opposition over imposing global sharia law. Terrorism or not, it is their aspiration for all humanity to live under sharia law that willmust get them all killed.
#9
A great many of those claiming to be moderates are clearly spewing taqiyyah in warm, brown, stinky showers.
[snip]
There will come a point, soon I hope, when an open declaration will be demanded, those do not stand with us are at least expelled, and those who claim to forced to prove it. Quite possibly as a step before destroying the Ummah.
Superbly well written, trailing wife.
But in the meantime what you want simply isn't going to happen, even were the ratio of passive non-acceptors 90% of the whole.
I know that it is not possible, now. That does not change at all how important it is to begin militating public opinion over to an understanding of what taqqiya and sharia implies. Once these two incredibly vile practices are finally recognized for the filth they are, only then will there be hope of implementing what you have so deftly outlined.
Please forgive me if I preach to the choir, y'all. Rest assured that the arguments I perfect here are taken into the outside world and distributed for consumption in my own personal effort to bring about the change needed to ensure America's survival.
#10
"Even if the Jews had never existed, Islam would still be out to forcefully impose global sharia law upon this world. The number of moderate Muslims who decry terrorism drops precipitously to near-zero when it comes to any opposition over imposing global sharia law. Terrorism or not, it is their aspiration for all humanity to live under sharia law that will must get them all killed."
Zenster makes a great point that can be narrowed down to this fact: The Wahhabi-cult Muzzies are murdering Thais by the bushel of late. How many Thais are Jewish?
#11
There will come a point, soon I hope, when an open declaration will be demanded, those do not stand with us are at least expelled, and those who claim to forced to prove it.
#15
You mean like detention camps, and same for German and Italian aliens? (Supreme Court upheld). And I don't even remember Japanese in the US killing 3000 Americans or plotting/executing subsequent acts of Jihad on US soil. When a population's core belief is to genocide me and my family, I have no duty to tolerate it, but a duty to wipe their sorry asses off the map.
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2006 18:05
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#16
Easy .com, don't bite. LOL!! OK Zen the bandwidth is your!LOL
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/10/2006 18:07
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#17
Please don't interrupt if you don't want to answer the question
By first revoking Islam's status as a religion and declaring it to be the political ideology it is. Those who adhere to its tenets are tried for sedition and detained or deported as necessary.
E.W., what is your position on this? All well and fine that you question the approach of others, it's certainly your right. However, here at Rantburg, there are those of us who prefer our debates to be two-sided. Opposing viewpoints are welcome so long as they posit some sort of workable solution. What's your's?
Do you view Islam as a threat? Do you consider Islam a valid religion? Are you concerned about halting international terrorism? Do you oppose the subtle erosion of constitutional law that efforts to install sharia represent?
And a quick litmus test:
What is your position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Islam has declared war on the West so many times and in so many ways with nearly zero contradiction by any source of authority within itself, including direct statements advocating such in the Koran, that one would have to be a hermit not to know this.
While America still does not consider it a religious war, Islam does, and has from the very beginning.
#25
Or should I call you:
Hupailet Unaiger3912
Pholing Glineque9578
Angurong Chotle2086
Speart Flerong2904
Slereper Ulosing9249
Shaviting Phinens9082
Uloluth Chinetch5315
Ahmed the terrorist
JUSone
Bob
Lou
GH
MU
for Hungary from Poland
Papa Smurf
Clan Cameron
NWFP Assembly
Nero
Scumbag Defense Atty
Contrarian
C or
facta non verba ?
#31
On the contrary, war has been declared, twice. On Sept. 18, 2001 (SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE: This joint resolution may be cited as the `Authorization for Use of Military Force.) and against a specific country. Oct. 2002: Iraq War Resolution. We already know detention for the duration is constitutional and this war (as currently waged) will go on after you and I both die of old age. So detention for the duration or deportation makes little difference to me. Depends on wether you want to feed them for life or not.
Patience E.W. Though the war is 1400 years old, US participation is new. Even the Bush administration admitted it will take at least a generation. There will be many muslim atrocities yet to come and for Americans to react to. How many could have predicted the 180 degree change in American perception of muslims in just 5 years, even with a press turning a blind eye to muslim atrocities and burying the words of muslim leaders about the kufr? And American will harden much, much more in the coming years.
Let's talk about beliefs. How do you justify this by fellow Americans? And fight with them until there is no persecution, and religion should be only for Allah,
So choose not friends from them till they forsake their homes in the way of Allah; if they turn back (to enmity) then take them and kill them wherever ye find them, and choose no friend nor helper from among them.
Ye will find others who desire that they should have security from you, and security from their own folk. So often as they are returned to hostility they are plunged therein. If they keep not aloof from you nor offer you peace nor hold their hands, then take them and kill them wherever ye find them. Against such We have given you clear warrant.
Those whom your right hand possesses [sex slaves captured in Jihad. just like Mo did] out of those whom Allah has given to you as prisoners of war.
That being just a tiny sample (try reading the penultimate Chapter 9) from the Bad Book. Notice each of those examples are being put into practice today by muslims against nonmuslims. And you want such perverted believers living next to you, your wife, your children while they plot to do to you what is required of them by islam and the koran?
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2006 18:58
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#32
They already do, ed. This is Rafael, our once stalwart Canuckistan ally, gone over to the Dark Side. I think the unarmed Border Valets Guards bruhaha was the last straw.
#33
Ah, but I, at least, wasn't proposing an all-out war against the Muslim religion as the reason for demanding the declaring of sides. I was giving Muslims the opportunity to declare that they do not support -- in any way, whether as registered members of one of the many Islamofascist jihadist groups, supporter (financial or otherwise), or even emotionally ("Ha! our boys blacked those Imperialist eyes but good that time!"). The demand to declare gives the -- supposedly large -- number of moderate Muslims the cover to openly reject all that, and declare for the side of equal-under-the-law Civilization.
There is no reason why we should tolerate living amongst us those who reject the basic principles of our society; even less reason to tolerate those working to overthrow it. Those who are not citizens do not have the right to stay here under those circumstances. We just haven't been exercising our right as a nation to accept or reject. Those who became citizens under false pretenses likewise have no right to that citizenship, and we are entitled to strip them of it and send them away. As for those born to citizenship, but who work toward our conquest by others, or who support that conquest, by such behaviour they abrogate the contract between the citizen and the nation, in my opinion. The Law is going to have to be modified to reflect current reality.
As for the other bit, Al Qaeda for the Sunnis and Iran for the Shiites have openly declared war on the US and the West, each several times. That we have not equally openly declared war back doesn't change the situation -- it only takes one side to make a war.
The Muslims already have help here. But such helpers don't make it more likely they will win, but rather delay the inevitable.
How do you get to be a prophet, anyway? Don't you need some witnesses to miraculous power? The Arab pedophile had no witnesses; and he claimed his unholy Koran fiction was a "miracle." "Koran" means "recitation" in Arabic. In the interests of truth, I would change the name of that filthy book to "Perversion," since it is solely the product of the pedophile bandit's sick mind.
We were once referred to as The Toronto Crew (tm) by lotp, I believe. I used to like that moniker except that I've become the butt of jokes on both sides now: on Rantburg obviously, and on this side for allowing myself to be duped by you for all these years. Oh well. What doesn't kill you can only make you stronger, I guess.
The demand to declare gives the -- supposedly large -- number of moderate Muslims the cover to openly reject all that, and declare for the side of equal-under-the-law Civilization.
Interesting statement (because it seems to contradict itself). Equal-under-the-law Civilization, except that one group is constantly under pressure to prove that they are equal. Sounds like some are more equal than others.
This also goes against the spirit of the Constitution that implicitly puts the onus on the law to prove one's guilt (I forget which amendment it was), not the other way around.
(You used the terms demand and opportunity. I'm assuming your demand has a legal or some other force behind it, otherwise there would be no purpose to presenting this idea.)
There is no reason why we should tolerate living amongst us those who reject the basic principles of our society; even less reason to tolerate those working to overthrow it. Those who are not citizens do not have the right to stay here under those circumstances...Those who became citizens under false pretenses likewise have no right to that citizenship, and we are entitled to strip them of it and send them away. As for those born to citizenship, but who work toward our conquest by others, or who support that conquest, by such behaviour they abrogate the contract between the citizen and the nation, in my opinion.
You won't get any argument from me on that point. In fact, it's exactly what I've been saying.
The Law is going to have to be modified to reflect current reality.
Ah. Bingo. That's exactly what I was implying with my question earlier. Some have concluded that it won't be possible and it'll take a civil war clear things up. While I don't have an easy answer, I claim that steps can be taken that could possibly avert the worst case scenario. In fact, your government has just now adopted one of them (the changes in the citizenship exam). The other step is immigration reform, again not easy.
That we have not equally openly declared war back doesn't change the situation
...but it will once you start demanding proof of loyalty from your own citizens. Supposedly you are a nation of laws.
The Muslims already have help here. But such helpers don't make it more likely they will win
A civil war on a grand scale will likely involve your enemies from around the globe. It's what Osama's been dreaming about for years since he was a little baby. And then you have Castro (or Raul), Chavez, Mexico, China, Russia, and on and on and on and on.
Rafael, I'm very disappointed. This is all crap, and you should know better.
Just imagine how I feel. Sticking my neck out for all these years in an ocean of anti-Americanism, and for what? Only to hear "see, we told you so!".
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/10/2006 20:12
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#38
A civil war on a grand scale will likely involve your enemies from around the globe. It's what Osama's been dreaming about for years since he was a little baby. And then you have Castro (or Raul), Chavez, Mexico, China, Russia, and on and on and on and on.
So Fred Phelps has taken to trolling Rantburg, I presume? Interesting. Your claims about Muhammed only show your own ingnorance and hatred. Believe it or not, Muhammed was a very honorable man. He raised the status of women in Arabia and allowed them to inherit property. He was devoted to his wife. Though he was a conquerer, unlike the Jews of the Old Testament and the Crusaders, he gave those who he conquered the choice to submit to his new rule instead of destroying all: men, women, and children. If the fact that Muhammed married a young woman who by today's standards would be considered a minor, why does that bother you while the fact that Joseph the father of Jesus married Mary while she was 11 or 12? Hate to burst your bubble, but anyone with a high school student's knowledge of history can easily see how much of a hypocrite you are. Stop hatemongering and open your mind instead. You'll be a much happier person.
No I doubt it. Too much at stake economically and most people understand that. The others otoh, have much more to gain should the US go Chechnya.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/10/2006 20:33
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#42
Sigh, yet more mindless hatemongering... Not only is it stupid to judge past and cultures by the standards of your culture, but as I have just pointed out, It's also hypocritical. Why do you not also call Joseph a pedophile? Why do you not label the Crusaders as "pedophile bandits"? The latter would certainly be a more accurate discription in their case than it is in Muhammeds, anyway.
The Liberals have elected Stephane Dion as their new leader just the other weekend (which means an election is around the corner). For a party that claimed to want to re-invent itself, they shot themselves in the foot. Dion is tainted with the ad scandal of the Chretien days, besides being sort of a doofus on stage (plus he's got authentic French citizenship).
If Harper plays it cool, he's got a shot at 5 more years in power, starting 2007. Which would mean no Afghanistan pull-out.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/10/2006 20:57
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#45
Deveran, Mohammed was not bringing people to his god at sword's edge at the time of the Old Testament you don't seem to know, or the New Testament either (please quote chapter and verse in the New Testament that shows the age of Mary when she married Joseph), but past the time of the New Testament when, in Persia for instance, peoples of different religions had been living peacefully togethers as equals -- not as the master religion and dhimmis -- for the better part of 1000 years. Or the Roman Empire, which which at the time of Jesus tolerated all the religions of its subjects including Judaism. I always find it odd that those who defend Islam ignore the Persians, who gave the Arabs so very much of their culture and literature... not to mention carpet design.
And in what way is it hate to quote directly from the Koran, or Qur'an if you prefer, to support a point? Isn't that what you want, that we get to know Islam better?
Rafael, you neglected to mention that you used to like me too, back when we used to have our little correspondences. You really used to wander round the office announcing that you like America, only to be treated to a litany of our evil ways until you succumbed? Or did you poke at them with verbal stickes like you poked here tonight?
#48
Troll or not, I told you long ago that if your country has more people like me, then you will lose this past election. And you did. Maybe it wasn't dumb luck that I was right.
I'll be back in 2 years to joyfully point out to .com that Bush hasn't done anything regarding Iran. I will especially enjoy that one.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/10/2006 22:19
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#49
"Troll or not" my ass, yeah right.
Now your closer is interesting. You're the type of asshole who would prefer something unspeakable happen, such as Iran getting nukes without hindrance from the US, just so you can strut...
Well, I guess that's in keeping with the trollery you foisted on RB under that array of nyms --
You're a terminal asshole who should be permanently banned from RB. Face to face, I'd sent you to the Promised Land of Your Choice, bitch.
I've read your pre-Rantburg stuff. I must say I had you pegged the minute you showed up here.
You're the type of asshole who would prefer something unspeakable happen, such as Iran getting nukes without hindrance from the US
Actually no. I'd do it to show you're nothing but a wanker, not grounded in reality, unable to debate without reverting to invectives and threatening violence. Our dual-citizenship conversations convinced me of that long ago.
See ya in 2 years.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/10/2006 23:11
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#52
So Raphael, you will also joyfully point out to your relatives back in Poland that they are in Iranian nuke range. I'm sure the Iranians will want payback for that insolent Vienna incident.
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2006 23:15
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#53
Is that supposed to refute something? Wotta asstard. You do not deny, hell - you don't even indicate you care one way or the other, regards Irans nuke program's success or demise - you just wanna rub somebody's nose in your shit.
All you do care about is your fucking ego. Eat shit, bitch.
Yeah, dual citizenship is fucking brilliant. You're still the Fuckwit of Olde.
#54
you will also joyfully point out to your relatives back in Poland that they are in Iranian nuke range
Russia is more of an immediate threat than Iran. Might I point out, I said Bush won't do anything, for a variety of reasons. I didn't say nothing should be done.
I also didn't say dual citizenships were brilliant. I said it's pointless getting your panties in a knot about it, and it even may prove to be useful, say, to deport wayward Muslims if you wish. You'd think this was obvious by now.
you don't even indicate you care one way or the other, regards Irans nuke program's success or demise
You're so fucking lucky that the Mullahs in Iran are stupid. If I were them, I would get the required prerequisites first: learn the engineering, get the technology, sit quietly and play nice at the UN.
Sooner or later someone will figure this out and get the bomb. I find it pointless to be worried about one single player. I find it pointless to be worried about things I have no influence over. You wanna stop Iran from getting the bomb? Go back in time and kill Einstein.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/10/2006 23:32
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EFL- Iain Duncan Smith pulls no punches in saying what he thinks is wrong with Britain today. The head of David Cameron's social justice policy unit makes an impassioned case that at the root of nearly all crime and anti-social behaviour is the decline of marriage and the rise of cohabiting couples, which all too readily break down into single mothers and "guesting" fathers.
The former Conservative leader is speaking ahead of the launch of his interim report, "Breakdown Britain", which has come to some uncomfortable conclusions for the new-look Tory party. What Mr Cameron will make of them at a special press conference tomorrow remains to be seen.
But on the face of it there does appear to be a gulf, in tone at least, between the Cameron doctrine of optimism and tolerance and the Duncan Smith report, which concludes that Britain is in the grip of a social collapse brought about by the decline in traditional values. The report paints a picture of a society where rising levels of family breakdown, addiction, welfare dependency, educational failure and personal debt are combining to form a "vicious spiral pulling down millions of the most vulnerable people in the country".
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#2
"Master of the Obvious", indeed. The only thing that was left out was that the breakdown of the family stems from the breakdown of morality and social pressure to adhere to moral absolutes. Being an unwed mother is no longer a social stigma. "Sleeping around" is expected, not frowned upon.
When Europe killed the Church, they also killed any moral anchor that their citizens might have had. We're beginning to reap the problems that caused. It won't get better until people return to some moral base. It'll either be a rebirth of the Judeo-Christian moral base, or mass conversions and the destruction of Islam. No manmade "morality" will stand inspection. The next 30 years or so are going to be "interesting".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/10/2006 21:15
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Islamabad, Dec. 10 (PTI): A contingent of Chinese troops have arrived at the Pakistan Air Force Base in Chaklala near here to participate in joint exercises focussing on anti-terrorism operations, the Pakistan army said here today.
'Friendship 2006' will start in Pakistan on December 11 and the 10-day-long exercises are aimed at strengthening the existing bonds of friendship between armies of the two all-weather allies. "The exercise will be second of its nature, while the first exercise was held in China in 2004," a Pakistan army statement said. The focus of the exercises will be to mutually benefit from each other's experiences in planning and conducting anti-terrorism operations, it said.
It will be for the first time that troops from Peoples Liberation Army will carry out joint exercises outside China. High-level delegations from both the countries are expected to witness the joint exercises, according to the statement.
On arrival at the PAF Base, the PLA delegation was received by senior Pakistan Army Officers. In a ceremony held at Rear Headquarters, Force Command Northern Areas, members of the PLA contingent were decorated with the insignias of exercise 'Friendship 2006.'
Posted by: john ||
12/10/2006
10:36 ||
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#1
Is Pakistan meant to be the next North Korea then? They've already got a proto-totalitarianism of long standing, but I can't imagine establishing a personality cult will go smoothly...
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/10/2006 11:26
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#3
Pakistan is the next Palestine. They deserve the right of return. The Chinese are just looking for a diversion for their next testosterone laden event with India. Look for Chinese assistance to RAB.
#6
"So who should be nervous here, the Indians next door or Perv himself?"
Steve, I think that there are now going to be some awkward moments when US / NATO troops get in a gun fight, especially of Chinese troops have been reported in the area. Can you imagine the MSM sceaming when / if some ChiCommie gets plugged?
#7
#6: "Can you imagine the MSM sceaming when / if some ChiCommie gets plugged?
I can certainly imagine me laughing hysterically. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/10/2006 17:40
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#8
Theres no shortage of pro-China/Chicom mil bloggers-Netters whom argue that China has every right to take over territories NOT under the control of the locals. MAO ZEDONG/TSE-TUNG's adage that POLITICAL POWER COMES FROM THE POINT OF A GUN is well-reminded. YEAR 2015 or after > CHINA-SPECIFIC NUCLEAR PARITY vv USA, OR ANYONE ELSE [YOO HOO, PUTIN] will be a non-issue as far as they are concerned. ALL THEY WANNA KNOW IS WHOM HAS THE CAJONES/GONADS TO STOP THEM.
Yeah, sure. We bug everybody. We just can't stand not knowing the important shit, like whether Diana and Dodo did the nasty on the bearskin rug and what brand of caviar they preferred. It's what we live for. BTW, did you know Putin holds seances over Rasputin's bones? Yup. Purdy thruthy, ain't it?
The American secret service was bugging Princess Diana's telephone conversations without the approval of the British security services on the night she died, according to the most comprehensive report on her death, to be published this week.
Among extraordinary details due to emerge in the report by former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens is the revelation that the US security service was bugging her calls in the hours before she was killed in a car crash in Paris. Is Lord Stevens sane - or one to the "normal" UK cop types?
In a move that raises fresh questions over transatlantic agreements on intelligence-sharing, the surveillance arm of the US has admitted listening to her conversations as she stayed at the Ritz hotel, but failed to notify MI6. Stevens is understood to have been assured that the 39 classified documents detailing Diana's final conversations did not reveal anything sinister or contain material that might help explain her death.
Scotland Yard's inquiry, published this Thursday, also throws up further intelligence links with the Princess of Wales on the night she died. The driver of the Mercedes, Henri Paul, was in the pay of the French equivalent of M15. Stevens traced £100,000 he had amassed in 14 French bank accounts though no payments have been linked to Diana's death. Well, he died. So, silly me, I'm like thinging the crash thingy wasn't really planned, y'know?
Stevens's conclusion is that Diana, her companion Dodi Fayed, and Paul himself died in an accident caused by Paul driving too fast through the Pont de l'Alma underpass in Paris while under the influence of drink. The car was being pursued by photographers at the time. Gosh, go figure, huh? No Polonium 210, no secret plot to steal North Sea oil, just regular old run-of-the-mill stupidity. Damn.
Tests have confirmed that Paul was more than three times over the French drink-drive limit and was travelling at 'excessive' speed. The inquiry will quash a number of conspiracy theories that have circulated since 31 August 1997, among them that Diana was pregnant. It also found no evidence that the princess was planning to get engaged to Dodi, son of Mohamed Fayed.
The Harrods tycoon believes that Paul's blood samples were swapped to portray him as a drunk in an elaborate cover-up by the establishment to stop Diana marrying Dodi, a Muslim. Hey - you got Chucky in the bag - ain't than enough?
Stevens is expected to concede that while there was a mix-up it was an accident and that the original French post-mortem which found that Paul was three-times over the French drink-drive limit was correct.
He is also expected to discount the role of the white Fiat Uno which struck Diana's car shortly before the crash, even though British police officers have failed to track down the vehicle which left paintwork on the black Mercedes. Prolly driven by MI42 - Mormon Secret Intelligence.
The inquiry will support the findings of the original French accident inquiry in criticising the paparazzi as a possible reason for encouraging Paul to speed. The 'bright light' theory - the claim that the driver was deliberately blinded by a beam immediately before the crash - is also dismissed by Stevens. So, like, kill the paparazzi. Works for me.
Mebbe Clinton and Tenet were doing their own version of LBJ & J Edgar.
#1
The Secret Service??!! Was she threatening the President or counterfeiting US currency? If Lord Stevens is actually making this accusation - he must be off his meds.
#2
You laugh, but Diana tried to slip me a fake US$100. I told the bitch to go fuck herself with her Monopoly money, of course, but I expect she was down the off-license with it as soon as I turned my back.
#3
I could never understand why she was so popular. And then I've seen the picture of the Royal family---mystery solved (Brits were just so happy to have a royal who isn't dog ugly).
#6
They neglect to remind readers that this happened while Clinton was President. I have already seen leftist posters curse Bush for this and cite it as yet another example of the Patriot Act undermining our civil libertines liberties. They know their audience, its short memory, and its dependence on standard memes.
On a more serious note, the reason for this might well have been CIA fears that Islamic radicals could use a connection through Al-Fayed to set the princess up for kidnapping or assassination.
Blah, blah, blah. So get it on, biatches, 'splode already.
RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi King Abdullah opened the annual summit of Gulf leaders with a warning that the Arab world was on the brink of exploding because of conflicts in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Lebanon.
"Our Arab region is besieged by a number of dangers, as if it was a powder keg waiting for a spark to explode," he told the rulers of the oil-rich monarchies gathered in Riyadh for a two-day meeting to the backdrop of mounting sectarian violence in neighboring Iraq.
About one thousand residents of the village of Ghajar that lies on the Israel's northern border went on a strike Sunday morning in the education system and the trade sector.
The residents of the village held a protest against the government's decision to transfer responsibility of the northern part of the village to UNIFIL forces that were deployed across the border at the end of the second Lebanon war.
National Security Cabinet adopts proposal calling for Israels withdrawal from northern part of village on Lebanese border; UN to be entrusted with preventing entry of Hizbullah forces
Ghajar is home to about 2,100 residents, with about one third of them living in the northern part of the village which is located on Lebanese territory and is separated from the southern part by Israel Defense Force posts.
Despite the separation, all the residents of the village hold Israeli IDs, and are considered residents of the State of Israel.
"We protest the division of the village and ask the government that it stay united Unfortunately, since the IDF retreated from Lebanon in May 2000, our lives have become hell." said Ahmad Fataly, the Ghajar Council's head.
"At the tank intersection near the village, merchandise is unloaded every morning and we have to go and pick it up ourselves since no one is willing to enter Ghajar and take a chance. Ambulances dont come here, Bezeq (a phone company) and the Electric Company's technicians dont fix problems here. I call on the ministers of the government to come here, face us and let us know what they plan," continued Fataly.
During the protest, which included women and children, the protesters held signs in Arabic and Hebrew, and posters with doves on them.
The protesters expressed their wish that the future agreement with Syria be applied to them, since they claim to have been occupied in 1967 by IDF along with the Golan Heights.
"We will not accept any agreement that will be made without involving Syria. We will not be refugees in Lebanon, we did not go back there and we chose to be citizens of the State of Israel," said Najib Khatib, a resident of the village.
"We pay taxes, we participate in the elections, but when we demand the Property Tax officials come here and compensate us for war damages they tell us we are not part of the State. We are inspected every time we enter or exit the village. We know that if the UN enters northern Ghajar, the Lebanese army will follow and then we will not be able to give the northern residents any services," said Khatib.
The residents resent the fact that the village is under divided control. "We dont have a fence to protect us; we are living between Hizbullah in the north, and being ignored by the Israeli government in the south. We hope that today's protest will move someone to help us," said the protesters.
#1
It is unclear form the article if the villagers want to be Syrians or Israelis. If they want to be Syrians and eat the cake too, well, tough shiite.
I am not sure there is much Isreal can do, in any case, with the transfer of responsibility to UNIFIL. With an emphasis that responsibility here means they will be stationed there or have a formal control, not that anyone expect them to behave responsibly.
U.S. Rep. William Jefferson easily defeated his fellow Democratic opponent in a runoff election Saturday, despite an ongoing federal bribery investigation. What federal bribery investigation?
In complete but unofficial returns, Jefferson, Louisiana's first black congressman since Reconstruction, received 57 percent of the vote over state Rep. Karen Carter, who had 43 percent.
Carter was unable to capitalize on a scandal that included allegations the FBI found $90,000 in bribe money in Jefferson's freezer. In a concession speech, Carter embraced family members and pledged to work with Jefferson, especially on the area's recovery from Hurricane Katrina. "I guess the people are happy with the status-quo," she said. Very politely put, Karen.
Jefferson was forced into the runoff against Carter when he failed to win 50 percent of the vote in a crowded open multiparty primary. Carter had sought to become the first black woman from Louisiana elected to Congress.
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#1
Hey, NOLA! Want to hear my response to your requests for any more Fed cash? Thanks though for providing yet another absolutely irrefutable proof of Dem corruption and dishonesty. NOLA and the Dems: if you put all their elected officials in a barrel and rolled it down a hill, you'd always have a crooked bastard on top. You deserve each other.
Posted by: mac ||
12/10/2006 5:30
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#2
Brilliant work Mac. LA, politicians are the cheapest. Course it's a poor state. $90,000 ain't gonna get Mister Charley.
#3
I'll beat this dead horse again. You pay cheap, you get cheap. If you pay well enough, you'll actually attract people of substance, in skill, intelligence, and integrity to put up with the crap that is the American political game. But hey, it feels good to make them appear to 'serve' the public interest, that the position should not be full time, that .... and on with all the myths. And you think the LLL is living in another universe. Tell me where is the professional team that has the lowest payroll usually end up in the standings at the end of the year?
#4
Back when the British were running India, from the days of Cornwallis they had a simple way of making sure that officials were honest: combine paying them enough money to live a solid middle to upper middle class lifestyle relative to their peers with an absolute guarantee of punishment and disgrace if they failed to live up to the high moral standards set for them. It worked very well; I've had a number of Indian graduate students, including some with a very nationalistic bent, tell me that the British Raj was by far the most honest, even if rather hidebound, government India has ever had.
Posted by: mac ||
12/10/2006 8:31
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The lead story in the local business section today is on the housing market here - inventory is up 50% and prices are tumbling. People here who have jobs and property are trying to get out; we know the corruption and incompetence of the powerful is too much for a Katrina recovery to overcome.
But wait, there's more: Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc. are for the most part not taking donations (no demand/room). You'd think with all these people who 'lost everything' there'd be demand for this serviceable used stuff, but it appears that only 'new' is good enough for them.
On the other hand, a few shops catering to luxuries for the elite (eg. $2000 Christening gowns) are doing very well. Somebody has money - presumably from the various layers of corruption and 'consultants' that are consuming all the 'recovery' money before it gets to the actual victims. Last I heard (a week or two ago), the actual grants paid out still totalled under $100,000. That is not a typo. Out of over a billion dollar budget.
Seriously, contact your elected officials and tell them to quit flushing money down the Mississippi River.
#6
Hah! In lllinois we have had the THIRD child of a politico appointed to their parents office WITHOUT RUNNING FOR ELECTION. No matter how you hard you try, you are bush league in corruption and usurpation of democracy
#7
And said Illinois (specifically, Chicago) parent politico manuevered this in such a way that she retires from the County Board with a double pension.
Wish I could get a double pension.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2006 12:31
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#8
Hell, Steve, I wish I could get a pension.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
12/10/2006 15:17
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#9
Get yourself elected to the Cook County Board, DB, and we'll get you one. At least one. Mebbe more.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2006 16:11
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Oh Lord. Please give me the patience to deal with these idiots w/o feeling superior. OK, I'll settle for just the patience part.
What's wrong with this pic? Let me count the ways:
1) The kid has a hood on. Great. Speaks volumes. Probably hurling rocks or molotov cocktails. Makes a good handle.
2) He's wet his pants. I wonder what he thinks is about to happen to him. I don't wonder where or when he got those ideas.
3) Funny, it seems the Zionists are handling him very gently. That Ethiopian guy might even be chuckling. I'd say Reuters staged this, but they never stage things in favor of the Zionists so I'm not sure what to think. :-)
4) I'll bet the Innocent Civilians(TM) are lapping it up. But Al-Jizz is unbiased. They say so.
Fasten your seat belts, you're about to enter The Spin Zone!
For what is happening in Palestine, we never use the expression suicide bombing.
What do you call it then?
In English, I would describe it as bombings.
And in Arabic?
Literally translated, we would speak of commando attacks. In our culture, it is precisely not suicide.
But instead a praiseworthy act?
When the country is occupied and the people are being killed by the enemy, everyone must take action, even if he sacrifices himself in so doing.
Even if in so doing he kills innocent civilians?
That is not a Palestinian problem, but a problem of the Israelis.
(he adds)
In many Arab states, the middle class is disappearing. The rich get richer and the poor get still poorer. Look at the schools in Jordan, Egypt or Morocco: You have up to 70 youngsters crammed together in a single classroom. How can a teacher do his job in such circumstances? The public hospitals are also in a hopeless condition. These are just examples. They show how hopeless the situation is for us in the Middle East.
Who is responsible for the situation?
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most important reasons why these crises and problems continue to simmer. The day when Israel was founded created the basis for our problems. The West should finally come to understand this. Everything would be much calmer if the Palestinians were given their rights.
Do you mean to say that if Israel did not exist, there would suddenly be democracy in Egypt, that the schools in Morocco would be better, that the public clinics in Jordan would function better?
I think so.
Can you please explain to me what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to do with these problems?
The Palestinian cause is central for Arab thinking.
In the end, is it a matter of feelings of self-esteem?
Exactly. Its because we always lose to Israel. It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million. That hurts our collective ego. The Palestinian problem is in the genes of every Arab. The Wests problem is that it does not understand this.
#4
Defence for Children International eh? Concerned about "detained" kids, eh? Where's there outrage over kids blown up in Israeli pizza shops?
The only reason that kid pissed his pants is because of what his elders told him about jooooos. Yet, they're the ones who incited him to do whatever he did in the first place. The irony is that he's safer with Israel than he is with his arab "brothers."
#6
Poor kid probably think the Jooos are going to butcher him out, harvest his blood and fry up his liver. Isn't that what his loving parents and family have been telling him since birth?
Your right Dan - he is probably better off in a Israeli prison then with his brainwashing family.
#7
"Its because we always lose to Israel. ... That hurts our collective ego."
GOOD!
Assholes.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/10/2006 17:46
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#8
The number of Palestinian children detained in the occupied West Bank has noticeably surged since the start of the second Palestinian Intifada or Uprising which broke out six years ago
Then stop sending children to do a mans work, or squalling when your killer-kiddies get whacked.
Contrary to the constant denial by Israeli officials, there are probably hundreds of Palestinian children in the Israeli dungeons.
Which, even if true, is far less egregious than the Israeli cemeteries filled with young victims of Palestinian terrorists.
"Five thousand children have been either imprisoned or arrested in Israeli investigation centres for different periods of time since the start of the Intifada,"
You dont differentiate in the age of your fighters, so why should Israel?
"A specialized interrogator for children should interrogate them. The interrogation should be filmed and the parents should attend to be sure that the child was not subject to psychological pressure or abuse," Misk said, adding that children should appear before a special tribunal for children and kept in jails dedicated exclusively for them-
How about just NOT TRAINING YOUR CHILDREN TO HATE AND FIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE?
An immediate action is needed to stop Israels policy of brutal, illegal and inhumane detention of Palestinian children.
Then stop indoctrinating your kindergarteners to be bomb vest killers.
Exactly. Its because we always lose to Israel. It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million. That hurts our collective ego. The Palestinian problem is in the genes of every Arab. The Wests problem is that it does not understand this.
Oh, we understand, all right. It's just that were too busy laughing and pointing.
The United Nations has often failed to live up to its responsibility to promote human rights, with the ongoing killing and displacement of civilians in Darfur only the latest example of how the world has not improved its act, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today as he urged Member States, organizations and individuals to make the protection of rights a reality in every country.
In an address at the Time Warner Centre in New York to mark International Human Rights Day, which is being staged on Sunday, the outgoing Secretary-General said he had tried to make human rights central to all of the world bodys work during his 10 years at the helm.
Refugees poured into the UN compound. But the Dutch peacekeepers (Dutchbat) were overwhelmed and the Serbs confiscated their weapons. From the moment I found those bodies, it was obvious to me that the Bosnian Serbs planned to kill all the men, Rutten said. He watched horrified as Dutch troops guided the men and boys onto the Serb buses.
#3
How can an international community which claims to uphold human rights allow this horror to continue? he asked.
Well, how about the international community ceasing to PRODUCE horror? Might that be a solution? Huh, guys? Hey, I know. Let's start with NOT raping little girls and setting up prostitution camps in exchange for food aid, like you keep doing.
#5
Koffee has been making some rather scathing and pointed criticisms of the UN lately. Would it be rude to point out that he has been in charge all this time?
#8
"The Mafia has often failed to live up to its responsibility to reduce the homicide rate, with the ongoing killing and displacement of kneecaps only the latest example of how the mob has not improved its act," said John Gotti, the "Teflon Don."
#2
Multiculutralism, particularly the evangelical type like this, has ALREADY failed.
Talking about how to "make it work" by tweaking going forward is like someone talking about how piracy and privateering needs a little modification and it will be a useful tool of state.
Those who do not acknowledge the proven failure of multiculti (and the fundamentalist approach to "celebrating diversity") are among the most reactionary people on the planet today, and the irony is that they believe themselves to be the most "progressive."
Posted by: no mo uro ||
12/10/2006 7:16
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#3
Talking about how to "make it work" by tweaking going forward is like someone talking about how piracy and privateering needs a little modification and it will be a useful tool of state.
In fairness, privateering was an excellent tool of state for Elizabeth I. If we started issuing Royal Charters to companies prepared to take and hold, say, Iranian oil-fields and distribution facilities I'd say we could win this thing at no cost to the tax-payer.
News of the World, salt required.
TWO detective constables were face an agonising ordeal after dramatically testing positive for polonium-210. Both the Scotland Yard officers have been working on the Alexander Litvinenko case for the last two weeks.
One was the Litvinenko's Family Liaison Officer. He spent time with Litvinenko, below, in hospital when he first became ill. It was not known then that the former Russian agent had been poisoned with the radioactive material. He has also been with Litvinenko's wife Marina who has also tested positive along with other relatives.
It is believed the second detective was contaminated when he carried several pieces of evidence from the Litvinenko home. He was taking it to a police van to be sent for forensic testing.
The pair have been put on sick leave on full pay.
A source said: "The two officers are terrified and upset. ... They have been told that as a result of being infected the chance of them contracting cancer has been increased, albeit by a small amount.
"But that is still a pretty devastating thing to be told. The families will now also be tested."
Yard bosses are said to be furious that the Health Protection Agency did not give officers on the case training or tell them what to wear during the probe. The source said: "There is some disquiet. They feel the HPA have not got a strong grip on what the risks are. The advice is changing and they do not have total confidence in what they are told."
In a statement Scotland Yard last night confirmed two officers had been contaminated. It said 26 officers were tested, adding: "Two samples showed small traces of polonium."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/10/2006
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#1
Drudge's headline says "Polonium: Two Cops Infected."
Pakistan has handed over written proposals on peace jirgas to Afghan authorities and expects proposals from Kabul soon, Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri said on Saturday. Proposals from Afghan side are expected to be received today or tomorrow, he told journalists at Chaklala Airbase after his return from Kabul. Kasuri said the traditions and circumstances of Pakistan and Afghanistan were different and the need was to evolve a mechanism that could help combat terrorism. Islamabad has already submitted its proposals in accordance with its environment while their proposals are being given in the light of their own security situation, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2006
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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that he has decided to call early elections after the breakdown of national unity talks with Hamas. Abbas, who was speaking at an emergency meeting of the PLO executive committee, did not say when the vote would take place. But aides said the election could be held as early as March. The committee recommended that Abbas dismiss the Hamas-led cabinet and call early elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council and the PA presidency.
As the meeting was under way, hundreds of PA security officers and Fatah gunmen went on a rampage in several locations in the Gaza Strip, demanding unpaid salaries and calling for the government to be replaced. The protesters exchanged gunfire with guards stationed outside the PLC offices in Gaza City. Two people were wounded. Palestinian journalists covering the demonstration were severely beaten by the protesters, who also smashed windows and furniture. One journalist, Zuhair Dawlah, said he was beaten "in all parts of the body" by several officers who also confiscated his cellular phone.
The riots later spread to Khan Yunis and Rafah, where hundreds of officers blocked main roads with burning tires and shot into the air. "We only want our salaries," said policeman Ayman Hamideh. "Our protests are not related to the tensions between Hamas and Fatah. We are approaching the Id al-Adha [the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice] and we can't afford to buy our children clothes and toys."
Hamas leaders said Abbas and his Fatah party were behind the protests, which they described as an attempt to overthrow the PA government. "These demonstrators don't represent all the Palestinian civil servants," said Ahmed Bahar, deputy speaker of the PLC. "This is just a small group of thugs who are trying to spread chaos and intimidate the people."
He accused the protesters of shooting at the PLC office and threatening the lives of guards, employees and legislators. Hamas legislator Ismail Ashkar held Abbas responsible for the attack, noting that this was not the first assault of its kind on the PLC. "Abbas is the commander-in-chief and he's responsible for the actions of his security forces," he said. "Abbas and all those around him who are trying to bring down the Hamas government are responsible for the growing state of anarchy and lawlessness."
Ashkar also accused former PA security minister Muhammad Dahlan of leading a group of Fatah activists who were trying to stage a coup. "He is exploiting the plight of the unpaid civil servants to trigger civil war," Ashkar said. "He and his friends are exploiting the naivete of many security officers to settle personal scores and spread confusion."
Another Hamas legislator, Yehya Musa, said the latest protests were part of a well-planned scheme designed to bring down the government. "Ever since Hamas won the election [in January], we have faced repeated attempts to overthrow the democratically elected government," he said. "Those who have been robbing the Palestinians for many years are trying to come back to power."
PLO officials told The Jerusalem Post that Abbas would deliver an "important speech" later this week in which he would call for early elections. "The PLO executive committee today urged President Abbas to use his powers to call early parliamentary and presidential elections," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the executive committee. "The president will announce his final decision within five days."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2006
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(KUNA) -- Algerian security forces killed four nationals believed to be members of an outlawed armed group, active in the northeast of the capital Algiers, a security source said Saturday. The source said in press remarks the security forces stoped a car in Mshonesh area, 530 kilometers northeast of Algiers, which was boarded by the armed elements. One of the gunman opened fire at the forces and injured one of them. The government forces retaliated and killed all four gunmen inside the car, said the source.
A Kalashnikov, a pistol, a hand grenade and ammunition were seized from the car, said the source.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2006
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Typhoon Utor was set to sweep into the central Philippines on Saturday, a day after it forced the government to hastily shelve a gathering of Asian leaders on a resort island south of its projected path. State weather forecasters said the second typhoon to crash into the archipelago in as many weeks would hit Samar island, around 600 km (375 miles) southeast of the capital, Manila, late in the morning. Utor, with gusts of up to 150 km (94 miles) per hour, was upgraded from a tropical storm to a category 1 typhoon, the weakest level, earlier on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/10/2006
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#1
I'm in Cebu at the moment, and the weather (as of today) is hardly prohibitive. There's talk that the Philippine security requirements are grossly insufficient, leaving the ASEAN delegates vulnerable. Also, there's another constitutional drama brewing (The "CON ASS"). Shame, this place could do with an economic overhaul, and would do well to come into line with its Asian neighbors through policy change. Let's see what happens in January....
#2
CC3360, It can move in fast. Almost as fast as the Mayor will once the Typhoon hits. He will move fast to secure all the aid, at gunpoint, ans sell it to the needy. Go to the Shangrila hotel to ride it out. They have generators and the beer will stay cold.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/10/2006 9:55
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#4
I wouldn't think so, Shipman. Different vocabulary, seriously different sentence structure. Besides, would a buddy of 49 Pan's be worried about insufficient security being provided?
(SomaliNet) Authorities of the Islamic Courts Union in the capital have issued on Saturday an order suspending all traffic between Mogadishu and Baidoa cities in Somalia for security reasons - in response to TFGs similar banning of from Mogadishu. No car has this morning gone to Baidoa as result of the ban enforced by the Islamic Courts Union.
Sheik Mukhtar Robow known as Abu-Mansur, the deputy chief security of Islamic Courts Union told today the local media that the ICU officials have agreed on the move to stop traffic to Baidoa, the seat of the transitional federal government.
"We can not allow our people to travel to a city occupied by Ethiopian soldiers," Sheik Abu-Mansur said.
"We have taken the measure as security precautions because we can not allow our people to travel to a city occupied by Ethiopian soldiers," Sheik Abu-Mansur said. "By the time the TFG officials have already banned cars to Mogadishu, we then decided to block all vehicles travelling to Baidoa since there is a war tension,"
The decree which will affect all traffic to Baidao starts today, local Islamic officials said but they did not mention how long it will last. Islamic Courts Union which now controls much of southern and central Somalia banned fuel tankers and other Lories carrying fuel to enter Baidoa to impose sanction on the government last month.
Many passengers as well as drivers in the capital who prepared for travelling to Baidoa have cast their complaints saying that they were very sorry about the decision by the Islamic Courts to suspend travel within the country. "As you see here are the travellers and we can not set off to Baidoa because of the ICU's move to ban the journey... this outlaw is really a problem to our job," Yusuf Abbas, one of the drivers told Somalinet correspondent in Mogadishu. Earlier the local authority in Baidoa issued a decree banning all small cars to enter Mogadishu for security points.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The un-Islamic Protection of Women Act will feature heavily in the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amals election campaign and mass contact movement, Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Saturday.
We are going to the court of masses, the MMA general-secretary told reporters.
We are going to the court of masses, the MMA general-secretary told reporters after his address to a partisan seminar on the legislation in the Zubair Mir Hall of the Peshawar Press Club. Last time, the people voted for the MMA because of anti-US feelings and they will defeat Gen Musharraf in next years elections by voting for the MMA again, Maulana Fazl said to shouts of Allah-o-Akbar and Inshallah.
He said the MMA was not seeking the higher judiciarys interpretation of the law because never has a court in this country ruled against a general.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Kufr you ask, do I know Dolly Parton?
I tell you this cannot be a serious question. For am I not having the towel? Her Breezes are allans blessing. Like this! Infidel! This is off the record
(SomaliNet) The Chadian government said Friday that Chad's army retook the eastern town of Biltine after launching a counter-attack against rebels who briefly occupied it in their military campaign against Chadian President Idriss Deby.
UFDD spokesman Ali Moussa Izzo said by satellite phone that the rebels had pulled out of the town but were controlling the area around it. "To avoid a battle in the town we withdrew," Izzo said.
Our defence and security forces are pursuing the rebels, Chadian Defense Minister Bichara Issa Djadallah told reporters.
Meanwhile, the rebel Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD) said on Thursday its fighters had moved into the town, the capital of the eastern Biltine prefecture, without encountering any serious resistance from government troops. On Friday, UFDD spokesman Ali Moussa Izzo said by satellite phone that the rebels had pulled out of the town but were controlling the area around it. "To avoid a battle in the town we withdrew," Izzo said.
The Chadian defense minister said government forces had killed 50 rebels and captured 30. He put government losses at 10 dead and said 10 rebel vehicles were destroyed and 10 captured.-Reuters reported.
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Troops and Tiger rebels traded artillery and mortar bomb attacks in northeastern Sri Lanka, killing at least four people on Saturday, a day after a Norwegian peace attempt failed, officials said. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said four civilians were killed and another 20 wounded in military attacks on the rebel-held Vakarai area. Sri Lankan military fired artillery shells that fell in front of the Pammivedduvan school refugee camp, killing four civilians and injuring more than 10, the Tigers said in a statement.
It said another 10 civilians were wounded in a separate attack on the Patchenai school, which had been converted into refugee camp. Hundreds of civilians were unable to leave the area because of the sporadic artillery attacks, a military official in the area said by telephone.
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(KUNA) -- A Turkish soldier was killed and 11 others injured in a landmine explosion planted by separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the town of Lice southeast Turkey, security sources said Saturday. Turkey News Agency (Anadolu) quoting security sources saying the landmine was detonated by remote control late Friday as a group of soldiers were on foot patrol near the town. All soldiers were transferred to hospital while other military units are still searching for PKK rebels.
The PKK called a unilateral ceasefire on October 1, saying it hoped to pave the way for a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish conflict. The truce, like previous ones called by the rebels, was rejected by Turkey, but fighting has decreased markedly since then.
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Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was visiting Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said, a day after an emotional farewell at the Pentagon. "He's there to express his appreciation to the troops and to thank both the troops and their families for the sacrifices they are making," said Air Force Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a Defense Department spokesman, on Saturday.
It was Rumsfeld's 15th trip to Iraq since the war began; he was last there in July. Rumsfeld's trip follows Friday's Pentagon farewell, where the defense secretary defended his record on Iraq and Afghanistan.
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#1
Fifteenth trip? Yesterday's CBS newsflasher was only aware of thirteen.
#2
Not having paid a lot of attention in the past, when Rumsfeld first showed up in the Bush administration, I figured he was just another policy wonk. Ha! I've become quite fond of the feisty sumbitch. The fact that he pissed off a bunch of retired generals is a big plus in my book.
Now is probably a good time for one last mention of the 1000 Fighting Styles of Rumsfeld. So long Rummy and thanks for all the transformation.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday not to give in to international pressure calling on Hamas to recognize Israel's right to exist until Jerusalem is rightfully returned to the Palestinian people. Haniyeh, presently in Iran, thanked the president for his support in Hamas's government.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Sure thing. How the PA's "representatives" treated the Church of the Nativity gave us all solid proof of their qualifications to manage Jerusalem. I'd sooner see the whole place engulfed in nuclear fire than ever have it fall into the hands of Islam.
#2
Islam founded Jerusalem. It must be returned. I also want to see all lands that were Christian before Islam took over, returned to Christian authorities.
#12
Israels Arab-Muslim neighbors decades ago rejected any compromise option on Jerusalem, including turning Jeruslam into a de facto International City. And the Israelis have not forgotten that Muslim-controlled sction/parts of Jersualm as per BALFOUR were used to undermine and attack the new Israeli Govt + other targets.
THE ONLY THING MOUD IS SAYING HERE BY NOT SAYING IT IS THAT ARAB/PALEO vs ISRAELI VIOLENCE AND CONFLICT MUST GO ON, UNTIL ISRAEL IS DESTROYED.
I'm guessing this is associated with this as well.
Turkish police have detained a lawyer who admitted he was the leader of Al Qaeda in Turkey, Anatolian News Agency reported on Saturday. Nine other suspects were also held. Police seized bomb-making material and a compact disc set to explode when inserted into a computer - the first time Turkish police had got hold of such a device - the state-run agency said. They also found maps of an oil refinery owned by the Tupras group in the house, the agency said. Police could not confirm the report.
CNN Turk said the leader was a 25-year-old lawyer and two of the suspects were also members of the Great Islamic Eastern Warriors Front (IBDA-C), Anatolian said. That group claimed joint responsibility with Al Qaeda for two bombings at Istanbul synagogues and attacks on a British consulate and the HSBC bank in November 2003, in which more than 60 people were killed.
IBDA-C, on the European Unions terrorist list, is made up of Sunni Muslims seeking to create an Islamic state in Turkey. The police swoop in Istanbul, Ankara and the western province of Izmir came after a year-long investigation and was carried out at the end of November, when Pope Benedict was visiting Turkey, private television NTV reported.
A little bit more, from Zaman
Turkish police have arrested a lawyer who claims he is the leader of Al Qaeda in Turkey. Nine other suspects were also detained in the simultaneous operation conducted in Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara. Police also seized a compact disc with an explosive device set to explode at the moment of use. It is the first time such a device is found in Turkey
The operations in Istanbul, Ankara and the western city of Izmir came after a year-long investigation and follows the detention at the end of November of 18 people suspected of having links to Al Qaeda. Turkey has suffered several attacks blamed on al Qaeda. In November 2003, more than 60 people were killed in bombings of two synagogues, the British Consulate and the HSBC bank's office in Istanbul.
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I don't think anybody missed this one coming — the perps are approximately as subtle as a trainwreck. Ever since an outside investigator was appointed Syria and Hezbollah have been working themselves up to this, to include instigating war with Israel last July.
Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud declined on Saturday to endorse a draft accord sent to him by the Cabinet seeking to create a tribunal to try suspects in the killing of a former premier.
Lahoud, a staunch ally of Syria, said the Cabinet that approved it has lost its constitutional legitimacy. The president had been expected to decline endorsing the agreement, sent to him Nov. 27. The accord would set up the UN-backed court to try the suspected assassins of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who died in a massive truck bombing in February 2005. Lahoud, in a statement issued by his office, said he was returning the draft accord to Cabinet "for reviewing as soon as a constitutional and legitimate Cabinet is formed."
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ASADABAD, Afghanistan - Taleban terrorists militants barged into a house in a troubled eastern Afghan province and shot dead five members of the same family, including two female teachers, police said Saturday.
The killings happened in Narang district, Kunar province, late Friday, said local police officer Abdul Saboor Allahyar. Sadly, two female teachers, a school worker, and a housewife and a young boy, all members of one family were killed, Allahyar told AFP. Two other family members, a boy and a young woman, were wounded in the attack, police said.
It was the work of the Taleban, said Allahyar. Brilliant, officer, how do you do it?
The attack followed several warnings by terrorists rebels to the family to stop working, he said. The family had told us earlier that they were threatened by Taleban terrorists and other bad guys that they should stop working as teachers, he said. Because an education might lead the youngins' away from jihad.
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Before some mole clued in the Norks, the caption read: "Hey, Americans, you should learn a lot from our Norwegian friends who are having really good time with North Korean young school boys." Really
Check out Voice of Korea for your daily dose of juche. Loved: UNFORTUNATELY CAN NOT PARTICIPATE ROCK FOR PEACE THIS TIME (since he's been (de)composing with the Great Leader for 25 years) BUT WE STILL DO REMEMBER ALL GOOD SONGS OF FROM BRITAIN.
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Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2006 0:03
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Is this a joke, or a previously-unknown Daily Kos diary?
Posted by: Mike ||
12/10/2006 7:35
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Ok, I've gone a bit through past posts, and think it's a spoof... but it's harder and harder to tell the difference between The-Forces-Of-Progress gone amok for real, and the parody, so, who knows?
At least three Congolese soldiers were killed and about 20 wounded on Saturday when army troops clashed with forces loyal to a renegade general in eastern Congo, U.N. and army officials said.
Major Ajay Dalal, a spokesman for Indian peacekeepers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, said a Congolese army brigade attacked renegade troops loyal to dissident General Laurent Nkunda early on Saturday around the town of Sake. "They did not achieve much success. In fact, they lost some previously occupied positions," Dalal told Reuters.
U.N. military intelligence sources said four army soldiers were killed and 21 wounded. They gave no figures for Nkunda's losses. However, a Congolese army commander said government forces had responded to fire from Nkunda's troops. "We were attacked by the insurgents. They attacked hard but we reacted, we are occupying our normal positions," said Colonel Delphin Kahimbi, deputy commander of government forces in North Kivu.
Earlier this week, officials said 150 rebel troops were killed by U.N. peacekeepers who repulsed an offensive by Nkunda's army toward the North Kivu regional capital, Goma.
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KERBALA, Iraq - A suicide car bomber killed at least seven people and wounded 44 in a busy market in the Shia holy city of Kerbala on Saturday, hospital sources said. People shouted at the driver of a pickup truck and told him to move the car, but he did not move. Seconds later it went off, a witness calling himself only Kefah told Reuters.
He said the car had government registration plates.
The blast in sight of the gold dome of the holy shrine of Abbas devastated shop frontages and set cars ablaze, sending clouds of black smoke into the sky as people tried to help the wounded. Police put the death toll at six killed, 44 wounded. The local hospital said it had received seven bodies, with 44 hurt.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
"The blast in sight of the gold dome of the holy shrine of Abbas devastated shop frontages and set cars ablaze, sending clouds of black smoke into the sky as people tried to help the wounded."
This time the volunteer torch survived, thanks to some quick-thinking bystanders. (Obligatory insensitive gif)
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A homeless man tried to set himself on fire to protest the city's treatment of the homeless population, but was thwarted by bystanders before he could go through with it, police said. The man was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital and placed in protective custody under the state's Baker Act, which allows authorities to commit people for up to 36 hours for psychological evaluations if they appear to be a danger to themselves or others.
The suicide attempt Friday happened during Project Homeless Connect, an event that provided food, health care and other social services to about 600 people. The man shouted criticism of the city's policies on the homeless and poured gasoline over his head, said Sgt. Barbara Jones, a police spokeswoman. He was tackled by others before he could ignite himself.
The protest took place with a backdrop of public battles between city officials and social-advocacy groups over the rights of the homeless. City employees razed a downtown homeless encampment last month, and the Central Florida American Civil Liberties Union filed suit earlier this year after an ordinance that bans feeding the homeless in downtown parks without a special permit was put into effect.
Local ACLU Chairman George Crossley said the man had lived at the razed encampment and had run out of his diabetes medication at the time of the suicide attempt. What burns me about this is how certain lefties exploit obvious mental illness by making a saint and martyr out of that poor guy who fried himself to "protest the war" a while back. Expect the same with this one.
#2
Why, preciesely, is the Anti-Christian Lawyers' Union involved in something like this? Don't they usually come down on the side of the government superseding any provate property?
Posted by: no mo uro ||
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In Seattle(?) they put winos in a wino hotel but made no effort to stop them drinking, as costing far less to taxpayers than leaving them out on the street.
And though it was agonizing to all the people who wanted to force the winos to stop being winos, just letting them alone proved to be the best solution.
So I figure that eventually, western cities will create "transient towns" outside the city, that are clean, safe places for the single homeless to live for a while, out of sight.
By giving several amenities, like free soap and shower, washing machines, private security--not police, and letting charities set up shop nearby, it will be attractive enough for the single homeless to camp there for a month or two, before moving on.
The city police will 'encourage' the single homeless to hang out there, with homeless families having in-city services, since they are less trouble.
But the bottom line is that, except for protecting them from violence, the government leaves them alone. If it tries to "help them stop" being homeless, either the homeless will take off, or the place will become a minimum security prison, or both. And this is the critical thing.
Winos are winos because they are winos. The homeless are homeless because they are homeless. The biggest problem is people who just cannot stop wanting to control other people.
#9
They put winos in a wino hotel but made no effort to stop them drinking, as costing far less to taxpayers than leaving them out on the street.
Wonder if this would work for junkies as well as winos. It would sure kick the insanely profitable international drug trade in the nuts. And quickly make poppy growing in Afghanistan an unprofitable business.
#10
I don't understand his unhappiness with the local government. Didn't Orange county and Olando vote for Kerry in 2004?And aren't the Democrats the party who looks out for little guy and down trodden? Then those policies must be for his own good doncha know.
#4. The problem with transient towns is there ain't no non-winos around to panhandle wine from.
(SomaliNet) Somalis interim government in Baidoa city, southwest of Somalia denied on Saturday that it has lost troops and battle wagons in yesterdays battle with the Islamic Courts fighters in Dinsor town south of the country. Speaking in todays parliament session in which they supported the UN resolution to Somalia, Salad Ali Jelle, the deputy minister of defence, dismissed reports that ICU has captured number of government soldiers and war vehicles in Dinsor on Friday describing it as rumours and baseless assertions by Islamist officials.
"If the Islamists have indications of taking prisons and capturing government weapons they should put forward to the media but it is clear that they are lying and claiming non-exist victory," Salad Jele said. Mr. Jelle told the parliament that their troops were attacked by the Islamists but fortunately repelled them back. He denied that the government troops had attacked Dinsor, a commercial town, 130 miles to Baidoa, which recent has taken over by the Islamic Courts. The government's denial came after ICU officials claimed that their fighters had defeated the government forces in the battle that broke out in Safar-Noleys village near Dinsor taking prisons and battle wagons from the government side.
Meanwhile, there is high tension around Dinsor where Islamist fighter and government forces are on the brink of engaging another war with each side receiving reinforcements. The fear is the war might spread to new areas if it restarts. Conflicting reports are emerging from the area. Some say the war has already restarted and now continuing while others say the war is yet to began but due to break out as both rivals are getting preparation for another hit.
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A key consultant among several archeologists who served as advisors on Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" said he is disappointed that the film overlooks many of the Mayas' cultural and scientific achievements and portrays the people as "bloodthirsty savages." Hey, Europe was savage at one time. Conan the Barbarian didn't own a toothbrush.
As a chase movie, "Apocalypto" is top-notch, said Richard D. Hansen, a professor of anthropology at Idaho State University who has written extensively about the Mayas. The sets, makeup and costumes are also "accurate to the nth degree," he noted. But it's a feature film not a documentary which may let down those looking for accuracy at every turn. "This is Hollywood, first and foremost," Hansen said. Even if it is, I still enjoyed the movie on all levels. Gibson defended family values in "We Were Soldiers," "The Patriot"and "Signs," and he does it again in this film. Somebody always has to whine, and the NYT is better at it than most.
As with any historically based feature, whether it's "Alexander" or "All the President's Men," directors take creative license with the facts. "Apocalypto" is no different. "The final decision when making a film is, 'What is the right balance between historical authenticity and making it exciting, visually as well?' " said Farhad Safinia, who co-wrote the script with Gibson, adding: "The film is an all out entertainment thrill ride, and that is what it was always designed to do. It is a work of fiction."
Gibson and Safinia have said they wanted the film to serve as a reminder to today's world that the precursor to the fall of a civilization is always the same: widespread environmental degradation, excessive consumption and political corruption. What happened to the Mayans mirrors what is happening to Iran's Ayatollahs. What is the difference between Mayans making human sacrifices to appease their tribal gods, and the Ayatollah's martyr indoctrinations? Iran is a decadent society that needs an external push to quicken its internal crumble. But archeologists point out that nobody knows why the Mayas, who ruled in the Americas for more than 1,000 years, abandoned their cities and allowed their majestic pyramids to become overgrown with jungle. And to watch Gibson's "Apocalypto," one might not realize that the Mayas were in fact a highly sophisticated people: They mapped celestial objects, developed an accurate 365-day calendar, created their own writing system and perhaps most notably had developed the concept of zero in mathematics. The Egyptians were also advanced, but they spent hundreds of years building pyramid crypts for their god-kings. Slaves who slacked off, were murdered.
"The calendar [angle] is so rich," Hansen said. "It would have been a marvelous part of the story."
Safinia said that the film's narrative is told through the eyes of the central protagonist, Jaguar Paw, and it is his journey that we follow. "You do see aspects of the Mayan civilization in the background," Safinia said, such as their architecture, their industry and their preponderance to ornament themselves with jewelry, costumes, textiles and such. C'mon Mel. Next film: "Ayatollakaputo." But ease up on the Jews.
Actually, there are no skull pyramids pictured in the film. After an Ayatollah stabs a sacrificial victim and yanks out the heart, another Ayatollah cuts the head off and bounces it down the pyramid steps to the cheers of the multitudes. Then the heads are stuck on the end of poles.
#3
Not that it matters much; I guess Gibson has as much right to make up stuff as anyone else. Although there is plenty of evidence that the Aztecs, who came along much later than the Mayans, tore out hearts and such, and even indulged in cannibalism (even first-hand accounts from the Conquistadores), as far as I know there is no evidence whatsoever that the Mayans did likewise. Maybe they did have human sacrifice as did so many cultures around the world. But there's more evidence that the Iranians and the Arabs like cutting off heads and slitting throats than for the Mayans. But then, Mayans, Aztecs, what's the difference, hey?
#4
WG8761:
The movie is worth a look if only to watch the hero risk his life to save his family. I know the reviewers are out for Gibson's blood; but the film engages audiences and isn't a film variation of Al Bore (or Gore) speak as one Eastern conservative said.
#5
"The calendar [angle] is so rich," Hansen said. "It would have been a marvelous part of the story."
Yeah, a calendar-based movie, when the protagonists spend 2h 20 mn going through the minutiae of the said calendar, while sitted in circle around it. What an excitment-filled motion-picture it would be!
#6
A key consultant among several archeologists who served as advisors on Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" said he is disappointed that the film overlooks many of the Mayas' cultural and scientific achievements and portrays the people as "bloodthirsty savages."
If you want a cultural documentary watch the History Channel [which sometimes is no better than what Hollyweird would put out]. Otherwise, if western Europeans civilization has to put up with constant portrayals as 'barbarians', it's good enough for everyone else.
#8
Glad to see you finally get it Whomoque Gravimp8761 it's taken you about 510 years. BTW how's that axle thing coming along? Got it yet? No, try again, two wheel, two wheels.
#10
Economist article: Then, as now, maize was the staff of life in Central America. The Maya thought of human beings as in some way made of maize: they distorted babies' soft skulls to make them look like a head of corn. They probably practised cannibalism: for them, it was like eating maize. And in Mayan cosmology there was a maize god who was beheaded every year (like the crop) and reborn in the underworld. But not as maize; rather as a magic tree from which all fruit sprang.
#14
Shipman, 1496? Actually I still don't get it. I understand what everyone else is saying. I just don't understand what you're saying. At least I admit it. Of course I don't understand anything you say except maybe now and then.
Or am I just a moron? Don't be afraid to say yes.
#19
The story is about the end of a civilization. Sure the Mayans were intelligent and advanced in many ways. So are serial killers. Again, the story is about the END, not the PEAK of their civilization. It's not History Channel fare, it's entertainment. Fiction, with an historical base. Like Patriot. Like Michael Moore's stuff--except an accurate portrayal of life in that part of the world at that time. Heck, you could make the same themed movie about a gang warfare situation and a man trying to save his family, and have it set in Los Angeles or Iraq, and it wouldn't be very much different--except for the setting. I'll bet it's terrific and I plan to see it. Go Mel. And yes, some Jews are baddies, just like everyone else. Mel's just a little overboard on that, and when he's shit-faced drunk, his upbringing wacko-ness surfaces. About the same for everyone else, methinks.
#20
Modern scholarship is showing that the Myans indeed participated in bloodthirsty rituals. Early archaeologists like Hiram Bingham created a fanciful portrayal of the Mayans as a perfectly peaceful group living in harmony with the earth and everyone. Further digging has shown a different picture that puctures that balloon.
#25
"Degradation ... Consumption ... Corruption" > See REGNUM.RU = as per the Ultra-Left USSR, even BORIS YELTSIN admits USSR = SOVIET UNION, SSSSSHHHHHHHHH NOT the decadent evil Capitalist Americanskis, twas on the edge of COLLAPSE ANYWAYS, due to unstoppable dynamic INTERNAL FORCES/PRESSURES. Can positively surmise that not even Commie TOTALITARIAN GUBMINT-ARMY STATE WOULD'VE STOPPED IT.
Israel has not decided whether to grant visas to members of a UN fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip led by South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, diplomatic officials in Jerusalem said on Saturday night.
Tutu was to begin leading a six-member team this weekend in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun investigating the botched shelling that killed 19 people in Beit Hanun on November 8. "A decision on visas is pending," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said. "[The decision] is not about [Tutu] the person, but the process is extremely problematic, because it singles out Israel for special treatment and uses a human rights agenda to bash Israel."
Government officials said last week they would not cooperate with the mission, but would not bar entry into the country of Tutu, a longtime critic of Israel. They said Tutu, who won the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his anti-apartheid efforts, was by no means "persona non-grata" in Israel.
The 47-nation United Nations Human Rights Council asked Tutu to report back by mid-December, assessing the situation of the Beit Hanun victims, addressing the needs of survivors and making recommendations on ways to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
And old Jewish saying.
"He hit me with a brick, so I slapped him with a newspaper".
#2
I don't think members of fact-finding missions should be wearing tutus. I mean, this diplomacy biz is supposed to be like, all serious and stuff. Next thing you know, the uniform of the day at the UN will be clown suits.
Taliban insurgents said on Saturday they might join proposed tribal councils aimed at ending mounting violence in Afghanistan, if they were asked.
Afghanistan and Pakistan plan separate and joint councils, or jirgas, in both countries in a bid to stem insurgency. But they have not agreed on who will take part, and where or when the jirgas will be. Key government and political leaders on both sides say at least moderate elements of the resurgent Taliban must be included in any talks to end the fighting.
The Taliban are Afghanistans biggest political and military power and without them no system will succeed, Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said by satellite telephone from Quetta a secret location.
The Taliban are Afghanistans biggest political and military power and without them no system will succeed, Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said by satellite telephone from a secret location.
Kabul has several times offered talks with the Taliban, subject to strict conditions such as the abandonment of all foreign support, which the guerrillas have rejected each time.
Yousuf said the Taliban had not been invited to the jirgas. He said if they were, they would set conditions. So far, it appears that it is only a government-level jirga between Pakistan and Afghanistan. If any group is ignored, it will be nothing but a political meeting, Yousuf said. Those who call the Taliban weak are foolish. The aim of the jirgas along the uncontrolled frontier is to unite tribal elders divided by colonial boundaries and revitalise local and traditional rule where government rule is useless.
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COLOMBO - At least 45 people, including 15 civilians, were killed in heavy fighting between government troops and Tamil Tigers in northeastern Sri Lanka on Saturday, the guerrillas said. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they killed at least 30 Sri Lankan troops and recovered the bodies of five during heavy fighting in Trincomalee district.
We have killed 30 Sri Lankan soldiers, including two officers and recovered five bodies, LTTE spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan told AFP. Shelling by security forces have also killed 15 civilians. Many more are injured. He said seven Tiger rebels were wounded in the long-range attacks.
There was no immediate reaction from the military to the rebel claims, but the defence ministry said six security personnel were wounded in the clashes.
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Put under 'Opinion' since it's Novak, and who knows if it's true? By Robert Novak
WASHINGTON -- Zalmay Khalilzad, who was announced this week as leaving as U.S. ambassador to Iraq, is the leading prospect to replace John Bolton as envoy to the United Nations.
President Bush was reported by aides as looking for someone who approximates Bolton's combination of toughness and diplomatic skill and has tentatively decided on Khalilzad. A native of Afghanistan, he has served in government posts dating back to 1985 and is the highest-ranking Muslim in the Bush administration. How interesting. Khalilzad would be near bullet-proof in a confirmation hearing; even Dems who wanted to go after Dubya on Iraq wouldn't use Khalilzad to do so. I wonder if he has the acerbic forcefulness of a Bolton or Jeane Kirkpatrick?
A footnote: State Department sources have said Andrew Card, who on April 14 finished five years as White House chief of staff, was interested in the UN post and was a dark horse to get it. However, he never made any such desire known to the president and is not being considered for the UN. Card would be another safe choice; Dems wouldn't get too interested in him. But he'd be an 'insider' and not a bomb-thrower.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Can't help wondering, what if Regan appointed a communist to be USA's UN ambassador?
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia called on Gulf Arab leaders meeting in Riyadh on Saturday to set aside their differences to make economic union a reality in the energy-rich region. "Yeah, let's be more like the Y'urp-peons! That's the ticket!"
"But Yer Corpulenceness, ain't we trying to make them more like us?"
Addressing the opening session of a two-day Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit that will assess progress on a planned monetary union by 2010, Saudi Arabias King Abdullah said GCC countries were hampered by reservations and obstacles. We still have much to do before we can say we have achieved complete economic union ... the obstacles are real but we should not lose sight of the dream, he said. Every country has had its reservations ... but united we will be a power that cannot be ignored. Especially when led by the protector of the Two Most Holy Cities in All Islam.
The GCC groups Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Before the start of the summit, a Gulf official told Reuters that Oman has informed the states that it would not join the monetary union in 2010, but could enter at a later stage. They feel they are not going to be ready by 2010 ... Rather than delay the process, they want the other countries to move ahead, and they can join at a later date, said the official. "Let's see if this turkey will fly first."
The six countries have agreed five criteria for European Union-style economic union, including capping budget deficits at 3 percent of gross domestic product, public debt at 60 percent of GDP and inflation at the GCC average plus 2 percent. Interest rates are to be no higher than the average of the lowest three states plus 2 percent and countries must have foreign exchange reserves to cover 4-6 months of imports. Thus tying down the strongest countries to the weakest ones.
The summit is also expected to consider a proposal made last year to limit to six years the stay of expatriate workers -- a symbolic move that would pre-empt any international pressure to improve residents rights by granting them nationality. An estimated 12 million foreigners live in GCC countries and make up more than 80 percent of the population in some cases. Wouldn't do to have Malaysians, Filipinos and most especially Hindoooz becoming citizens on the holy peninsula. Allan wouldn't like that at all.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
So, youse A-raabs ain't includin' the Persians or Jordanians, eh? Guess that lets them know where they stand. Yup, Yup.
#4
Economic union is impossible without following international banking and monetary standards, and having full transparency in government. And in turn, they are impossible outside of representative democratic government.
But the Saudis have a good, basic concept. Comparing Turkey to Germany, Iraq to Poland, and Saudi to France as their core, if a Middle East Common Market could be created, it would rival the EU, and surpass it in many ways.
TEHERAN - Iran will launch a women-only taxi company in Teheran aimed at women who feel uncomfortable riding in close proximity with members of the opposite sex, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
The Ladies Safe Trips taxi company, due to open for business in the next few weeks, will be the first such private sector firm in the capital. Similar taxi lines have been operating in some provincial cities for several years.
The company will only employ female drivers who will wear uniforms and must be married, the Teheran-e Emrouz newspaper said.
Just wouldn't do for men and those sultry women to be crammed together in a taxi. Why a man might touch the soft, tender flesh, those heavenly hips and .. those, those .. things on their chests .. and a man might .. oh, oh, I have to go shoot off ... my gun ... yes my gun ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
I thought women couldn't drive in Iran.
And why isn't it safe to ride in a taxi with a guy?
#2
I guess this means that even with all their tunneling expertise, there's never going to be subways in Mullahland. All that close squeezing would set the male population into vapors.
#4
Gorb, they can. It's Saudi Arabia that prohibits women driving. I'm guessing the women are uncomfortable because the State makes them that way.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
12/10/2006 11:02
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The Ladies Safe Trips . . . and one must ask, "safe from what and whom?" It's a sad world when you can't even trust your taxi driver or fellow passengers from ACCOSTING you. Good grief.
Ah. Thanks. I saw a gal in a burqa get behind the wheel of a driver's training car once in the US. She sunk down as low as she could in her seat and readjusted her veil so nobody could see her. I doubt she was even aware of it. I wanted to go over and talk a little sense into her head, but of course I didn't. Hopefully she's figured it all out by now. I chuckle every time I think about it! :-) Must have been from SA.
#8
Were their liberal dissidents among them? Yes, invariably and tragically there were a few not deserving of the fate they met.
Nah Gorb, you must not have seen the Saudi Driver's Periscope! Allows the female driver to hide from the Muttawa and position herself to service a male passenger, so long as he is a relation. Allan Akbar!
Ah. Thanks. I saw a gal in a burqa get behind the wheel of a driver's training car once in the US. She sunk down as low as she could in her seat and readjusted her veil so nobody could see her. I doubt she was even aware of it. I wanted to go over and talk a little sense into her head, but of course I didn't. Hopefully she's figured it all out by now. I chuckle every time I think about it! :-) Must have been from SA.
Posted by gorb 2006-12-10 17:00||
Nah Gorb, you must not have seen the Saudi Driver's Periscope! Allows the female driver to hide from the Muttawa and position herself to service a male passenger, so long as he is a relation. Allan Akbar!
A Palestinian parliamentary guard was wounded when demonstrators and parliamentary security guards exchanged fire at the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City on Saturday, a Reuters witness said. Some 1,400 uniformed police and other security officers demonstrating over the non payment of their salaries stormed into the parliament compound while some fired into the air as slogans were chanted from loudspeakers. Hospital staff said the condition of the parliamentary guard, who was one of a number of men protecting lawmaker Ahmed Bahar of the governing Hamas Islamist group, was not serious.
A similar demonstration in the town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, which attracted more than 3,000 participants, went off quietly, witnesses said. Palestinian government employees have received either very little or no pay since Hamas swept to power in parliamentary elections last January.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday night decried the PLO Executive Committee's proposal to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to call for early elections in the PA. In an interview with an Iranian television network, Haniyeh said that early elections would escalate the crisis and increase the tension in the Palestinian Authority.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A man was killed and another man was lightly to moderately wounded after the two were shot by assailants who fired from a passing car in the industrial zone of a Beduin village in the Negev on Saturday. Police set up roadblocks in an attempt to catch the shooters who sped away from the scene of the crime. The shooting was said to be based on a feud between two families living in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
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SRINAGAR, India - A senior member of a Pakistan-based militant group, an Indian soldier and a villager were killed on Saturday in a fierce gun battle in a remote hamlet in Kashmir, police said.
The firefight took place after soldiers stormed a militant hideout in the Mendhar area of Poonch district, south of Srinagar, Kashmirs summer capital. Abu Sohail, district commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, was killed and a jawan (soldier) and a civilian were also killed in the encounter, S.P. Vaid, inspector general of police, said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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GAZA CITY - Dozens of Palestinian police stormed the parliament building in Gaza City on Saturday demanding salaries which have gone largely unpaid since March, witnesses and security sources said. Angry protestors stormed the offices of parliament, they fired into the air and there were armed clashes when security guards tried to stop them, a security official told AFP. Strange, I thought we saw a story saying Hamas had smuggled tons o' cash into Gaza. Why indeed we did. Wonder where it all went? Anyone? Bueller?
The showdown at parliament followed a march by nearly 500 angry police officers through the heart of Gaza City. The demonstrators prevented deputy parliament speaker Ahmed Bahr, a member of the ruling Hamas movement, from addressing them and instead hurled insults, the security official said. "Give us our dough or we'll curse yer mustache!"
Similar protests were held elsewhere in the Gaza Strip. In the southern towns of Rafah and Khan Yunis, about 100 police officers shut down the territorys principal north-south artery, witnesses said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
I think Israel should be spreading rumors that hundreds of millions have been smuggled in by Hamas while little if anything is trickling down to the fodder. Then cut off power and water for non-payment. Help Fatah, IJ, et al kickstart the REAL civil war.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/10/2006 11:44
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(SomaliNet) Zimbabwes parliament witnessed some drama when an opposition Member of Parliament accused some members of Zimbabwes government of being gay.
Moses Mzila-Ndlovu, however, did not mention any names when he stood up and accused the leaders of homosexual tendencies.
Moses Mzila-Ndlovu, however, did not mention any names when he stood up and accused the leaders of homosexual tendencies. However, he apologized to the parliament.
When South Africa passed a pro gay law, Zimbabwe did not make any comments. Even the one Member of Parliament who criticized the policy later withdrew his comments, saying he was just joking. "We have no duty to criticise laws passed by another parliament," Emmerson Mnangagwa, the head of Zimbabwes parliament defended the silence of Zimbabwes government on the issue. "In Zimbabwe, we are very clear that men marry women and women get married to men. In Zimbabwe we prohibit marriages of similar sexes," Mnangagwa added.
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#3
"In Zimbabwe, we are very clear that men marry women and women get married to men. In Zimbabwe we prohibit marriages of similar sexes," Mnangagwa added.
That "similar" sex thing has me stumped. So, I can marry women or near women? "Well, your honor. Dude looked like a lady..."
#4
Excalibur - don't be stumped - these a***e holes couldn't organise a p**s up in a brewery, even if they were thrown in the vat! Let alone make a sensible statement!
As Cleth rightly pointed out - "That's the least of their problems" - they should concentrate on fixing up the "cock up"! they have made of a stunning country, before stressing about a bunch of "fudge packers" running around!!
BMW Group Middle East is the first premium car manufacturer in the Middle East to introduce the arrow to Qiblah in Makkah in BMW navigation systems, operational from March 2007.
"We have realised the changing needs of many of our customers in the Middle East, whose busy lifestyles mean they are spending more time on the roads travelling between one city to the other," said managing director, BMW Group Middle East, Guenther Seemann.
"BMW constantly leads through technology and innovation, and being the first car manufacturer to provide the arrow to Qiblah in Mecca proves once again that our customers come first.:"
Consistently looking towards the future, BMW is renowned for delivering ultimate customer satisfaction through innovations in technology and service.
The arrow towards Qiblah will be available in the BMW 7 Series, X3, Z4, Z4 Coupe and MINI Cabrio from March 2007, and will also be available for RetroFit in the existing BMW 7 Series, BMW X5, BMW 3 Series and MINI models.
#1
Once again proving German engineering superiority over the Saudi compass-rug.
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2006 0:19
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Engineering expertise is only superior if the local religious leader says it is. I've probably told this story before. In the early 1970s, a conference center with a mosque was built near what was to become "Embassy Row" in Riyadh. The British contractor's civil engineer employed the best survey technigues to assure the the Mosque was oriented towards the Qiblah in Mecca. After the foundation was laid and the building had begun to rise, the local Imam came by and said NO. He then pointed in a direction about 10 degrees from the alignment of the mosque. Back to square one. Tradition triumped over truth and knowledge.
#4
GK - maybe that Imam is right, and it is the Qiblah that is in the wrong place. Why don't we move it? With enough explosive power such that there is sure to be some piece of the rock in whatever direction a mosque points.
(KUNA) -- A U.S. Marine was killed in the western part of Al-Anbar province, while in southern Baghdad a militiaman of Madhi Army was arrested, U.S. army said in a statement Saturday. The statement said the marine, who served in the fifth battalion regiment of the US Army, was killed in Al-Anbar province west of the capital. However, the statement did not specify the exact circumstances of the incident nor the exact location.
The death brought the number of US casualties to 37 deaths in December. Eleven of these casualties were reported last Wednesday.
On another front, the statement said U.S. and Iraqi forces captured in a raid today a leader of a cell affiliated to Muqtada Al-Sadr's Mahdi army in the town of Kut southern Baghdad. The arrestee is suspected to be involved in raids and armed attacks on Iraqi security patrols and Multi-National Forces (MNF), statement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
God bless im and his family.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/10/2006 8:37
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I appreciate Fred featuring our lovely American women of yesteryear on the front page everyday. So unlike the Islamics. I mean I haven't seen a sack-draped cow yet.
A judge in northern Somalia convicted nine people Saturday of crimes linked to plotting terrorist attacks against the breakaway republic of Somaliland, but acquitted the Islamic Courts' top leader and one other, an official said. Regional court judge Abdirahman Gama Ayan ordered the nine people convicted to serve prison sentences of between 20 and 25 years, Somaliland's presidential spokesman Abdi Idiris Dualeh said by telephone from the region's capital, Hargeisa.
Aran cleared Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader of the Council of Islamic Courts that control much of southern Somalia, and the Islamic Courts' military commander Aden Hashi Ayro, saying there was not enough evidence to convict them of plotting terrorist acts in September and October 2005, Du'aleh said.
Among those sentenced to 25 years in prison was a prominent Somaliland Islamic leader, Sheik Mohamed Ismail, who was convicted of crimes linked to terrorism, smuggling illegal weapons and explosives, said Ismail Mohamed, who listened to the court's verdict.
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VIENNA, Dec 6 - A bogus priest and his girlfriend tricked an Austrian pensioner out of $200 after promising him a naked bathtub session with the woman. "The bogus priest and his girlfriend ran a bath for the pensioner, who undressed and got in straight away," a police spokeswoman in the northern Austrian town of Linz said on Wednesday.
The pensioner waited in the tub for about 10 minutes, but when he heard cupboards being opened and closed in the living room, he emerged from the bathroom and chased the pair out of his flat, she said. "The credulous 65-year-old pensioner was waiting in vain in the bathtub ... while the suspect stole about 150 euros ($200) in cash from his living room," a police statement said.
The smooth-talking priest, who is in custody, and his 42-year-old girlfriend cheated four other Linz residents out of various sums. The 40-year-old priest, who claimed to have left holy orders for the sake of his girlfriend, also stole 140 euros ($210) from a flower donations collecting box in a church, police said. His total haul was 720 euros ($1,080).
Australia would not imbed troops with Iraqi forces as part of a withdrawal strategy for coalition forces in Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard said Sunday. "Given the size of our force ... it's not a realistic thing and we don't have any current proposals to increase the size of our commitment."
"The best thing we can do is to go on for the time being doing what we've already done and that is help with training and have an over watch role in those southern areas of Iraq," he added.
Australia has a combined force dedicated to the Iraq region of more than 1,300 including air force and naval personnel. Howard has refused to set a date for their withdrawal
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A new round of six-party talks on ending North Koreas nuclear arms programme may begin on Dec. 16 in Beijing, according to a proposal by host China, which may make a formal announcement soon, media reports said on Saturday. There have been no talks since Pyongyang walked out of the negotiations with South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States a year ago. The reclusive communist state agreed to return to the table last month after a wave of international condemnation over its Oct. 9 nuclear test.
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#1
Maybe this is the moment we all have been waiting for, where we can dust off the Kimmie Rantburg Snark Machine. Remember those days when we gave the KCNA rants scores like ice skating competition judges? *Sigh* I miss those golden daze....one can only hope for a revival of those magic moments......
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/10/2006 13:05
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Their lips will be flappin',
but nothing be happenin'.
Photo credit: Michael Yon. All rights reserved.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The top U.S. anti-drug official said Saturday that Afghan poppies would be sprayed with herbicide to combat an opium trade that produced a record heroin haul this year, a measure likely to anger farmers and scare Afghans unfamiliar with weed killers.
John Walters, the director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said Afghanistan could turn into a narco-state unless ``giant steps'' are made toward eliminating poppy cultivation. ``We cannot fail in this mission,'' he said. ``Proceeds from opium production feed the insurgency and burden Afghanistan's nascent political institutions with the scourge of corruption.'' Yup, but I don't think this is going to work. Cut the yield and the price goes up. We all know what happens next.
Afghans are deeply opposed to spraying poppies. After nearly three decades of war, Western science and assurances can do little to assuage their fears of chemicals being dropped from airplanes. Because of those fears - and because crop dusters could be shot down by insurgents - spraying would need to be done on the ground.
The Afghan government has not publicly said it will spray, and President Hamid Karzai has said in the past that herbicides pose too big a risk, contaminating water and killing the produce that grows alongside poppies.
But Walters said Karzai and other officials have agreed to ground spraying. ``I think the president has said yes, and I think some of the ministers have repeated yes,'' Walters said without specifying when spraying would start. ``The particulars of the application have not been decided yet, but yes, the goal is to carry out ground spraying.'' Using bottles of Roundup. Small bottles. With hand triggers.
Gen. Khodaidad, Afghanistan's deputy minister for counter-narcotics, said the government hadn't made any decisions yet. But a top Afghan official close to Karzai said the issue was being looked at closely. ``We are thinking about it; we are looking into it. We're just trying to see how the procedure will go,'' said the official.
Opium production in Afghanistan this year rose 49 percent to 6,700 tons - enough to make about 670 tons of heroin. That's more than 90 percent of the world's supply and more than the world's addicts consume in a year. That's a lot of heroin. You could spray and kill a third of the crop and it wouldn't matter. And you're not going to get 90% of the crop.
A U.S. official who asked not to be named told The Associated Press last month that if Afghans don't spray in 2007 ``there's going to be a lot of pressure on the government for spraying ... a lot of pressure from the U.S.''
At the news conference Saturday, Walters tried to emphasize to the largely Afghan media members in attendance that spraying was perfectly safe. He said the herbicide glyphosate - sold commercially in the United States under the name Roundup - would be used, and that it was a safe and common weed killer.
He said the U.S. uses glyphosate to spray marijuana plants in Hawaii and that it's also used against coca plants in Colombia. ``We are not experimenting on the people of Afghanistan,'' he said. ``We are not using a chemical that has a history of questionable effects on the environment.'' Umm, okay, but you try explaining that to the farmers in the hinterlands.
Walters said he didn't expect the fight against poppies ``to be a one-year success story.'' A recent U.N. report said it would take a generation - 20 years - to defeat the drug trade in Afghanistan.
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#1
President Hamid Karzai has said in the past that herbicides pose too big a risk, contaminating water and killing the produce that grows alongside poppies
I thought roundup was a biodegradable superfertilizer that made plants outgrow their skin or something. Not an issue.
Contaminating the drinking water of people who don't report poppy growers? Not much. Don't care.
They hold the crops hostage with the poppies? Don't care.
Walters said he didn't expect the fight against poppies "to be a one-year success story."
Give people $10 for every acre of poppies they report and it will be.
A recent U.N. report said it would take a generation - 20 years - to defeat the drug trade in Afghanistan
Consider the source: The UN.
And supposing they are right: Better get busy now then.
#3
This is asinine. Only aerial spraying can control this. If they shoot at the ag planes, bring in Spectre Gunships and eliminate the rabble. A few encounters with the curtain of steel from the air and I think they'll back off.
#6
We don't even have to buy the crop. Legalize and regulate the sale of heroin and - at 10% its current street value - it can still be sold at a 1000% mark-up. This eliminates much of the street crime and burglary which is currently driven by people attempting to purchase a commodity whose price is grossly distorted by non-market factors. Once dealers can go to small claims court about problems with the re-up we eliminate much of the rest of the violence associated with the trade.
Once we have done this - and occupied the oilfields of western "Iran" and northern "Saudi" Arabia - we have cut off the finances for our enemies. No more international mosque building projects, no more Disneys in the desert and no more cash for jihad. Cheap drugs and cheap oil for everybody! Then come the hookers. Oh yes, the hookers.
#7
It would take 20 years for the UN to defeat the drug trade because it takes that long for them to talk the poppies to death.
The US War on Drugs is 35 years old. If the UN could do it in 20, more power to them. The difficulty is that the problem is in the demand, not the supply. The original big market for opium was China. They solved the demand side of the equation.
#9
#6 Ex - I'm all for legalizing drugs on two conditions:
1. Selling drugs to minors gets you a life sentence.
2. Drug addiction is NOT considered a disability and drug addicts get NO money from my pocket that I do not choose to donate the government. Let 'em live in the gutter. (While I'm dreaming, I'd like that applied to drunks, too.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/10/2006 9:29
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#10
Whatever happened to the research on fungi that attack the poppy plant?
Posted by: john ||
12/10/2006 10:41
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#11
If I recall correctly, residual Round-up (that which is not absorbed by the plants on which it is sprayed) breaks down to salt and water within days. (I'm not certain whether NaCl is meant, or another salt, perhaps one of Rantburg's chemists could chime in?) My co-chair for the elementary school's Nature Preserve, a charmingly classic tree hugger, used Round-up liberally whenever she was ready to turn the next patch of lawn into native prairie.
#12
Rodeo, which, IIRC, is also a Monsanto product, is the water/enviro safe alternative to Roundup. We use it to kill invasive non-native plants (Arundo Donax, Castor Bean, especially) as mitigation for our construction projects.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/10/2006 11:57
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#13
Glyphosate is the active agent in Roundup, which is structurally similar to amino acids.
It acts by inhibiting an enzyme in the pathway leading to biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids. Because this enzyme and pathway is unique to plants and microbes, glyphosate is not toxic to animals.
Lots of GM crops are engineered with enzymes that aren't affected by it, or with an extra enzyme that degrades it. But it should work just fine on Afghan poppies.
Respectfully, the drug legalization debate fades to irrelevance in this context. The Afghan heroin trade finances the enemy's capability to keep killing our soldiers, and that's all I care about. The Brits have been riding our asses for years to lay waste to the poppy fields, but we've dragged our feet, on the grounds that depriving the farmers of the income could drive them into the arms of the Taliban.
If we're damned if we do and damned if we don't, then it's about time we get our thumb out. I'm all for going Ye Olde British Empyre on their asses.
Scientists are developing a virulent fungus in an effort to combat the worldwide trade in heroin.
The fungus kills opium poppies, the raw material for the drug.
The UK Foreign Office has confirmed a report in The Sunday Times newspaper that Britain is helping to fund the biological research.
The programme is based in Uzbekistan, in central Asia, which borders the so-called "Gold Crescent" of countries that supply up to 90% of Britain's heroin.
The action comes after bumper harvests have seen the UK and much of western Europe flooded with cheap heroin. The street price has halved and seizures at ports and airports have risen sharply.
The Foreign Office was unable to confirm details of the report, but a spokeswoman stressed that work was "in its very early stages at the moment."
Spending so far was to "find out whether the project is viable," she added.
She could not confirm the report's claim that Britain had contributed $500,000 to the programme, a figure matched by the US.
But she did say the UK's share was part of its total contribution to the United Nations' Drug Control Programme, based in Vienna.
Britain would hope to unleash enough fungus to infect thousands of acres of poppies in grown in the central Asia region.
America would be expected to deploy it in the "Golden Triangle" regions of south-east Asia, and South America, where most of its heroin originates, says the newspaper report.
It goes on to say that about 30 researchers - "some veterans of the secret Soviet biological weapons programme" - are working to refine new strains of the fungus and test them locally.
Posted by: john ||
12/10/2006 15:11
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#15
Wait until the poppies have almost reached the maturity level needed to produce heroin, and then plow the fields with B-52s. I doubt many farmers are going to risk planting a second crop. Only have to do it once - even the remote POSSIBILITY of a second round would be enough to deter most people with an IQ above ambient temperatures in Greenland. In winter.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/10/2006 15:26
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#16
NO. NO. NO. Didn't we learn anything from Agent Orange and paraquat? Do the obvious things instead. Bomb Wazoo. Then send in some combines so we can harvest steal the crop for ourselves.
#17
I am for genetically engineering virus and fungus to attack opium poppies and coca. Only they can have the selectivity and persistence so, once an area is inoculated, drug production will be ruined for many years.
Posted by: ed ||
12/10/2006 17:45
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#18
Working - taking a break to get scores.
Solution: Finely powerdered plutonium/cesium/radoioactive-waste (or whatver glowy stuff) over the fields.
Spray once, dont have to worry about the drug trade nor the growers for hundreds of years. And we solve our nuclear waste problems.
#19
depriving the farmers of the income could drive them into the arms of the Taliban
OMFG. This has got to be one of the all-time most stupid arguments ever used on planet earth. What do you call these farmers anyway? In my opinion, they are Taliban. They raise money instead of carry a gun. What's so hard? Anybody throwing up this kind of argument is siding with the Taliban, they just haven't figured it out yet.
Duh. Clueless liberal-minded argument.
Here's a picture for the RB archives that we will probably be needing a lot soon.
#21
It is a stupid argument, gorb. But, as far as I understand from the 10th MTN folks who strongly favored the Brit approach, it's why we've been there for five years and are just now doing something about it.
I don't know who made the policy, but it sure as hell wasn't the US military. Typically, when we're forced to do something stupid, or restrained from doing something wise, I assume it came from State Dept. weenies. It would be interesting to know how they got overridden on this.
#24
Maybe the State Dep't has to go. Personally, I have never crossed paths with them and had anything go well.
I thought Bush has been saying that the military would get what it needs. It would be interesting what would happen if word of this kind of crap got out in a big way. It seems to me it wouldn't be too long before you'd have a supermajority clamoring for things like KC-10s full of Roundup or whatever to be headed for the gulf. Decisions like this do not reflect the way I think wars should be fought, and the military seems to meekly accept these lame decisions made by some PC pinhead somewhere who isn't connected to reality and grumble amongst themselves where it does no good. The pinhead probably forgets he put the policy in place and wonders why we aren't winning.
The terrorists' leaders probably look for weak points like this and shore them up with shields of some kind knowing those pinheads will take the bait every time. We have got to stop succumbing to this crap, and the MSM ain't helping so it must be part of the problem. We need more blogs until these boneheads are beaten into doing their job.
#25
Respectfully, the drug legalization debate fades to irrelevance in this context.
Respectfully disagree. Drug distribution is supporting too many terrorists around the world, Mexico, Columbia, probably Venezuela, North Africa. If we started effectively spraying the Afghan crop, Iran would probably begin cultivation.
Demand is the problem, not supply. We can't even keep drugs out of our highest security jails. Until we are willing to execute users, demand will be met in the richest country in the world.
Now as for going British on them, I'm not quite sure what that means. Frankly, I don't want to colonize them. I don't want to bring civilization to them. I don't want to convert them to Christianity. I'm perfectly happy to let nature take its course after our troops have swept through. If they can survive the brutal Afghan winter, more power to them. If not, too bad. And if they try to cross us again, we'll be back.
Unidentified assailants on Saturday threw a hand grenade inside a family home in Balochistan, killing a young boy and wounding four others, including two women, police said.
The incident took place in Panjgur district, police said, adding that the 10-year-old boy killed in the blast had been identified as Sikander, son of Mohammad Shafi. They said that the boy had been playing with a toy inside his house when the grenade detonated, killing him on the spot and injuring two female relatives. The condition of one injured person was said to be critical. AP quoted local police chief Mohammad Ali as saying that it was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
In a separate incident, a powerful bomb blast shook a government rest house in Muslim Bagh district at around 3:00am on Saturday morning. Sources said that a judicial magistrate had been staying at the rest house when the blast occurred, but said that there were no reports of casualties.
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called for more dramatic measures to be taken against Iran and declined to rule out a military attack against Tehran in an interview with Germanys Spiegel magazine.
Olmert criticised the international communitys hesitation in dealing with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The West fears Irans nuclear programme is aimed at developing nuclear weapons but Tehran denies this. I am anything but happy, Olmert was quoted as saying in an interview released ahead of publication on Sunday. I expect significantly more dramatic steps to be taken. Here is a leader who says openly that it is his aim to wipe Israel off the map. Israel is a member of the United Nations. That someone says such a thing these days is absolutely criminal. When asked if he would not rule out a military strike against Tehran, Olmert replied: I rule nothing out.
Olmert repeated he was prepared to withdraw from the majority of settlements in the occupied West Bank. A prime minister should not make promises that he cannot keep but my message is clear: I am prepared to give up regions. That means that I am ready to evacuate territories. You know how hard this is, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Every PM of Israel, sooner or later, realizes that we're on our own. And then we've new elections.
#8
After his performance against Hizb'Allah, why would one look for vertebras? "prepared to give up regions" sounds like "prepared to surrender and die".
#13
Well, if he did evacuate the West Bank territories and the violence against Israel continued, some people might learn who's who in this fight. But my fear is the Arabs would rubs their hands together in glee, and go for Jerusalem. And all the liberal dummies would say, "Yah, yah, go for Jerusalem. Stop the Israeli "occupation" of Jerusalem."
What the Arabs are really after in the Middle East is Israel's infrastructure and devlopment. Follow the money . . .
#14
Take a look at a map of Israel and see what they are up against. The country at is narrowist is onlay a few miles. One mistake and they are cut in two. Land for peace with hostile groups like Fatah, Hamas, al Aksa, et all is suicide on the installment plan. Where is Netinyahu? Isreal needs a leader, not a chump.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/10/2006 13:12
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#15
O goody. Ohlmert's trying to make us think he's not a puss again.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/10/2006 17:10
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#16
O goody. Ohlmert's trying to make us think he's not a puss again.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
12/10/2006 17:10
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#17
Who the hell is listening to Olmert now ?
The US was his last hope. The UN doesn't like Israel, they aren't listening. The EU doesn't like Israel, they aren't listening. The democrats aren't listening, unless he can buy votes with lots of untracable cash.
His only logical move is to resign. But then, idiots are not logical.
#20
Ex-lib: What the Arabs are really after in the Middle East is Israel's infrastructure and devlopment. Follow the money . . . is, in my opinion, incorrect.
Should the paleos ever get Israel, they would do the same thing with that infrastructure as what they did in Gaza - totally destroy the infrastructure in an orgy of mindless violence and thievery as is their wont. Plus, all that infrastructure was owned, built and operated by Joooos and they can't allow that to exist. Worthless fucktards all.
BAGHDAD - Leaders of Iraqs restive Sunni province of Al Anbar vowed Saturday to finish off Al Qaeda insurgents in their area but pleaded with US authorities to end air strikes in the region. Al Qaeda is just a term ... we will kill anyone who kills our innocents, said Abdel Salam Abdullah, the head of the Anbar provincial council. Big talk, little man. Start doing it and we'll be impressed.
Some 25 tribes from Anbar, known as a hotbed of anti-US insurgents, have come under attack from Al Qaeda linked fighters after they switched sides and joined sides with the government and US forces to fight the militants. The tribes have formed an alliance -- the Anbar Awakening -- to take on Al Qaeda militants and have formed their own paramilitary units. Likely not well trained and also not constrained by the Geneva Conventions, or the ACLU.
But Abdullah said the province was not receiving enough help from the government and US forces and called for more funding.
Abdullah, who was in Baghdad for a provincial council meeting with US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, told reporters that efforts to fight the insurgency were hampered by US air strikes that alienate civilians. We frankly urged the ambassador to stop these air strikes as many civilians are getting killed and there are many other ways to fight terrorists, he said. Yup, lots of ways, why don't you show us a couple?
The governor of the province, Maamun Sami Rashid, also demanded more funds to carry out economic projects in the province, saying there were 200 economic projects currently underway in Anbar.
Iraqs defence ministry meanwhile praised Anbars tribal leaders. The work done by the council is magnificient and the situation is better now. There are many regions that are liberated from terror, ministry spokesman Mohammed Al Askari told state television. He said the government was working on plans to further improve the situation. We are sure the impact will be seen early next year, he added. Quickest way for you guys to persuade us to leave is to get your province under control. Our Marines don't particularly want to be in Anbar. Whack the jihadis for us and we'll be happy to pull out.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
These guys have no concept of decisive victories. Their societies "thrive" under low-level, festering conflicts.
MULTAN: Police on Saturday said they have arrested a faith healer from a remote town in southern Punjab for allegedly killing his daughter because he believed she was possessed by an evil spirit.
Mohammed Jamal, 50, was arrested on Friday after residents alerted the local police that he had killed his 22-year-old daughter by setting her on fire with the help of his two sons, said Javed Shah, an area police chief. This is a sad incident. We have also arrested the two sons of Mohammed Jamal, and officers are still investigating, he said. Shah said Jamals daughter used to have fits, and that Jamal believed she was under the control of an evil spirit. The faith healer and his sons are in our custody, and every thing will be clear in two, three days, he said, without giving any further details.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
December 10, 2006: Billions of dollars has been spent on ways to defeat IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices, or roadside bombs), and there has been a lot of success in making these weapons less successful. Still, about a third of all casualties, and two-thirds of those killed in combat in Iraq, are the result of IEDs. One reason for the continued use of IEDs is that the teams of people who build, deploy and detonate the IEDs, are getting let out of jail. 
Many jailers and judges are willing to take a bribe to let terrorists free. This move, by a Shia Arab judge, would seem insane, until you consider that judges taking bribes is an ancient Iraqi tradition (predating Islam), and by taking the bribe, the judge is less likely to be killed by Sunni Arab terrorists. That's because the terrorists want to keep "friendly" judges on the job.
Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet died at 91, one week after suffering a heart attack. The ailing former strongman was rushed to the hospital last Sunday while under house arrest in connection with human rights charges during his 1973-1990 regime. 
While artillery has replaced air power as the primary source of fire support in Iraq, U.S. troops in Afghanistan are still using lots of smart bombs. As was discovered in late 2001, it's much easier to bring in bombers, armed with smart bombs, than to deploy artillery in Afghanistan. The high casualty count for the Taliban during their "Summer Offensive" was the result of some 2,000 air attacks between June and October. Not all of these attacks were with bombs (only about 45 percent were), the rest involved aircraft like A-10s and F-16s coming low and using cannon (30mm and 20mm respectively.) New fire control equipment has made these strafing runs much more accurate. Still, each cannon attack involved, on average, only about a hundred rounds fired. 
Combat is a dynamic process, with both sides constantly adapting to each others tactics. Such is the case with the American use of snipers in Iraq. During the first two years of the war, U.S. snipers were each getting several kills a month. Now, most get less than one a month. The easy targets are all dead, and the survivors have adapted. 
December 9, 2006: High resolution radar is being installed in a Global Hawk UAV. This Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar consists of thousands of tiny radars that can be independently aimed in different directions. An AESA radar was used on the JSTARS aircraft, enabling it to locate vehicles moving on the ground. A new AESA radar for JSTARS enables them to spot smaller, man sized, objects. AESA type radars have been around a long time, popular mainly for their ability deal with lots of targets simultaneously, and produce a more accurate picture of what is out there. 
.JPG)
Beirut - Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese opposition supporters, led by the Shiite militant group 
EFL- Iain Duncan Smith pulls no punches in saying what he thinks is wrong with Britain today. The head of David Cameron's social justice policy unit makes an impassioned case that at the root of nearly all crime and anti-social behaviour is the decline of marriage and the rise of cohabiting couples, which all too readily break down into single mothers and "guesting" fathers.
Islamabad, Dec. 10 (PTI): A contingent of Chinese troops have arrived at the Pakistan Air Force Base in Chaklala near here to participate in joint exercises focussing on anti-terrorism operations, the Pakistan army said here today.
RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi King Abdullah opened the annual summit of Gulf leaders with a warning that the Arab world was on the brink of exploding because of conflicts in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Lebanon. 
Pakistan has handed over written proposals on peace jirgas to Afghan authorities and expects proposals from Kabul soon, Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri said on Saturday. Proposals from Afghan side are expected to be received today or tomorrow, he told journalists at Chaklala Airbase after his return from Kabul. Kasuri said the traditions and circumstances of Pakistan and Afghanistan were different and the need was to evolve a mechanism that could help combat terrorism. Islamabad has already submitted its proposals in accordance with its environment while their proposals are being given in the light of their own security situation, he said.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that he has decided to call early elections after the breakdown of national unity talks with Hamas. Abbas, who was speaking at an emergency meeting of the PLO executive committee, did not say when the vote would take place. But aides said the election could be held as early as March. The committee recommended that Abbas dismiss the Hamas-led cabinet and call early elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council and the PA presidency. 
(KUNA) -- Algerian security forces killed four nationals believed to be members of an outlawed armed group, active in the northeast of the capital Algiers, a security source said Saturday. The source said in press remarks the security forces stoped a car in Mshonesh area, 530 kilometers northeast of Algiers, which was boarded by the armed elements. One of the gunman opened fire at the forces and injured one of them. The government forces retaliated and killed all four gunmen inside the car, said the source.
The un-Islamic Protection of Women Act will feature heavily in the 
Troops and Tiger rebels traded artillery and mortar bomb attacks in northeastern Sri Lanka, killing at least four people on Saturday, a day after a Norwegian peace attempt failed, officials said. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said four civilians were killed and another 20 wounded in military attacks on the rebel-held Vakarai area. Sri Lankan military fired artillery shells that fell in front of the Pammivedduvan school refugee camp, killing four civilians and injuring more than 10, the Tigers said in a statement.
(KUNA) -- A Turkish soldier was killed and 11 others injured in a landmine explosion planted by separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the town of Lice southeast Turkey, security sources said Saturday. Turkey News Agency (Anadolu) quoting security sources saying the landmine was detonated by remote control late Friday as a group of soldiers were on foot patrol near the town. All soldiers were transferred to hospital while other military units are still searching for PKK rebels.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was visiting Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said, a day after an emotional farewell at the Pentagon. "He's there to express his appreciation to the troops and to thank both the troops and their families for the sacrifices they are making," said Air Force Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a Defense Department spokesman, on Saturday. 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday not to give in to international pressure calling on Hamas to recognize Israel's right to exist until Jerusalem is rightfully returned to the Palestinian people. Haniyeh, presently in Iran, thanked the president for his support in Hamas's government.
Turkish police have detained a lawyer who admitted he was the leader of Al Qaeda in Turkey, Anatolian News Agency reported on Saturday. Nine other suspects were also held. Police seized bomb-making material and a compact disc set to explode when inserted into a computer - the first time Turkish police had got hold of such a device - the state-run agency said. They also found maps of an oil refinery owned by the Tupras group in the house, the agency said. Police could not confirm the report. 
Lebanon's President 
ASADABAD, Afghanistan - Taleban 
At least three Congolese soldiers were killed and about 20 wounded on Saturday when army troops clashed with forces loyal to a renegade general in eastern Congo, U.N. and army officials said.
KERBALA, Iraq - A suicide car bomber killed at least seven people and wounded 44 in a busy market in the Shia holy city of Kerbala on Saturday, hospital sources said. People shouted at the driver of a pickup truck and told him to move the car, but he did not move. Seconds later it went off, a witness calling himself only Kefah told Reuters.
But archeologists point out that nobody knows why the Mayas, who ruled in the Americas for more than 1,000 years, abandoned their cities and allowed their majestic pyramids to become overgrown with jungle. And to watch Gibson's "Apocalypto," one might not realize that the Mayas were in fact a highly sophisticated people: They mapped celestial objects, developed an accurate 365-day calendar, created their own writing system and perhaps most notably had developed the concept of zero in mathematics.
Taliban insurgents said on Saturday they might join proposed tribal councils aimed at ending mounting violence in Afghanistan, if they were asked. 
COLOMBO - At least 45 people, including 15 civilians, were killed in heavy fighting between government troops and Tamil Tigers in northeastern Sri Lanka on Saturday, the guerrillas said. The rebel 
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia called on Gulf Arab leaders meeting in Riyadh on Saturday to set aside their differences to make economic union a reality in the energy-rich region.
TEHERAN - Iran will launch a women-only taxi company in Teheran aimed at women who feel uncomfortable riding in close proximity with members of the opposite sex, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
A Palestinian parliamentary guard was wounded when demonstrators and parliamentary security guards exchanged fire at the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City on Saturday, a Reuters witness said. Some 1,400 uniformed police and other security officers demonstrating over the non payment of their salaries stormed into the parliament compound while some fired into the air as slogans were chanted from loudspeakers. Hospital staff said the condition of the parliamentary guard, who was one of a number of men protecting lawmaker Ahmed Bahar of the governing Hamas Islamist group, was not serious. 
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday night decried the PLO Executive Committee's proposal to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to call for early elections in the PA. In an interview with an Iranian television network, Haniyeh said that early elections would escalate the crisis and increase the tension in the Palestinian Authority.
A man was killed and another man was lightly to moderately wounded after the two were shot by assailants who fired from a passing car in the industrial zone of a Beduin village in the Negev on Saturday. Police set up roadblocks in an attempt to catch the shooters who sped away from the scene of the crime. The shooting was said to be based on a feud between two families living in the area.
SRINAGAR, India - A senior member of a Pakistan-based militant group, an Indian soldier and a villager were killed on Saturday in a fierce gun battle in a remote hamlet in Kashmir, police said.
GAZA CITY - Dozens of Palestinian police stormed the parliament building in Gaza City on Saturday demanding salaries which have gone largely unpaid since March, witnesses and security sources said. Angry protestors stormed the offices of parliament, they fired into the air and there were armed clashes when security guards tried to stop them, a security official told AFP.
(SomaliNet) Zimbabwes parliament witnessed some drama when an opposition Member of Parliament accused some members of Zimbabwes government of being gay. 
(KUNA) -- A U.S. Marine was killed in the western part of Al-Anbar province, while in southern Baghdad a militiaman of Madhi Army was arrested, U.S. army said in a statement Saturday. The statement said the marine, who served in the fifth battalion regiment of the US Army, was killed in Al-Anbar province west of the capital. However, the statement did not specify the exact circumstances of the incident nor the exact location.
A judge in northern Somalia convicted nine people Saturday of crimes linked to plotting terrorist attacks against the breakaway republic of Somaliland, but acquitted the Islamic Courts' top leader and one other, an official said. Regional court judge Abdirahman Gama Ayan ordered the nine people convicted to serve prison sentences of between 20 and 25 years, Somaliland's presidential spokesman Abdi Idiris Dualeh said by telephone from the region's capital, Hargeisa. 
Bogus priest held in bathtub scam
Australia would not imbed troops with Iraqi forces as part of a withdrawal strategy for coalition forces in Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard said Sunday. "Given the size of our force ... it's not a realistic thing and we don't have any current proposals to increase the size of our commitment." 
A new round of six-party talks on ending North Koreas nuclear arms programme may begin on Dec. 16 in Beijing, according to a proposal by host China, which may make a formal announcement soon, media reports said on Saturday. There have been no talks since Pyongyang walked out of the negotiations with South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States a year ago. The reclusive communist state agreed to return to the table last month after a wave of international condemnation over its Oct. 9 nuclear test.
OMFG. This has got to be one of the all-time most stupid arguments ever used on planet earth. What do you call these farmers anyway? In my opinion, they are Taliban. They raise money instead of carry a gun. What's so hard? Anybody throwing up this kind of argument is siding with the Taliban, they just haven't figured it out yet.
Unidentified assailants on Saturday threw a hand grenade inside a family home in Balochistan, killing a young boy and wounding four others, including two women, police said. 
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called for more dramatic measures to be taken against Iran and declined to rule out a military attack against Tehran in an interview with Germanys Spiegel magazine. 
