Posted by: Barbara ||
02/11/2012
20:43 ||
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#1
Mods, please delete if not appropriate.
This is truly sad. What a waste.
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/11/2012 20:45
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#2
Awww, RIP, Whitney was to Osama Bin Laden as Madonna is to me, i.e. our "Lily Langtry" [among other things] to Guam Taotamonas + Texas-sized Asteroids.
#1
Cost of doing business. Chieu hoi type programs are no different from army recruitment programs in this respect. Just as Taliban will infiltrate the Afghan government security services, fake Taliban will pretend to surrender. In Vietnam, it was estimated that 25% were genuine. However, the cost was nugatory and the program did indeed siphon off a great deal of communist guerrilla manpower, such that the communist victory in 1975 was achieved via a conventional cross border invasion using tanks, artillery and warplanes (purchased hastily on credit from the Soviets that North Vietnam was paying back a quarter century later).
Pakistan has arrested two people in the Pakistani city of Quetta in connection with last year's assassination of a former Afghan president who was trying to broker peace with the Taliban, two Afghan government officials said Friday.
Relations with Pakistan soured after the assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani, Afghanistan's former president and head of the government-appointed peace council. Rabbani was killed Sept. 20, 2011, in his home in Kabul by a suicide bomber posing as a peace emissary from the Taliban. All we are saying, is Give Peace a Chance...
The assassin, who hid explosives in his turban, That must have been quite a mess to clean up.
gained entry to the former president's home by convincing officials, including Karzai's advisers, that he represented the Taliban leadership and wanted to discuss reconciliation. Pretend to be a reporter/spy/peace broker, get close, and blow yourself & someone up; do I detect a pattern?
Five Afghan policemen have been killed by a roadside bomb in central Uruzgan province, officials say. They say another person - reportedly a civilian - was injured when the bomb hit a police patrol vehicle.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack late on Friday.
After the US closed its embassy in Damascus this week, US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford gave his first foreign interview since leaving Syria to FRANCE 24 on Saturday. He called for an end to the violence and for Bashar al-Assad to step down.
In an interview with FRANCE 24, the US ambassador to Syria has defended his country's stance towards President Bashar al-Assad and called on the Syrian leader to end his brutal crackdown.
Robert Ford was pulled out of Syria earlier this week after the US closed the embassy because of security concerns.
In his first foreign interview since leaving the country, Ford told FRANCE 24's Arabic channel the US were still seeking a "peaceful political" solution. Ford said military intervention was not an option and denied suggestions that his country's refusal to step in was encouraging Assad to increase the violence.
"We are not dithering. We are not hesitating. The US position is that we reject any kind of military intervention in Syria, let's be clear about that," Ford told FRANCE 24. "We are striving for a peaceful political solution. Even the Syrian people do not want a military solution to this crisis.
"We believe Assad should step down, but at the end of the day the Syrian people will make the decision, not the US," he said.
#3
So much for the often touted concept of "reponsibliity to protect" -perhaps its responsibility to protect the oil (likely a more accurate doctrine). No that I advocate western interference in this -Let the Arabs "protect" lets see how much thanks they get.
#4
Is it possible we're starting to understand that change, especially in Arab governments, is not necessarily an improvement? Are we better off with Mubarak gone? With Saleh going? Bin Ali gone? Even Daffy & Saddam may turn out to have been the lesser of evils - only time will tell.
#4
texhooey, AFAIU that's pretty much what happened. Papdemos (whatever) was the handpicked ECB technocrat that was supposed to force all the German austerity measures through the recalcitrant Greek parliment.
#6
This is easy. Sell some of those islands. Isnt that how the US got Alaska and Florida? I know some buyers. The Russians want a warm water port - and then perhaps might then not need to protect Syria'a back (and its Syrian port used by the Ruskies). The Turks have always thought some of those islands are theirs. (the actual ownership has transfered many times) The Palastinians need a real home. And the Isrealites need land (so it seems) The Brits need a warm water island to vacation on as does all the Northern Europe countries. This could all be done and the blessed Euro saved from serious depreciation. I am a synic of course. The Greeks main source of revenue is tourism and they are doing a great job of reducing that to rubble. The Greeks only represent 2and half percent of Europes GDP. Why fund this nonsense. Sell those islands!
#8
The American schadenfreude with respect to the Europeans will be on the other foot when the Greeks leave the Euro and EU only to petition to join the Dollar and the U.S.
As a self-governing "Commonwealth" just like Porto Rico has been for over a century.
#9
"the Greeks leave the Euro and EU only to petition to join the Dollar and the U.S."
They can petition all they like.
Not only no, but HELL NO.
Posted by: Barbara ||
02/11/2012 19:58
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#10
..well, newc, there's always trading California to China for all those US Treasury debts they're holding, with a 100 year retention lease on the San Diego area with option to buy back.
h/t Instapundit
So held the Hawaii Supreme Court, in Hamilton ex rel. Lethem v. Lethem (Haw. Feb. 7, 2012), interpreting the Hawaii Constitution, though in reasoning that could be seen as applicable to the federal Constitution and to other state constitutions. And the court concluded that even a noncustodial parent retains this right with respect to that childs conduct during the visitation period.
Based on this constitutional right, the court concluded that, to warrant the issuance of a domestic restraining order based on alleged child abuse, there must be (1) a finding that the parents discipline is [not] reasonably related to the purpose of safeguarding or promoting the welfare of the minor, (2) taking into account factors such as [a] the nature of the misbehavior, [b] the childs age and size, and [c] the nature and propriety of the force used.
#2
But does Volokh have the good snark like Rantburg does?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/11/2012 15:10
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#3
Thanks the blog links. I am sure you will agree, terrorism can take many forms. Please tell me how what is taking place today, along with the not so cleverly disguised Administration and Cathloic flap over contraception, so distant from the RuSHA? If my memory serves me correctly, I believe the trials at Nuremberg recognized both post and pre-natal genocidal victims. How does the pediatric community reconcile this? I would welcome a professional medical community comment or response.
One person was wounded by stray gunfire on Friday while eight people were wounded on Saturday, according to security sources.
A dozen Sunni gunmen were filmed openly firing down a street towards an Alawite district. One of the group declared they would join the Syrian revolution "dead or alive".
"We are the Syrian revolution supporters in Lebanon, and we are going to them -- dead or alive," one of the gunmen said.
Residents said opponents of Assad had also taken to the streets with guns. They called on the Lebanese army to intervene. Oh yeah, bring in the mighty Lebanese army! That'll end up well...
#2
I was trying to calculate the best strategy for Israel with AP. Currently Israel is faced with a zillion weapons from Iran, Hezb, Syria and Gaza. In a sense all under control of the Shia Iran. Now the Muz Brotherhood (Sunni) who actually hate Israel more than the Shia are cleaning up the tables west of Iraq. (North Af. Egypt, in action in Yemen, Syria) ... etc.. these are the boys who breed Osamas... First thing... this internecine conflict could buy Israel a little time until one side or the other tries to gain some street cred by doing something to the Jews.... But .. it's looking like in the end the Brotherhood is likely to prevail.
So Israel's first strategic question should be "How to make sure the missiles are destroyed or rendered less then useful when control changes?"
The second should be "Should Israel then take out Iran or wait and render the Muz Brotherhood ineffective before they can really organize control?" I see "render ineffective" as being lots of "Insha'Allah Maintenance Moments" -- things like major failures in the Aswan or virii in the Libyan centerpivots taking out a crop... sort of non-attributable actions to render a newly consolidating set of regimes less effective as an enemy...
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/11/2012 12:01
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#3
Strategically speaking, Israel's best advantage is for Muslim nations surrounding them to have more democratic governments, and less sponsorship from Europe, Russia, China and the US, that provides them with dangerous technologies.
From there, they want more moderation in the more democratic Muslim nations, namely that they do not scapegoat Israel for their numerous problems.
While there are great concerns about the MB in Egypt, if they can just keep their radicalism under wraps for a bit longer, they will realize that Egypt is a terrible mess and is rapidly falling apart, so belligerence can wait.
Syria would be much improved with Assad out of power and the Sunnis in charge, as between the Ba'athists and the MB, the bottom line is that it is just as fouled up as Egypt, but on a smaller scale. Likewise too busy to start fights.
With Assad out, Hezbollah will have lost its primary support chain, and unless they can seize control of Lebanon, they will have no choice but to settle down, too.
#4
Strategically speaking, Israel's best advantage is for Muslim nations surrounding them to have more democratic governments,
The problem with democracy for Muslim countries is that the leadership is far more moderate than the populace, and the leadership is about as moderate as Hitler. We are fortunate, indeed, that they rule over nations without Germany's industrial vigor. In Germany, democracy led to Nazism and the extermination of European Jewry. It took three of the biggest powers in the world five years and tens of millions of dead (including 10% of the German population) before the German people were made to understand that Nazi ideology was a dead end for them. And Germans were a people who had produced Goethe, Beethoven, Kant and scores of other giants in the arts, philosophy and sciences.
#5
Zhang Fei - That's why I didn't mention democracy.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/11/2012 19:11
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#6
Depending upon where you lived, the great plague took out 30, 40 or 50 percent of the population. Given the recent notices of people screwing around with the flu virus et al, its just a matter of time before something gets out of hand. Those geographical areas lacking extensive modern health, sanitation, and movement control will be the most subject to the highest casualty count in the case of any outbreak. Little hard to wage war when the bulk of your population is dying around you. Nukes are so 20th Century.
Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, the colorful and controversial spokesman for the city after the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005, is under investigation by federal authorities, a source with direct knowledge of the probe said.
The source told Reuters on Friday that several people linked to Nagin or the New Orleans city administration during his two terms as mayor ending in 2010 were cooperating with the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI.
The investigation includes whether Nagin received favors or items of value from vendors to the city in return for contracts they received while Nagin was in office, the source said.
Nagin, who was in Minnesota for a speaking engagement on Friday, spoke to a WWL-TV reporter at the New Orleans airport on his return. Asked about allegations he benefited personally while in office, he said:
"They're three years old, and they keep coming up. I only want an opportunity to finally deal with them. Hopefully we can have an honest, open approach where truth and justice can prevail, but I'm starting to worry about that now," Nagin said.
#1
Nagin's mistake is that he was a mayor and not a Congresscritter, an office which brings significant de facto immunity for flaunting 'laws' about behaviors concerning 'favors' for business or grants or largess with the taxpayers money.
#4
His mistake was he alienated the black community to get elected, then he p*ssed on the white community, so no amount of bribes could protect him anymore.
#8
...as in the exception proving the point. It at least showed that something else actually did exist. Be no point in worry about party labels if only one existed.
#9
With an Obama DoJ making up rules as they go, I would definately be worried, too.
I don't think he has a thing to worry about. As a twofer (Democrat and black), he's definitely one of what Holder refers to as "my people." And under the regime's rules, "my people" have a perpetual Get Out of Jail Free card.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
02/11/2012 13:11
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The National Gun Victims Action Council has declared a Valentine's Day boycott of Starbucks to protest the coffee chain's support for American gun laws.
The antis are planning a boycott. Let's counter with a BUYcott. On February 14, please make the effort to go to Starbucks and buy something. Don't like their coffee? Get a tea, a cocoa, a pastry, anything. Thank the clerk for Starbucks' support of the Constitution.
(If possible) Pay with two dollar bills. Thomas Jefferson, Mr. Liberty himself. If Starbucks sees a huge influx of payment in two dollar bills, people in general, and Starbucks management in particular, are sure to notice. In addition to their regular menu, Starbucks also has a "secret menu" of things they will make on request. I'll put it in the comments.
Short Cappuccino (Italian style. Less milk and a stronger flavor)
Cafe au Lait (Misto without foam)
Marble Mocha Macchiato (White mocha on the bottom with no whip, shot on
the top and mocha drizzle)
Short Drink (Just a small coffee)
Cheapo (A double shot of espresso on ice with few packs of brown sugar)
The Dirty Hippy (Chai Tea Latte with soy instead of regular milk)
Dirty Chai (Chai latte (hot or iced) with a shot of espresso)
Double Dirty or Extra Dirty (two shots)
Widow Maker (Half iced black tea, half iced black coffee)
London Fog (Earl Grey tea w/vanilla flavoring)
Poor Man's Latte (An Iced Americano with no water and half ice and then
add the half and half available at the milk and condiments table)
Poor Man's Chai Latte (Chai Tea Misto with extra foam, two tea bags and
half cinnamon-half vanilla syrup)
Apple Juice Orange Blossom (Tazo Orange Blossom Tea steeped in steamed
apple juice with no water)
Red Eye (Coffee plus 1 shot of espresso)
Black Eye (Coffee plus 2 shots of espresso)
Green Eye (Coffee plus 3 shots of espresso)
French Pressed Coffee (any coffee)(highly recommended)
Frappuccinos:
Affogato-Style (Order any Frappe "affogato-style" and you'll get a shot
of hot espresso added on top of your drink as opposed to having it
blended in)
Banana Cream Pie (Vanilla Bean creme with vanilla and hazelnut syrups,
whipped cream, and a whole banana)
Biscotti
Cake Batter
Captain Crunch (hazelnut or toffee nut syrup in a Strawberries and Creme)
Chocolate Cream
Cinnamon Roll
Cookies & Cream
Crunch Berry
Grasshopper (Mocha with java chips and peppermint syrup)
Samoa (mocha coconut with caramel drizzle
Snickers (Java Chip with two pumps of toffee nut and a caramel drizzle)
Super Cream
Thin Mint (Tazo Green Tea Creme with chocolate syrup and java chips)
Posted by: Cincinnatus Chili ||
02/11/2012 16:14
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#5
Don't usually go to Starbucks. It's a block or so away from the office and the coffee in the office isn't all that bad. But maybe I'll take a walk on Valentine's Day.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
02/11/2012 17:43
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#6
I'll take my best girlfriend to celebrate her birthday. She just discovered the joy of shooting guns -- despite her MS -- and loves to shock her fellow Jews by announcing that she got American citizenship so she could vote Republican. She even went up to Washington, DC on a TEA Party bus to lobby Congress a few weeks ago. She'll appreciate it properly. :-)
Gunmen assassinated an army general in Damascus on Saturday in the first killing of a high ranking military officer in the Syrian capital since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March, the state-run news agency said.
SANA said three gunmen opened fire at Brig. Gen. Issa al-Khouli in the morning as he left his home in the Damascus neighborhood of Rukn-Eddine. Al-Khouli was a doctor and the chief of a military hospital in the capital. No one claimed responsibility for the killing.
The attack indicates that violence in Syria is reaching the tightly controlled capital, which has been relatively quiet compared to other cities. Such assassinations are not uncommon outside Damascus and army officers have been killed in the past, mostly in the restive provinces of Homs and Idlib.
#2
Texhooey, Ayman al-Zawahiri is the head of Al Qaeda in Pakistan...and a doctor and surgeon. Like engineers, doctors are trained to think analytically and to design solutions to problems. So when they go to the bad, they tend to be quite effective at it.
#3
The Muslim Brotherhood revolt of the late 70's and early '80's killed thousands of government figures, and came close to assassinating Assad pere. Then came the destruction of Hama, home base of the Ikhwan. More on the dead general, from the NY Times:
The doctor, trained in Romania and France, came from an Alawite family with close ties inside the Assad government that has run Syria for the past 40 years, according to one activist in Syria who was piecing together his biography.
He is believed to have been the nephew of Mohamed al-Khouli, the former head of the widely feared Air Force Intelligence Directorate, the most powerful of the multiple security agencies that cement the governments power. The elder Mr. Khouli was a security adviser to President Hafez al-Assad until the president died in 2000.
My guess is that the guy was an easy target thought to be safe from rebel attack because he wasn't involved in security matters, and therefore unguarded or lightly guarded. This is the kind of attack that enrages the regime without actually having hurt it.
#1
Pak has suggested that it would be on Iran's side, but this might be less than imagined. It would be very crafty indeed if Pak offered to clean up Iranian Balochistan, so that the Iranians could withdraw their forces there for other purposes.
This would allow the Paks to take down lots of troublesome Balochis, who have pestered both nations for a long time, using the border to get away from punishment by both sides.
And if Iran was really devastated, Pakistan could do a de facto annexation of all of Balochistan.
#2
Anonymoose, Pakistan can't clean up their own Balochis, despite decades of trying. I don't see how it could be possible for them to successfully annex additional woes, especially with the Army of the Pure in charge of their military effort.
#3
The Mullahs themselves have said it - to defeat or destroy any foreign = US or US-led Coalition invasion + occupation force, THEY WON'T HESITATE TO USE THE TERRITORIES OF ITS SOVEREIGN NEIGHBORS WID OR WIDOUT THEIR CONSENT, besides also having no fear of detonating Nukes-WMDS Iranian soil or resorting to international Nuclear Brinkmanship.
The Mullahs drew on the example of the VIETNAM WAR + North Vietnam's, Vietcong's use of territory in sovereign, "neutral" Laos + Cambodia for the transfer of Fighters, Arms, $$$, + Food, etc. snti-US-SVN-UNCOM supplies oer the "Ho Chi Minh Trail", e.g. infamous "Parrot's Beak" + other.
Based on the above, the options of the US-Allies are:
> Get the Govt to Iran to voluntarily/internally change its Attitudes, Policies.
> "Regime Change" = "Iran/Persian Spring"? = peaceful or violent Govt. overthrow?
> UNO/UNSC-approved, US or US-led Coalition full-scale Ground Invasion + Occupation, e.g. 2003 Iraq.
#5
Though I'm a pest, and a pesky Troll,this forum has always been an education for me. I'm humbled by, and grateful for the enlightenment and insight that I gain here; my ridiculous comments not withstanding. Thanks to all of you.
Five policemen were killed and another wounded as a roadside bomb struck a police van in Uruzgan province on Friday evening, a police official said Saturday. The deputy to the provincial police chief said, "A mine planted by anti-government militants struck a police vehicle outside provincial capital Trinkot yesterday evening, leaving five policemen dead on the spot."
Another police was injured in the incident, he added.
Tens of thousands of Iranians joined state-organised rallies across the country to mark the occasion. Demonstrators carrying Iranian flags and pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America".
"In the coming days the world will witness Iran's announcement of its very important and very major nuclear achievements," Mr Ahmadinejad told a crowd at Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Square in a speech relayed live on state television. He was speaking on the 33rd anniversary of the Islamic revolution.
Tension with the West over Iran's disputed nuclear work has risen in recent weeks. The United States and its European allies have imposed new sanctions to try to force Tehran back to talks before it produces enough nuclear material for an atom bomb
Mr Ahmadinejad told the cheering crowd that Iran has broken the "idol" of the Holocaust, which underpins the creation of the Israeli state and US hegemony.
"The Iranian nation has smashed a new and modern idol. The world arrogance (the United States) and colonialists (the West), in order to dominate the world, created an idol called the Zionist regime (Israel)," he said. "The spirit of this idol was a story called the Holocaust.
"The Iranian nation with courage and wisdom smashed this idol to free the people of the West (of its hold)," he said.
Mom, Dad + stepmom, teenagerish. About the 'help', inexcusable. I am only five years in and if I find myself sitting, I have forgotten to do something and still put smiles on my kids faces after a 9-5. Dad was right, itsa good dad. Seriously, by the time she gets out and then checks her status, that will be waiting. Pleases and thank you's.
Personally, I would have grabbed the hooligan tool. No, don't correct my accent on this one.
#5
Would have worked better if he'd shown the laptop on to that post his daughter made. As is I got the impression he had a dead laptop (he is an IT guy after all) and shot it, saying it was hers.
#8
Doesn't matter who bought it once it's given to her and called HERS. Now the internet connection was almost certainly not her own and probably should have been shut off a long time ago. Depending on local laws and just how her father accessed her Facebook account he might be on the wrong side of the law there too (IANAL) - though if so, that doesn't make the law right, it just makes it the law.
Yes, as long as she is legally a minor*. While the ACLU may claim children have adult 'rights' [but strangely should never suffer 'adult' punishments for crimes committed and convicted], they are treated as a separate class from adults by the legal system. Now children are covered by 'human' rights which should not be confused with 'civil' rights. They may overlap at times, but its a bit of Three Card Monty when advocates start playing the linguistic game.
Now as to discharging a firearm in town or metro area, that might be a separate issue. That's how things like this usually are handled.
* Courts have processed appeals of emancipation by minors who seek independence from their parents. Then the kid is usually responsible to show that they can support themselves without the parents or the state providing resources. Not to be confused with various Congressional actions to extend dependent adult childhood to 23+ [see:Obamacare].
#10
Good for Daddy, a bit extreme, but good.
My daughter's 40 now, whth two children of her own, I NRVER had that Crap to put up with.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/11/2012 12:11
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#11
Then let her produce a copy of the receipt with signed-over ownership.
Is it her room? Her car?
And if farcebook can be loaded up by sum gn'tottn' hat wrn' no care for no gn'shootn' law duude, then maybe there is no such thing as right of privacy - or ownership of material - on that deal.
I'd like to tell you what Religion Of Peace Kodirov is a radical member of, but that might breach his "ooman rites" so it might be best not to go there.
A man from Uzbekistan living illegally in the United States pleaded guilty on Friday to terrorism and weapons charges involving a plot to kill US President Barack Obama.
According to court evidence, defendant Ulugbek Kodirov believed he was acting on behalf of an Islamist militant group in his homeland and was plotting to shoot Obama while the president campaigned for re-election this year.
Kodirov 22, pleaded guilty in US District Court in Birmingham, Alabama, to three charges as part of an agreement that spares him from a potential life sentence. He still faced up to 30 years in prison and $750,000 in fines for providing material support for terrorist activity, being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and threatening to assassinate the president.
Four other charges against him were dropped, and mainly involved additional threats to kill Obama. What about the charge of him being in the US illegally?
US District Judge Abdul Kallon set sentencing for May 17.
Kodirov came to the United States in 2009 to study medicine and his student visa was revoked in April 2010 after he failed to enroll in school, investigators said. Because you don't just come to the US to 'enroll' in medical school. You have to apply and be accepted, and it's not so easy. Didn't anyone at Immigration think this one out?
It may be that what was meant was that he failed to enroll for classes at the medical school that had accepted him...
He "self-radicalized" through Internet research and sought like-minded individuals, US Attorney Joyce White Vance said.
Kodirov was arrested in July at an Alabama motel where he had obtained a fully automatic machine gun and four hand grenades from an undercover agent. "He was attempting to obtain weapons and explosives that he intended to use to kill the President of the United States," Vance said.
[Yemen Post] Tribes of Hajja province and the Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates.... rebel group reached on Thursday an agreement for which both sides would cease fire, open blocked roads, naturalize the situation and form a commission to oversee the agreement.
The agreement came after a mediation carried out by politicians, Yemeni officials and tribal leaders of the region.
The two-month-aged festivities in Hajja has displaced thousands of locals and worsened the humanitarian conditions of Hajja's population.
Locals of Hajja had complained that the Houthi fighters do not commit to previous agreements and mediations, pointing out that they always violate agreements and use them as tactics.
The made reference that the group surrounded some Hajja districts and deprived civilians from commodities and medicines, emphasizing that the Houthi fighters do not belong to their areas, and they were brought from Saada and other areas.
Since pro-democracy protests erupted in Yemen in late January 2011, the Houthi group has been trying to expand their control over the northern provinces of Saada, Amran and Hajja.
Clashes have been continuing between the group and Sunni Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... in Damaj of Saada, leaving dozens of fighters killed and maimed form both sides.
Houthis further engaged in seven rounds of fighting with Saleh's government which lasted six years in northern restive province of Saada and some districts of Amran.
The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... special envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar had visited the Houthi group in Saada, met with its leader, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, and demanded them to engage in the political process.
Benomar urged the Houthi group to abandon weapons, form a political party and engage in the political process under the GCC-brokered power transfer deal.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2012
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There are over 100 "soft targets" prone to terrorist insurgent attacks in the deep South, and keeping all of them safe for one day is considered an incident-free day, Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha said yesterday. Speaking to troops during an inspection trip yesterday, Prayuth called on them to remain vigilant while on duty and urged greater unity among all agencies operating in the region.
The visit came one day after a car bomb exploded in Pattani town, which as the provincial seat is under the jurisdiction of the governor and the police department, while the military is accountable for surrounding and remote areas.
He asked the public not to jump to the conclusion that Army rangers were at fault in a shooting incident last month, in which five villagers were killed, before the investigation is complete.
Police are working with sketches of two men suspected of being behind Thursday's car-bombing in Pattani province. One man was seen riding a motorcycle and picking up the driver who parked the bomb-laden vehicle near a public health office. A security source said there was also a time-bomb hidden within the office that did not go off.
Senator Anusart Suwanna-mongkhol expressed concern over the mental health of residents and victims after the explosion, which also wounded a three-year-old child. The bomb targeted an event in which civil-defense volunteers were to gather for an assembly near the public health office.
[An Nahar] Shooting broke out on Friday in the northern city of Tripoli as pro- and anti-Syria gunnies deployed heavily in the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, Agence La Belle France Presse reported.
"There is a heavy armed presence and shooting in the Sunni Moslem neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh and the Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen," a security official said, requesting anonymity.
"One person driving by was injured in the gunfire."
He said the army had deployed in both neighborhoods earlier in the day, but later retreated to a street dividing the two sides.
"Two soldiers were maimed in the festivities," he said.
For its part, state-run National News Agency said three grenades went kaboom! in an area located between the two rival districts.
"Sporadic volleys of machinegun fire are being heard every now and then," NNA added.
It said three civilians were maimed in the fighting, identifying them as Jihad Mohammed al-Sabaa, 24, Mohammed Ali Asaad, 46, and Khaled Saidawi, 25.
Meanwhile, ...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind... MTV said a number of Bab al-Tabbaneh residents decamped the area of the festivities.
"The army is firing back at the sources of the gunfire at the moment," Radio Voice of Leb reported.
Later on Friday, President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... called on the military and security forces deployed in Tripoli to "firmly suppress those disrupting security and civil peace, especially in the North and specifically in Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2012
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[An Nahar] Forty-two people were killed across Syria on Friday, including security force members, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as anti-regime protesters erupted into the streets under the banner of "Russia is killing our children."
At least 20 died in in the central protest hub of Homs, among them two children killed by shelling in the Baba Amr neighborhood, the Observatory said.
For its part, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces killed 34 people across the country, including five children and two women.
Twelve people were killed in the northern province of Aleppo, ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... 10 in Homs, eight in the Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... suburb of al-Damir, three in the southern province of Daraa, the cradle of the 11-month uprising, and one in the eastern protest hub of Deir al-Zour, the LCC said.
Security forces deployed heavily outside mosques nationwide, firing on worshippers in some areas to prevent protesters from taking to the streets, activists said.
"Demonstrations broke out in various parts of the country, but they were small in numbers because of the heavy deployment of army and security forces as well as the cold weather," said Observatory chief Rami Abdul Rahman.
"In some areas the number of intelligence agents was so high that they outnumbered worshippers. A lot of people held smaller demos in side streets."
In Homs, tanks stormed a flashpoint district as troops launched a house-to-house sweep to crush regime opponents, Abdul Rahman said.
"The tanks entered the neighborhood of Inshaat overnight," he said.
Inshaat is next to the protest hub of Baba Amr, which has been subjected to a withering assault by regime forces since Saturday that has killed more than 400 people, activists say.
Internet-based activists had urged protests under the banner of "Russia is killing our children."
But Moscow said Syria's opposition "bears full responsibility" for the ongoing violence, while accusing the West of pushing regime opponents into armed conflict.
Russia has insisted that any solution to end the bloodshed must come from within Syria.
Despite mounting calls for military aid to outgunned and outnumbered rebels in Syria, Arab and Western governments have so far resisted such a possibility.
Among initiatives being considered by nations eager to end the bloodshed is a joint Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... -U.N. mission to Syria, the prospects for which could hinge on a weekend meeting of the Arab bloc, and the backing of major powers.
The opposition Syrian National Council said, meanwhile, that it expects to be recognized by several Arab states within days. So far only post-revolt Libya has recognized the umbrella group as its sole Syrian interlocutor.
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[An Nahar] A Turkish prosecutor has launched a probe after two Syrian refugees staying in a Turkish border camp were handed over to Syrian security forces, Anatolia news agency reported Friday.
Syrian dissident army colonel Huseyin Mustafa Harmus and Mustafa Kassum were taken out of a refugee camp in Altinozu, Hatay province, near the Syrian border and delivered to Syrian security forces "by force," said the prosecutor's office in southern Adana province, in a statement cited by Anatolia.
Five people including a member of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) were jugged and some MIT officials were summoned to testify as part of the probe, it reported.
The investigation centered on "accusations of political espionage," said the statement according to Anatolia, without elaborating.
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[Dawn] RECENT setbacks have clearly failed to result in any soul-searching within Pakistain's security agencies. A series of stories confirm that they continue to operate with stunning impunity despite questions about their conduct. On Tuesday, four Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... activists were taken away from police custody in Rawalpindi. Yesterday brought reports of the disappearance of a forced-marriage suspect from a cop shoppe, allegedly by military personnel who claimed the sweeper for an army unit could not be incarcerated without notifying the military. Police claim that an officer was temporarily picked up as well. Meanwhile, ...back at the scene of the crime, Lieutenant Queeg had an idea: there was a simple way to tell whether Manetti had been the triggerman -- just look at his shoes!... reports continue to filter in about the alarming Adiala prisoners' case. A Beautiful Downtown Peshawar hospital has said that the four who died, and others currently hospitalised, were brought for medical care at death's door. Also, the dead bodies of Baloch activists continue to turn up in the province. The liquidations of both Saleem Shahzad and members of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... MPA Mir Bakhtiar Domki's family still remain murky, and a number of different enmities could have been behind them. But the backgrounds of these victims suggest that intelligence agencies may have been involved, and until responsibility is fixed the sceptical Pak public will continue to regard them as the most likely culprits.
There is more than one reason for concern here. Police stations are hardly bastions of fair play, but at least have procedures in place that govern the detention, registration and investigation of suspects. When people are whisked away by unknown personnel of intelligence agencies, everything from their locations to their crimes is wiped off the map, let alone the right to a fair trial. Second, these instances demonstrate how military and intelligence personnel are eroding the authority of the police.
By taking away suspects from police custody, or hampering police investigations, as in Mr Shahzad's case, they are both weakening this civilian institution and strengthening public perceptions about its ineffectiveness.
It is also clear that the recent questioning of the security establishment has made no difference to its conduct. Mr Shahzad's case created a global furore over its role. The Raymond Davis incident, the late Osama bin Laden's ... who was potted in Pakistain... presence in the country and the raid that killed him, and the attack on PNS Mehran all raised questions about its effectiveness, resulting in the appearance before parliament of the intelligence and military chiefs. The Supreme Court continues hearings in the case of the missing persons and has now taken up the issue of the Adiala prisoners. But no amount of bad publicity or judicial questioning has, it seems, lessened the security establishment's attraction to the quick 'solution' of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.
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[Dawn] Police on Friday baton-charged and used water cannons to disperse a protest rally of Pasban that intended to march towards the US Consulate in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... to raise the issue of detention of Dr Aafia Siddiqui. ...American-educated Pak cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. In September 2010, she was sentenced to 86 years in jug after a three-ring trial. Siddiqui, using the alias Fahrem or Feriel Shahin, was one of six alleged al-Qaeda members who bought $19 million worth of blood diamonds in Liberia immediately prior to 9-11-01. Since her incarceration Paks have taken her to their heart and periodically erupt into demonstrations, while the government tries to find somebody to swap for her... About a dozen protest leaders including sister of the jugged Pak Dr Fouzia Siddiqui were tossed in the calaboose.
Police applied baton-charge and lobbed teargas shells to the rally besides firing shots in air at Abdullah Haroon Road in Saddar area.
Police took into custody Pasban president Altaf Shakoor and Dr Siddiqui along with a dozen other Pasban activists for attempting to enter the "red zone" of the metropolis.
Pasban had announced to besiege the US consulate in protest to highlight the plights of Dr Aafia, presently languishing in a US jail.
The protestors had earlier gathered at Masjid-e-Khizra at 3.30pm, next to Sindh High Court, carrying placards and banners inscribed with anti-US sentiments and chanting slogans against the government for dealing the matter with hands-off approach.
A Pasban front man expressed strong resentment over arrest of their leaders and demanded of the police to immediately release them.
He said their rally was completely peaceful. However, you can observe a lot just by watching... police deliberately developed a chaotic situation after opening gun sex and using water cannon.
He said Pasban workers were extremely agitated on brutal use of force by the police, warning if the tossed in the calaboose leaders were not released the administration would be responsible for law and order situation.
In a latest development, the tossed in the calaboose leaders, including Dr Fauzia, were released by the authorities.
"We weren't violent* then, but by Allah we will be next time!"
* For a certain strict and uncommon definition of not violent which would normally be defined as violent.
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[An Nahar] Former prime minister Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. on Friday called on the Arab countries to recognize the opposition Syrian National Council as the "legitimate representative" of the Syrian people. He probably figures, what the hell? It's already dangerous starting his car.
Hariri warned about "the dangers of the war waged by the Syrian regime against the growing popular revolution across Syria," said a statement released by his press office.
"The military campaign waged by the armed brigades of the Syrian regime against the cities of Homs, Zabadani, Daraa and other cities witnessing popular movements, is a dangerous episode of the bloody series sponsored by international and regional parties that agreed to give Bashir al-Assad the opportunity to pounce on his people and protect his political regime with all brutal methods," Hariri said, as quoted in the statement.
"The Syrian regime has reached the edge of collapse," the ex-PM noted, adding that Assad's government has disregarded "the almost unanimous Arab and international condemnation of the regime and of its crimes."
Hariri said Assad "would not have dared to invade the Syrian cities and villages with tanks and rocket launchers hadn't he received an external cover that allows him to do so."
He called on the Arab countries to take "practical steps that go beyond condemnation, and even beyond imposing economic sanctions."
"They should start by recognizing the Syrian National Council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, and pull the rug from under the feet of the brutal regime."
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#1
I'd certainly hate to be a Syrian Christian when Assad falls.
A member of Arbi Barayevs terrorist militant group, which was destroyed in 2001, has surrendered to the Chechen police.
Arbi Barayev was an infamous Chechen Field Commander in the 1990s. He created the so-called Special Islamic Regiment for terrorist attacks. The 34-year old terrorist militant, who surrendered in Grozny, expects humane treatment. He said that he had handed over an AK to the police. The terrorist militant added that he had not taken part in any attacks on federal or law-enforcement officials.
#4
Sadly, we will soon learn that Arbi Barayev has... incurable cancer and has only weeks to live. I would strongly encourage former colleagues and friends to ring him up on his cellie with words of encouragement and strength. This is of course, your Islamic duty.
[An Nahar] Except for a few disposable point-and-shoots, Kodak is exiting the camera business.
Eastman Kodak Co. said Thursday that it will stop making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames in a move that marks the end of an era for the beleaguered 132-year-old company.
Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Kodak was known all over the world for iconic cameras such as the Brownie and the Instamatic. For the last few decades, however, the Rochester, New York-based company has struggled. It was battered by Japanese competition in the 1980s, and failed to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology.
The company sought bankruptcy protection from creditors last month in a case that covers $6.7 billion in debt. It has a year to devise a restructuring plan. Citigroup ...contributed $736,771 to the 2008 Obama campaign... Inc. was approved to lend the company $650 million to continue operating.
Exiting the digital camera business is especially poignant for Kodak. In 1975, using an electronic sensor invented six years earlier at Bell Labs, a Kodak engineer named Steven Sasson created the world's first digital camera. It was an eight-pound (3.6 kilogram), toaster-size device that captured low-resolution black-and-white images.
Reached at home Thursday, Sasson told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that seeing Kodak exit the business is "a bit sad" but part of a transition facing all companies that use evolving technology.
"The average person probably owns more digital cameras than they realize," he said. "It's just the reality that digital imaging is a part of our lives and you can capture images in a lot of different ways. There's a lot of choices people have, cellphones being one of them."
Through the 1990s, Kodak spent some $4 billion developing the photo technology inside most of today's cellphones and digital devices. But fearing that it might cannibalize its celluloid film business, Kodak waited until 2001 to bring its own digital cameras to the consumer market. By then, it faced strong competitors like Sony Corp. and Canon.
These days, digital camera sales are suffering as consumers increasingly take photos on smartphones such as the iPhone. Certain smartphone makers such as LG, Nokia, Motorola and Samsung have agreed to pay Kodak to license its digital camera technology, while companies like Apple are fighting its patent claims.
Before Thursday's announcement, Kodak had already been trying to shrink its product line and sell in fewer retail venues, but as sales declines worsened, the company saw no way to make the business profitable.
"We made the logical conclusion that there was no clear path to profitability and we have to focus on generating profits at this point," said Kodak front man Chris Veronda.
Kodak said getting out the digital camera business by June should help cut losses by about $100 million a year as it struggles to emerge from bankruptcy.
The company's digital camera line was part of a rapidly shrinking division that accounted for about a quarter of Kodak's revenue in the three-month period through September.
For the nine months through September, total company sales plunged 18 percent to $4.3 billion and it lost $647 million.
Kodak sees home photo printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software and packaging as the core of its future business. Since 2005, the company has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into new lines of inkjet printers. Once the digital camera business is phased out, Kodak said its consumer business will focus on printing. It will seek a company to license its EasyShare digital camera brand.
Kodak said it's working with retailers to ensure an orderly transition. The company will continue to honor product warranties and provide technical support for the discontinued products.
The company didn't say how many jobs would be eliminated as a result of the decision, but did say that it expects to take a charge of $30 million related to separation costs.
Kodak owns patents that cover a number of basic functions in many smartphone cameras, and the bankruptcy judge has given the company until June 30 to come up with a procedure to sell them.
The company picked up $27 million in patent-licensing fees in the first half of 2011. It made about $1.9 billion from those fees in the previous three years combined. But no buyers have emerged since Kodak started shopping them around in July.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Obviously Kodak failed to have an effective union with political connections around to protect its employees from the realities of a [semi-] free market.
#2
When Poloroid gave up, the photography fans utterly committed to film photography paid a fortune to buy one of Poloroids enormous film processing machines, along with several of their patents.
One such fan put it to me that they didn't care if they had to pay $100 for a roll of film, and another $100 to get it processed, as long as they could get it.
#3
I still have my Minolta XG-1 but I can't find anyone to work on it. I love the pictures I get from it. I just bought a Kodak printer/scanner that prints the best quality pictures of any printer I've ever had.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/11/2012 14:10
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[An Nahar] The Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, prime minister in Gazoo, Ismail Haniya, arrived in Tehran on Friday on a three-day trip and is due to speak at a rally marking the 33 anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution on Saturday, state media reported.
The state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
website said the Paleostinian will meet with Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad and other high ranking Iranian political and security officials.
Local media said two days ago that Haniya would receive an honorary degree from Tehran University.
Israel views Hamas as a terrorist group and has accused Iran of being its main arms supplier.
Khamenei, last week called Israel "a cancerous tumor that must be removed, and God willing it will be."
Ahmadinejad, who is to give a speech on Saturday to mark the day 33 years ago when revolutionaries claimed victory over the deposed regime of the U.S.-backed shah, has strongly backed the Paleostinian cause.
He has voiced Iran's longstanding policy of rejecting the continued existence of Israel and of supporting foes of the Jewish state, including Hamas.
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Full biometrics collected, of course, so don't do anything stupid, boys...
WASSIT / Aswat al-Iraq: Police released 18 senior Baathist members, who were detained at the end of the last year, pointing out that it is the first group to be released and other groups will follow, security sources said today.
The source told Aswat al-Iraq that more groups will be released following the end of investigations and they have been proven innocent. On 22 October 2011, a security raid resulted in arresting a number of ex-Baath party members.
Kut, the center of Wassit province, lies 180 km southeast of the capital, Baghdad.
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[Dawn] Sex scandals have rocked the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) in recent months, with several faculty and staff members accused of preying upon the vulnerable female students or juniors.
Many connected with the university admit that "seedy affairs had been going on in the holy precincts" for some time. But they did not speak on record.
Acting president Sahabzada Sajidur Rehman of the university, however, confirmed that recently a professor and a librarian left the university after allegations of rape emerged against them.
"We did not approach the police to investigate the allegations as it would have brought bad name to the university and set parents of the 9,500 girls studying here worrying," he told Dawn on Thursday.
Sources in the university claimed that the professor of economics department used to offer his victims "good marks" in examinations in return for sex. He would even force himself upon the unwilling with threats of failing her.
It was shocking to hear the president of the University Staff Welfare Association, Chaudhry Mohammad Nazir, say "the situation is far worse than what you know".
IIUI sources said the professor's escapades came to an end after he landed his last victim on January 20, a Friday. The university asked the victim to file a formal complaint for initiating action against the accused but her family refused.
However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... the students union took up her case and threatened the university administration it would go public with the evidence, the sources said.
It was claimed to be the same kind of evidence that had gone viral on the internet and forced the university's old librarian to resign a few months earlier.
That was despite the university administration's alleged attempt to make his victim -- a female assistant -- to resign on the charge that she was a willing partner. But she firmly refused and went on leave.
On her return, the administration assigned her to a new department, according to her colleagues.
It is not that families of the victims of coercive sex took their sufferings lying down. One father reported a senior faculty member to the Prime Minister's Secretariat which instructed the Islamabad police to investigate.
When the Sherlocks arrived to probe, however, the university officials pleaded with them to hush up the matter as "the accused has already been punished" and a probe would only tarnish the image of the university and scare the parents.
It is a different matter that for the librarian the punishment meant retiring six months before it was due, and for the professor resigning on his own and securing a new job in the National Agriculture Research Centre, allegedly with the help of friends in the bureaucracy.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
The scandal was that no goats or little boys were involved?
#4
The solution is to kick all the women out, prolly been wearing pants too! You can't leave meat out with a cat around.
Women are un-islamic after all.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said it was Ankara that demanded a NATO missile defense shield be deployed in Turkey, Today's Zaman reported. In an interview with Turkey's NTV television station on Friday, Rasmussen said the US has contributed largely to the missile defense system of NATO and the system is the most recent example of solidarity between NATO member states. He added that the details regarding the missile defense system will be discussed in Chicago, where NATO is scheduled to meet on May 20-21.
Russia and Iran object to the deployment of the early warning radar system in Turkey.
Not that it's any of Vlad's business...
Russia earlier said a NATO missile defense system could threaten its security if it develops the capability to down Russian nuclear missiles.
Recalling that Turkey played an important role as a neighbor of Russia during the Cold War era, Rasmussen said Turkey continues to play an important role currently and that the nation contributed to NATO operations in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Libya. The NATO secretary-general further said the İzmir command base will host NATO's Land Component Command, which is currently based in Spain. He added that İzmir will be an important command base for both Turkey and NATO.
During a meeting with a group of Turkish journalists in Brussels on Thursday, Rasmussen, who is set to visit Turkey next week to mark the 60th anniversary of Turkey's membership in NATO, praised the country's commitment to the alliance and its "crucial role," saying NATO needs "the voice of Turkey." Rasmussen's comments come amid calls from US conservative politicians and others that Turkey's membership in NATO should be questioned, especially in the aftermath of a crisis in its relations with Israel.
"I won't bring new initiatives to Ankara during my visit. I will repeat what I said previously, that irrespective of the Cyprus conflict, I think we can find pragmatic solutions that could improve the relationship," he said, noting that a past proposal he put forward for an arrangement between Turkey and the EU to pave the way for closer NATO-EU cooperation remains a "valid package," a "pragmatic proposal."
"But let's face it. The fundamental problem here is the continued dispute in Cyprus. Realistically speaking, I don't think we will see real progress in the cooperation between EU and NATO until there is a solution to the conflict in Cyprus," he stated.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2012
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#1
Feeling a sudden need to suck up to the West, eh Erdogan?
[An Nahar] Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said that his country is ready for any act of provocation by Hizbullah over the deepening crisis in Syria.
During a meeting on Thursday with 15 U.N. envoys in New York, He expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... that Hizbullah will use a provocation against Israel as a means of distracting the world from violence in Syria.
Earlier on Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned that sophisticated weapons could be transferred from Syria to Hizbullah if the regime of Bashir al-Assad falls.
"We are tracking this issue constantly and carefully," he said, without giving further details.
Barak said Israeli assessments suggest Assad's downfall was a matter of time.
Israel fears it could suffer from various consequences of the regime's weakening and collapse, including a wave of refugees, or even attempts by the regime to distract attention by attacking the Jewish state.
Officials have also warned that Syria's weapons, including alleged chemical and biological ones, could fall into the hands of bad boys, including Hizbullah.
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[An Nahar] Thousands rallied in the Yemeni capital on Friday to back a single-candidate presidential election planned for later this month that has sparked protests in the south, an Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent reported.
The demonstrators, who gathered in Sanaa's Change Square -- epicenter of a year of protests against veteran President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... -- rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud in favor of the poll in which Vice President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi will be the sole candidate.
"February 21 is the day on which Yemen will be reborn," read one slogan printed on a large picture of Hadi brandished by demonstrators.
"We have all agreed that Hadi will rule for our country's independence," they chanted.
"Hadi, take the key, the slaughterer's rule has ended!" they shouted, referring to the hundreds of people killed in festivities with the security forces since nationwide protests erupted in January last year.
The election is the one of the centerpieces of a Gulf-brokered deal Saleh signed in November with the parliamentary opposition, under which he is to hand power to Hadi after the vote in return for a promise of immunity from prosecution.
Unlike the poll, the immunity pledge remains deeply controversial with the Change Square protesters.
"Our demand will not change, we will not accept anything but a trial," they chanted.
Hadi himself hails from the formerly independent south of Yemen, but the single-candidate election has proved controversial in the restive region.
On Thursday, security forces rubbed out two people protesting against the vote in the southern town of Daleh, witnesses said.
Activists of the Southern Movement say the election fails to meet their aspirations for autonomy or renewed independence for the region.
Some factions of the movement have been campaigning for a boycott. Its hardline pro-independence wing, led by former southern leader Ali Salem al-Baidh, has called on supporters to disrupt the poll.
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'Thanks to Allah', as our cricketers would say, "Just 40.1 per cent of the 5-16 age group [schoolchildren in Pakistain] could do two-digit subtraction sums (with carry) whereas a mere 23.6 per cent were able to do three-digit division sums. Only 41.8 per cent could read a sentence in Urdu or their mother tongue (English is a far cry). Far fewer could read a story," revealed the nuclear physicist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy in his column yesterday, quoting the recently released Annual Status of Education Report.
You bet if the nationwide survey done for the said report had included questions like 'how to drink water according to Islam', 'what to recite in Arabic before you embarked on a journey' or 'which foot be placed before the other whilst entering or leaving a mosque', the students consulted would have come out shining with brilliance.
Primary school textbooks are now replete with such day-to-day knowledge that will win you brownie points in the hereafter. Wasn't it the founder of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, who whilst on a visit to Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... in the 1970s was asked how his country could help Pakistain become an economic power, and he had remarked with words to the effect, that how can you even begin to think helping a people who believe that real life starts after death? Obviously, we were yet to shape our blasphemy laws back then, and the dignitary left this country in one piece.
The thing is that we are a unique nation of a unique people living in a unique country with a unique, past, present and future, as the very learned and respectable Mr Javed Jabbar has argued in his recent book to present his case for Pakistain. It is this sheer uniqueness that demands that perhaps our children's abilities too, should be judged by a unique yardstick which is tailor-made to judge Pak intellect, and not the run of the mill surveys based on the wisdom of 'one size fits all'. Tune into a quiz show and you'll get your answers.
Here is a hypothetical example: please don't be surprised if many schoolchildren would not know the name of the only Pak to have won the Nobel Prize, and at the fact that those few who might know the right answer, would also hasten to add that Dr Mohammad Abdus Salam, despite his name, was not a Mohammedan. That's why it was important that the state remove the word 'Mohammedan' from his epitaph in the Rabwah graveyard, which originally proclaimed him as the 'First Mohammedan scientist' to have won the coveted award.
Ours is also a country where young adults in a Pak-Afghan border area barely know the name of the country they live in; many do not know the name of the President or the Prime Minister, as a televised interview by journalist Saleem Safi revealed the other day. But surely, if asked, the same bunch would have denounced America as a reincarnation of Satan in our times and hailed Bin Laden as their lost Messiah. And they would certainly also tell you what constitutes blasphemy, and why women should be locked up.
The knowledge being disseminated from the pulpit (including TV televangelist shows) and the textbooks is simply frightening. It is frightening in the literal sense of the word, because it is aimed at instilling the fear of God in your hearts and minds via the most ferocious of interpretations of the religious dogma. This leaves one incapable of thinking for oneself.
Here's an example: Tibb-e-Nabawi or treatment through recourse to medicines, herbs and curing techniques used by the Prophet of Islam is today a growing field. An entire brigade of pious, qualified doctors and homoeopathists has jumped on to the bandwagon. Many are administering treatment through Hijama, which is Arabic for an old Chinese technique that extracts toxins from the body by superficial incisions made on the skin and drawing blood, using vacuum cups, hence, 'cupping'.
The Prophet must have used it and also recommended it for its curative properties, but to call it a divinely-guided cure for all ailments, from pain in the back to diabetes and hernia, is really stretching it, especially the divine part of it. This is precisely what Hijama practitioners claim as they urge you to recite Ayat-ul-Kursi (a Koranic verse with healing and helpful qualities whilst in distress) as they administer 'cupping'. And thanks to Allah, many are cured.
Who needs arithmetic, reading or writing stories in a worldly language, God forbid, when we have our own unique, divine mechanisms, and Arabic, to guide us through this transitory life on Earth?
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
B.F.D.(Big fukin deal)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/11/2012 11:39
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#2
"to guide us through this transitory life on Earth?"
Because, you know GODLY living is just too hard to muster.
#6
They're allowed to say such things, in English, in Dawn. Say it in Urdu, however, and you,ll want to check that no visitors have explosive headgear, and that the family gardener isn't regular in his mosque attendance.
Three Muslim men were jailed in Britain on Friday for distributing leaflets calling for homosexuals to be executed.
Ihjaz Ali, Kabir Ahmed and Razwan Javed were the first to be convicted of instigating hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, under laws that went into force in 2010. They gave out a pamphlet called "The Death Penalty?", which quoted Islamic texts calling for capital punishment as the only way to rid society of homosexuality.
At Derby Crown Court in central England, taxi driver Ali, 42, was imprisoned for two years. Ahmed and Javed, both aged 28, were jailed for 15 months each.
The pamphlet says, "The death sentence is the only way this immoral crime can be erased from corrupting society and act as a deterrent for any other ill person who is remotely inclined in this bent way. The only dispute amongst the classical authorities was the method employed in carrying out the penal code."
It went on to suggest burning, being thrown from a high place such as a mountain or building, or being stoned to death as appropriate methods.
Judge John Burgess told the men, "You have been convicted of intending to stir up hatred. It follows that your intention was to do great harm in a peaceful community."
The leaflet was handed out in July 2010 to publicize a demonstration in response to a gay pride parade to be held in Derby that month. Two other leaflets, called "Turn or Burn" and "GAY (God Abhors You)," were also handed out.
Upon sentencing the men, Burgess said, "I am obviously keen to dissuade anyone from distributing this sort of material in the future."
Two other men were found not guilty on the same charges.
#2
One: Jail??? This country is shit.
Two: Doing a valuable service informing people of the horror that is Islam.
Three: Not sure what the difference between say advocating changing the law to add the death penalty for say cop-killing, and ANY other LEGAL change.
#3
Hang in there BP. I suspect the lid is about to blow off in the ME and elsewhere. Things may soon get very interesting for the "wonderful faith of Islam."
[An Nahar] Thousands rallied outside Egypt's defense ministry on Friday demanding the military rulers' ouster on the eve of a planned civil disobedience campaign marking Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... 's overthrow a year ago.
During the day, several groups of protesters converged near the ministry building, as the security forces blocked off access with barbed wire and tanks.
Military music blared out from behind the barrier, while the activists rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud such as: "The people want the execution of the Field Marshal" Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling military council since Mubarak's ouster.
The protesters plan new marches on the ministry on Saturday as a prelude to strikes and sit-ins marking the anniversary.
After the main weekly Mohammedan prayers earlier on Friday, protesters at the Fateh mosque in central Cairo began chanting, "Down with military rule," before setting off on their march.
"We are marching to the defense ministry, we want to remove the military," said prominent activist Asmaa Mahfouz, who taped an influential video more than a year ago calling on Egyptians to rise against Mubarak.
Young activists such as Mahfouz, whom the military had threatened to put on trial after she attacked the ruling generals in Internet postings, have turned their sights on the army a year after toppling Mubarak in an 18-day uprising.
The military, which promises to hand over power after a president is elected later this year, said it will deploy troops across the country, state media reported.
The threatened civil disobedience campaign has divided the country's political forces, with the Moslem Brüderbund -- the big winner in recent parliamentary elections -- coming out against it.
Students in several universities have called for strikes on Saturday, with secular youth groups who spearheaded the revolt against Mubarak joining in.
Tareq al-Khouly, an organizer of the April 6 youth group, said the plan was for a one-day strike, which could be extended.
In a joint statement on Friday, the groups called on Egyptians "to support these strikes in order to end the unjust rule and build a nation in which justice, freedom and dignity prevail."
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[An Nahar] Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin said late Thursday it has sacked two executives loosely linked to a failed plot to smuggle a son of ex-Libyan dictator Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... into Mexico.
The pair became the focus of reports after Mexican officials announced charges in an elaborate plan to bring 38-year-old Saadi Qadaffy and other relatives into Mexico on false papers last year at the height of pro-democracy protests in Libya.
SNC-Lavalin, which oversaw billions of dollars worth of projects in Libya including the construction of a prison, said in a statement that Riadh Ben Aissa, executive vice-president of the firm's construction arm, and vice-president in charge of finances Stephane Roy, were "no longer in the employ of the company, effective immediately."
It added "that all employees must comply with our code of ethics and business conduct."
Roy had been placed at the scene of the arrest in November in Mexico City of accused conspirator Gabriela Davila Huerta.
He was invited to Mexico to meet with Cynthia Vanier, a Canadian also charged for her alleged role in the plot, to discuss "the possibility of water treatment projects," company spokeswoman Leslie Quinton had told Agence La Belle France Presse.
However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... SNC-Lavalin employees later told public broadcaster CBC that Roy had no responsibilities in this area.
Roy, said Quinton, "was asked the purpose of his visit by the authorities" in Mexico, but was not charged.
SNC-Lavalin had previously hired Vanier for "a fact-finding mission in early summer 2011 in order to establish the situation in Libya with the intent of resuming operations there," Quinton said.
Mexican authorities charged Vanier, a Dane and two Mexicans on January 28 with attempted trafficking of undocumented people, organized crime and falsifying official documents. A fifth, runaway suspect has not been identified.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase... Aissa, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, had flown Saadi Qadaffy's bodyguard from Canada to Tunis where he and Aissa and Roy held a video conference with Saadi Qadaffy to discuss his movements.
The bodyguard then joined an armed convoy to escort Saadi Qadaffy to the border with Niger. After his father's death during fighting with pro-democracy rebels, Saadi Qadaffy decamped to Niger.
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[An Nahar] Two powerful car booms targeting security posts destroyed Syria's second city of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... on Friday, killing at least 25 people and wounding 175 as the Free Syrian Army blamed the regime for the attacks.
State television said "armed terrorist groups" carried out the attacks, the first in Aleppo since the outbreak of an uprising against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... almost a year ago.
It said a "jacket wallah in an exploding car" carried out one of the attacks on a cop shoppe, flattening a nearby food distribution center. The second bombing targeted an intelligence base.
The report showed mangled bodies in pools of blood in the street outside rows of shattered buildings, and deep craters in the ground.
Emergency workers held up body parts, including hands, feet and a torso which they placed in black trash bags.
"The number of deaders who have been transported to hospital in Aleppo have so far reached 25 dead and 175 maimed as a result of the terrorist attacks," the health ministry said, as quoted by state television. ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
A front man for the rebel Free Syrian Army blamed the regime of Assad for carrying out the two deadly car kabooms.
"This criminal regime is killing our children in Homs and carrying out kabooms in Aleppo to steer attention away from what it is doing in Homs," said Colonel Maher Nouaimi told Agence La Belle France Presse.
He was referring to a weeklong blitz by government forces on the central protest city of Homs, where at least 400 people have been killed, according to activists.
Later on Friday, Syria's government blamed the twin blasts on "armed terrorist gangs" backed by Arab and Western nations, in a letter sent to the U.N. secretary general, the U.N. Security Council, the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... and other organizations.
"Certain countries in the region are behind a propaganda campaign against Syria and are harboring armed bully boyz for so-called humanitarian reasons," the foreign ministry wrote in the letter, according to SANA state news agency.
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[An Nahar] The Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... is likely to launch a "Friends of Syria" coalition and appoint a special envoy to the country at a meeting this weekend, a Western diplomat said Friday.
The diplomat also said that Iranians were "on the ground" giving technical help to Syrian intelligence services, and warned that Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... 's regime had "many levels of violence" yet to use.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the diplomat said that at an Arab League meeting due this Sunday "it looks like they're preparing to appoint a special envoy, we encourage that and look forward to working with whoever they nominate.
"It looks like there may be a proposal for a Friends of Syria group or some such group to be decided on by the vaporous Arab League."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... has proposed creating a "friends of Syria" group after Moscow and China last weekend vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the crackdown on anti-regime protests.
The Western diplomat said the aim of the group would be to "intensify the pressure on the regime, to demonstrate international support for the Arab League's plan, and to intensify engagement with the Syrian opposition."
U.N. leader the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... on Wednesday meanwhile proposed a joint Arab League-United Nations ...what started out as a a diplomatic initiative, now trying to edge its way into legislative, judicial, and executive areas... observer mission, after the Arab League suspended its own observer group on January 28.
But the diplomat ruled out military action or arming the Syrian opposition to help them protect themselves against President Bashir al-Assad's forces.
"What we want to do is not to make the fighting worse but to shift the arena back to political action," the diplomat said.
"That brings you back to recommitting our support for the Arab League plan, if there's a special envoy appointed this weekend engaging with that person, getting behind the Friends of Syria group if it is launched."
The diplomat also played down suggestions that the international community could create a humanitarian corridor or no-fly zone, perhaps with Turkey's help, saying there were "extreme challenges".
Assad's regime still had the "un-coerced support of 20 to 25 percent of the people", the diplomat said.
The diplomat said there was no credible evidence of Iranian troops on Syrian soil, but added: "What we do see is quite a lot of Iranian technical support to the Syrian intelligence services, they've been getting quite a lot of practical support and advice.
"There are certainly Iranians on the ground in the country. But if by on the ground you mean are there Iranian officers or troops in Homs or wherever, no ... I haven't seen any credible reports about that."
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[An Nahar] Three Syrians were killed in an accidental explosion at a munitions depot in the Tripoli neighborhood of Abi Samra on Friday, a security source told Agence France Presse.
The men, all security guards, lit a fire to warm themselves near containers that stored munitions, without being aware of the contents, prompting an explosion at the privately run facility. Important safety tip here: Always be sure of the contents of the munitions depot you're guarding before lighting a fire. It may contain munitions.
"A major explosion ripped through an arms depot belonging to Ghaleb B. near Al-Jinan University in Tripoli," state-run National News Agency reported earlier.
For its part, MTV said the blast occurred in "a building owned by Ghaleb Bqasmati." It did not elaborate concerning his political affiliation.
"The sound of successive explosions was heard and the blast caused a major blaze in the site which soon spread to the university's campus," NNA said.
Voice of Lebanon Radio said several people were killed in the blast. It identified one of them as Daoud al-Samarji.
The radio station said three wounded people were rushed to nearby hospitals, noting that human remains were found in the location.
The blast increased tensions in the city, where clashes between pro- and anti-Syria gunmen erupted earlier in the day in the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.
Two Lebanese army soldiers and three civilians were wounded in the clashes.
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#1
A major explosion ripped through an arms depot belonging to Ghaleb B. near Al-Jinan University in Tripoli
[Emirates 24/7] Eurozone finance ministers on Thursday put off a decision on a new bailout to save Greece from bankruptcy, giving Athens less than a week to meet three conditions in return for the aid.
The demands were set during talks between Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and his 16 eurozone counterparts in Brussels, hours after rival Greek politicians struck a deal on austerity measures demanded by foreign lenders.
"Despite the important progress achieved over the last days, we did not have yet all necessary elements on the table to take decisions today," Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker told a news conference.
The eurozone will hold a new meeting next Wednesday if all conditions are met, said Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister.
Venizelos had urged his counterparts to endorse the debt relief deal, but the ministers first demanded that the Greek parliament approve the austerity measures agreed by the political parties when it convenes on Sunday.
The two other conditions are additional structural spending cuts of 325 million euros for 2012 and "strong political assurance" from coalition leaders that they will implement austerity measures, Juncker said.
Greek politicians reached a last-minute deal Thursday on new austerity measures demanded by international lenders in return of the 130-billion-euro (ê171 billion) bailout.
In parallel, Greece has negotiated a debt writedown with its private lenders, hoping to slash 100 billion euros from its 350-billion-euro debt mountain.
But after seeing Greece drag its feet on reforms for the past two years, finance ministers want proof that Athens will follow through on its promises this time, warning that April elections should not thwart the reforms.
"All these measures are important to ensure a smooth implementation of the progamme, also after the upcoming (Greek) general elections," Juncker said.
"These three elements that I mentioned need to be in place before we can take decisions," he added.
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#1
This reminds me of Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny.
"I dare you to cross this line", crosses, "I dare you to cross THIS line", ......continue until one falls off the cliff.
Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia used the organisation's red notice system to get a newspaper columnist arrested in Malaysia for insulting Mohammed.
Police in Kuala Lumpur said Hamza Kashgari, 23, was detained at the airport "following a request made to us by Interpol" on behalf of Saudi authorities.
Kashgari fled Saudi Arabia after posting a tweet on Mohammed's birthday that caused more than 30,000 responses and several death threats. The posting, later deleted, read: "I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you ... I will not pray for you."
More than 13,000 people joined a Facebook page called "The Saudi People Demand the Execution of Hamza Kashgari". Saudi clerics that he be charged with apostasy, an offense punishable by death. Reports suggest that Malaysia intends to return him to his native country.
Interpol, which has 190 member countries, has a series of colored notice systems that police forces around the world use to forward requests for help. Contacted at its headquarters in Lyon, France, the organisation has not yet commented on the Kashgari case.
In response to past criticisms of the red notice system, it has said, "There are safeguards in place. The subject of a red notice can challenge it through an independent body, the commission for the control of Interpol's files."
[An Nahar] Columns of Lebanese army tanks and personnel carriers deployed in the towns of Hnaider and Knaisseh on the northern and northeastern border with Syria in an effort to curb arms smuggling, eyewitnesses said.
TV footage showed the residents of the Wadi Khaled area welcoming the army's deployment.
The deployment is part of a campaign that the army started late last week "to preserve the security of citizens.
"The military's presence throughout the nation is a very natural phenomenon in addition to being a comprehensive popular and nationalistic demand," the army has said in a communique.
The army command also urged Lebanese politicians not to shove the military institution in the political bickering after March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... -led opposition officials accused it of deploying in northern areas bordering Syria at the behest of the Assad regime.
The officials have said the deployment was aimed at arresting gunnies allegedly belonging to the rebel Free Syrian Army which is fighting Syria's government troops.
But the army said in its communique that it is "keen on protecting the residents of northern areas against any attack on their lives or their properties no matter what the source was in parallel with its firm decision to prevent the spread of arms inside Lebanese territories."
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[Yemen Post] The Saada-based Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates.... group has kidnapped three Saudis while they were crossing the restive governorate of Aljawf located in the Saudi-Yemen borders, a Saudi newspaper, Alwatan said on Thursday.
The newspaper affirmed that the Saudis were interrupted in a checkpoint set by the Houthi group and were transferred to Saada governorate.
Alwatan quoted the Saudi ambassador to Yemen Ali Alhamda as saying that the Saudi embassy follows up the case of the Saudi nationals, pointing out that the Yemeni authorities exert efforts to release them.
Deputy governor of Al-Jawf Mansour Bin Abdan affirmed that the Saudis were held by Houth fighters after the entered the governorate, citing that they were taken to Saada.
Houthi rebels always arrange demonstrations in some Yemeni cities in which they raise slogans that slam the Saudi intervention in Yemen.
The Houthi group is known with its ties with Iran and the Yemeni authorities and political parties accuse the Houthis of adopting foreign agenda and receiving financial and military support from Tehran.
Iran supports the Houthis primarily because they belong to the Shiite sect and Iran is known with its policy of to helping, supporting and uniting the Shias all over the region
A recently-released Saudi intelligence report revealed that Iran has extension plans in Yemen with the aim of controlling the Yemeni political arena, the Saudi Al-Sharaq newspaper published the Arabic-written report last week.
The report said that Tehran supported creation of political parties loyal to Tehran and funds groups and media outlets to adopt Iran attitudes toward events in the region.
It affirmed that figures affiliated to the Iranian regime and Hizballah work to recruit politicians, journalists and media practitioners, particularly those who study abroad.
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[Emirates 24/7] China said on Thursday it held talks with a key Syrian opposition group this week, amid fierce criticism of its decision to block a UN resolution condemning a bloody crackdown in the Middle East country.
China and Russia drew international ire for blocking the UN Security Council resolution on Saturday, with Washington calling their rejection a "travesty" and another Syrian opposition group saying they had handed Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... 's regime a "licence to kill".
Chinese foreign ministry front man Liu Weimin said the visit by the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change (NCB) had "long been scheduled" and was not linked to China's controversial veto.
NCB representatives told Chinese officials they would like Beijing "to play a bigger role for an early resolution to the Syrian crisis," Liu said.
But the NCB, one of the main opposition factions in Syria, staunchly opposes foreign military intervention in the conflict -- which is in line with China's long-standing policy of non-interference in other nations' internal affairs.
The other main opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), is widely regarded as the most inclusive of Syria's opposition alliances and has previously called for foreign military intervention.
The SNC blasted China and Russia over their double veto and said they had given a "licence for the Syrian regime to kill without being held accountable."
Liu said Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun met members of the NCB to discuss "the situation" in Syria. He urged both sides of the conflict to "cease all violence... and avoid casualties among civilians".
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[An Nahar] Seven Iranian engineers kidnapped near Syria's embattled city of Homs in late December have been released, the official IRNA news agency reported Friday, quoting an informed source at the ministry of energy.
The seven were working at a power plant in Jandar, near Homs, the city in central Syria that has become one of the flashpoints in the uprising against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad. Despoiler of Deraa... The kidnapped men all work for the Iran Power Plant Projects Management Company, or Mapna, which is the Iranian energy ministry's biggest contractor.
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[Dawn] At least seven people were maimed on Friday in grenade kabooms after a public rally held by Pakistain's wildcard politician Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer... near the northwestern town of Swabi, police said.
"Unknown men threw two hand grenades on a police van and later opened fire after Khan's public meeting on the outskirts of Swabi, wounding seven people," local police official Muhammad Shah said.
Shah said Khan had already left the venue when the attack happened, adding that the injured included four coppers.
Another local police official confirmed the incident.
More than 4,800 people have been killed across Pakistain in attacks blamed on the Taliban and other krazed killer networks based in the tribal belt since government troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
The 59-year-old former cricketer Khan has ridden a wave of support buoyed by mass rallies and has openly backed the courts' pursuit of embattled President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... Speculation is widespread in Pakistain that Khan's party is being quietly groomed by the powerful military, which are believed to back moves in the courts to chip away at Zardari and Gilani's authority.
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[An Nahar] King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah ... Fifth out of 37 sons of King Abdulaziz to ascend to the throne. He is, after his half-brothers Bandar and Musa'id, the third eldest of the living sons of Abdul Aziz ibn Saud. Abdullah's mother is from the Rashid clan, longtime rivals of the Saud. He has 6 sons and 15 daughters and about $20 billion. His youngest son is just seven years old... said on Friday that world confidence in the United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... had been shaken after the world body failed to adopt a resolution against the Syrian regime's deadly crackdown on protests.
"We all used to take pride in the United Nations which used to bring us together and not divide us... but what took place does not augur well as world confidence in the United Nations has undoubtedly been shaken," King Abdullah said in a short televised speech.
"We are going through scary days and unfortunately what happened at the United Nations is absolutely regrettable," the Saudi king said.
King Abdullah was alluding to the blocking by Russia and China last Saturday of a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the crackdown by Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... 's regime.
"No matter how powerful, countries cannot rule the whole world," he said. "The world is ruled by brains, by justice, by morals and by fairness."
On Tuesday, the six Gulf states decided to expel Syrian envoys and withdraw their own over the "mass slaughter" of civilians.
Regional kingpin Soddy Arabia called on Monday for "critical measures" to be taken on Syria, warning of an impending "humanitarian disaster".
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#1
Yeah, I know mine was, your hugeness. But that was years ago...
#2
Might be interesting to bring the issue of their continued veto before the general assembly. Even if it isn't overturned, it would probably make them think a little.
#3
Might be interesting to bring the issue of their continued veto before the general assembly.
Might be interesting is right. The pseudo countries comprising the majority of UNGA been in need of a remainder of who is who and what is what for a very long time.
#4
Easy on the UNGA g(r)om. They are quite busy at the moment with backroom drafts of the soon to come strongly worded condemnation of the IDF 7 June Operation Opera-II attack on Iran.
#5
Easy on the UNGA g(r)om. They are quite busy at the moment with backroom drafts of the soon to come strongly worded condemnation of the IDF 7 June Operation Opera-II attack on Iran
Neh, that will be condemned by UNSC (USA voting "present").
#6
Doesn't he whom "The One" bows down to and adores understand that General Ban Ki-moon and his topmost United Nations aides are brainstorming how the U.N. could benefit from a unique opportunity to reshape the world?
There's no pleasing some people.
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02/11/2012 16:20
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#10
Crocodile tears to appease the Sunni Arab troglodytes population in Saudi Arabia. If Abdullah were truly concerned, he'd be funneling billions to the rebels for arms instead of complaining about the UN. King Fahd certainly spent huge sums keeping the Afghan mujahideen afloat during the Soviet occupation.
Argentina has accused Britain of deploying nuclear weapons near the Falkland Islands and "militarising" the south Atlantic. The Argentinian foreign minister, Héctor Timerman, lodged a formal protest at the United Nations on Friday and showed slides of British military bases in the region, saying they represented a threat to all south America.
Hector should get out of the sun...
He said Buenos Aires had intelligence that a Vanguard submarine was operating in the area. "Thus far the UK refuses to say whether it is true or not," he told a press conference in New York. "Are there nuclear weapons or are there not? The information Argentina has is that there are these nuclear weapons."
Must not be nuclear weapons there. If there were and you guys were sane, you'd be acting as if nuclear weapons were there...
Quoting John Lennon, he added: "Give peace a chance."
How about sanity?
Britain's ambassador to the UN, Mark Lyall Grant, said London did not comment on the disposition of nuclear weapons or submarines but that it was "manifestly absurd" to say it was militarising the region. Britain's defence posture remained unchanged, he said.
Timerman said such a nuclear-armed submarine would violate the Treaty of Tlatelolco for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean.
After receiving Timerman's protest the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, issued a statement expressing "concern" about the escalating row and reportedly offered to mediate.
Anything, anything to be relevant...
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#1
Britain's defence posture remained unchanged, he said.
Which is the usual vague governmentspeak for "we've always had fish in the water as the Belgrano found out."
#4
Looks like ECUADOR = PREZ CORREA is throwing that country's weight behind Christina ...
* WAFF > CORREA: "MALVINAS IS THE MOST BRUTAL [also most Brazen, Crude] LAG OF COLONIALISM", in South America. ARGENTINA'S PROBS IS ECUADOR'S PROBLEMS.
CORREA = Argentina has asked Ecuador to somehow find a way(s) to punish the UK for its Malvinas/
Falklands stance.
[An Nahar] Egypt's ruling military said on the eve of the first anniversary of the revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... that it will not bow to threats or plots against the state, official television reported.
"We will never yield to threats, and we will never give in to pressure," the much-criticized Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) said in a statement broadcast by the channel.
Ahead of a planned day of disobedience by activists, the SCAF also said the country was the target of conspiracies aiming to sow instability.
"We tell you quite frankly that our dear Egypt faces plans aimed at striking at the heart of our revolution," the statement said.
"We are facing plots against the nation aiming to undermine the institutions of the Egyptian state, and to topple the state itself so that chaos reigns."
Activists plan a day of strikes in universities and workplaces on Saturday to mark 12 months since they toppled Mubarak but left an increasingly unpopular military in charge.
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[An Nahar] Armed Bedouins kidnapped three South Korean tourists and their Egyptian guide in the Sinai Peninsula on Friday in the latest in a spate of abductions in the region, a security official said.
The trio -- three women -- were returning from the historic monastery of St Catherine to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh when they were seized and taken off in a pickup, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The kidnappers demanded the release of fellow rustics held by the authorities, the official added.
The kidnapping comes hot on the heels of the brief abduction of two American women and their Egyptian tour guide by armed Bedouin in the peninsula last week.
It also follows the brief seizure of 19 Egyptian coppers on Thursday after a primitive was killed in a shoot-out with police near the border with Israel.
Bedouins in North Sinai also briefly held 25 Chinese workers employed by a military-owned cement factory, to demand the release of Islamist relatives jugged over bombings in the peninsula's Red Sea resorts between 2004 and 2006.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2012
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#1
The South Koreans would scare me more than the Chinese government.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/11/2012 9:15
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#4
Why would anybody visit Egypt when it's in such an unstable state? Death wish?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/11/2012 12:15
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#5
The Korean women I know talk of being taught as girls to stand there and cry when boys (all of whom started martial arts training very young) were mean to them. I only know one taught otherwise, and she married the head of a martial arts school. I wouldn't expect female South Korean tourists to be any threat to anyone.
[Dawn] PITY the people of Pakistain. The government, the one the people look to in hope for some relief in their everyday lives, has been the victim of criticism and besieged by other institutions and political opponents. It is hard to imagine any government anywhere in the world being able to deliver while its very survival is so often under threat. But there's even worse in store for the people when the government they look to in hope offers only the narrowest of self-interested 'governance'. So it is that with a general election on the horizon, the core committee of the PPP met on Wednesday and decided to provide 'relief' to the people in the budget and to shake up the cabinet. The reasons are not hard to fathom. 'Relief' through budgetary measures is a thinly veiled reference to patronage politics while the budget shake-up will help placate allies in an unwieldy coalition. What constitutes sound and responsible policy and politics is hardly of concern.
Of course, the game of politics is such that all sides are responsible for the mess the country is in; four years of the PPP-led government can hardly be blamed for structural and systemic flaws that prevent the country and its people from fulfilling their potential. And yet, it is surely the case that the PPP has worsened the predicament for both itself and the people of Pakistain on the lam. Patronage politics as a tool of political survival cannot be wished away but the crudeness of it under the present government is unsettling. The focus on its base in rural Pakistain (whether through favourable agricultural pricing or social-protection schemes) and the virtual ignoring of the urban sector squeezed hard by job losses, inflation and power shortages has aggravated the economic downturn. And by recklessly adding to government borrowing without increasing revenues in any significant way, the entire population has been put at risk of an economic meltdown. If a cabinet shake-up is needed, it is to bring competent and motivated individuals in positions of power and influence. Pandering to coalition allies will only worsen the country's predicament.
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02/11/2012
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... and not very successfully. [An Nahar] It was meant to be the historic trial of a dictator brought to justice by his long-suffering people, but the case against Egypt's ex-president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... has verged on the farcical as prosecutors and lawyers struggle to rise to the occasion.
From the start of the trial on August 3, lawyers representing Mubarak's victims drained the proceedings of gravitas as they jostled for the chance to hold forth on live television.
One man who identified himself as a lawyer told the chief judge, Ahmed Refaat, that Mubarak had in fact died some years ago and the man lying on the stretcher in the caged dock was a double.
He demanded a DNA analysis to establish the defendant's true identity.
During one recess, another lawyer declared his candidacy for upcoming presidential elections, promising to legalize hashish and export it.
But more galling to relatives of the roughly 850 people killed during the uprising that ousted Mubarak a year ago has been the prosecution's patchwork evidence against the man who ruled with an iron fist for 30 years.
Mubarak, his former interior ministry and six security chiefs are accused of ordering the killings of protesters during the 18-day revolt that forced the president to resign on February 11.
He could -- theoretically -- hang if found guilty. The prosecution has called for the death sentence, telling the court that it had assembled a strong case against the former strongman.
Yet the prosecutors, huddled together behind a desk in the courtroom, appeared to wilt as they listened to their own witnesses exonerate Mubarak and his security aides of the murder charges.
One prosecution witness, a police officer, said he had been ordered to treat protesters as brothers. And several said they were ordered not to carry deadly weapons during the protests.
At the start of each hearing, Mubarak, ashen faced and apparently disgusted by the spectacle, was wheeled on a stretcher into the makeshift courtroom at a lecture hall in a police academy once named after him.
He shares the defendants' cage with his security chiefs and his two sons Alaa and Gamal, who face corruption charges along with their father.
Mubarak's resignation and subsequent disappearance from public view into a villa in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh placated Egyptians for only a while.
Soon demonstrations calling for him to be put on trial began to grow.
After the military, which took charge of the country following his ouster, clashed with protesters in Cairo during a sit-in in April, the public prosecutor ordered that Mubarak face questioning.
A few days later, the former president and his two sons were ordered jugged. And a month later they were referred to trial.
Almost every step of the way to the actual trial, the announcements appeared to coincide with growing unrest against the military, through whose ranks Mubarak had clambered to become president.
Last week, amid deadly protests against army rule, the caretaker government announced Mubarak would be moved from a military hospital on the outskirts of Cairo, where he is being treated for a heart condition, to a prison hospital.
The military, headed by Mubarak's long-time defense minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, has been eager to prove that it harbors no loyalty to its former master.
Putting the former strongman on trial would also help defuse growing criticism that the military was trying to delay justice.
Instead, lawyers who represent his alleged victims' families say the trial of Mubarak began too soon, before the prosecution could prepare a strong case against him.
Now, with the hearings drawing to an end a year after his overthrow, the decision to place Mubarak in the dock presents the ruling generals with a dilemma.
If Mubarak is convicted, his lawyers and legal experts believe there would be strong grounds for appeal. And his acquittal could further inflame the growing protest movement against military rule.
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02/11/2012
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Congress has approved the transfer of a second Coast Guard ship to the Philippines, an official said Friday. In the past, U.S. cooperation with the Philippines has mainly focused on counterterrorism, but it has recently expanded to building up the country's moribund navy.
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro said Friday that he will consider a Philippine request to have the warship turned over with as much military equipment as possible.
After talks with Philippine defense officials, he said, "I'm pleased that the congressional notification period for a second Coast Guard cutter expired this week, so that means Congress has now approved the transfer ... to the Philippines, which will further help Philippine security needs."
The ship the second such delivery since last May is just one of many defense projects that the U.S. is considering with the Philippines. That comes in addition to having American ships regularly visit and refuel in Philippine ports, rotating U.S. troops in the southern Philippines where Al Qaeda-linked Muslim terrorists militants are active and holding large-scale joint military exercises.
China views with worry the increased U.S. military involvement with the Philippines and balked at what it considers to be Washington's interference in the South China Sea dispute. The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan all have conflicting territorial claims over potentially gas and oil rich islands with China.
Shapiro said that U.S. policy takes no position on the claims by any of the parties, and that disputes should not be resolved through the use of force and that its defense cooperation with the Philippines is not directed against China any one country. But he also said that his government is committed to assisting the Philippines with its security needs and "fully intends to meet its obligations under the Mutual Defense Treaty."
Shapiro said, "Traditionally our focus was on helping the Philippines address the internal security threat. Given the progress that the Philippine forces and police have made addressing the threat, we're now at a point when both our governments believe we can transition our support towards helping them in maritime security issues."
[An Nahar] South Sudan must honor promises to investigate, arrest and prosecute those responsible for an kaboom of bloody ethnic violence in war-wracked Jonglei state, Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... said Friday.
"To stem this horrific cycle of violence, the organizers have to be held to account," said Daniel Bekele, HRW's Africa director, adding U.N. and African bodies should help for "speed and credibility's sake."
"The government has repeatedly promised to investigate the attacks and hold those responsible to account, but it has not made any apparent progress in investigations or arrests," the New York-based rights group added.
Grossly impoverished South Sudan, the world's newest nation which declared independence last July, is reeling from a wave of bloody ethnic violence and rebel attacks.
Last month a marauding column of up to 8,000 armed youths from the Lou Nuer people marched on the remote town of Pibor, home to the rival Murle, whom they blame for cattle raiding and have vowed to exterminate.
Scores of people are being treated for machete and gunshot wounds at clinics, and over 140,000 people have been affected by the attacks and reprisal raids.
U.N. peacekeepers mandated to protect civilians have been unable to reliably assess how many people were killed during the brutal attacks last month.
"Murle leaders reported that more than 3,000 had been killed, while U.N. monitors have been able to confirm just a fraction of that figure and have not released an estimate of total casualties," HRW added.
Eyewitness testimonies gathered by the aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF - Medecins Sans Frontieres) include reports of babies beaten against trees and women forced to watch their children have their throats slit.
HRW said a witness who visited an attack site days later had seen 12 dead bodies, including three women apparently "raped with blunt objects."
"This goes far beyond traditional cattle-rustling," Bekele said.
"The conflict is far more vicious, involving the deliberate targeting of villagers, including women and kiddies, for abuse and has taken on dangerous ethnic and political overtones."
U.N. peacekeepers and the government knew days in advance the militia column was advancing, but South Sudan's army failed to deploy in time.
That left forces in the area "too greatly outnumbered to intervene" HRW said, with government officials and U.N. peacekeepers telling civilians to flee for their lives ahead of the marauding force.
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[An Nahar] Pope Benedict XVI could be the target of an liquidation plot, according to a document published on Friday by the Il Fatto Quotidiano daily which the Vatican dismissed as "delirious".
The newspaper published a confidential document dated December 30, 2011 which was apparently sent by retired Colombian cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos to the Vatican warning of unspecified plans to kill the pope.
Castrillon Hoyos reportedly met the pope in January to discuss the threat.
The document from the Colombian cardinal says that the plot was mentioned by the archbishop of Palermo Paolo Romeo during a visit to China in November.
Romeo reportedly said that he had heard of a plot to assassinate the pope "within the next 12 months" but did not give further details.
Asked about the reported comments on Friday, however, Romeo said that the words attributed to him were "absolutely without basis."
"It is so outside of reality that it should not be given any consideration," Romeo was quoted by Italian news agency ANSA as saying.
Vatican front man Federico Lombardi told Agence La Belle France Presse: "It's clear that this document contains crazy considerations that are devoid of any reality."
Lombardi said he did not deny the existence of the document but added that its contents "should not be taken seriously at all."
According to other comments attributed to Romeo in the document, Benedict now has a very confrontational relationship with the Vatican's powerful Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone and is trying to replace him.
Experts said the release of the document could be part of a power struggle within the Vatican administration to try and force Bertone to leave.
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[Dawn] Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality problems... on Friday vowed that if his party comes to power it would "free the nation from American slavery and US drones would be shot down."
Addressing huge public rally in Swabi, he said those in power should be embarrassed about the ongoing drone attacks that violate Pakistain's illusory sovereignty and kill innocent people.
"PTI will not let the US attack Pakistain via drone strikes and will shoot their drones down."
Imran Khan also declared that "We wont beg, we wont take loans and will generate our own funds."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2012
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#1
I'm looking forward to the day you don't take funds but will generate your own. I hope I live that long, as long as it's pain-free.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/11/2012 8:47
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This guy reminds me of a paler, middle aged Qaddafi.
[An Nahar] The Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... is likely to appoint a special envoy to Syria at a meeting this weekend, a Western diplomat in London said on Friday.
Also on Friday, the opposition Syrian National Council, an umbrella body grouping parties in revolt against Bashir al-Assad's regime, said it expects to be recognized within days by several Arab states.
Currently meeting in Qatar under its Gay Paree-based leader Burhan Ghalioun, the SNC is hopeful that it will win a diplomatic breakthrough on Sunday at meetings of the vaporous Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council in Cairo.
"There should be an official recognition of the SNC by several Gulf countries," said Imad Hussari, a front man for the group and leader of the "Local Coordination Committees" which mobilizes protests inside Syria.
Another SNC figure, Istanbul-based Khaled Khoja, confirmed he expects recognition "by several Arab states in the coming days."
Currently, only Libya's post-revolutionary interim government recognizes the SNC as its sole legitimate Syrian interlocutor, but the Gulf states decided on Monday to expel Syrian ambassadors from their capitals.
The SNC groups parties from different backgrounds, including Islamists from the Moslem Brüderbund and liberal nationalists. Officials said it will meet in Cairo or Istanbul on February 15 to choose a new chairman.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2012
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#1
And if that don't work, they'll appoint a Very Special Envoy...
[Yemen Post] The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Yemeni authorities to end an ongoing siege at the offices of a daily newspaper and ensure the protection of journalists and their equipment. Armed men last week surrounded the offices of two Yemeni newspapers, one of which remains under attack, according to news reports.
On February 2, the Sana'a office of the state-run daily Al-Thawra was surrounded by hundreds of gunnies loyal to outgoing President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... and backed by security officials, news outlets reported. The men, including pro-regime journalists, were angered by the paper's decision to publish without Saleh's picture on the front page -- a first in decades -- the day before. They encircled the building and forced the paper to print an issue with Saleh's image on Friday, according to the reports. Al-Thawra's office and staff remain surrounded, the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate and several local news outlets reported. The newspaper has not published since Friday.
"The government needs to direct security forces to end the siege of Al-Thawra's offices immediately," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "The paper's journalists must be allowed to resume their work without fearing for their lives."
A similar attack occurred at the state-run daily Al-Gomhoriah in Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city. The newspaper's office was surrounded by a group of gunnies loyal to Saleh on Friday and Saturday. The group prevented the paper from printing, claiming that it had turned into a mouthpiece of the opposition and was not accurately depicting news about Saleh, according to news reports. The newspaper resumed printing on Sunday with an image of Saleh on the front page, news reports said.
CPJ has documented a stream of attacks against journalists in Yemen since political unrest erupted last year, including deaths, physical assaults, detentions, harassments, and attacks on news outlets.
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Al-Iraqiya Bloc's spokesman denied the news of vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi travelling to Turkey, stressing he is present in Sulaimaniya province, Kurdistan. Spokesman Haidar al-Mulla told Aswat al-Iraq that the news published yesterday on "the escape of Hashimi is baseless".
He pointed out that there agendas that want to "complicate the political scene and put hindrances before the national conference".
Mulla confirmed the intention of his bloc to proceed in convening the national conference to find real solutions to the crises that accumulated for the last few years.
On Thursday, news media, close to the Kurdish Alliance, reported that Hashimi left by a special plane to Turkey and he is not available in Sulaimaniya. TV Channel Anwar 2 reported that Hashimi fled to Turkey and the Turks asked him to leave Arbil after continued pressures on the Kurdish government to hand him over to Baghdad.
On 17 December last, an arrest warrant was issued against Hashimi and some of his bodyguards for "terrorism" allegations.
Shiite political circles rejected tackling Hashimi's case in the national conference, due in the coming days, where it is regarded as legal question, not political.
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02/11/2012
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[Dawn] Security forces seized huge quantity of arms and ammunition during a raid on a government school here on Thursday.
Officials said that security forces raided a government high school and the adjacent living quarters of teachers after they were informed by an tossed in the calaboose krazed killer about presence of arms there.
They said that different types of weapons, mortar shells, suicide jackets, mines and various types of explosives were recovered from some of the school rooms and teachers' quarters. Later forces defused at least three unexploded bombs at a safer place.
Security forces had tossed in the calaboose eight suspected krazed killers, including the vice principal of the school, on February 2 from the same vicinity.
Officials in Landi Kotal claimed to have effectively smashed the local network of krazed killers, involved in a number of subversive activities and kidnappings for ransom.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2012
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#1
Curriculum must be different there - our schools can't even get sodium for Chem Lab.
Iran has started manufacturing "Jamaran 2" destroyer, Iran's Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said at a press conference, IRINN reported. Sayyari added that the "Jamaran 2" destroyer is being manufactured domestically under supervision of Iranian specialists.
He also said the new destroyer model will be more advanced than the first "Jamaran" destroyer launched in the Persian Gulf waters in February 2010.
First Jamaran destroyer was also domestically-manufactured, and it completed its first international mission on December 18, after conducting counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.
The 1,420-ton destroyer,
So it's really a corvette...
which is part of the 16th fleet of Iranian warships, is equipped with modern radars and electronic warfare capabilities. Jamaran destroyer has a top speed of up to 30 knots and a helipad. The destroyer features highly advanced anti-aircraft, anti-surface- and anti-subsurface systems. The vessel has also been equipped with torpedoes and naval cannons.
Iranian Navy officials have earlier stated that the production of five other naval destroyers similar and even more advanced than the Jarmaran-class destroyers are on Navy's agenda.
Admiral Habibollah Sayyari also said two "Ghadir" midget submarines were handed over to the Iranian Navy. "Ghadir" submarines were built by Iran specifically for being sunk cruising within the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/11/2012
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Given the possible range of size(s) for any budding Iran NucWeaps Arsenal, IMO Iran's "offensive" aces during a Conventional or "Limited Nuclear"? US-Iran war still comes down to its external MilTerr Groups = Proxies, the UNO = UNSC, + BFFS Russia-China [Pakistan?] = Nuke Brinkmanship.
DEFENSIVELY, 1990's MULLAHS > SHORT OF MUTUALLY DESTRUCTIVE NUKE WAR, NLT AN MIL GROUND INVASION + OCCUPATION OF IRAN PROPER WILL STOP ISLAMIST/
REVOLUT IRAN FROM DOING FROM ISLAMIST/REVOL IRAN WANTS TO DO. The Mullahs have no qualms about resorting to MAD US-Iran, Global NUke War; nor detonating Nukes-WMDS in Iran's own Cities + Towns, etc. to defeat a wily dastardly Infidel Zionist-Crusader invasion force.
Once again, IRAN GETS ITS NUKES, OR ELSE IRAN GETS INVADED.
Pesky Persians are Pesky - ask the Greeks, Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Mongols, + Ottomans, etc.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/11/2012
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I find it comforting that the RB DS&TP was available even then to our enlightened ladies
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/11/2012 0:12
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#2
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Tina Louise aka Ginger Grant in "Gilligan's Island (TV Series 19641967)" aka Helen Crane in "Day of the Outlaw (1959)" aka Charmaine Wimperis in "The Stepford Wives (1975)" aka Dr. Immer Mehr in "The Seventh Floor (1967)" aka Donna Lacey in "Mean Dog Blues (1978)" aka Helen Bricker in "The Happy Ending (1969)" aka Sappho in "The Warrior Empress (1960)" (age 78)
Pakistain's top court threw out a last-ditch appeal from embattled Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... on Friday, ordering him to appear in court on Monday to face indictment for contempt.
The Supreme Court upheld a February 2 order for Gilani to appear for the framing of contempt charges over the government's two-year refusal to ask Swiss authorities to re-open graft cases against President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... If convicted, Gilani faces up to six months in jail and being disqualified from office in a case that many observers say will likely build pressure on the government to force early elections within months.
"The appeal is dismissed," said chief justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry.
Zardari and his late wife, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... , were suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to launder about $12 million in alleged bribes paid by companies seeking customs inspection contracts in Pakistain in the 1990s.
On Thursday, Chaudhry said the court would only drop the summons if Gilani obeyed its order of writing to the Swiss authorities, asking them to re-open the cases that date back more than two years.
The judge on Friday again said he wanted a clear answer on whether the prime minister would write the letter, telling his lawyer: "We are ready to give you 10 minutes to talk to the prime minister on the phone and let us know."
"I have no mandate to do that," replied Gilani's lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan.
Speaking to news hounds outside the court, Ahsan confirmed that the prime minister would now appear in court on Monday.
The Swiss shelved the cases in 2008, when Zardari became head of state, and a prosecutor in Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... has said it will be impossible to re-open them as long as he remains head of state and is immune from prosecution.
Gilani insists that Zardari has full immunity.
Members of the government accuse judges of over-stepping their reach and of trying to bring down the prime minister and president, a year before the administration would become the first in Pakistain to complete an elected term.
"No one wants unrest. We are exercising restraint," Chaudhry told the court.
"Tell the prime minister this is not in the interests of the country (to defy the court order)," he told Ahsan.
The Pak court overturned in December 2009 a two-year political amnesty that had frozen the allegations against Zardari and other politicians.
Gilani himself appeared before the Supreme Court on January 19, citing Zardari's immunity as explanation for his refusal to obey the court's order.
Legal experts say that Gilani can only avoid being charged by lodging a successful appeal, apologizing or promising to write to the Swiss.
The president, so tainted by corruption allegations that his nickname is "Mr 10 Percent", has already spent 11 years in jail on charges ranging from corruption to murder.
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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.
Five Afghan policemen have been killed by a roadside bomb in central Uruzgan province, officials say. They say another person - reportedly a civilian - was injured when the bomb hit a police patrol vehicle. 
Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, the colorful and controversial spokesman for the city after the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005, is under investigation by federal authorities, a source with direct knowledge of the probe said.
Gunmen assassinated an army general in Damascus on Saturday in the first killing of a high ranking military officer in the Syrian capital since the uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in March, the state-run news agency said.
[An Nahar] Shooting broke out on Friday in the northern city of Tripoli as pro- and anti-Syria 
[Dawn] RECENT setbacks have clearly failed to result in any soul-searching within Pakistain's security agencies. A series of stories confirm that they continue to operate with stunning impunity despite questions about their conduct. On Tuesday, four 
Aafia Siddiqui.
[An Nahar] Former prime minister 
Except for a few disposable point-and-shoots, Kodak is exiting the camera business.
Mahmoud 
Sex scandals have rocked the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) in recent months, with several faculty and staff members accused of preying upon the vulnerable female students or juniors.
IIUI sources said the professor's escapades came to an end after he landed his last victim on January 20, a Friday. The university asked the victim to file a formal complaint for initiating action against the accused but her family refused.
[An Nahar] Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said that his country is ready for any act of provocation by Hizbullah over the deepening crisis in Syria.
Thousands rallied in the Yemeni capital on Friday to back a single-candidate presidential election planned for later this month that has sparked protests in the south, an Agence 
s. Only 41.8 per cent could read a sentence in Urdu or their mother tongue (English is a far cry). Far fewer could read a story," revealed the nuclear physicist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy in his column yesterday, quoting the recently released Annual Status of Education Report.
Three Muslim men were jailed in Britain on Friday for distributing leaflets calling for homosexuals to be executed.
[An Nahar] Thousands rallied outside Egypt's defense ministry on Friday demanding the military rulers' ouster on the eve of a planned civil disobedience campaign marking 
Canadian engineering firm SNC-Lavalin said late Thursday it has sacked two executives loosely linked to a failed plot to smuggle a son of ex-Libyan dictator 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
[An Nahar] Three Syrians were killed in an accidental explosion at a munitions depot in the Tripoli neighborhood of Abi Samra on Friday, a security source told Agence France Presse.
Eurozone finance ministers on Thursday put off a decision on a new bailout to save Greece from bankruptcy, giving Athens less than a week to meet three conditions in return for the aid.
[Yemen Post] The Saada-based 
Seven Iranian engineers kidnapped near Syria's embattled city of Homs in late December have been released, the official IRNA news agency reported Friday, quoting an informed source at the ministry of energy.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
King of the Arabians, Sheikh of the Burning Sands Abdullah
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Egypt's ruling military said on the eve of the first anniversary of the revolt that toppled 
Armed Bedouins kidnapped three South Korean tourists and their Egyptian guide in the Sinai Peninsula on Friday in the latest in a spate of abductions in the region, a security official said.
[An Nahar] It was meant to be the historic trial of a dictator brought to justice by his long-suffering people, but the case against Egypt's ex-president 
[An Nahar] Pope Benedict XVI could be the target of an 
[An Nahar] The 
Security forces seized huge quantity of arms and ammunition during a raid on a government school here on Thursday.
Pakistain's top court threw out a last-ditch appeal from embattled Prime Minister 
The Swiss shelved the cases in 2008, when Zardari became head of state, and a prosecutor in 
