Fascinating prediction of Francois Hollande's electoral demise today by Patrick Buisson, Nicolas Sarkzoy's public opinion eminence grise.
Nicknamed "the guru", PBuisson, 62, is the man who advised Sarkozy to woo National Front voters in 2007 on a national identity ticket. His spectacular success in doing so led Sarkozy to declare "This is the man who won me the election" when he handed him the Légion d'Honneur for a job well done.
The former head of a far-Right journal also famously predicted the precise percentage of French who would vote "non" in the 2005 referendum on the European constitutional treaty. "If I am wrong, you will never hear of me again," he is said to have told Sarko, who, wowed by his prescience, took him on the next day.
The South African government plans to have alternatives to Iranian oil in place by the end of May as western powers tighten sanctions against the Islamic republic, the countrys energy minister said on Tuesday.
South Africa, Africas largest economy, relies on Iran for about 29 per cent of its oil imports, according to the US Energy Information Administration. It was the only big customer of Iranian crude not to have revealed that it was seeking alternative supplies.
I would be lying if I said that the United States is putting pressure on us to cut Iran imports . . . but we are considering different avenues now, Elizabeth Dipuo Peters, South Africas energy minister, told Reuters. We have given ourselves till the end of May to come up with alternatives, and we are engaging in talks with everyone, including Iran.
Ms Dipuo Peters said she had recently visited Tehran to discuss the issue. South Africas oil consumption is estimated to be slightly over 550,000 barrels per day, of which approximately 370,000 b/d is imported, the EIA says.
The US and Europe have imposed sanctions on Tehrans crude exports amid concerns that Iran is attempting to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful civilian use.
State media report that an Egyptian court has sentenced two Israeli Arabs and a Ukrainian to life imprisonment after convicting them of smuggling a machine gun and ammunition across the Israeli border into Egypt.
The three were also fined around $10,000 each.
The Ukrainian and one of the Israelis were arrested in November; the third suspect was tried in absentia.
Prosecutors said the Ukrainian, the manager of a tourism company in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, had ordered the weapon from one of the Israeli defendants.
The Ukrainian reportedly claimed he had ordered the weapon for personal protection.
Following South Carolina and the RNC, the Florida state legislature just passed a resolution calling for a one-state solution. Specifically, the resolution disavows that Israel is "an occupier of the lands of others", instead affirming its right to jurisdiction over the West Bank and Gaza and proclaiming "that peace can be afforded the region only through a whole and united Israel governed under one law for all people." Which is another way of saying one-stateism.
The anti-Zionists at Mondoweiss are crowing, and why shouldn't they? This rash of one-state support is easily the highest-profile domestic victory they've ever seen. The ADL and AJC, among others, have denounced one-stateism as inherently anti-Israel. But it is rapidly becoming mainstream, with these resolutions leading the charge.
What might be most remarkable, though, is that essentially all the main players are effectively admitting that they simply weren't thinking too hard about Israel's best interests. Responding to the objection that he was forwarding a one-state agenda, Alan Clemmons (author of the South Carolina resolution) stated that "This document was drafted over a period of hours, not months, in an exercise of exorcising my own concerns with President Obama over advocating that Israel abandon Judea, Samaria, and East Jerusalem." He continued: "this resolution was passed as a symbol and it truly is little more than a symbol. I dont pretend to know what the best answer is with respect to the voting issue in Judea and Samaria, and in Israel for that matter." A Florida Democratic co-sponsor conceded that "I did not focus on [the one-state call" and ventured that "If its anything other than support for the State of Israel, then I would say shame on us for signing on."
Officials and witnesses say a gang of robbers attacked a village in southern Egypt after being surprised by police while trying to steal railroad tracks for scrap metal.
Residents of Sanaa in Kharga oasis 520 kilometers (320 miles) south of Cairo say the gang exchanged fire with police on Monday and took villagers as hostages. One villager was killed during the fighting.
The gang then holed up on a mountaintop where they are now besieged by police, security officials said Tuesday. They spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
Much of Egypt has experienced a security vacuum since 2011's mass uprising against longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.
The clash took place on the same day as a family vendetta in northern Cairo left five dead.
In Al-Qusayr, a town in the Syrian region of Homs near the Lebanese border, the only way to escape the bombardment by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad is to go underground. It is in the cellars and basements where you can find different members of the rebel Syrian Liberation Army (SLA). Made up mainly of deserters from the national army, the SLA is trying to organise their counter-attack in the rebel stronghold of Homs.
But in recent days, the Syrian regime has increased its pressure on the city. "We're running out of weapons and ammunition" an SLA soldier admits. "If Bashar al-Assad launched an offensive, we could not contain it," he said.
The soldier anxiously awaits the next attack by Assads forces amid a growing feeling of having been abandoned by the international community.
Cross-border fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza continued for a fourth day on Monday, with the Palestinian death toll rising from Israeli airstrikes and the militants rockets reaching farther into Israel.
Yet there was no sign that either Israel or Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, wanted an all-out confrontation. Early Tuesday, news reports citing unnamed Egyptian officials said that Egypt had mediated a cease-fire. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian officials confirmed the reports, issued by The Associated Press and Reuters.
The prospects of an imminent showdown, like the one that led to Israels three-week offensive in the winter of 2008-9, seemed unlikely. Some of the old rules of the conflict have changed since then, and new domestic and regional factors have emerged.
For Israel, the success of its recently deployed Iron Dome antirocket missile system has had an impact. Since the hostilities began on Friday, the missile batteries have managed to intercept 54 of the nearly 70 Palestinian rockets that were aimed at the major cities of the south, the Israeli military said.
The prevention of mass casualties and damage has reduced pressure on the countrys leaders to embark on a major military operation in Gaza and given them more time to weigh their options, according to Israeli officials and experts.
There is a serious strategic change here, Dan Meridor, the minister of intelligence and atomic energy, told Israel Radio on Monday. Years ago, it was not simple to incorporate into Israeli military doctrine the great importance of defense.
The regional changes of the past year are also playing a role in the calculations of both Israel and the Islamic groups.
U.S. drone aircraft struck twice in Pakistan's unruly tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 15 suspected militants, including two senior militant commanders, security and intelligence officials said.
In the first strike, a drone fired missiles at a vehicle in the Birmal area of the South Waziristan tribal region, killing eight.
Among the dead were Shams Ullah and Amir Hamza, senior commanders of a pro-government militant faction led by Maulvi Nazir, one of the most influential militant leaders in the region.
Seven suspected militants were killed in the second attack later in the day, when a drone fired missiles at a vehicle in the Sara Khawra area, which straddles the border between North Waziristan and South Waziristan.
Several militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda, operate in Pakistan's semi-autonomous border regions, taking advantage of a porous border with Afghanistan to conduct cross-border attacks or plot violence elsewhere.
The usually unacknowledged Central Intelligence Agency's drone programme, an important element of the U.S. counter-terrorism strategy in the region, appeared to have been halted after a NATO cross-border air attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last November, sparking fury in Pakistan.
A city of about 150k population about 100 mi north of Homs (which was taken last week) and about 50 mi south of Turkish border
The Syrian army recaptured the northern rebel stronghold of Idlib near the Turkish border, a major base that military defectors had held for months, a pro-government newspaper and an activist group reported Tuesday. An international rights group, meanwhile, said the regime was mining the border with Turkey.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/13/2012
12:21 ||
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EXCLUSIVE: O'KEEFE VIDEO EXPOSES VOTER FRAUD-FRIENDLY POLICIES IN VERMONT
James O'Keefe's Project Veritas has released a new video exposing just how easy it is to commit voter fraud in Vermont.
See video at link.
The video, a sequel to O'Keefe's "Primary of the Living Dead" in New Hampshire, shows a Veritas agent entering various voting places around the state of Vermont, giving a different name each time. Each time, he is given a ballot without showing an ID, to his disbelief.
In the video, the agent repeatedly requests (but does not take) a Republican primary ballot. As he explained to Breitbart.com: "We wanted to remind viewers this is not a partisan issue. This is a situation wherein anyone -- Republican or Democrat -- can exploit the system."
The new video follows in the wake of a highly-politicized media attack on Mr. O'Keefe after his exposure of voter fraud in New Hampshire. Those videos resulted in calls from the left for O'Keefe's arrest. However, the videos soon resulted in the New Hampshire State Senate passing a new bill requiring voter ID.
O'Keefe's new video from Vermont could not be more timely, coming the day after the U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights division blocked a Texas photo ID requirement for voters--to the applause of the American Civil Liberties Union, which claimed that the law was "discriminatory" against "Latinos, African-Americans, elderly citizens, and others."
#1
Maybe they should change the law so you don't need to show any proof of earnings to "pay" income taxes, you just write in what you want in the earnings section.
#3
The timing is good since AG Holder has been making noises about the illegality of requiring voters to show I.D.
Posted by: Shugum Spawn of the Slytherins9773 ||
03/13/2012 17:59
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#4
"ACLU ... claimed that the Law was discriminatory ..." > IOW, aka SECULAR "SHARIA".
All Radicla Islam + JIahd Boyz neeed is a good super-PC scalpel lawyer whom can argue before US Courts that iff non-Muslim Minorities can earn LEGAL "SPECIAL FAVORS/TREATMENT" WIDIN THE LAW + SOCIETY - YOU KNOW, "UNIVERSALITY" - WHY NOT FOR ANTI/NON-SECULAR, LEGAL ISLAMIC SHARIA IN THE US???
TOO MANY PRE-EXISTING LEGAL PRECEDENTS TO DENY SHARIA TO MUSLIMS IN THE US.
And Radical Islam + Jihadists cannot be blamed because US Law did it to US Law, i.e. was detrimental unto itself.
an actual NYTimes opinion piece that goes against the Obama narrative... I've found that starting a conversation with lefties on this general subject makes them very uncomfortable, especially when I note that the Bush admin prosecuted Enron guys.
It's sure starting to look as if Jon Corzine is going to get away with it...Let's not mince words here. These executives committed a crime. Virtually every knowing violation of the Commodities Exchange Act is a crime, but taking money from segregated customer accounts is at the top of the list. And for good reason...I understand that bringing complex financial cases in front of a jury is not easy. But what prosecutors don't seem to understand is that the country needs them to bring these cases. When they took a pass on Angelo Mozilo, the former chairman and chief executive of Countrywide, and Richard Fuld, who was chief executive of Lehman Brothers when it went bankrupt, they sent a signal that the highly paid executives who gave us the financial crisis would not be held to account.
A failure to prosecute anyone at MF Global would be, if anything, even worse. It would mean that executives at a broker-dealer can indeed steal customer money and get away with it -- so long as it was "unintentional." And it would only deepen the cynicism so many people feel about government. I've heard it suggested, for instance, that the Justice Department won't prosecute Corzine because it would hurt President Obama. (Corzine, the former governor of New Jersey, had been a big fund-raiser for the president.) I don't happen to subscribe to that theory, but I certainly understand why others might.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/13/2012
11:37 ||
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"The people killed are around 223. 150 are injured," said Jonglei state governor Kuol Manyang. "There are about 300 women and children who are thought to have been abducted."
Manyang said around 100,000 cows were stolen on Friday and Saturday when cattle raiders from the Murle community in Jonglei state attacked the ethnic Lou Nuer living in neighbouring Upper Nile state.
Manyang said the attacks in and around Romyieri, in Nasir territory, started at dawn on Friday.
The latest attacks appear to be reprisals for a wave of ethnic violence and cattle raids in the same area in January when an 8,000-strong militia of Lou Nuer youths joined by some Dinka marched on Pibor county, razing whole Murle villages and massacring people in their wake.
The UN has yet to release a death toll for that wave of attacks and a speedily produced figure from the commissioner of Pibor county of 3,000 dead remains unverified.
#1
Were there signs of black helicopters and South Park characters at the cattle site? Was there a green rep there counting methane particles in the air?
Summary:
A proposed $1 billion water supply project, including a 280-mile pipeline, which is aimed at providing running water for Gallup, N.M., and Navajos was fast-tracked by President Barack Obama. The Navajos live on a 27,000-square-mile reservation where 40% of residents have no running water.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/13/2012
10:13 ||
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#1
It would appear that California's "BATTLE OF THE DAMS" vee POTUS Bammer is spreading outside the state.
D *** NG IT, I KNOW FOR A FACT THE "WATER WAR" WAS SUPPOSED TO BE CHINA-VS-INDIA-VS-PAKISTAN-VS-SEASIA!?
The UN special rapper rapporteur on torture has formally accused the US government of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment towards Bradley Manning, the US soldier who was held in solitary confinement for almost a year on suspicion of being the WikiLeaks source.
Juan Mendez has completed a 14-month investigation into the treatment of Manning since the soldier's arrest at a US military base in May 2010. He concludes that the US military was at least culpable of cruel and inhumane treatment in keeping Manning locked up alone for 23 hours a day over an 11-month period in conditions that he also found might have constituted torture.
He was locked up in solitary to keep him from passing messages to others, which he had said he was going to do.
"The special rapporteur concludes that imposing seriously punitive conditions of detention on someone who has not been found guilty of any crime is a violation of his right to physical and psychological integrity as well as of his presumption of innocence," Mendez writes.
Isn't there someone in solitary in Chechnya or Tehran you could focus on? No?
The findings of cruel and inhuman treatment are published as an addendum to the special rapporteur's report to the UN general assembly on the promotion and protection of human rights. They are likely to reignite criticism of the US government's harsh treatment of Manning ahead of his court martial later this year.
Manning, 24, was arrested on May 29 2010 at the Forward Operating Base Hammer outside Baghdad, where he was working as an intelligence analyst. Manning has been charged with 22 counts, including aiding the enemy, relating to the leaking a massive trove of state secrets to the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
Mendez, who runs the UN office that investigates incidents of alleged torture around the world, told the Guardian: "I conclude that the 11 months under conditions of solitary confinement (regardless of the name given to his regime by the prison authorities) constitutes at a minimum cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of article 16 of the convention against torture. If the effects in regards to pain and suffering inflicted on Manning were more severe, they could constitute torture."
Manning was initially held for almost three months at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, and then transferred in July 2010 to the Marine corps base at Quantico in Virginia. He was held there for another eight months in conditions that aroused widespread condemnation, including being held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day and being made to strip naked at night.
Because he had threatened to hang himself with his jammies.
In his opening letter to the US government on December 30 2010, Mendez said that the prolonged period of isolated confinment was believed to have been imposed "in an effort to coerce him into 'cooperation' with the authorities, allegedly for the purpose of persuading him to implicate others."
Also keep him from offing himself, but the special rapper somehow never mentions that, even though it was made clear and public at the time.
The US mission to the UN in Geneva responded to Mendez on January 27 2011. It said that the US government "is committed to protecting human rights in our country and abroad, and we value the work of the special rapporteur".
Even when we laugh behind his back...
In a later letter, dated May 19 2011, the Pentagon's legal counsel told Mendez that it was satisfied that Manning's treatment at Quantico had been fine. "Though Private Manning was classified as a maximum custody detainee at Quantico, he occupied the very same type of single-occupancy cell that all other pretrial detainees occupied."
But the Pentagon's arguments did not impress the special rapporteur.
No, of course not...
He stressed in his final conclusions that "solitary confinement is a harsh measure which may cause serious psychological and physiological adverse effects on individuals regardless of their specific conditions."
The key word here is 'may'...
Moreover, "[d]epending on the specific reason for its application, conditions, length, effects and other circumstances, solitary confinement can amount to a breach of article seven of the international covenant on civil and political rights, and to an act defined in article one or article 16 of the convention against torture."
Depending on the 'specific reason'? Suppose we had let Mr. Manning keep his jambes and he indeed contrived to hang himself? Who would believe the jailers, the warden and the government that it was a suicide?
He also said that the US government had tried to justify Manning's solitary confinement by calling it "prevention of harm watch". Yet the military had offered no details as to what actual harm was being prevented.
Suicide. What more detail do you need?
Mendez told the Guardian that he could not reach a definitive conclusion on whether Manning had been tortured because he has consistently been denied permission by the US military to interview the prisoner under acceptable circumstances.
Ah, 'acceptable circumstances': a café in Paris?
The Pentagon has refused to allow Mendez to see Manning in private, insisting that all conversations must be monitored. "You should have no expectation of privacy in your communications with Private Manning," the Pentagon wrote.
Because we don't want Manning passing messages.
The lack of privacy is a violation of human rights procedures, the UN says, and considered unacceptable by the UN special rapporteur.
So I guess you won't be talking to him.
Manning's travails in solitary confinement came to an end on April 20 2011 when he was transferred from Quantico to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, where he was held in more open conditions. He is currently being held in a facility in Virginia so that he can make frequent pre-trial appearances at Fort Meade in Maryland ahead of his eventual court martial.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2012
09:07 ||
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This little twerp should have been tried by a court martial a year ago and shot...why does it take so long to get a guy in front of a Colonel these days?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/13/2012 10:17
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#8
I have a feeling that Private Manning's "big adventure" is just beginning. Once in the caring arms of the administrative NCOs at Ft. Leavenworth, wearing his newly ironed, brightly colored jumpsuit, it will be like he is back in basic training again. Sort of.
#10
Suppose the fellow who shot the 16 Afghanis went through the exact same treatment that Bradley Manning did - several months in solitary confinement, etc.
I wonder if the UN special rapper would issue a special report on his treatment being inhumane and torture.
I didn't think so.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/13/2012 19:22
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#1
"Sheriff deputies have been working the case since the four suspects pulled the stint early Sunday morning and have identified Jon Michael Garcia of Sierra Vista as one of the suspects.
"The sheriff's office warns that Jon Michael Garcia has violent tendencies.
#2
Sierra Vista: the most repressed town I've ever visited/lived in. It exists because of Ft. Huachuca. Hard by the international border and a few paces down the road from Hippyville Bisbee, Arizona. Retired military settle there and (aided by an anxious/willing police dept.) pretend they are living in their native Iowas. Madness squared. A positive point is that most of the retirees carry...and I don't mean machetes.
#3
It's the Ramsey Canyon bird sancuary Borgboy. You never know when a flock of those old Archaeopteryx will swoop down on ya and take a bite. Having a pistol along is a very prudent measure.
#2
I live here on the southwest side, and am one of two gringo families on my block and am treated as a foreigner. Unless you can afford to live in the wealthy foothills area - learn Spanish before you move here.
#2
The so-called "JAPAN/EGYPT" MODELS for Iran is potent because it all but absolutely denies any rationale or premise for external milstrike or ground invasion of Iran - NO IRAN NUKES PER SE, NO NEED FOR US, ISRAELI UNILATERAL OR JOINT ATTACK, MAJOR WAR, OR EVEN REFERRAL TO THE UNO.
IMO safe to say that Iran has the ball as per the above scope.
And Iran has already NUKE-ARMED PAKISTAN ...
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PAKISTAN NUCLEAR ARSENAL TO DOUBLE TO 250-350 IN 5-10 YEARS [post-2015 -2022], vee NucBombs, Warheads of varying explosive yields???
* SAME > PAKISTAN TELLS ISRAEL TO STOP "LAND-GRABBING" IN PALESTINIAN TERRITORY | PALESTINE NOW A "CORE ISSUE" FOR PAKISTAN.
Iran also has the NUKE-HAPPY, PRO-ISLAMIST, POST-ARAB/MUSLIM SPRINGS" NEW GOVTS, + DPRK + the EX-SOVIET "-STANS" IN CENTRAL ASIA.
Then there is Islamic Law + the UNO itself ...
* SAME > IRAN'S LEGAL RIGHT TO [preemptively] ATTACK ISRAEL, + perhaps even the USA, under UN Charter Articles [e.g. Article 51], + broader or "customary" International Laws???
Finally, once again Radical Islam + aligned can makea good argument that the POST-COLD WAR, OWG-NWO, "GLOBALIST" PREMISE OF A "DIVERSIFIED",
"MULTIPOLAR" WORLD = SOVEREIGN ARAB-MUSLIM STATES CAN HAVE NUCLEAR ARSENALS ALL THEIR OWN.
Posted by: George Ebbeamp4828 ||
03/13/2012 11:59
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#3
Holder thinks the law would negatively impact Hispanics and other minorities. That is quite a racists assumption considering the population in question has no identification.
From what I've been hearing this soldier has a documented history of head trouble. We don't execute people with mental trouble. (Though I'm afraid that the Obamanation would have 0 problem with that if he thought it would help his image)
#5
You're assuming there's anything we can do to put the genie back in the bottle at this point. Obama probably secretly is relieved to have his excuse to pull out fully before the election.
Posted by: Charles ||
03/13/2012 19:03
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#6
Well Hell, they still haven't had the trial for Major Nadal Hasan for killing and wounding those soldiers in Fort Hood, and that's been since 11/2009. Fry his ass first.
#7
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TALIBAN THREATEN TO BEHEAD US SOLDIERS OVER CIVILIAN SHOOTING.
and
* SAME > US SOLDIER KILLED AT MASSACRE SITE, as part of a visiting Govt. Prayer Delegation which was fired upon + which included two of Prez Zardari's own brothers.
Similar Arctic also on DRUDGEREPORT.
FYI despite the mil forum Artic header, IMO its not too clear from the Artic per se iff the dead Soldier was actually American, or a US Contract Security, or even Afghani???
#6
I like the joke of a veteran who decides to visit her grave. When he shows up at the cemetery and asks where it's located, the groundskeeper tells him, "You can't miss it. Just look for the enormous pile of shiat."
#7
Here's an idea for a new TV show: GCB, Good Commie Bitches. Maybe we could get Hanoi Jane to star in it.
But as far as Ms. Fluke goes, if what Rush said was really all that bad she could sue him. Haven't heard of any suits being filed yet. She sought the lime light and she got burned. She found out what it was like for Sarah Palin. What was it that Truman said? If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Instead of apologizing, that's what Rush should have said. His advertisers might find that it's better to stick with him than to bail out every time some little sl^t starts crying.
#8
from the same woman that a couple yrs back told us proudly how she "owned her vagina again" or some such non-sense...gee, thanks grandma, that's what I want to hear about, your relationship w/your private parts. You stay classy Jane...
#11
a couple yrs back told us proudly how she "owned her vagina again"
Wait. What? How does such a thought form in one's head, let alone come out of one's mouth? I mean, did she get the squatters evicted? Or did she buy it back from the pawn shop?
#13
The heart warming eulogy to Hanoi Jane is that to this day her laminated picture sitting on the AA gun resides in every USMC C-130 urinal as a token gesture of our troops respect for her.
#1
Its very important for the Afghan people to know that we wont leave them completely on their own when we withdraw, Merkel said, according to Euro News. We will continue the reconstruction of Afghanistan, we will continue training, and I think this is a very important message.
Great to hear that the Germans will be picking up the slack. Now we can bring the Americans home sooner.
#2
OOOOOOOOO, you just know there's an ex-WW1, US Cowboy Movie-loving, Aryan German Bi-plane Fighter Pilot armed wid "Wild Wild West" Six-Gun Shooters around somewhere, ala "THE THREE AMIGOS"???
D *** NG IT, HE'S SHOCKED, SHOCKED, SHOCKED HE TELLS YA, THAT MARTIN SHORT'S CHARACTER IS NOT AS FAST WID A SIX-GUN AS IN THE MOVIES!
#3
Coming soon and for the first time: Armed off-shore rigs bristling with cannon etc. Remember, Lebanon probably backed by Hezbullah, Syria and Iran will lay claim to any Israeli discoveries.
#5
I've been hollering this for three years now.
The more we wait the more difficult the war will be.
And if we wait long enough, the Gazooans will bring the war to us and rocket Tel Aviv to ruins.
I hope Hillary and O'bambi don't forget to send the Paleo's the promised $75M in economic help, they are running out of explosives....... send them some money ... quick!
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
03/13/2012 13:36
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#6
Or they could contact the Jordanian / Egyptian governments and say that they recognize the West Bank / Gaza as officially part of their respective states effective 01MAY12. And any subsequent attacks from Gaza will be viewed as an attack from Egypt; ditto for Jordan/West Bank. Would certainly encourage better policing.
#8
It seems to me is that the arabs use the paleos as a knife in the not so soft underbelly of Israel. The arab states do not want the paleos around as they tend to destabilize the country that they are in. You obviously have a high level of corruption in Egypt, or no tunnel industry could exist.
Gaza could be cleaned out, but where would you put the Gazans? It is a vital question. They do have permanent victim status.
It seems to me that Israel needs to get its energy security situation squared away so that they do not depend upon Egypt. Then they need to have a phased plan to eliminate providing electric power and water to Gaza. Then they seal the border with Gaza and throw the monkey on Egypt's back. The humanitarian gestures of paleos going to Israel must sadly stop, too.
But the biggest issue is going to be population pushback in Gaza, as rocket launches would eventually be able to made anywhere in Gaza and hit Israel.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/13/2012 16:36
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#9
Won't they get into trouble if they take off their head covers and such?
#1
To our Jewish democratic voters and others....I would strongly recommend a book by a high ranking Jewish member of the US Congress entitled....."Life Among the Cannibals."
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Monday that the death penalty could be sought over the massacre of 16 villagers in Afghanistan, which U.S. officials said they believe was the work of a rogue American soldier.
The shooting spree in the southern province of Kandahar, which killed mostly women and children, has triggered angry calls from Afghans for an immediate American exit from the country, as Washington tries to negotiate a long-term presence to keep it from sliding into chaos again.
Panetta, however, attempted to portray the shooting as an isolated event that would not alter plans for a gradual, orderly withdrawal of American combat forces by the end of 2014.
"War is hell. These kinds of events and incidents are going to take place, they've taken place in any war. They're terrible events. And this is not the first of those events, and it probably won't be the last," the defense secretary told reporters on a flight to Kyrgyzstan.
"But we cannot allow these events to undermine our strategy or the mission that we're involved in."
Panetta, answering questions for the first time about the shooting rampage, said U.S. officials were still uncertain about the motives behind it.
#1
I've already seen reports that the suspect sustained traumatic brain injury from the effects of an IED encountered earlier ion his service.
If that is the case, and if he goes to trial, any normal legal process would take into consideration that pathology, and would be likely to eliminate the death penalty as an option.
But - give the pattern over the last ten years of consistently pandering to the barbaric whims of the muslim orcs - I presume that the shooter is toast, if he is convicted.
I will say - this certainly does not sound like the kind of guy that you want to put back out onto the mean streets of hometown USA.
#2
I take it there is still no comment from Secretary Panetta or the White House concerning the fate of Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspected perpetrator of the 5 Nov 2009, Fort Hood shooting which resulted in 13 deaths and 29 injured service memebers, and the shattered lives of hundreds of friends, colleagues, parents and family members ?????
#3
Death Penalty. Right. Where have these clowns been for the last couple decades as the Military Court of Appeals has shut that down. Oh, now they're interested.
#6
I'm sorry, didn't we lose a Colonel and a Major inside Afgan Police HQ, in one of the "Most secure places in the country"? Maybe we'll consider this, CONSIDER, if we get the people responsible for that.
And we still haven't head exactly what his soldier's motivation was or the connection to the Villages he had. Oh they know damn well what it is. Bet your ass they know EXACTLY why this soldier went off the deep end. That they haven't said it and are spouting "brain Injury" is nothing but deflection. There's a STORY behind this.
Posted by: Charles ||
03/13/2012 8:03
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#7
You bet there is Charles, but we'll be lucky if Obama and Holder don't hand the soldier over to Afghan courts.
What really got my attention is that he was from Fort Lewis, that is in the midst of a huge scandal for downgrading 300 severe PTSD cases in 2007, giving them meds, and shipping them back to the front, which is a recipe for disaster.
Several other bad scandals as well. Obviously a breakdown in the chain of command.
All indications are that things have not improved there. The hospital is very understaffed, and the post is still under great pressure to rotate injured personnel back into combat.
A ceasefire has been agreed between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza after four days of deadly clashes, an Egyptian official says. A Hamas official later confirmed that the truce had been agreed. At least 25 Palestinians have died in Israeli air strikes since Friday, reports say.
Israel says 35 people were injured in Palestinian rocket attacks.
The official was quoted as saying that the Egyptian-mediated truce took effect at 1:00AM local time.
According to the IDF blog, only six Gazan rockets hit Israel as of 2:15 pm today, local time.
The Egyptian official -- who spoke on condition of anonymity -- was quoted by Reuters as saying late on Monday that both Israel and Gaza militants had "agreed to end the current operations".
Shortly afterwards, the Hamas official confirmed the truce.
The official told the BBC that Israel had made an unusual promise to stop targeting militant leaders in Gaza, if rocket attacks on Israel ceased.
Israel has not publicly commented on the reported ceasefire.
Which sounds an awful lot like they didn't actually agree to anything. But they have been saying that when the Gazans stop, they will also.
[An Nahar] Soddy Arabia and Qatar are backing "armed terrorist gangs" operating in Syria and so are responsible for the bloodshed in the country, Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud told Agence La Belle France Presse on Monday.
"Some of the countries backing armed terrorist gangs, such as Soddy Arabia and Qatar, are accomplices to the terrorism targeting the Syrian people ... and bear responsibility for the bloodletting," he said.
Mahmoud accused the "terrorist gangs" of massacring women and kiddies in the restive central city of Homs at the weekend to stoke an international outcry against the Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... regime.
"Terrorist gangs carried out the most horrible massacre in the Karm el-Zaytoun neighborhood of Homs ... in order to incite international reaction against Syria," he said.
Earlier on Monday, the Syrian opposition and activists said the bodies of 47 women and kiddies, some of them with their throats slit, had been found in Homs and blamed the killings on the regime.
Syrian state media acknowledged that residents of the central city had been murdered but attributed the deaths to "armed terrorist gangs."
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03/13/2012
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[Dawn] A human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... group and a law firm took legal action Monday against the British government, accusing it of passing on intelligence to assist US covert drone attacks in Pakistain.
The London-based charity Reprieve and the law firm Leigh Day & Co. are filing papers to the High Court claiming that civilian staff at Britannia's electronic listening agency, GCHQ, could be liable as "secondary parties to murder" for providing "locational intelligence" to the CIA in directing its drone attack program.
The two are acting on behalf of Noor Khan, 27, a Pak whose father was killed by a drone strike in northwest Pakistain in March 2011 while attending a gathering of elders. More than 40 other people were killed in that attack, they said.
Reprieve, which helps death row prisoners and Guantanamo Bay inmates, urged the British government to be more transparent about its role --if any --in the drone program.
"What has the government got to hide? If they're not supplying information as part of the CIA's illegal drone war, why not tell us?" Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said.
British officials have never commented publicly on the drones. The Foreign Office and GCHQ declined comment on the legal action Monday, saying they could not speak about ongoing legal proceedings or and intelligence matters.
Since 2004, CIA drones have targeted suspected hard boyz with missile strikes in the Pak tribal regions, killing hundreds of people.
The program is controversial because of questions about its legality, the number of civilians it has killed, and its impact on Pakistain's illusory sovereignty.
Leigh Day & Co. did not detail what evidence the firm has regarding Britannia's alleged role in the drone program, but it cited media reports that quoted an anonymous GCHQ source as saying that the assistance it gave to the US authorities was in 'strict accordance' with the law.
The law firm disputed that, saying GCHQ staff may be guilty of war crimes by passing along detailed intelligence to a drone program that violates international humanitarian law.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
#1
I hope the law firm isnt on a contingency fee, because this case sounds like a looosser!
CAIRO - Two Israelis and a Ukrainian were sentenced to life in prison by an Egyptian court on Monday on charges of smuggling a machinegun and ammunition across the Israeli border into Egypt, a court source said.
The Ukrainian and one of the Israelis are in Egyptian custody, while the other defendant was tried in absentia.
Security along Egypt's border with Israel, long a conduit for the smuggling of guns and people, was relaxed after the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak following a popular uprising in February 2011, as police presence thinned out across Egypt.
[An Nahar] The White House said Monday that U.S. strategy would not change in Afghanistan despite the fallout from a U.S. soldier's shooting rampage which killed 16 civilians in a new jolt to America's war policy.
"Our strategic objectives have not changed and they will not change," White House front man Jay Carney said, adding Washington remained committed to disrupting, disarming and defeating al-Qaeda and training Afghans to ensure their own security.
President Barack Obama I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money... is committed to gradually withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan under an agreement with NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... partners which foresees a full drawdown by the end of 2014.
"This is a challenging time, no question," Carney said, but added that the administration would continue to work on what it sees as vital U.S. national security interests in Afghanistan.
"I don't believe this incident will change the timetable of a strategy that was designed and implemented to allow for the withdrawal of U.S. forces, to allow for the transfer of lead security over to the Afghans," he said.
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03/13/2012
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#1
"Washington remained committed to disrupting, disarming and defeating al-Qaeda and training Afghans" -Actually the current catch strategic slogan in the Stan is "Disrupt the Taliban, Train ANA and Transfer to the ANA". Now I see the wording is back to "defeating al Qaeda" within the WH. Does it make a difference -likely not. Its "still exit stage left Snagglepus"
#2
Yes, as tens of thousands of PPT slides will attest to, reality Terms of reference in theater are quite different than in CONUS. How very convenient strange.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/13/2012 7:19
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#4
I've often wondered if one good way to shut down government would be to require government officials to have a per-use license on Powerpoint slides. At ten cents a slide, the U.S. government would go broke faster than Greece...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2012 7:28
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#5
Dr. Steve, your .ppt concept could also be applied with positive effect to most corporations.
#6
Why bother they are still printing their maps with misspelled place names from a faulty computer program they have running the whole show doing projections and such.
[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. noted on Monday that the latest "massacre committed by the Syrian regime" in Homs coincided with the Israeli assault on Gazoo over the weekend.
He said in a statement: "The latest massacre committed by the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... against innocent people not only condemns the regime, but the international community for its lack of humanity."
"The Homs massacre is one of the signs of the imminent end of the Assad regime that will only meet the same end as other criminal rulers who abuse their power to oppress their people," he added.
The former premier therefore renewed his solidarity with the Syrian people, calling on the international and Arab communities to support them "in statement and in action."
The bodies of 47 women and kiddies have been found in the Syrian city of Homs, where security forces have been fighting raging battles against armed rebels, the opposition and activists said on Monday.
Hadi Abdallah, a Syrian activist in Homs, told Agence La Belle France Presse the bodies of 26 children and 21 women, some with their throats slit and others bearing stab wounds, were found after a "massacre" in the Karm el-Zaytoun and al-Adawiyeh neighborhoods of the besieged central city.
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[Yemen Post] Spokesman of 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.... group in Hajja governorate Abu Yahya Al-Matari has said the group wants to drive the Americans out, pointing out that the tribes of Hajja encountered them and prevented them from reaching the US embassy in Sana'a.
In a meeting with more than 20 Yemeni journalists and activists visiting some areas of Hajja where violent festivities broke out between the Houthis and rustics, Al-Matary affirmed that they want to get to the US embassy and some Yemeni coasts to expel the Americans.
He claimed that the group has the ability to control many Yemeni governorates militarily, hinting that they prefer to widespread their culture peacefully.
He told the journalists that the group fighters went to Hajja with the aim of protecting a leader of the group, Yousf Al-Mudan, stressing that they have the right to exist in anywhere inside Yemen.
The Houthi group whose main slogan is "God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews." accused the tribes of fighting a proxy war with America and Israel.
A ten-member team of journalists and activists visited Hajja early of this weak to review the damages and consequences of the festivities between the Houthis and some tribes of Hajja.
Prominent local human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... organizations such Hood, Seyaj, the Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights, and other organizations and activists took part in this mission.
News reports stated on Saturday that Germany warned the Houthi group of using violence to gain political objectives, urging the group to renounce the violence and engage in the political process.
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A federal appeals court overturned the 22-year sentence for convicted "millennium bomber" Ahmed Ressam, calling it unreasonably lenient.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal ruled 7-4 in favor of the government's appeal in a decision released Monday.
The Ninth Circus said it was too lenient? I feel faint, I'd best go lie down...
Ressam was placed in durance vile in Washington state in 1999 on his way to bomb Los Angeles International Airport. He was convicted of nine criminal counts.
The government argued that sentencing guidelines called for 65 years to life. The 22-year sentence was twice imposed by a federal judge.
Investigators have said Ressam attended three training camps for Islamic beturbanned goons in Afghanistan between March 1998 and February 1999.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillary and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Philander C. Knox ... called on Paleostinian terror groups to halt their rocket fire into Israel and urged both sides to reach a lull agreement. Clinton's remarks were made at the opening of a Security Council meeting on Libya and the Middle East.
[Dawn] Justice Anwar Zaher Bajwa of Sindh High Court (SHC) has ordered to lodge Rinkal Kumari (a Hindu girl), who has converted to Islam and named as Faryal Bibi at Pannah Shelter home and to produce her before Supreme Court on March 26.
The bench after hearing the preliminary arguments in the petition filed by Raj Kumar against alleged abduction of her niece also ordered the Inspector General of Police Sindh to provide full protection to the girl and keep her in isolation during her stay in the shelter home and no one from either party should be allowed to meet her.
Rasheed A Rizvi Advocate appeared on behalf of the petitioner and referred to an order passed by SC on March 8 for production of the girl before the apex court on March 26.
Rizvi contended that the real question involving in the petition is whether the girl has been kidnapped and forced into conversion and marriage or her such acts were voluntary.
Ghulam Qadir Jatoi, counsel of one of the respondent Naveed Shah said that the girl is adult, therefore she is entitled to her liberties.
The bench in its order observed that "the atmosphere was extremely charged. When the alleged abductee was produced in the court, it appeared that at least score of almost out of control people were present in the court and repeated requests for maintaining order fell on deaf ears. It would not be appropriate at this stage to record her statement and it would be in the fitness of things if she is kept away from both the contending parties."
The petitioner alleged that Rinkal was kidnapped on February 23 while she was returning home from her college in Mirpur Mathelo, district Ghotki.
He maintained that after being kidnapped, she was taken to Bharchundi Shareef (a small village near Mirpur Mathelo and forcefully converted to Islam and then got married with Naveed Shah, a resident of the same area.
He prayed the court to order production of Rinkal Kumari and record her statement to ascertain the facts.
The alleged abductee in her statement before the Judicial Magistrate at Ghotki has denied her abduction and forceful conversion.
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[An Nahar] Leb decided not to join a meeting set to discuss support for the Syrian regime, which is expected to be held in the upcoming few days in Tehran, the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported on Monday.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry invited Leb, Iraq, and Syria to join the conference on March 18. However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... Leb's Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, who received the invitation from his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi, decided not to participate after discussions with 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... and Prime Minister Najib Miqati.
Leb's position came in light of its decision to disassociate itself from the crisis in Syria and the developments in the region.
Despite the report that Leb won't participate in the conference, ministerial sources told the daily Beirut's participation will be at the level of deputy foreign minister.
According to the sources, the conference will be like the latest conference held in Tunis for "Friends of Syria," but the difference is that Tehran's conference is to support the Syrian regime against the opposition.
The sources said that Leb aims at maintaining the country's stability thus it avoids any stance on the crisis in Syria so that it wouldn't have any repercussions on the local situation.
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[Yemen Post] Darkness returned again to Sana'a on Sunday after sabotage acts targeted electricity lines linking between Sana'a and Marib in Al-Shabwan of Marib governorate.
Sources of the Public Electricity Corporation said that the attacks caused an entire suspension of the gas-operated station located in the restive governorate of Marib.
The sources said that teams of the corporation will embark on repairing the lines of damages on Monday morning.
The sources urged all Yemenis to confront such sabotage acts, pointing out that the cuts of electricity lead to much suffer of the citizens.
Separately, an American-Turkish delegation is to arrive in Sana'a on Monday with the aim of implementing investment projects in the field of electricity.
The regional representative of the PEG Company, Hashim Al-Thawar, said the company plans to develop the capacity of electricity and its infrastructure.
He affirmed that the company has willingness to build up electricity stations that operate with diesel, gas or oil, pointing out that it will offer many facilitates that could assist and hasten the implementation of the projects.
He said the company intends to establish several technical institutes in three Yemeni stations with the aim of training and qualifying the Yemeni cadres.
Yemen's electricity supplies have been damaged many times since the eruption of the eleven-month-old protests demanding the ousting of 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...
Electricity crisis led to the paralysis of factories, laboratories, workshops and many service sectors, pushing further Yemenis to unemployment.
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[Haaretz] Israel and jihad boy factions in the Gazoo Strip have agreed to an Egyptian-mediated truce to end four days of cross-border violence, a senior Egyptian security official told Rooters on Tuesday.
The official said both sides "agreed to end the current operations" including an unusual undertaking by Israel to "stop liquidations" in a deal expected to take effect at 1 A.M. local time.
There was no immediate comment by Israel or the Paleostinian factions regarding the deal.
Shortly before the official's comment, a senior Israeli official said that if the Paleostinians stop firing rockets toward Israel, the Israel Defense Forces will stop reacting with attacks on the Gazoo Strip, according to Army Radio.
An Israeli military front man declined to comment.
Gazoo's Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, leadership, whose own cadres have kept out of the fighting, had confirmed on Sunday that Egypt was working on a deal to stop the violence.
On Monday, the Egyptian ambassador to the Paleostinian Authority said that he expects Israel and Gazoo to reach a ceasefire within 48 hours.
"Egypt is determined to reach a ceasefire within 48 hours," said Yasser Othman, adding that a ceasefire would be reached despite current difficulties and the refusal of Israel to stop its activities in the Gazoo Strip.
Othman denied claims of a Hamas politician Yunus al-Astal, that Egypt suggested a ceasefire in exchange for supplying petrol to the Gazoo Strip. He added that an Egyptian team was currently in Gazoo, in order to solve the petrol supply problem.
Egyptian intelligence officials have been leading efforts to mediate between Israel and Hamas in the last few days, in order to calm the escalation on the Israel-Gazoo border.
Egyptian diplomats said on Monday that there is an effort to bring about a ceasefire by Tuesday morning.
"We hope that we will succeed to reach quiet tonight," said one Egyptian diplomat.
Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon said that Hamas approached Egyptian intelligence and asked to pass a message to Israel regarding the renewal of calm.
"We do not carry out negotiations with Hamas," Ya'alon said.
"Our response through the Egyptians was very simple, this is basically our policy since the beginning of the current administration: if you are quiet, we will be quiet, if you shoot, or plot attacks, we will hit you, and so the ball is certainly in their court."
The Egyptian diplomat who is involved in the efforts to bring about the ceasefire said that Egyptian intelligence has been talking with Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry's diplomatic-security bureau since Sunday, as well as with different Paleostinian factions, with an emphasis on Hamas.
According to him, the attempt to reach an agreement for a ceasefire between Sunday night and Monday failed, after the two sides continued fire.
"We are doing everything to end this round of violence at the earliest opportunity possible," the Egyptian diplomat said.
"We will try again to do this today. We are continuing to work in order to have a quiet night. We want both sides to stop firing, but we still have not received final answers."
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03/13/2012
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Top|| File under: Islamic Jihad
#1
"Egypt is determined to reach a ceasefire within 48 hours,"
I'm guessing Egypt is worried about an IDF ground operation chasing the rats out of Gaza and into Egypt. Continued Paleo rocketry from Egypt proper will mean Israeli air strikes on Egyptian territory. Would *you* trust the discipline of Egyptian mil forces to keep things from spiraling out of control?
#3
the egyptian military is also worried about their own population, many of whom want to go to war with Israel or, at least, support the Gaza war with Israel
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
03/13/2012 8:02
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#4
Perhaps all this has been Iran hoping to goad Israel into giving a little demonstration of how well Iron Dome works?
#6
There's a useful map at g(r)omgoru's link, showing the ranges of the various thingies the Gazans can launch. Odd how many toys they have, given that the tunnels are only used for peaceful purposes.
[An Nahar] Western nations on Monday stepped up pleas to Russia and China to end their blockage on U.N. Security Council action over the Syrian government's deadly assault on protest cities.
But Russia showed little sign of that it would change it stance, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slamming "risky recipes" which he said risked increasing conflict in the Middle East.
Syria dominated a U.N. Security Council ministerial meeting on the Arab uprisings, which came a day after U.N.-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... special envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself... left Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... , where he met Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath...
"I add my voice to that of Mr. Annan in urging President Assad to act swiftly, within the next few days, in response to the proposals put forward" by the envoy, U.N. Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... told the meeting.
"I appeal to the Security Council to unite strongly behind ending the violence and supporting Mr. Annan's mission to help Syria pull back from the brink of a deeper catastrophe," he added.
Russia and China have twice used their powers as permanent Security Council members to veto resolutions on Syria, saying they were unbalanced and only sought regime change.
The other permanent members -- the United States, Britannia and La Belle France -- stepped up their condemnation of Assad, but also urged Russia and China to agree a resolution.
La Belle France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe appealed directly to Russia and China, while also calling on the council to call for an International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... investigation into the Syria crackdown, where the U.N. says more than 7,500 people have died in the past year.
"After months of blocking, I appeal to China and Russia to hear the voices of the Arabs and the world conscience and join us," Juppe said.
"We believe that now is the time for all nations, even those who have previously blocked our efforts, to stand behind the humanitarian and political approach spelled out by the vaporous Arab League," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Chateaubriand ... told the council.
"The international community should say with one voice -- without hesitation or caveat -- that the killing of innocent Syrians must stop and a political transition must begin," Clinton said.
"The situation in Syria casts a long shadow over this debate," declared Britannia's Foreign Secretary William Hague, whose country organized the debate as president of the Security Council for March.
"In the eyes of the overwhelming majority of the world, this council has so far failed in its responsibilities towards the Syrian people."
But Lavrov maintained his argument against "unilateral" U.N. action, and repeated Russia's condemnation of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... 's Arclight airstrikes in Libya to justify its opposition to the West's campaign on Syria.
Change in the Arab world "must not be achieved by misleading the international community or manipulating the Security Council," Lavrov said.
"There is no doubt whatsoever that the Syrian authorities bear a huge share of responsibility for the situation," Lavrov said, but he added that the government was now fighting gangs, not just unarmed protesters.
Lavrov condemned "making hasty demands for regime change, imposing unilateral sanctions designed to trigger economic difficulties and social tensions in countries and inducing the opposition to continue its confrontation with authorities instead of promoting dialogue."
All were, he added, "risky recipes of geopolitical engineering which can only result in a spread of the conflict."
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#1
Again, I don't see Moscow + Beijing supporting, or "not opposing" any anti-Assad Mandate before the UNO unless ole' Bashir + Regime does something really stupid to po 'em off.
AND BASHIR TAINT STUPID.
* SYRIA = a TEST not just of the ARAB LEAGUE = future "ISLAMIC UNION", BUT ALSO OF THE "OBAMA DOCTRINE" AS PER NEED FOR UNILATERAL MIL ACTION OUTSIDE OF THE UNSC.
[Dawn] A security man was killed when an improvised bomb went off in Baizai tehsil of Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... tribal region on Sunday, officials said.
They said that security personnel were fetching water from a spring in Wali Kor area of Baizai when one of them stepped on the bomb, planted along the track. A security man was killed while his other companions remained unhurt in the blast, they added.
A front man for Mohmand Taliban talked to local journalists by telephone from Qazi's guesthouse an undisclosed location and grabbed credit for the blast.
In Khyber Agency, two persons including a security man were killed and two children received injuries in different incidents in Bara tehsil on Sunday.
Sources said that headless body of a kidnapped official of Frontier Corps was found in Alamgudar area of Bara. They said that the dear departed identified as Jameel Khattak was kidnapped by faceless myrmidons after he got injured during a clash with them.
His beheaded body was thrown on a road at the night and it was found on Sunday morning.
In Jamrud, unidentified persons rubbed out a primitive near Shahkas locality. Sources said that Amir Jan, a resident of Bara,
along with another person was coming to Jamrud on a cycle of violence when he was intercepted by two gunnies, also riding a cycle of violence.
The assailants made their escape good after getting him off from the cycle of violence and killing him on the spot. Reason behind the killing could not be known, however, sources said that the dear departed was member of a banned group from Bara.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... two children were maimed when a mortar shell fell on the house of Janas Khan in Akkakhel area of Bara. The injured children were shifted to ICRC hospital in Peshawar.
Also, security forces handed over bodies of six suspected faceless myrmidons to the local political administration. The bodies were later handed over to their relatives at Levies Centre in Bara.
The six suspected faceless myrmidons included four Afghan nationals and two local rustics identified as Jalil Jan Shalobar and Othmankhel Akkakhel. Security forces on Saturday claimed to have killed 36 faceless myrmidons during an operation in Alamgudar area of Bara. Four army men including a lieutenant were also killed in the daylong operation.
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A Dekel Prison inmate has filed an urgent petition with the Beersheba Administrative Affairs Court, demanding to be provided with a shelter from rocket attacks.
The convict claimed that when air raid sirens sound, the prison staff enter fortified spaces, while the inmates remain in their cells.
Iran encouraging Islamic Jihad to fire rockets at Israel, escalation could prompt ground incursion, senior officer says. IDF hasn't used all measures at its disposal, he says Perhaps they'll show good sense and expel them this time. Per the discussion in the Burg yesterday, it just might be time to evict all the Gazooks into the Sinai. Let them wander for the next forty years or so. Or perhaps their brother Arabs will take them in .. to Mauritania...
Is Gaza war in cards? The current round of fighting between Israel and Palestinian terror groups could prompt Israel to launch a ground operation in the Gaza Strip, a senior IDF official said Monday.
The comments were made as Gaza terror groups continued to shell southern Israel communities with dozens of rockets and mortar shells Monday.
Two such rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system over Ashkelon Monday evening. Military officials said the advanced system shot down 85% of the rockets fired from Gaza in the past four days. Meanwhile, the IDF struck several targets in Gaza, killing at least two terrorists Monday night.
The official said that Iran and the Islamic Jihad's headquarters in Damascus "are encouraging the terrorist organization to continue the current round of rocket fire until they obtain a significant gain."
The recent escalation in Israel's south, which has seen more than a million residents come under heavy rocket fire, has already been described by the IDF as "unprecedented in scope." According to the senior officer, there is "no end in sight" to the current round of fighting.
"The IDF is prepared for any development, including a situation where we are forced to launch a ground operation," the IDF official said. "We have everything we need and are ready to step it up if needed. There are many measures that we haven't employed yet."
"There is no effective control in Gaza, and no clear distinction between the political and military wings of Hamas... we are prepared to turn it up a notch," he said
Tel Aviv at risk?
Military officials have stressed that Hamas' lack of involvement in the current round of aggression points to the dominance of the Islamic Jihad, which has enjoyed rising popularity in Gaza.
"They haven't been paying attention to the Hamas for the past two years, because it can't rule Gaza or enforce the law," the official said, adding that the terror group also enjoys the support of its headquarters in Damascus and is being portrayed as the "defender of the Palestinian people.'"
So far, the official noted, 22 terrorists have been killed in IDF airstrikes, including Islamic Jihad mid-level commanders. In addition, three civilians were killed in close proximity to rocket-launching sites.
"This points to a cynical exploitation of civilians, and so far we have acted with utmost precision to prevent the loss of innocent lives," the official said.
Asked whether there is a possibility that the rockets will reach the Tel Aviv-area, the senior officer said that terror groups "are always contemplating whether to fire their (long-range) Fajr rockets, but they realize the consequences and make the cost-benefit calculation."
However, this could change should the fighting continue, the IDF official said.
"If we boost our offensive activity in Gaza, I suppose they won't keep their Fajr missiles as museum exhibits," he said.
#2
My guess is it would be a repeat of 2006 only with a "twist". Iran encourages Gaza to crank up the missiles to precipitate a land incursion by Israel. As soon as Israel does that, Hezbollah starts firing missiles from Lebanon in order to provoke a land attack into Southern Lebanon.
Once that happens, Syria claims the entire country must "come together" to defend Lebanon from Israel in a last ditch attempt to put down the uprisings and attempt to rally the country around Assad.
In other words, precipitate an Israeli invasion in order to distract the Syrian rebels and possibly even justify Iranian intervention.
#5
I dont believe the IDF will go in this time.
Most of the real targets are not in the Gazzo strip anymore.
The real ammunition depots, manufacturing facilities, training camps, and terror infrastructure are dispersed in the Sinai peninsula in what used to be egyptian territory in Mubarak's day and has turned into the "wild east" where there is no law and no significant Egyptian military presence.
If we want to destry the terror infrastructure we will need to invade the Sinai in a full fledged reocupation war.
Eventually this will most probably happen but not now and not untill we settle the Iranian problem.
IMHO if Iran is successfully defanged, Israel will have to retake the Sinai peninsula within 5 years in order to provide a buffer zone and protect Israel's southern border because the Egyptians are not going to do a thing about this hellhole.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
03/13/2012 12:43
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[Emirates 24/7] French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Monday demanded at the UN Security Council that Syrian leaders face international trials over the deadly crackdown on opposition protests.
Preferably courts that can keep certain financial dealings secret while still convicting Pencilneck for 'crimes of humanity'...
Juppe also appealed for Russia and China to hear the "world conscience" and agree on a UN resolution condemning the Syria violence.
Britannia's Foreign Secretary Williams said Monday that most countries believe the UN Security Council has "failed" in its duties to the Syrian people by failing to pass a resolution condemning violence in the country.
Hague called for renewed efforts to pass a resolution at a ministerial meeting of the 15-nation council, organised by Britannia, on the Arab Spring uprisings.
"In the eyes of the overwhelming majority of the world, this council has so far failed in its responsibilities towards the Syrian people," Hague told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Heroine of Tuzla and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Condoleezza Rice ... and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other brass hats.
"It has failed to address the brutal oppression of peaceful protesters by the Syrian regime, and it has not yet put its weight and authority behind 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... 's efforts," he added.
Hague called for the council to pass a resolution which calls for "an immediate end to the brutal repression and violations of human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... " and support for international efforts to end the conflict.
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#1
More from the L'État Français....? Oh, sorry. It just slipped out.
[An Nahar] International mediator Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... called Monday for an immediate halt to the killing of civilians in Syria as he arrived in Turkey for talks on the crisis.
"The killing of civilians must end now. The world must give a clear message that this is unacceptable," Annan, who is mediating on behalf of the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... and 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... , said in comments carried by Turkey's NTV channel.
In a brief statement at Ankara airport Annan said the situation in Syria was "complex."
He urged Syrian authorities to grant free access to humanitarian aid for the civilian population in areas where anti-regime protests have flared up.
The bodies of 47 women and kiddies, some with their throats slit, were found in the restive Syrian city of Homs after a "massacre" that sent families fleeing the area, activists and the opposition said on Monday.
And activists said that the Syrian army launched a new assault in the restive northern province of Idlib and the city itself, where residents are suffering "indescribable" humanitarian conditions.
In Geneva, the president of a special U.N. Human Rights Council inquiry into human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. in Syria said unimpeded humanitarian access should be the rule and not the exception.
Annan said he was confident that talks for a settlement of the year-old Syria crisis would eventually succeed.
"We will launch a political process and we will reach a settlement," Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying, but he added that this "will not be easy."
Annan left Syria empty-handed on Sunday after failing to secure an accord.
The U.N.-Arab League envoy departed from Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... at the end of a two-day mission during which he said he presented Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... with "concrete proposals" to halt unrest that monitors say has claimed more than 8,500 lives since March last year.
Annan was to inform Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of his talks in Damascus and later confer with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
He was to leave Ankara on Tuesday morning but said he would not have time to visit Syrian refugee camps in southern Hatay province, where 12,605 Syrian have sought shelter, according to the latest Turkish figures published Monday.
Also on Monday, U.N. human rights investigator Paulo Pinheiro called for urgent action, noting that Syrian civilians face a "desperate situation."
"The exodus continues to Leb, Jordan and Turkey. The desperate situation of civilians needs to be addressed as a matter of utmost urgency," the Brazilian commissioner told the U.N. Human Rights Council.
"The intensification of armed confrontations has widened the trail of suffering," said Pinheiro, head of the Council's Commission of Inquiry, which was not allowed to enter Syria.
"The human rights and humanitarian situation becomes bleaker day after day in neighborhoods in Homs, Idlib, Hama, rural Damascus and Dar'a," he said, decrying a month of "unrelenting shelling" in Homs' Baba Amr district.
"Those who decamped the area reported summary executions and mass arbitrary arrest campaigns," Pinheiro said, adding that more than 500 children have been killed since the start of Syria's unrest a year ago.
Commissioned last August by the Human Rights Council, the U.N. panel concluded in a first report published in November that Syrian security forces committed crimes against humanity during the brutal repression of demonstrators.
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[Dawn] UN-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... envoy Kofi Annan feels his Syria mediation mission is on track even though violence still raged as he held talks with Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... , his front man said on Monday.
Annan twice met Assad in Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... , as well as opposition figures, at the weekend and saw Qatari leaders in Doha on Monday before heading to Turkey.
Before he went to Syria, he held separate talks with the vaporous Arab League chief and the foreign ministers of Russia and Soddy Arabia in Cairo, his front man Ahmad Fawzi said.
"This is the beginning of a process and the joint special envoy feels the process is on the right track," Fawzi told Rooters by telephone from Qatar.
"He has left a set of concrete proposals with Bashar on a cessation of hostilities, humanitarian access and political dialogue, and expects to hear from him shortly," Fawzi said.
"He is concerned that the fighting and the killing seem to be continuing while he is trying to put an end to it and while he is trying to talk to Bashar," he said.
Scores of people were reported killed in Syria during Annan's visit, when the military assaulted the rebel-held city of Idlib in the northwest. State media and opposition activists also said dozens of civilians were slain in Homs but gave conflicting accounts of who was responsible.
After his "comprehensive and candid" talks with Assad, Annan said it would be hard to reach a deal but he remained optimistic.
"The situation is so bad and so dangerous that all of us cannot afford to fail," he told news hounds in Damascus.
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#1
And on that cold April night, so long ago, Captain John Smith, the most senior Captain of the White Star Lines, thought he was on the right track also........
[Dawn] Attacks against al-Qaeda's favorite targets in Iraq killed 14 people Monday as Death Eaters struck security forces, a government office and jewelry stores, demonstrating a continued threat from gangs ahead of a meeting of the Arab world's top leaders in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
Security officials expect al-Qaeda to ramp up violence over the next few weeks as Iraq prepares to host the annual 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... summit at the end of the month.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's strikes, and numerous gangs in Iraq have mixed attacks on political targets with money-making criminal operations. But al-Qaeda in Iraq for years has been believed to fund itself in part with cash and gold stolen from jewelry stores.
Militants struck first in a pre-dawn raid Monday in the city of Tarmiyah, 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Storied Baghdad, where police said gunnies in at least two cars attacked the local mayor's office. Three coppers were killed, police and health officials said. The mayor was not in his office at the time.
A half hour later and a few miles (kilometers) away, gunnies targeted a police patrol in a drive-by shooting. Two coppers were killed, officials said, and it was not known if the gunnies were the same group who attacked the mayor's office.
A few hours later, two carloads of robbers armed with grenades and guns killed nine people and maimed 14 in a coordinated strike on an eastern Storied Baghdad gold market, officials said. The Orcs and similar vermin simultaneously attacked jewelry stores and a nearby checkpoint.
Storied Baghdad officials said two coppers, two soldiers and two goldsmiths were among the dead at the small market in the Shia neighborhood of Ur.
"At first we heard shootings from the other side of the market, near the police checkpoint," said eyewitness Maitham Moussa, 30, who owns of a dairy shop about 50 yards (meters) from the jewelry stores. "Then we heard shootings very close to us. When the women started to yell, they started to open fire into the air and set off sound bombs."
A police officer said the gunnies stole gold and cash after the late-morning heist, which the Death Eaters pulled off despite a shootout with nearby security forces. Iraqi Army Gen. Hassan al-Baydhani of Storied Baghdad's military command said one of the gunnies was jugged but the rest beat feet.
A doctor in a nearby Storied Baghdad hospital confirmed the police casualty figures. They all spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information. Al-Baydhani put the number of dead at six. Conflicting casualty totals are common in the immediate aftermath of attacks in Iraq.
Although violence has dropped significantly since the sectarian fighting that brought Iraq to the edge of civil war just five years ago, deadly attacks still happen almost every day.
US officials as recently as September said jewelry robberies were a main source of funding for al-Qaeda in Iraq as it grapples with dwindling financial support. The Sunni cut-thoat movement also frequently targets officials of the Shiite-led government in a campaign to undermine confidence in its authority.
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Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... front man Abu Ahmed says that if Israel does not stop its Arclight airstrikes on Gazoo, his group will increase the range of rocket fire to include other cities in Israel.
"Bring up some more power, Mahmoud. I'm really going to stuff this rocket full!"
"You sure that's a good idea, boss?"
"Sure, what could go wrong?"
"The ball is in Israel's court. It must stop its aggression and commit to put an end to assassinations in order to bring a ceasefire," he said.
#1
Something certainly needs improving. According to the IDF blog this morning,
06:40 - So far two rockets have struck Israel today. Since Friday, 165 rockets landed in Israeli soil, and a total of 303 rockets were fired from Gaza.
DUBAI - Azerbaijan will not allow other countries to use its territory to launch an attack on neighboring Iran, Iranian media reported Azerbaijan's Defense Minister Safar Abiyev as saying on Monday.
The former Soviet republic, which borders Iran, has friendly ties with the United States and Israel and has experienced increasing tension with Tehran in recent months.
Last month, the Islamic Republic accused Azerbaijan of assisting Israeli intelligence in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist, Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, who was killed when a bomb was attached to his car.
"We will not allow Azerbaijan's soil to be used against Iran under any conditions," Abiyev was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying after meeting his Iranian counter Ahmad Vahidi in Tehran.
For a map, click here. For a map of Nuevo Leon state, click here. For a map of Monterrey, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Mexican Army units have killed a total of 15 armed suspects in three separate incidents in and around Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, according to Mexican news accounts.
On Sunday night, an army patrol in Los Aldamas municipality near ejido Lampacito was fired on by an undisclosed number of armed suspects. Army return fire killed eight suspects.
Soldiers searching the area following the firefight found and released three unidentified individuals aboard a vehicle who had been held hostage by the armed suspects.
Soldiers also secured eight handguns and rifles and four vehicles abandoned in the firefight.
Meanwhile, in the Cadereyta-Jimenez region east of Monterrey, soldiers killed seven individuals in two incidents Sunday evening.
In San Moises colony, a Mexican army patrol attempted a traffic stop of a Nissan Tsuru sedan, but were instead fired on by the vehicle's occupants. A chase ensued that ended at Kilometer Four of Libramiento Alfonso Martinez Dominguez when the occupants, an unidentified man and and woman died.
In the same area at about the same time, army personnel fired on and killed five unidentified individuals including two woman who had been travelling aboard a Volkswagen Bora. Reportedly, one of the dead, in possession of an assault rifle and tactical gear, attempted to escape army gunfire but died a short distance away from the vehicle. The report does not note the location, only that it took place near a municipal sports center.
Following the conclusion of the pursuit soldiers secured four rifles, tactical gear, 300 packages of marijuana presumably divided for retail sale, and weapons magazines and ammunition.
In other news, a total of seven individuals were killed or were found dead in and around Monterrey in ongoing drug and gang violence.
A man was found dead Sunday morning on Calle Capitan De castro in Lomas Mederos colony. Santiago Cordoba Cruz, 38, was abducted at gunpoint from his residence in Sierra Ventana in southern Monterrey Saturday night at around 2230 hrs. He had been shot five times. Reports say the victim had a prior criminal conviction for drug sales, but had been working as a bricklayer.
A man was found beaten to death in Escobedo municiality Friday afternoon. Luis Alejandro Moreno Ontiveros was found in Alianza Real colony about five kilometers from the National Highway. He was blindfolded and had been beaten about the head with stones.
An inmate at Topo Chico prison was found hanged Sunday evening. Crescencio Jesus Martinez Urbano, 40, who was serving time for a 1995 rape of two women was found dead in the prison shower room.
An unidentified man was shot to death in Monterrey Saturday night. The victim had been shot 15 times by armed suspects using an AR-15 assault rifle near the intersection of Avenida de la Hacienda and Paseo de la Hacienda in Fomerrey 45 colony. The victim was also stabbed in the neck with a screwdriver. It is suspected the assailants fled the scene on foot.
An unidentified man and woman were shot to death at a park in Santiago municipality Monday. The victims were in the village of El Cercado when a male armed suspect shot them.
An unidentified woman in her 50s was found beaten to death in Ciudad Solidaridad Monday. The victim was found lying face down near the intersection of calles Frutilla and Nopal in Mirasol colony.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com.
Former Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) writes in a new book that President Obama ditched him in the 2010 election after he helped Obama win the biggest legislative victory of his term by passing healthcare reform. Oh, dear
Specter also claims that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did not uphold his promise to grant him seniority accrued over 28 years of service in the Senate as a Republican. You don't say... My, my, my... A democ**t with an agenda. What a surprise. That has never happened before
Specter, who rocked Washington's political establishment and made headlines around the country when he left the Republican Party to join Democ**ts in April of 2009, has kept quiet about these slights until now.
He makes surprising revelations about Republican leaders, as well -- he writes that former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) told him that he would have made the same decision to defect from the GOP if he had been in Specter's position. One loser advises another...
Specter says that one of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's (Ky.) first concerns after learning of the impending party switch was that he might be blamed for driving Specter out of the GOP. McConnell, however, quickly got over that when he learned it was just Specter who was defecting confirming what everyone else already knew.
Specter declined to discuss the behind-the-scenes machinations of his party switch when he granted an interview with several news outlets on his final day in the Senate, when he reminisced about his career in his hideaway on the first floor of the Capitol. "...there I was in the senate cloakroom fighting off evil republikkkans..."
He promised instead to put the juicy details in his memoir, "Life Among the Cannibals," which will go on sale later this month. The Hill obtained an advanced copy. Soon to be available in bargain bins in finer stores a week after that...
It was written with his former communications director, Charles Robbins. James Taranto notes Monday: Awful, isn't it? Specter trusted these guys, and they just stabbed him in the back! It must have shaken him to the core to realize just how disloyal distinguished elected officials were capable of being.
My husband has a long record of money problems. He runs up huge credit-card bills and at the end of the month, if I try to pay them off, he shouts at me, saying I am stealing his money. He says pay the minimum and let our kids worry about the rest, but already we can hardly keep up
with the interest. Also he has been so arrogant and abusive toward our neighbors that most of them no longer speak to us. The few that do are
an odd bunch, to whom he has been giving a lot of expensive gifts, running up our bills even more. Also, he has gotten religious. One week
he hangs out with Catholics and the next with people who say the Pope is the Anti-Christ, and the next he's with Muslims.Fi nally, the last
straw. He's demanding that before anyone can be in the same room with him, they must sign a loyalty oath. It's just so horribly creepy! Can
you help?
Signed, Lost
Dear Lost,
Suck it up and stop whining, Michelle. You're getting to live in the White House for free, travel the world, and have others pay for
everything for you. You can divorce the jerk any time you want. The rest of us are stuck with the idiot for one more year!
#12
My sister also worked for Dole during the 70's and 80's. Her name was Merilyn Berryman. In 1971 I got orders to go back to the Nam and I called her and said "I don't want to go." two days later new orders came down. Connections are a great thing to have.
#16
So Specter fell for the old "I promise I will respect you in the morning" line and he is ticked that Obama did call or send him flowers? Suck it up, stupid.
#28
Seriously, isn't this an admission of malfeasance in office? Is there not some law, statute or rule that prohibits a Senator from essentially selling his vote? Are there no remedies available to the American people, civil or criminal, for this gross dereliction of duty. Anybody?
[An Nahar] Prime Minister Najib Miqati confirmed on Monday that the Lebanese army had busted a cell within its ranks planning attacks on military barracks.
In remarks to news hounds at the Grand Serail, Miqati said: "The Lebanese army uncovered a terrorist cell that was planning an attack on its barracks and is carrying out the necessary investigation."
He said the cell is active in northern Leb with branches in the Paleostinian camps and mainly in Ain al-Hilweh. "But it has nothing to do with the situation in Syria."
His confirmation came after al-Akhbar daily reported that the army nabbed two Salafist soldiers linked to the Abdullah Azzam Brigades allied with the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
The men are reportedly part of a larger network consisting of four Lebanese and one Paleostinian identified as Abu Mohammed Toufiq Taha who is the Brigades' ringleader in Ein el-Hellhole and wanted on several charges.
While Taha is on the run, the other six were nabbed by the army intelligence, al-Akhbar said.
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[Dawn] The administration of Kohistan ...a backwoods district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa distinguished by being even more rustic than is the norm among the local Pashtuns.... district has constituted a 70-member jirga of local Learned Elders of Islam and elders, which would extend help to the law-enforcement agencies in arresting perpetrators of the Feb 28 Harban bus attack.
"This jirga would also discuss ways to arrest those involved in Harban carnage with the jirga of elders and Learned Elders of Islam of Diamer. It will also convey the message of Kohistanis to people of Gilgit-Baltistan that their area should not be used for settling scores of the sectarian conflict in Gilgit," said Maulana Dildar Ahmad, a former provincial minister and key member of the jirga, while talking to news hounds at Dassu on Sunday.
The 70 members of the jirga were selected in Dassu at a big gathering, which was also attended by district coordination officer Aqil Badshah and district police officer Mohammad Ilyas.
The participants condemned killing of 16 people in Harban attack and vowed to extend cooperation to the administration in arrest of the perpetrators of the heinous crime.
Maulana Dildar said that the district administration of Diamer had also constituted a jirga of elders and Learned Elders of Islam, which would hold dialogues with Kohistan jirga in Chilas. He said that besides other factors concerning the attack an international conspiracy to pitch the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan against each other couldn't be ruled out.
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[Dawn] Chairman of the Senate Syed Nayyer Hussain Bukhari on Monday assured the upper house to diligently work for protecting rights of members and strengthening democracy.
In his maiden address to the House as Chairman, Bukhari also assured an enabling environment in the House and sought assistance from the seasoned law makers to run the House according to the Constitution and the rules.
"I assure all the members to continue seeking guidance from the constitution and rules of the House in dispensation of duties impartially and running the proceedings of the House," he said, towards culmination of the inaugural session of the Senate after recent election of 54 Senators to the House.
He thanked President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... , Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... and the coalition partners in the government to repose confidence in him to get elected as Chairman Senate.
He expressed confidence that election of senior law makers and legal experts to the Senate will help improve performance of the House as well as effective legislation for the welfare of masses.
"Today's Senate is much different from the previous one. Today the Parliament enjoys illusory sovereignty and I need your assistance to ensure that the House is not subservient to the policies of the government," he added.
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[Dawn] Festivals, whether religious or cultural, have always fascinated me and being a devout advocate of coexistence I enjoy celebrating Christmas, Eid, Navroz and Diwali with my friends -- an act which is unfortunately officially 'extinct' now.
The festival of Holi, which remains one of my favourites, took place last week and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, however my celebrations were slightly overshadowed by surreptitious glances that I received from strangers. Do I blame them to be sceptical towards me? Have I given them any reason to treat me with such paranoia? Perhaps we all know the correct answer.
The recent rise in forced conversions, killings and kidnappings for ransom targeting non-Mohammedans, specifically the Hindus of Pakistain, proves that intolerance and bigotry in our society runs deeper than we'd care to admit.
Whether our society has always alienated and harassed people who profess other religions or if this is a 'trend', a recent 'development' which is haunting everyone, including Mohammedans who demand peace and coexistence, are questions that can best be answered by someone who has been living in Pakistain since the time of its establishment.
Hari Motwani, former Member Manager Committee of Pakistain Hindu Council said, "The situation was never as bad as it has become. I remember the good old days when we were invited to Qawwali evenings and Naat competitions. We participated in all Mohammedan religious festivals and our sentiments were reciprocated wholeheartedly, however now it is extremely difficult for us to trust anyone,"
"When your daughters and sons are at stake, everything seems threatening," added Motwani, whose own nephew was kidnapped and has been missing for the past three months.
The endless horror tales that I read and hear about people, who suffer from the 'minority syndrome' in Pakistain, make me question who are the culprits behind these vicious acts and most importantly what factors influence them to act in such an inhumane way.
My religious knowledge might not be 'at par' with the so-called advocates of faith but I do know certainly that there is no compulsion in religion. Coercing and threatening Hindus to accept Islam will most likely not land us a palatial mansion in heaven. Kidnapping and killing them for ransom will never be justified and above all 'expunging' them from the country will not 'bless' us in any way whatsoever.
Hindus constitute almost 2.5 per cent of the overall population of Pakistain and most Hindu families have been living in the country before 1947's partition. Raja Assermal, a businessman of Sikh origin said, "My family has a 1000 years worth of history in Pakistain. We identify with this country because this is our homeland. Many Hindus have migrated but we will not change our 'abode' and will continue to fight for our rights."
Assermal claims that Hindus are being targeted everywhere, however, the situation in Sindh is critical and deteriorating with the passage of each day. Whilst narrating the abduction and forced conversion of a 17-year-old Hindu girl, he demanded for their civil rights and urged the authorities to protect them from the myrmidons.
Intolerance and ubiquity of the pseudo-religious holy mans continue to tarnish young minds. Blaming everything on the authorities, lack of true Islamic knowledge and illiteracy will not change the situation. Measures taken in individual capacity can be extremely motivating for people who face the brunt of being a non-Mohammedan in Pakistain. In order to develop a society which is ethnically rich and civilised, tolerance and accommodation of each other's ideas play a predominant role.
A society which fails to accept its own people is perhaps more vulnerable and prone to disintegrate. Perhaps our own set of insecurities plays a vital role in considering other people and factions inferior.
We consider ourselves safe which is why most of us do not voice our condemnation toward such crimes, however, our realm is as penetrable and susceptible to the dangers of bigotry. Each targeted temple and attacked individual push us closer to the precipice of doom.
It is time to take measures to curb the hostilities toward Pak Hindus. It is time to identify the culprits behind the terrifying abductions and forced conversions of non-Mohammedans in Pakistain. It is indeed time to make amendments by making individual efforts to save people professing other religions before it's too late.
"You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistain," is the most highlighted phrase of one of the most significant speeches made by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... the question is if Jinnah had been a witness to the barbarism which rules Pakistain now; would he still dream of creating Pakistain?
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#1
IIRC INDIA BLOGGERS = claim that up to 25 HINDU girls or women a day? are being forcibly converted as described, wid little to no distinction being made for minor, single, or married women. Many are kidnapped + taken far away from their families + homes - FORMAL/LEGAL MARRIAGES BETWEEN NON-MUSLIMS ARE ALL BUT ABSOLUT IGNORED.
The Conquered are made to know, believe, + feel that they have been + are the conquered.
#3
The Conquered are made to know, believe, + feel that they have been + are the conquered
That is indeed the key, JosephM.
And that is the fate of anyone anywhere, be it SE Asia, Africa, Europe, etc. that falls to the Muslims. Islam is a cult that believes in its superiority and its Allan given right to enslave the world.
[An Nahar] A scuffle broke out Monday in the U.N. Human Rights Council and a man was jugged by security after a North Korean diplomat said a critical report by an independent expert had been fabricated.
North Korea said it "roundly rejects this useless interpretation" which it said was "fabricated by hostile elements" and it called on the council not to renew the mandate of the special rapporteur on human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... Marzuki Darusman.
As the North Korean delegate was leaving the hall a scuffle ensued and a man was held by U.N. security officials before being later released.
The dispute erupted when council members took note of a report by Darusman, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea.
The report covers the period from September 2011 to January 2012, when the situation "continued to deteriorate" said Darusman's report.
After the report was presented, several representatives took the floor, led by North Korea, followed by the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and Japan.
While the Japanese representative was about to finish his speech, the North Korean diplomat stood up to leave and the scuffle broke out.
The report said the human rights and humanitarian situation in North Korea has tanked in recent months, while adding that the leadership transition following Kim Dear Leader Jong-Il ... hereditary dictator of North Korea. His definition of reunification isn't the same as the definition in Seoul... 's death in December was an opportunity for reform.
"The current transition may be a window of opportunity for the country to adopt a reform process and address all questions and concerns in relation to human rights," said Darusman.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
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#1
Full Moon?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
03/13/2012 2:13
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[An Nahar] Gunmen rubbed out three Christians near the flashpoint central city of Jos, hours after 10 people were killed in a suicide kaboom of a Catholic church, the Plateau state government said Monday.
The gunnies struck late Sunday in a village south of the city, where Christian-Mohammedan tensions were running high after the church attack, government front man Pam Ayuba told Agence La Belle France Presse.
"Unknown gunnies, in an apparent ambush late Sunday, waylaid and rubbed out three people and injured two others -- all Christians -- in Chugwi village," Ayuba said.
"We suspect that the attackers were herdsmen. They left with the handsets of those killed and called numbers on their phones to alert their relations that they were responsible for the killings," he said from the scene of the attack.
Ayuba, who is a native of the Christian village, said no arrests have yet been made.
A jacket wallahwent kaboom!" outside a Roman Catholic church in Jos on Sunday, killing seven people and sparking panic in which security forces shot three others dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
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For a map, click here. For a map of Chihuahua state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Five unidentified men were shot to death and a woman was wounded in a shooting at a Chihuahua, Chihuahua beauty salon Monday evening, according to Mexican news accounts.
The shooting took place at the Performance Salon near the intersection of calles 39th and José Joaquin Calvo in San Rafael colony east of Zona Centro in the city.
Shooters arrived at the barber establishment aboard two vehicles, dismounted and started firing. Two of the victims were waiting for a haircut, while a third was already receiving service.
The other two victims attempted to flee the fusillade by foot but were caught by gunfire.
Five other individuals were killed in ongoing drug and gang related violence in Chihuahua state, including two Ciudad Juarez municipal police agents.
A man was found shot to death in Juarez Monday. José Murguia Gomez, 35, was found near the intersection of calles Batopilas and Carlos Adame in Anahuac colony. The victim was shot following a foot pursuit.
An unidentified woman was found dead near Juarez Monday. The victim was found in Campesina colony near the intersection of calles José Isabel Sanchez and Benito Juarez.
An unidentified employee of an eating establishment was shot to death early Monday morning in Juarez. An armed suspect entered the place in Partido Romero colony near the intersection of Avenida 16 de Septiembre and Calle Emilia Calvillo, shouting at the victim before shooting him.
Two undercover Ciudad Juarez municipal police agents were shot and killed Monday. The agents were observing an attempted hijacking of a food delivery truck at a grocery store in Rancho Anapra colony near the intersection of calles Quimera and Remora. The two agents attempted to detain the armed suspects when the suspects opened fire on the officers killing them. The El Diario de Coahuila news story said that 16 Juarez municipal police officers have been killed in the line of duty since the start of the year.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com.
[Yemen Post] Yemeni Ministry of Interior announced on Sunday that two bombers suspected of being linked to al-Qaeda have been killed in the southern trouble-torn province of Abyan.
The bombers were killed when their cycle of violence, which was packed with explosives, accidently blew off, according to the Ministry website, which cited local security sources.
Consult Mutual of Gaza for the proper procedures in such cases. They're the experts.
Yasser Mohammed Salem al-Hawi, 21, and Munif Hadi Haroon al-Hawi,20, intended to launch suicide kabooms on army posts in the province. But unfortunately for them they died before doing so, the source added.
Separately, Ministry of Interior said it had incarcerated 4 Somalis suspected of ties with al-Qaeda in the southern province of Lahj.
The Somali nationals are believed to be linked to the Mohammedan Youth group, al-Qaeda offshoot in the African country that sent at least 300 hundred fighters to help their fellow Yemeni terrorists, the ministry said.
"The Somalis were incarcerated in a road connecting Lahj province to Abyan," said the ministry, adding that the Somalis confessed that they had entered the country illegally.
Investigation with the African suspects is still under way, according to the ministry.
Al-Qaeda has stepped up its attacks on the military posts and personnel in south Yemen, taking an advantage of the current security situation.
Last week, the transnational terror network surprisingly stormed a military post in Abyan, killing at least 200 soldiers, wounding dozens others, and seizing a huge amount of weapons.
In reaction, the Air Force stepped up its Arclight airstrikes in the couple of days ago on the hard boys' whereabouts, leaving at least 50 of them killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
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[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... urged on Monday Syria's Druze population to abandon the ruling regime, warning them against "getting their hands covered with the blood of the Syrian people."
He told La Belle France 24 television: "I caution the Druze against getting embroiled in any sectarian strife with the Sunnis because that will spell their end."
The Arab world is dominated by the Sunni sect and "therefore beware of getting involved in strife," the Druze chief added.
This also applies to Christians and all other sects, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
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#1
When Wally urges you not to take sides, you better listen. He knows what he's talking about.
#2
Actually,I'm pretty damn sure that the nine million or so Syrians who aren't Sunni Muslims are D-E-A-D dead if the ruling regime falls. (Sad but true: Assad is probably the lesser of two evils in the long run.) That, and/or Israel gets to pickup a several hundred thousand non-Jewish but highly motivated and useful new citizens.
You know: however many make it out of what history will call the Syrian Genocide alive.
#3
Interesting point: the Druze in their mountain villages would be a useful buffer, particularly the ones around the Golan. Offer parts of the Golan to the Syrian 'refugees' (Druze and Christian) provided they settle there, and you have a constituency that doesn't ever want to be Syrian again.
Wonder what the Alawites would want to do if they saw a true Sunni state coming together?
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2012 7:40
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This has never been in doubt, even when Hosni ran the show, but now it's out in front.
The lower house of the Egyptian parliament has unanimously approved a text declaring that Israel is the number one enemy of Egypt and calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and a halt to gas exports to Israel.
On Monday, Egyptian MPs voted by a show of hands on the text of a report, which was compiled by the Arab Affairs Committee of the People's Assembly (lower house of parliament).
"Revolutionary Egypt will never be a friend, partner or ally of the Zionist entity, which we consider to be the number one enemy of Egypt and the Arab nation," the report declared, adding, "It will deal with that entity as an enemy, and the Egyptian government is hereby called upon to review all its relations and accords with that enemy."
In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel, but was compelled to agree to supply gas to Israel as one of the main economic conditions of the US-sponsored peace deal.
According to the results of an opinion poll conducted by Synovate for Press TV and published on October 3, 2011, an overwhelming majority of Egyptians oppose the terms of the country's gas deal with Israel. In the poll, seventy-three percent of the respondents said they were opposed to gas exports to Israel. Only 9 percent said they approved of Egypt supplying gas to Israel, and 12 percent had no opinion.
The issue of supplying gas to Israel has always been a contentious topic for Egyptians, who view Israel as an enemy and oppose engaging in any form of business with it.
According to a $2.5 billion export deal with Tel Aviv, signed in 2005, Israel receives around 40 percent of its gas supply from Egypt at an extremely low price.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/13/2012
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#1
This has never been in doubt, even when Hosni ran the show, but now it's out in front
The difference is that, nowadays, most Israelis understand this.
#2
I hope that Israelis see now that returning Sinai was inane. They should get it back at the nearest opportunity. And build a moat around Gazoo, filled with great white and crocks.
#6
I dont give a damn about the Egyptian gas deal.
I think long term it will be a benefit for Israel because we will be pushed to invest in developing our local gas fields which will not be dependent on the decisions of the moslem brotherhood.
Besides, the gas line was Kaboomed 13 times up to now, so there was no regular supply anyhow.
What is really important is the realization of Israel's leaders that : A LYING ARAB REMAINS A LYING ARAB
a skunk will always smell like a skunk no matter how much perfume you spray on it. NO MORE DEALS WITH LYING ARABS. - is a lesson we have to burn into the minds of our politicians.
No matter how much land you give them all you get in the end is a temporary "Hudna".
The Egyptian peace agreement was not worth the paper it was written on ( all it bought us was some time- which was not so bad while it lasted).
Another Even more important lesson is : Dont trust anyone with your National security !
Even so called "friends" ( Bambi et al.) will lie to you if it fits their interests.
I hope Netanyahu can read what is written in big letters on the wall.
Dear P.M. Please attack Iran and don't give a damn about promises (or threats) from friends and enemies.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
03/13/2012 13:02
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#7
Depending upon the reactions to the upcoming Iran action, Sinai might just end up under Israel control again.
#10
Makes me feel so good about all the foreign aid we give 'em. And with Obama in office you can bet that aid will continue whether we can afford it or not.
#11
The Arabs seem determined to accomplish the impossible - have the Greeks, Cypriots and Israelis agree to divide up the energy rights to the eastern Med. Gas, like money, is fungible. I won't be surprised if even the Jordanians or Saudis agree to supply Israel, simply by brokering the shipments from Egypt.
Now, if they were really creative, they'd agree to route the Hormuz detour pipeline from Kuwait and Qatar to Haifi. As silly as the Persian navy is, that would render it superfluous.
#12
Every collapsing state needs a #1 Enemy. It deflects blame from the rulers and gives the people something to think about besides shortages of food, power and consumer goods.
For the Arab world, if the Juice did not exist, it would be necessary to invent them.
[Yemen Post] The Yemeni Interior Ministry has said that security services have unveiled a terrorist plan of Al-Qaeda forces of Evil to target vital government facilities in a number of the governorates.
The ministry said in its website that Al-Qaeda forces of Evil plan to use car booms against public institutions and vital positions.
In a statement it made it clear that it will seriously deal with Al-Qaeda threats, affirming that it took a number of security procedures to encounter the plans.
The ministry emphasized that it will go on its war against terrorism everywhere , citing that the organization suffers of a hysteria state following the success of the early presidential elections.
In a previous statement, the ministry had revealed that 300 forces of Evil of the Somali Al-Shabaab ... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban... Movement arrives in Yemen early of March to fight with Ansar Al-Sharia ( Supporters of the Islamic law) against the government forces.
It further said that it seized four Somalis while they were en route to Abyan governorate where festivities between the terrorist group and the Yemeni army are ongoing, hinting that Al-Qaeda forces of Evil admitted about the plans.
Units of the Yemeni military are taking part in securing some public institutions, banks as well as bridges and tunnels.
Yemen witnessed an increase of the violent acts that are carried out by Al-Qaeda beturbanned goons. More than 185 Yemenis were killed in Al-Qaeda attack on some military positions of Abyan.
The Yemeni army launched strikes on Friday against the strongholds of Al-Qaeda in Abyan and Al-Badha, killing at least 40 beturbanned goons.
Several families have decamped Abyan, seeking refuge in nearby villages, fearful of the increasing festivities between Al-Qaeda forces of Evil and the military.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
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Editor's note: The following article was written by a prominent Chinese blogger named Wang Jinsi (王锦思). The article discusses why, even when it seems that it isn't in China's best interest, it insists on maintaining a strong relationship with the mythical hermit kingdom, North Korea.
Relationship is not all good
North Korea and China have a close interdependent relationship, like that of two blood brothers. However, the hardline policies of North Korea, China's little brother, often leave China in an uncomfortable position, making their relationship one filled with as much love as there is hate. Despite the fact that the Chinese public opinion of North Korea is extremely low, the Chinese government does not intend to abandon it. As far as they are concerned, the dish may be tasteless, but it would be a pity to throw it away.
Be that as it may, Sino-North Korean relations are not completely inseparable these days. In June 2009, after North Korea conducted their second nuclear test, China was left humiliated, and the leaders at Zhongnanhai were no doubt shaking silently with anger at their little brother. On May 29th 2009, days after the second test was conducted, the North Korean Foreign Ministry, who apparently felt that it had nothing to lose, issued a strong critical statement against China and Russia, who were participating in an emergency UN Security Council meeting at the time: "They are kowtowing to the Americans, blindly following them." Since that time, both sides have grown increasingly critical toward one another.
For example, in an editorial published by the Global Times -- a party-run newspaper --the term "ungrateful" (忘恩负义) was used in reference to North Korea, which would once have been considered an inconceivable thing to say. The editorial had other choice words for North Korea aswell: "If the hundreds of thousands in the Chinese People's Volunteer Army hadn't gone over and helped the Korean People's Army fight their bloody war shoulder to shoulder, there wouldn't be a North Korea today. In recent years, North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests, repeatedly violated international agreements, and many Chinese people are asking:'Are we still able to refer to our two countries as blood brothers'? North Korea's nuclear testing has ruined the foundations of our bilateral relations."
Four reasons China will not abandon North Korea
Two years after this incident, Sino-North Korean relations have cooled off somewhat. Yet, despite these continuing clashes, it seems that China refuses to abandon North Korea, and is in fact determined to keep on slanting its policies in North Korea's favour, providing economic support, food aid etc. The reasons for this continued support are as follows:
1) Ideologically, China and North Korea's social systems both still operate under the banner of Marxism, and in this day and age, other Marxist brethren have become quite hard to come by.
2) The "peace" of the Korean War cost China at least 300,000 Chinese casualties. If China were to just give that up, the widows and relatives of those deceased would likely be rather furious. Not to mention, the whole little brother relationship with North Korea is a big part of China's mainstream propaganda system, and it can't be changed that easily.
3) When China's strategic interests come into conflict with those of Japan or the United States, China likes to have a buffer to end the stalemate between the countries. As it has traditionally done, China still hopes that North Korea will act as its shield, and during these critical moments on the international stage, do things that are not convenient for China to do. And even if North Korea goes too far, other countries will ask China to step in and deal with North Korea (as it doesn't really listen to anyone else), which makes China look more important. However, "When a neighbouring country starts conducting nuclear tests right on China's borders, China will not turn a blind eye."
4) There are still a number of Chinese people who have a soft spot for North Korea, such as Kong Qingdong (孔庆东), the infamous Peking University professor who frequently gets in trouble for his super national opinions (In January 2012, he called Hong Kong residents "the dogs of British imperialists" during a webcast interview). Suffice it to say, even with low public opinion of North Korea, China's support is still considered a core part of the country's national character.
In summary, even though supporting North Korea is both strenuous and costly -- not to mention it is not all that mutually beneficial -- China will continue to do so. But North Korea should take note of China's new tone, as could be seen at the 2011 Sino-North Korean Summit Meeting: North Korea, my boy, I'll continue to help you build yourself up, but don't do anything too stupid, or I'll be the one that looks bad.
Continued on Page 49
#1
No surprise, but China is becoming seemingly more aggressive + "final" as per its claims to disputed islands from East China Sea to the South China Sea - it is no longer content to stay between its coasts in East Asia to the west side of the "First Island Chain", but now IMO is attempting to MilPol "force" its way thru the "Chain" + into WESTPAC + far PACOAS.
* IIRC PRAVDA > CHINESE DRAGON SWALLOWS AUSTRALIA WHOLE.
* SAME > JAPANESE WANT US OKINAWA BASES GONE.
* WORLD NEWS > [Philippines] FISHERMEN FEAR PALAWAN WILL BE TURNED INTO ANOTHER "OKINAWA" WID US BASE PLAN, espec given its close proximity to China-claimed areas that are also claimed by Manila. US plans to build a logistics base on Palawan in support of "West Philippine Sea" forces [South China Sea = China].
PHIL National Fishermen Movement = Pamalakayo'.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > CHINA BOOST NAVAL PRESENCE NEAR KOREAN PENINSULA, Beijing sent a Destroyer to Ieo = Jeodo Island, + is in process of expanding PLAN naval forces, facilities at Dalian. ROK = SOUTH KOREA CLAIMS THE ISLAND IS CLEARLY UNDER THEIR TITLE.
#3
The Khmer Rouge, who called themselves Maoists, believed that the most important social and political value was equality and that in order to create their new, classless society in which everyone was equal, it was necessary to exterminate anyone who might be smarter, or better educated, or wealthier, or more talented than anyone else.
Change 'exterminate' to 'tax' and it all sounds rather familiar to what a certain party is preaching today.
#4
The term "exterminate" remains entirely acceptable if heard in Zimbabwe, South Africa, or from the pulpit of a certain Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) in Chicago.
#5
The difference between national socialism and international socialism is that the national socialists killed all the <50%ers and the international socialists killed all the >50% ers.
You can see why the lefties don't like NatSoc and feel comfortable with IntSoc.
[Yemen Post] Former 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... entered the Presidential Palace from a back gate on Monday and held a meeting with sheiks, members of the General People Congress and commanders who are still loyal to him, well informed sources affirmed.
The sources said that Saleh entered the palace as the new President Abdu-Rabu Mansour Hadi was receiving some foreign delegations in the main hall of the palace.
The GPC has stated in its online newspaper that Saleh held a meeting with members of his party, but it did not mentioned the place of the meeting
The alliance of the Joint Meeting Parties that presides the interim government had warned Saleh from attempts of provoking turbulence and chaos inside the state.
Saleh held a meeting last Saturday with his supporters in which he strongly criticized the Yemeni revolutionaries who took to streets against him , describing the protesters as thugs and backward people.
In a speech delivered before his supporters inside a mosque nearby the Presidential Palace, Saleh threatened to disclose files and documents about the Yemeni revolution in particular and the Arab Spring in general. He further portrayed his opponents as traitors and corrupt people.
A big shot of the JMP, Mohammad Qahtan, threatened that the immunity given to Saleh under the GCC-drawn power transfer deal will be dropped in case Saleh went on violating the deal. He underestimated the threats of Saleh.
Yemeni analysts said Saleh still intervened in the duties of his successor, pointing out that he behaves such as he has not realized that he was ousted and a new president was elected.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
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#1
Gotta say this Salehi + Yemen situation reminds me of the scenes of all the German Commanders behind the D-Day Normandy front in "THE LONGEST DAY", save in reverse.
AQAP, etc. fighting for control of the YEMENI = "OMAHA" BEACHHEAD for the "liberation" of SAUDI ARABIA = 1944 FRANCE???
Security forces said they killed two terrorists militants during a gun battle in Makhachkala, Dagestan's capital.
An unidentified source in the Dagestani law enforcement agencies said that one of the slain terrorists militants is Eldos Zulfugarov, who had been wanted on terrorism charges.
In a related report, Dagestani police said they destroyed a terrorist militant base in the forest near the village of Gubden. Police said they found food and clothing and that the base could accommodate up to 15 fighters.
Three terrorists militants involved in a deadly attack that killed 84 federal troops in Chechnya were given lengthy prison sentences, the Russian Investigations Committee said on Monday.
No names mentioned
The three were members of an terrorist insurgent group that attacked a unit of federal forces near the town of Ulus Kert in the Argun Gorge on February 29, 2000. Two of the terrorists insurgents were sentenced to 14 years and the third to 13 years in prison.
The battle of Ulus Kert was one of the most tragic episodes of the second war in Chechnya. Some 700 terrorists insurgents also died in the battle.
[An Nahar] Syrian regime stalwart and former defense minister Mustafa Tlass has arrived in Gay Paree with one of his sons but they are not defecting, opposition representatives told Agence La Belle France Presse on Monday.
Tlass arrived in La Belle France from Syria with his wife and his businessman son Firas, the Gay Paree-based opponents said. His other son Manaf, an officer in the Syrian regime's military, is believed still to be in Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
Mohammed al-Rashdan, member of the National Committee for Support of the Syrian Revolution, told AFP: "He has been in La Belle France for five days after having an argument with Assef Shawkat, (President) Bashir al-Assad's brother-in-law."
Shawkat is the current deputy defense minister and husband of President Assad's sister, Bushra.
A source close to the Syrian community in exile told AFP: "Tlass and his son Firas arrived in Gay Paree yesterday (Sunday). I don't think this is a defection. He will be here a while but it is with the regime's authorization."
Other Syrian regime opponents confirmed Tlass' presence in La Belle France but denied reports that he was about to announce his defection or that he was meeting with opposition members.
A Sunni Moslem, Tlass was Syrian defense minister from 1972 to 2004, having befriended Bashar's father and predecessor as Syrian president, Hafez, at military academy.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
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Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
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#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Dana Delany aka Nurse Colleen McMurphy in "China Beach (TV Series 19881991)" aka Susan Barnes in "Fly Away Home (1996)" aka Mrs. Beal in "Wide Awake (1998)" aka Cat Fonifam in "The Outfitters (1999)" aka Karen Bennett in "Mother Ghost (2002)" aka Anthea Farrow-Smith in "The Right Temptation (2000)" aka Annie in "Multiple Sarcasms (2010)" (age 57)
#3
I've heard of CFM's but what do you call an ENTIRE outfit like that?
Personally I'd call that a good time, just needs a little olive oil, grape jam, and a rubber duckie or two and with that whip and bustier, it would be a hot time....please don't tell Hillary I said that.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/13/2012 10:24
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BRUSSELS - A man threw a petrol bomb through the window of a mosque west of Brussels on Monday, killing the imam and injuring a second person, Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure reported.
The newspaper quoted police as saying a suspect was detained after the attack in Anderlecht and a large crowd of people gathered in front of the mosque. Police were not immediately reachable for comment.
Belgium has a Muslim population of about 500,000 out of a population of nearly 11 million and there are occasional acts of violence between communities, particularly in areas such as Anderlecht.
#1
According to this article the mosque is largest Shiite mosque in Brussels.
Another very interesting information from the article:
The last time an imam was targetted in Brussels was in 1989 when Saudi-born Abdullah Muhammad al-Ahdal was shot dead.
He served as imam in the Grand Mosque of Brussels and was killed on March of that year by an armed man inside the mosque.
His killing was claimed by a small pro-Iranian group in Lebanon who accussed him of being too moderate and of having rejected the death fatwa slapped on writer Salman Rushdie.
In 1989 even Saudi Wahabis rejected and condemned Rushdie rules. In the 21st century acceptance of Rushdie rules is consensus among Western elites.
[Haaretz] Two Paleostinian Islamic fascistiwere killed in the latest Israel Defense Forces strike in Gazoo on Monday, raising the corpse count since the beginning of the escalation on the Israel-Gazoo border on Friday to 25.
IDF sources said the bad boyz were potted while preparing to launch rockets into Israel. The IDF added that in recent days the terrorist cell had fired rockets into Israel.
Paleostinian Islamic fascistiin the Gazoo Strip fired more than 40 rockets at Israel on Monday, as the heavy cross-border barrage continued well into its fourth day. Two of the rockets fired Monday went kaboom! near Gedera, just 40 kilometers south of Tel Aviv, and another struck inside the southern city of Ashdod.
Overall on Monday, 47 rockets went kaboom! in Israeli territory, and 13 were intercepted by the Iron Dome system.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
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#1
Islam has spread all over the world! They can't even let non-muslims have a small slice of their own thousands of year old homeland.
These islamists are only mad because they cannot convert the Jews and their land so they must kill innocents.
If Israel ever falls, another country will become the new Jew.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) assured its counterpart in the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that the group does not plan to be part of the new Muslim government in the event a peace deal is signed this month.
A statement on the MILF website said, "We want to assure our brothers in the MNLF of the inclusive policy of the MILF in this negotiation. As a matter of fact, we do not even imagine a personal agenda in this exercise, say holding public office. That is far from our mind.
"For this reason, we want to appeal to everyone including all Moro leaders particularly politicians, not to barter the better future of our people for the fleeting rewards of the present."
The MILF statement came after the government panel and the MNLF met in Bandung, Indonesia to discuss the last stage of 1996 final peace agreement brokered by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The major provisions of the 1996 peace deal are the following:
establishment of the Special Zone of Peace and Development to be managed by the Southern Philippines Council for Peace and Development and its own consultative assembly;
integration of former MNLF combatants into the government security forces;
provide broad powers to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) government pertaining to economic, financial, business and commercial matters;
devolution of development-related offices/agencies to the autonomous Muslim region;
Muslim representation in the national government; and,
implementation of the shariah and the madaris (Islamic law and educational systems)
[Emirates 24/7] A car boom killed a schoolgirl on Monday and maimed 25 others at a school in the southern Syrian city of Deraa, the scene of sporadic street fighting between Free Syrian Army rebels and President Bashar Al Assad's troops, an opposition activist said. "The car went kaboom! at nine in the morning in Al Kashef neighbourhood in front of Al Mahatta High School for Girls, which has been active in (anti-Assad) demonstrations," Maher Abdelhaq said from the city on the border with Jordan.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
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[Emirates 24/7] An gang attacked a pipeline carrying diesel from Syria's Homs province to Hama, the country's state news agency said. ... and if you can't believe the state news agency who can you believe? on Monday.
Sana said a plume of smoke was seen rising from the pipeline and that the authorities were working on fixing it.
Oil pipelines have been frequently hit during the one year uprising against President Bashar Al Assad. Opposition activists accuse government forces of sabotaging the pipelines to cut off oil products from anti-Assad cities.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
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[An Nahar] The bodies of 47 women and kiddies, some with their throats slit, were found in the flashpoint Syrian city of Homs prompting the opposition to call Monday for foreign military intervention.
The Syrian authorities accused "terrorist gangs" of carrying out the killings in a bid to intensify pressure on Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... 's regime at a meeting at the United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involves making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... on Monday of foreign ministers of the major powers.
At the meeting Western governments stepped up their pleas to Russia and China to end their blockage of action by the U.N. Security Council action over the Syrian government's deadly assault on protest cities.
But Russia showed little sign that it would change its stance, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slamming "risky recipes" which he said risked increasing conflict in the Middle East.
International peace envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... , in Ankara after a weekend mission to Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... , acknowledged that a settlement in Syria would "not be easy" but renewed his demand for an immediate halt to the "unacceptable" killings of civilians.
U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... called on Damascus to respond "within the next few days" to the set of concrete proposals which his predecessor handed to Assad in their talks on Saturday and Sunday.
The grisly murders in Syria's third-largest city Homs came less than two weeks after regime troops stormed its rebellious Baba Amr neighborhood, following a month-long bombardment in which activists say 700 people were killed.
Activist Hadi Abdallah told Agence La Belle France Presse the bodies of 26 children and 21 women, some with their throats slit and others bearing stab wounds, were found after a "massacre" in the Karm el-Zaytoun and al-Adawiyeh neighborhoods of the besieged central city.
"Some of the children had been hit with blunt objects on their heads, one little girl was mutilated and some women were raped before being killed," he said.
Activists posted videos online that showed graphic images of charred bodies and children with mutilated and bloodied faces.
The Local Coordination Committees, which organize protests on the ground, called for a day of nationwide strikes on Tuesday in mourning for the dead.
Syrian state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
also aired gruesome footage showing homes with white walls splattered with blood, bodies of women and kiddies piled on top of each other, and several men, with bullet wounds to the head, lying facing down in a disused building, their hands tied behind their backs.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said news of the killings in Homs had prompted hundreds of families to flee the city.
Syrian state TV said the weekend killings were a clear ploy by "armed terrorist gangs" to grab the spotlight ahead of the meeting of major powers in New York.
"We are used to them committing more crimes before meetings of the U.N. Security Council," it said.
But at a meeting in Istanbul, the opposition Syrian National Council called for "urgent Arab and international military intervention."
Reading from a prepared text, senior SNC official Georges Sabra called for the creation of a "no-fly zone" over all of Syria and "strikes" against the Syrian armed forces.
At the U.N. Security Council meeting in New York, there was no sign of any narrowing of the rift between Western governments and Beijing and Moscow on how to respond to the crisis.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "It is unacceptable that our council be stopped from assuming its responsibilities.
"After months of blocking, I appeal to China and Russia to hear the voices of the Arabs and the world conscience and join us."
But Lavrov maintained his argument against "unilateral" U.N. action, and repeated Russia's condemnation of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... 's air strikes in Libya to justify its opposition to the West's campaign on Syria.
Change in the Arab world "must not be achieved by misleading the international community or manipulating the Security Council," Lavrov said.
"There is no doubt whatsoever that the Syrian authorities bear a huge share of responsibility for the situation," Lavrov said, but he added that the government was now fighting gangs, not just unarmed protesters.
The U.N. chief called for the major powers to unite behind Annan's peace mission as joint envoy of the world body and 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... "I appeal to the Security Council to unite strongly behind ending the violence and supporting Mr. Annan's mission to help Syria pull back from the brink of a deeper catastrophe," Ban said.
In Ankara, Annan acknowledged that the situation in Syria was "complex" but he was confident that talks for a settlement of the year-old crisis, which human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... monitors say has claimed more 8,500 lives, would eventually succeed.
"We will launch a political process and we will reach a settlement," Anatolia news agency quoted him as saying.
As the Britannia-based Observatory reported 22 dead in new violence on Monday, the head of a U.N. human rights probe said that civilians trapped by the fighting in besieged protest cities were facing a "desperate situation."
"The intensification of armed confrontations has widened the trail of suffering," the president of the U.N. Human Rights Council inquiry Paulo Pinheiro said.
"Unimpeded humanitarian access should be granted as a rule, rather than an exception."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
00:00 ||
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#1
The Russians are not stupid and they have some real 'skin in the game' on this one as well. They seriously do not want to see the Saddam's bugs and gas cache fall into the hands of Arab Springers.
#2
Where are the Sunni lions of the world when you need them? I'm pretty sure Sunnis around the world believe that Arab Sunnis are being massacred in Syria by Alawite infidels. And yet the response has been - to ask the infidel West to intervene. Mao's expression "paper tiger" is an apt term for the Sunnis of the world - big talkers all...
[An Nahar] Iran stands fully behind Syria and blames the United States and Arab nations for the bloody unrest shaking its ally, media on Monday quoted a deputy foreign minister as saying.
"The Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran underlines its total support for the Syrian people and government," Hossein Amir Abdollahian said, according to Iran's official IRNA news agency.
He said Western and Arab nations "that support the insecurity and instability in Syria are responsible for any aggravation of the crisis in Syria."
Amir Abdollahian said Iran continues to believe in a "political solution" based on reforms agreed to by Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites...
In a separate interview to Russian media picked up by the Iranian daily Kayhan, the deputy foreign minister said: "The troubles in Syria are happening with the backing of the United States, European and Arab countries with the massive delivery of weapons to the country."
Iran, the principal Middle East ally of Assad's government, has denied U.S. allegations it is sending arms to Syria to help put down the uprising there.
It has also voiced its opposition to any military intervention in Syria.
A diplomatic clash is brewing over the situation in Syria among U.N. Security Council members. Russia and China have already twice vetoed resolutions condemning the violence.
U.N.-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... peace envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... left Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... on Sunday without managing to secure an accord to end bloodletting in Syria, as fighting raged in major flashpoints leaving dozens more dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/13/2012
00:00 ||
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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.
U.S. drone aircraft struck twice in Pakistan's unruly tribal regions along the border with Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 15 suspected militants, including two senior militant commanders, security and intelligence officials said.
A 
The White House said Monday that U.S. strategy would not change in Afghanistan despite the fallout from a U.S. soldier's shooting rampage which killed 16 civilians in a new jolt to America's war policy.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
US Secretary of State 
Justice Anwar Zaher Bajwa of Sindh High Court (SHC) has ordered to lodge Rinkal Kumari (a Hindu girl), who has converted to Islam and named as Faryal Bibi at Pannah Shelter home and to produce her before Supreme Court on March 26.
Najib Miqati
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
International Criminal Court
Mohmand
His beheaded body was thrown on a road at the night and it was found on Sunday morning.
Iran encouraging Islamic Jihad to fire rockets at Israel, escalation could prompt ground incursion, senior officer says. IDF hasn't used all measures at its disposal, he says
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Monday demanded at the UN Security Council that Syrian leaders face international trials over the deadly crackdown on opposition protests.
Hillary Clinton
[An Nahar] International mediator 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Former Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) writes in a new book that President Obama ditched him in the 2010 election after he helped Obama win the biggest legislative victory of his term by passing healthcare reform.
In remarks to 
[Dawn] The administration of 
Asif Ali 
Festivals, whether religious or cultural, have always fascinated me and being a devout advocate of coexistence I enjoy celebrating Christmas, Eid, Navroz and Diwali with my friends -- an act which is unfortunately officially 'extinct' now.
North Korea
Kim 
cycle of violence
Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
[Yemen Post] Former president 
Security forces said they killed two 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
