Russia's narcotics chief, Victor Ivanov, announced Wednesday that a joint operation of Russian, Afghan and the US special forces captured several tonnes of narcotics and destroyed four drug labs in Afghanistan last week.
The teams discovered four drug labs, arrested 67 people and seized drugs worth more than $110 million, in the course of a two-week operation that ended on Monday,
Summarizing the operation, Ivanov said, "In total nearly three tonnes of hashish were seized. As a matter of fact, it's more than we seize annually in the Russian Federation, so it shows that the concentration of efforts on drug production sites is dozens, or maybe hundreds, of times more effective than elsewhere."
Ivanov, who has criticized US and NATO strategies, saying they should focus more on eradicating poppy crops, hopes to discuss the need for radical changes in fighting drugs at the next anti-drug conference in Peru's capital Lima in June.
A Libyan government spokesman says clashes in a western city have left six dead and at least 20 injured.
Nasser al-Manei said unidentified assailants attacked an airport and a hospital on Wednesday in Ghadamis near the Algerian border, some 450 kilometers (280) southwest of the capital Tripoli. He says the attackers came from outside the city.
He did not say what caused the violence, but clashes have been common since last year's overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. They have involved rival members of the militias that fought his regime as well as different groups with grievances dating to his time in power
Ghadamis is inhabited by Berbers, an ethnic group who occupy most of the country's western desert mountains and who were long suppressed by Gadhafi.
A tsunami of capital flight from Greece threatens to overwhelm the authorities, forcing the country out of the euro before fresh elections in June. Economists warned that the Greek financial system could crumble within weeks or days unless the European Central Bank steps up support.
In which case the Greek financial system will crumble within weeks...
President Karolos Papoulias told party leaders that banks had lost 700m in withdrawals on Monday alone as citizens rush to pre-empt capital controls and a much-feared return to the Drachma.
He cited central bank warnings that "great fear" might soon escalate to panic. The leaked details lend credence to claims that capital flight by both savers and firms have reached 4bn a week since the triumph of anti-bailout parties on May 6.
Steen Jakobsen from Danske Bank said outflows are becoming unstoppable, not helped by open talk in EU circles of `technical' plans for Greek withdrawal.
"This has a self-fulfilling prophecy built into it and I don't think we can get to June. The fuse is burning and the only two options now are a controlled explosion where Germany steps in to ensure an orderly exit, or an uncontrolled explosion," he said.
In what was clearly an officially-sanctioned leak, the U.S. sent Iran a clear message just a few days before the next round of Iran-West nuclear talks in Baghdad.
The word Iran appears only once in Wednesday's report in the Washington Post on American assistance to rebel forces in Syria, which includes coordination of larger and much improved arms shipments. That mention was buried at the end of the long piece, almost as an aside - but Tehran's address is written all over the report.
Administration sources emphasized to the Post that it's not material aid either, the money and arms are coming from the Sunni Gulf states. What the U.S. is providing is "assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure" for the Gulf arms suppliers. Or in other words, America is the go-between, the crucial link ensuring that the most useful weaponry goes through to where the rebels need it most.
Since it's not clear when the American aid began and from the wording of the report, it is clear that this was an officially-sanctioned leak, accurately timed to come out just a few days before senior American diplomats and other representatives of the five permanent Security Council members and Germany are to meet with a senior Iranian delegation in Baghdad.
"Fish, oil and bananas all play a role in the latest round of the high-stakes sovereignty dispute in the South China Sea, a problem that may rival Europe's own 19th-century "Schleswig-Holstein Question." That long-simmering territorial dispute, between Denmark and Germany, led the British politician Lord Palmerston to quip that only three people had ever understood it: a dead prince, a German professor who went mad, "and I, who have forgotten all about it."
There's less chance of forgetting in the South China Sea, a vast sea territory disputed by half a dozen Asian nations where trillions of dollars in oil and gas deposits are at stake and tempers have flared for weeks, with accusations of bullying between competing nations and even of war preparations by China.
#2
What the NYT calls a fight, I call a walkover. Unless China invades Manila, I don't see Uncle Sam jumping in. The Philippines is paying for its string of bad choices ranging from its eviction of American bases in the 90's, its lousy taste in political leaders and its public's support for zeroing out the defense budget. This is why the Pinoys have zero fighter aircraft and sail a retired (and long in the tooth) gun-armed Vietnam-era USCG cutter as its capital ship, while Vietnam flies SU-27's and sails Kilo-class subs despite having half the annual industrial output.
#3
If China is militarily far ahead of other claimants to the seas, in the long term it may have a problem that is rooted in simple geography, said Mr. Harold. Outside of China and Taiwan, there is no one else in the world who looks at the cow tongue map and says, oh yeah, thats legitimate, he said.
This is head-shakingly obtuse. Why would the Chinese care if anyone recognizes their claim, as long as no one attempts to evict them from the area? Chinese control over the SCS is becoming fait accompli much as it is over Tibet.
#4
I think the Vietnamese would disagree somewhat. And China got bit the last time they went after Vietnam - the Vietnamese didn't go for their ploy, and China failed to get them out of Cambodia - and the Chinese committing quite a few divisions, while the Vietnamese inflicted heavy casualties without engaging any of their regular divisions - using mainly militia and border units.
China may thing twice before they try to really militarily bully Vietnam and drive Vietname into the US side of things. Be funny to see USN and USAF assets there for "friendship" exercises (if we had a president with the stones to do it).
#5
Reunification + integration efforts wid Taiwan has stalled - its not only stalled, but may reverse towards nullity which Beijing cannot accept.
China wants its "post-US" power + influence ASAP AMAP ALAP, but said same is keyed on it China getting back TOTAL sovereign control oer Taiwan.
LEST WE FERGIT, TAIWAN + HAINAN + SRI LANKA = RISING CHINA'S THREE ALL-IMPORTANT "TURTLES OF WAR/IRON" [Islands] FOR ITS FUTURE, "POST-US", "MANIFEST DESTINY", OF WHICH TAIWAN IN NE ASIA IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT ONE.
* E.G. WORLD MILITARY FORUM > HONG-KONG "ZHANG-BAO" MEDIA: RYUKYUS/OKINAWA IS NOT JAPANESE TERRITORY, ISLANDS [Okinawa Archipelago, etc.] SHOULD BE RETURNED TO CHINA OR ELSE GIVEN INDEPENDENCE.
* SAME > NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY EXPERT ZHANG HUIDONG: CHINA'S POLICY ON STRATEGIC /KEY PACIFIC ISLANDS SHOULD EMULATE OR MIRROR AGGRESSIVE LATE 19TH-EARLY 20th CENTURY US IMPERIALISM, espec where the US suddenly became a recognized international power after defeating Spain = Spanish Empire in the 1898 Spanish-American War.
China = McKinley-Roosevelt era US = must stop being "Continental/Continentalist" + move towards adopting or being "International/
Int'list". IOW, TO ACHIEVE ITS "POST-US" AGENDA, NUCLEAR RISING CHINA MUST REDISCOVER ITS MILPOL-AGGRESSIVE "YOUNG TURK" HERITAGE.
Sub-IOW, CHINA MUST HAVE NO FEAR OF WAR - MAJOR OR MINOR, LIMITED OR TOTAL, CONVENTIONAL OR NUCLEAR.
* SAME > US MUST RECOGNIZE THAT THE SITUATION IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC HAS CHANGED: CONTROL OR DOMINATION OF THE WESTERN PACIFIC IS CENTRAL/KEY TO CHINA'S GRAND SUCCESS OR FAILURE AS A "POST-US" SUPERPOWER + GLOBAL LEADER. CHINA CAN NO LONGER ALLOW WESTPAC TO REMAIN OUTSIDE OF ITS DIRECT CONTROL, I.E. GEOPOL NEUTRAL, AUTONOMOUS OR FLEXIBLE/FLUID [heterogenous] AS DURING THE 20TH CENTURY + POST-1945 US-SOVIET COLD WAR. POWER TRANSFER FROM US + WESTERN EUROPE/EU TO CHINA + MAINLAND ASIA.
* SAME > CHINA'S ECONOMY VULNERABLE TO GROWING MUSLIM JIHADIST + ETHNIC MILITANT THREAT IN SE ASIA + MALAYA-INDONESIA, STABLE INDIA IN THE FACE OF PAKISTAN-BASED MILITANT PRESSURE IS IN CHINA'S "CORE" OR STRATEGIC INTERESTS.
As per #2, the above should tell the PHIL that their way andor method of doing things geopol HAS TO CHANGE, H-A-S TO CHANGE,, NOT "MIGHT" OR "SHOULD" CHANGE. IIUC, China is prepar to become more Regionally, Globally MilPol assertive or agressive vis-a-vis its geopol position agz the USA - IFF THE PHIL DOESN'T CHANGE, IT'LL BE RUN OVER LIKE THE PROVERBIAL CHICKEN, FROG, OR BOONIE DOG TRYING TO CROSS A ROAD FULL OF [Chin-made/driven]FAST CARS..
#6
More from WMF > CHINESE MARITIME AUTHORITIES BEGIN THE [forced] EXPULSION OF FISHERMEN FROM THE PHILIPPINES' SIDE OF HUANGYAN ISLAND [Scarborough SHoal = PHIL Panatag Reef/Island].
and
* SAME > OFFICIAL: CHINA DEMANDS THAT PHILIPPINES' VESSELS NO LONGER INTERFERE WID CHINESE FISHING BOATS IN DISPUTED SHOAL.
* SAME > PLA SENDS "ENTERTAINMENT" TROUPE TO CHINESE GARRISON IN XISHA ISLANDS [Paracel Islands].
This is more evidencia/indicia that, despite its Diplomatic, Media rhetoric to the contrary, CHINA IS INDEED PREPARING FOR MIL CONFLICT IN THE SCS.
China is no longer interested in any bilateral or multilateral dev of UW SCS resources wid ASEAN Nations, Other widout formal recognition from Same to China's "sole" or absolute sovereignty oer the disputed islands.
Iran may have used a secret cable published by WikiLeaks to target and hang an alleged Israeli spy, The Times of London reported Wednesday.
While the report is inconclusive and the evidence anecdotal, it notes striking similarities between a WikiLeak cable's description of its Iranian source and twenty-four year old Majid Jamali Fashi, hanged in Tehran on Tuesday in connection with the murder of an Iranian nuclear scientist in 2010.
Though WikiLeaks redacted the source's name before releasing the cable penned by an intelligence operative in Baku, Azerbeijan, it published the description of the source as "a licensed martial arts coach and trainer." According to the Times, Fashi, a professional kick-boxer, had visited Azerbaijan for a kick-boxing tournament days before the cable was sent.
The report, which The Jerusalem Post could not independently verify, speculates that the leak may have called Iran's attention to Fashi, or simply served as a pretext against him.
Iran alleges that Fashi traveled to Israel from Azerbeijan and received Mossad training. The Islamic Republic convicted Fashi in a closed trial after extracting a televised "confession."
#1
This is a smart move for Putin. Energy and technology big part of Putin's push. The terrorism alone is a major concern for Putin. This is a remarkable opportunity for the USA to reach out. Russia is a vast country with many resources. China is in a slide now. I don't trust the Chinese and I believe the Russians don't either. Working with Russia we could see many benefits for ourselves and Europe. Russia has spent 10 billion on the their Olympics in 1214.
They are in a joint venture type of growth phase.
This includes former satellites.
#2
Not sure I buy the reset but it might work to keep Israel from working with Georgia and other Caucus states and it might eliminate embarrassment over Israeli avoidance of Russian built Iranian defenses.
It might also work to put Russia on the side of the winners instead of the losers as they currently are. This is big for pride and arms sales.
If you are Russia and you don't believe NATO missile defenses are designed to stop Iranian missiles (or know they are but could also limit your own missiles), eliminating Iranian missiles (by assisting the Israelis in doing what everyone wants/needs them to do). At that point NATO has to come clean or remove the offending installations.
Also if you are Russia you now see the US has a ton of oil ready to be exploited after the next election. A spike in oil prices now could be very profitable before that Yank oils becomes available. An Israeli attack against Iran is likely to have that effect.
Lastly if you are Russia you pride yourself on your military equipment which might not be as good as Anglo/European stuff in many cases but is better for a third world export market and you see India and Israel as a potential market. Especially after an attack on Iran makes the west finger wag and call Israel a naughty boy.
I'm sure Putins given the whole thing far more thought than I have but it would seem to be advantageous to reset their relationship.
#4
A few more generations, and it'll be over for Russia as it's been known for several centuries. Depopulated territory, rich in resources, within walking distance for a billion or so Han Chinese.
#5
Russia should open up Siberia to Latin American and Indian (and anyone else who has no previous claims to the area) immigrants willing to become Russian citizens.
Don't worry about Iran, Israel will take care of it, former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin as telling him years ago.
Aznar, speaking Wednesday at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs on a meeting he had with the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in 2002, said Putin's comments came after he entreated him not to sell S300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.
"We can sell them anything," Aznar quoted Putin as saying, because in the end "Israel will take care of it."
Aznar, one of the few western leaders to have met Khamenei, said the Iranians made it clear when they met in October 2000, that "Israel was a historic cancer and an anomaly condemned to disappear."
Aznar said he found in Khamenei a man not only inspired by faith, but also "more nationalistic than I imagined."
Aznar said the Iranian leader wanted Iran to flourish in all fields, especially science and technology, in order to attain self sufficiency and independence. It was this desire for self-sufficiency, he said, which has led the Iranians to strive to develop nuclear weapons, rather than buy one from North Korea or Pakistan.
All the man needs is a little living space...
Aznar said that during their conversation Khamenei said that "an open confrontation with Israel and the US was inevitable," and that "he was working for Iran to prevail in such a confrontation. "
#1
Russian military hardware in the hands of Arabs has a long history of failure against the IDF. It remains to be seen how the Persians will do with their Russian weapons.
Lady Gaga has been refused a permit to perform in Indonesia after fundamentalist groups said her outfits and dance moves would undermine Islamic values and corrupt young people.
Indonesia's national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said the permit for her June 3 "Born This Way Ball" concert - the biggest show on her Asian tour - had not been approved. The local promoter, Michael Rusli, said that every seat in Jakarta's 52,000-seat Gelora Bung Karno stadium had been sold - half in the first two hours.
The chairman of Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), which planned to demonstrate against the performer's June 3 performance in Jakarta, said earlier, "We will stop her from setting foot on our land. She had better not dare spread her satanic faith in this country. Her style is vulgar, her sexual and indecent clothes will destroy our children's sense of morality. She's very dangerous."
Mariska Renata, a fan who had tickets to the Jakarta show, said by bowing to the wishes of "troublemakers," authorities only give them more power. Renata said, "We are mature enough to be able to separate our own moral values from arts and culture."
#2
I don't see the point in following the evolution of political boundaries over any 1000-year period, anywhere in the world. They are always changing.
Of course they are. That's what is fascinating. When you are stuck in a swamp, up to your axles in mud and Huns, it's interesting to know how you got there.
An assistant village leader was killed by a terrorist gunman while at a teashop in Pattani province on Tuesday morning. Ma-aduran Chelong, 35, was drinking tea at the teashop in his village when a terrorist gunman riding pillion on a motorcycle opened fire on him with handgun. The terrorists attackers then fled.
Mr Ma-aduran was hit twice and died at the teashop.
A 64-year-old man was killed in a drive-by shooting in Pattani province late Tuesday morning. Sommart Kesaro was returning home by motorcycle on the Pattani-Narathiwat road when he was attacked by two terrorists men on another motorbike.
A terrorist gunman riding pillion on the motorcycle fired on him with a pistol and then the terrorists assailants fled. Sommart was hit several times in his torso and died at the spot.
#1
So now Im wondering because I watched this JP Morgan Chase thing just go down. Im wondering (A) what do you think happened and (B) sir what are you going to do about it because this has to be the last straw.
Clearly highlights this fattened rhino's understanding of the market and investing. Better she had said nothing at all.
#2
"Better she said nothing at all." Actually "nothing" is better than what any of those ladies on The View ever have to say.
However, the gist of the article is worth looking at. The news of JP Morgans loss has reignited the discussion over whether the financial sector is regulated enough. The answer is that regulation and the moral hazard-ridden business environment it produces is the sole reason why a banks loss is a hot topic of discussion to begin with. Without the Fed, the FDIC, and the governments nasty history of bailing out its top campaign contributors, JP Morgan would be just another bank beholden to market forces. Instead it, along with most of Wall Street, has become, to use former Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenigs label, a virtual public utility.
Take away the implied safety net and too big to fail disappears. Its as simple that.
The POV of the article itself is simplistically anti-any-and-all-regulation.
Take away the FDIC, and I (and many other savers) take all my money out of banks. Capisce? Apparently, not the author of this reductio ad absurdum. Author is blissfully unaware of the fact that when FDR first took office, US banks had essentially closed their doors.
Banks ARE public utilities, that's why they have been regulated for almost 200 years. Recently the big banks and Vampire Squids have been running the biggest gambling operation and organized crime ring in world history. The article completely misses that point.
#3
But then there are truly crazy ideas, like this one from a comment on this article in ZeroHedge:
"Any of the TBTF/TBTB banks that received Federal assistance in the period of 2008 - today would have their FDIC coverage removed effectice September 1, 2012. Any money in any account in any of those banks would no longer qualify for compensation of the account holder by the FDIC. Period.
Anyone wanting their money to be FDIC insured would have to move it into a bank that still qualififed (i.e. has never been bailed out by the government)."
This would most likely induce a run on the banks about to lose their FDIC protection, and put them into bankruptcy in short order.
#4
The economist Bill Black recently had the following to say about the TBTF banks and the disingenuous Jamie Dimon: All of the systemically dangerous institutions failed [since 2008] in large part because of these financial derivatives - what we call the green slime. That's what brought down Fannie and Freddie and Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, Lehman, Merrill Lynch and Wachovia. After those catastrophic disasters that caused the Great Recession, cost six billion [sic] Americans their jobs directly, prevented another five to eight million jobs from being created, helped lead to a global crisis called the Great Recessionafter that, the banks still fought to be allowed to do exactly the same kind of derivative trades [that largely caused the current Recession]. And even when the Volcker Rule was adopted, over the banks' opposition and over the opposition of the Federal Reserve and of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, they gutted the ruleat least the draft rule to implement the Volcker Rule. Unless it is changed, the Volcker Rule will be essentially unenforceable, because the current draft allows financial institutions to simply call their trades "hedges", even though they operate exactly opposite to the way a hedge would work.
Bill Black will never appear on "The View". He is not simple-minded enough to appeal to the constituency of "The View".
Syrian rebels battling President Bashar Assad's government are beginning to get more and better weapons in an effort paid for by Persian Gulf nations and coordinated partly by the United States, the Washington Post reported late on Tuesday.
The report cited opposition activists and US and foreign officials.
Obama administration officials emphasized the United States is not supplying or funding the lethal material, which includes antitank weapons, the report said.
Instead, they said, the administration has expanded contacts with opposition military forces to provide the Gulf nations with assessments of rebel credibility and command-and-control infrastructure, the Post said.
"We are increasing our non-lethal assistance to the Syrian opposition, and we continue to coordinate our efforts with friends and allies in the region and beyond in order to have the biggest impact on what we are collectively doing," said a senior State Department official, one of several US and foreign government officials who discussed the evolving effort on condition of anonymity, the Post reported.
A private navy costing US$70 million (Dh257m) is being set up to escort merchant ships through the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden.
No word yet on tour packages...
It will comprise a fleet of 18 ships, based in Djibouti, and will offer to convoy merchant vessels along the Internationally Recognised Transit Corridor (IRTC). The fleet will be operated by the Convoy Escort Programme (CEP), a British company launched by the international shipping insurers Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) and the Lloyds of London underwriters Ascot.
Sounds like somebody worked out all the details and persuaded some of the nervous nells in the world ports to quit fretting over a few guns on ships...
Full funding will be in place by the end of next month, and the CEP hopes the fleet will be operational by December.
That seems to be taking a while...
"The shipping industry needs to stand up and be counted," said Angus Campbell, the CEP's chief executive and a former director of Overseas Shipholding Group, the world's second-biggest listed oil tanker company. "The time is now, not in four or five years' time."
Piracy in the region is costing the global economy an estimated US$7 billion a year. For the ship owners alone, every vessel sailing through the waters off Somalia is charged additional insurance premiums of between $50,000 and $80,000. Ships opting to carry their own armed guards can be charged an additional $18,000 and $60,000 per voyage by security companies.
Although the European Union is spending more than 8m (Dh37.94m) a year to maintain a naval force in the waters - EU NavFor - its warships still cannot provide close support to all merchant vessels.
The CEP, however, offers substantial savings to owners as well as protection from pirate attack. The CEP will buy insurance and use that to cover the ships in its convoys, so owners will no longer need to pay premiums, or hire security.
Instead, they will just pay a flat $30,000 to $40,000 per ship in the convoy.
The CEP is planning to buy seven 150-foot fast patrol boats, understood to be ex-Swedish Navy, and has already earmarked 11 former offshore supply vessels for purchase and conversion.
The ships will be equipped with fast semi-inflatables, called ribs, an array of non-lethal counter-measures, and 0.50 calibre heavy machine guns. They will be operated by a crew of five and carry eight armed security personnel each.
The programme will result in convoys of up to four merchant ships closely escorted by one CEP craft along the IRTC, with additional CEP ships in support, covering east and west-bound traffic.
I would assume that they'd be thoroughly networked with EU NAVFOR and with any US ships in the area. Be nice if they had some air cover available. A CEP mother ship with a helo on call would be just the thing...
Once in operation, the force will capable of escorting up to 470 ships a month through the Gulf of Aden, equivalent to about 25 per cent of current traffic.
"Our crews will undergo intensive training in how to implement a graduated response. We will be compliant with maritime law and will observe the International Maritime Organisation conventions, such as the Safety of Life at Sea treaty," said Mr Campbell. "We have had detailed discussions with the Royal Navy, who were a little concerned at first, but are now supportive, as are the British government."
Sean Woollerson, a partner in the marine, oil and gas division of JLT, said the description "private navy" did not apply to the CEP fleet.
The aim is to stop the pirates before they reach the merchant ship, and the emphasis is on non-lethal measures. Use of offensive weapons will be a last resort. "This is not a navy," said Mr Woollerson. "What we're trying to be is a deterrent force. Prevention is within our reach."
The plan has been put together during the past three and a half years and now involves 21 companies, including law firms, auditors and risk managers, as well as JLT and Ascot.
The CEP has agreed with the Cyprus Maritime Administration for its vessels to sail under the island's flag.
"Anything that can prevent piracy in this area is to be supported," Pottengal Mukundan, the chief executive of the Commercial Crime Services arm of the International Maritime Bureau, told the British newspaper TheMail on Sunday.
JLT is a leading British insurance business and was first established as a division of Jardine, Matheson and Company, which was founded in Canton [now known as Guangdong], China, in 1832.
Although floated off, Jardine still owns 40 per cent of JLT, which specialises in risk insurance, such as shipping, kidnap and ransom. JLT insures 14 per cent of the global shipping fleet and is a traded on the FTSE 250 Index.
"While this peril has always existed on the high seas, the scale and intensity of piracy in the Gulf of Aden has focused the attention of the shipping and insurance industries on this exposure," said the company's website regarding its involvement in the programme.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/16/2012
00:32 ||
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#1
Extensive training for Night-time Security + prolly a few Mini-Depth Charges, LAWS since at last check the Pirate Boyz were interested in acquiring fast Stealth Boats + Mini-Subs.
#4
Hijacking these vessels is a pretty profitable business. It could escalate in intensity pretty quickly. In other words, most of the pirates are fairly lightly armed because they can be. This force, if it starts making a serious dent in the profits of the pirates, should expect to see a fairly significant escalation in the weapons and tactics used.
To some extent we might see some kind of symbiotic relationship develop much like we have with the drug cartels and the DEA where the two entities rely on each other. The security company might allow the pirates enough success to stay in business in order to keep the security company in business. The security companies would act as a barrier to competition for the more hard core pirates keeping the wannabe pirates out of the market and the hard core pirates keep the security company in business.
Note that the job of the security company is not to eliminate the pirates, it is to protect the ships so the company would actually have a vested economic interest in making sure the pirates aren't completely eliminated.
INF1/ 150ft patrol boat, Swedish. 150ft is Corvette size, generally with larger minimum crews than cited (25+ enlisted, 14+ officers). Expensive to operate in numbers cited (7). //
H/ Reporter Error. //
NARR/ Terminology error. RHIB, not "rib". This indicates the reporter got the data verbally (not written). Further indicates the reporter is not familiar with military naval terminology, particularly riverine, patrol and brown water operations. Also, larger ships of the cited size, unless mine layers or transports, are generally armed with more than two (2) 12.7mm (.50 cal) HMG. //
CON: Type is probably correct: fast patrol boat. Length reported is likely in error. Reporter may be accustomed to meters, and converted to feet for an American publication. 50 Feet is the likely length, reporter treated it as 50m and made the rough conversion to 150ft. //
SUM/ The CB90 is the best candidate for the boat in question for these operations. GFiven the correct lenght of 50 feet, it meets all the other ideal operational and logistical considerations. Fast, maneuverable, can host an RHIB and combat crew(see below for cargo capacity), is crewed with 8 as cited. Armor can withstand typical Somali pirate attacks, up to and including RPG7, although the latter could pose a problem were it to hit near the waterline or bridge. It is also well enough armed, and can operate heavy weaponry as needed (Hellfire missiles, see below, c.f. Norweigan Naval tests elsewhere). Armament of twin 12.7 HMG (50 cal) is sufficient given multiple craft in operation on the same convoy. Logistically, large enough to do the job, but light enough footprint to reduce cost and supply consumption on a low intensity operation. Additionally, consider CB90 can use a simple (inexpensive) small freighter as a support ship for this sort of operation, plus the proximity of 4 (estimated) large container/tankers nearby in convoy for additional logistics support. //
ACMNT/ There are many CB90 in service world wide. The USN that operates 2 of these as "Riverine Command Boats" and the Mexican navy operates approximately 40. Sweden is known to have 200, so they might have spares. Sweden and the manufacturer have been known to lease them out for security operations (c.f. German Navy and operations against Greenpeace RHIB threats). There are also 15+ with the Malaysian navy to the east of the AO for hiring of trained support personnel on a temporary basis. //
REF/ [D]esigned to operate as a fast attack boat, patrol boat and special operations support vessel. Heavy machine guns are mounted in fixed installations, or stabilized and remotely controlled from a monitor in the wheelhouse. The boat can also carry mines or Hellfire missiles [emphasis added], and a gyro-stabilized twin-barrel 12-cm mortar. The boats have a loading capacity of 21 armed soldiers or up to 4.5 tons of cargo. The boat uses two waterjet propulsion units, equipped with two MAN D2842 LE410 main engines, each with a medium duty rating of 810 kW and two Rolls-Royce Kamewa FF-410 with waterjets, the 16 meter boat has a sprint speed of 50 knots and a cruise at 42 kt, and high maneuverability.//
RMKS: This fake report (SWAGREP) brought to you by an overly inquisitive OldSpook's curiosity and a HUGE amount of being bored. //
Under-estimating the intelligence and will of your opponent is always a bad idea.
The Somali pirates have been making millions of dollars a year for several years now. They would be stupid not to buy armaments to defend their positions.
#16
I predict an arms race. And I expect (hope, anyway) the pirate's financial backers might be exposed.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
05/16/2012 15:37
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#17
Defending thier position is fine - its preventing them from having a viable ability to attack that this accomplishes. Deterrent needs to be sufficient, and this, coupled with larger (NATO and national) naval assets in the area (look up CTF-150), are very likely to make any attempts at vessel seizure not only unsuccessful, but fatal.
Its a deterrent. All they need to do is put up a sufficient fight, and buy time for NATO/USN forces to respond.
The only way the "defense" enters into it is if we (meaning the US/UK) go ashore or bomb the crap out of the docks and boatyards. And honestly, following the money is likely to be the more effective path in terms of getting the real bad guys behind this. The skinnies that die at sea are just cannon fodder for the ones pulling the strings.
#18
One other thing: the "non lethal" stuff is window dressing to assuage legal concerns. "Warning shots" may end up "accidentally" without enough lead and too low... Some interpretations of Common Law and Maritime law allows pirates to be summarily executed. And this is a private company, working in international waters or under "universal jurisdiction" in unpoliced territorial waters (Somalia for example).
#19
"In 2011, 31 ransoms were paid to Somali pirates, totaling around $160 million. The average ransom was approximately $5 million"
Those are the REPORTED cases. You can buy a lot of weaponry for $160 million/year. Each event is a potential $5 million job so you can afford to spend a million or two PER JOB in the execution of it if that is what it takes. I am not sure the private company can afford to spend that kind of money per defense on top of the overhead in vigilance between attacks.
When the pirates aren't pirating, they aren't spending any money but the security company IS because it doesn't know from where/when the next attack is going to come.
My guess is they won't be contracted by the shippers themselves but by the insurance companies.
If I were this security company, I would also use drones to extend my horizon a bit. In fact, I would love to have drones in the air pretty much the entire time and track the comings and goings of vessels from Somalia. When there is an attack somewhere, just rewind the tape and find out where it came from (might be a different place from where it goes after an attack).
Or outfit what amounts to a couple of civilian J-STARS and just watch traffic for a while with no interdiction until you establish exactly where they are operating out of.
Problem with all these scenarios is that it eventually becomes obvious that if we really wanted to shut down these pirates, we could, but for some reason we aren't.
That leads me to believe there's probably also some sort of "protection" racket operating in conjunction with the pirates that has some major pull. $160 million a year is also a lot of campaign donations to politicians ... globally ... and if you are making nearly as much of protection as off the piracy, make that $320 million.
That we even still have this problem stinks. If you see politicians moving to shut this company down, that will stink even more.
#20
The article itself says it is an Insurance company that set this up. They sell lower cost insurance to the shipper if the shipper contracts their "pet" security company to convoy them. For the insurance company, short of hiring some former SOCOM/SAS types and killing a lot of people in the chain of violence that are behind this, its a cost effective move for them.
#23
Based on the open source info that the prospective craft are ex-Swedish, the possible is a Bevakningsbat (type late-60 or 70) class. They were stricken from the navy in recent years.
North Korea appears to have stopped a 16-day campaign to jam GPS signals in the South. "No GPS jamming signals have been detected since Monday," a high-ranking government source here said.
The signals, which started on April 28, originated from the border city of Kaesong in the North. "We cannot rule out that the jamming will start again, and we are also making preparations in case the North resorts to other provocations," the source said.
South Korean officials believe a meeting on Monday between President Lee Myung-bak and Chinese President Hu Jintao may have prompted the North to halt the jamming signals. Or maybe the PRC just pulled the switch on the equipment.
#2
Ummm...It's all just so nice & warm. I feel like I'm sinking fast under a beautiful sea of friendship (and comfort), warmth and eternal liberalism.
Because of them, Life Sucks!
[Emirates 24/7] More than 40 Angolan opposition supporters were killed and six injured in a road crash as they returned from a party meeting, police said on Tuesday.
"The accident happened late Sunday afternoon in Menga, a community in Kwanza Sul province, and killed 42 people and injured six," said provincial police commander Cabinda Daniel.
The Unita opposition said the group was returning from a meeting in the community 380 kilometres (235 miles) southeast of the capital Luanda.
"Their vehicle was hit violently by a truck speeding from the opposite direction, then crashed on to the shoulder of the road," front man Alcides Sakala told AFP.
Police said the truck driver's recklessness and speed caused the accident, but Unita blamed poor road maintenance and policing.
"These tragedies happen because of the bad state of our roads and the glaring lack of police control," said Sakala.
Party president Isaias Samakuva attended the victims' funerals on Tuesday.
Last week another Unita member died in the southern province of Benguela after he was run over by a car as he returned from a party meeting. His death provoked a violent reaction from fellow Unita members, who attacked two people, including the driver.
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#1
road crash as they returned from a party meeting
So was it a party or a meeting? Sounds like a kegger.
#2
Party president Isaias Samakuva attended the victims' funerals on Tuesday
As the economy is a bit slow at the moment and farming-be-hard, President Sama declined to offer any of UNITA's liberated gold, diamonds, or farm land as insurance payment to the bereaved.
[Bangla Daily Star] Leaders and activists of BNP are anxious as 37 top opposition leaders appear before a trial court in Dhaka today in an arson case filed with Tejgoan Police Station.
The counsels of the accused will lodge bail petitions, but the party leaders fear the accused might be sent to jail as the government seems to have taken a hard line against the opposition.
"We will go to the court tomorrow [Wednesday] and are ready for any situation," BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told a meeting of party leaders at the party's central office in Nayapaltan.
Party insiders said the leaders and activists have already been instructed to be present at its central office today to stage instant protest if the accused are sent to jail.
Some big shots hinted that the BNP-led 18-party alliance might enforce a dawn-to-dusk hartal ... a peculiarly Bangla combination of a general strike and a riot, used by both major political groups in lieu of actual governance ... if the opposition leaders land in jail.
Two cases were filed with Tejgaon and Ramna cop shoppes on April 29 for torching a bus in front of Prime Minister's Office in Tejgaon and a blast at the Bangladesh Secretariat recently.
Earlier on May 7, the accused leaders in the arson case appeared before the High Court seeking bail. But the two-member HC bench delivered dissenting orders on seven bail petitions.
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[An Nahar] Iran warned on Tuesday that Riyadh's plans to form a union with Manama would deepen the crisis in Bahrain, a day after Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... told Tehran to keep out of its relations with the tiny Gulf kingdom.
"Any kind of foreign intervention or non-normative plans without respecting people's vote will only deepen the already existing wounds," foreign ministry front man Ramin Mehmanparast said in a statement carried by Iranian media.
"The solution to the crisis in Bahrain is in response to the legitimate demands of the people and is fulfilling them," he added, repeating Tehran's stance on the situation in the Gulf Arab state.
Iran "believes that the real power of the regional nations emanates from (governments) enjoying their peoples' backing," the front man added.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said on Monday that "Iran has nothing to do with what happens between the two countries, even if it develops into a unity."
The prince was speaking at the end of a Gulf Cooperation Council summit at which leaders discussed plans to turn the bloc into a union, starting with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
Iranian MPs have condemned the planned union between the two Gulf countries.
"Bahraini and Saudi rulers must understand that this unwise decision will only strengthen the Bahraini people's resolve against the forces of occupation," they said in a letter, referring to Saudi military support for Manama.
In response, Prince Saud said that "The Iranian threat is not accepted.
"Iran has nothing to do with what happens between the two countries, even if it develops into a unity," he told news hounds at the end of the summit in Riyadh.
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#1
IRAN MILITARY FORUM > US CONGRESS VOTING ON PRO-WAR IRAN RESOLUTION TODAY [HR 568], which would authorize MilAction agz Iran iff Iran is deemed to be de facto dev the "CAPABILITY" FOR NUCWEAPS, as oppos to ACTUALLY MANUFAC OR PRODUCING NUCWEAPS.
The perceived or subjective Threat from Iran, NOT the real or objective one.
* SAME > TURK NEWS CLAIM "SOUTH AZERBAIJANIS" PREPARE FOR "UPRISING" IN IRAN. Anti-Tehran/Govt Iranian Azeris.
versus
* SAME > IRAN WILL SHOW STRONG REACTION TO SETTLEMENT OF MKO [aka MEK] TERRORISTS IN AZERBAIJAN, or in other Regional Muslim countries.
Tehran sezzes the MKO/MEK is funded by the US, Saudis, Turkey + Israel hence frowns on such wily dastardly shennanigans taking place in Azeri-land.
* TOPIX > RISE OF JIHADIS IN CAUCASUS.
* IRAN DEFENCE FORUM > NETANYAHU FEARS IRAN + P5+1 MAY 25 NUCLEAR DEAL A "STRIKE BACKWARD", agz Israel.
* SAME >(P)GCC CLAIMS TO 3 ISLANDS MEDDLING IN IRAN'S AFFAIRS: MEHMAPARAST [Iran FM Spox].
Iran = Rising China = STAR WARS' HANS SOLO = helping Luke Skywalker find out that "soft power/diplomacy" is no substitute/match for a good high-powered Laser Blaster.
#2
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > YEMENIS CHOOSE JIHAD OVER IRANIAN SUPPORT, "CHE GUEVARA" OF SOUTH YEMEN [Leader "Jemajem" = HIRAK Group]DESCRIBES HOW ACTIVISTS FIGHTING FOR INDEPENDENCE HAVE BECOME PAWNS IN A LARGER [Regional, International] POWER STRUGGLE.
> US vs. Al-Qaeda.
> GCC vs Iran.
> Saudis vs. Iran.
> Sunni Islam vs. Shia Islam, Salafis vs Wahabis.
"JEMAJEM" = HIRAK GROUP = claims that ...
> Iran seeks foothold in Arabian Peninsula.
> Desires to see the STRAITS OF BAB-AL-MANDAB = RED SEA CLOSED OFF IN TO US= US-NATO/ALLIES INCASE OF US-IRAN WAR.
> Pressure Saudis + GCC in favor of Iran, Shia Agenda.
[Yemen Post] The Yemeni forces with support from popular fighters on Monday regained control of a key position of Al-Qaeda amid raging battles against the Death Eaters in the south.
The forces this morning retook the Yasouf mountain in the Lawder city, one of the strategic positions of the Death Eaters in Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... province, and Arclight airstrikes also targeted other positions killing more than a dozen Death Eaters and civilians, according to informed sources.
The forces carried out two Arclight airstrikes in the Jaar city, one of the bad boy strongholds, including one, which has been used as a medical center for the bad boys, the sources said.
Furthermore, the army distributed publications urging the locals to support the forces, who are continuing an offensive to clear Death Eaters from Abyan province, they added.
Exploiting the unrest last year, Al-Qaeda seized some towns in Abyan including the capital Zinjibar and declared them as Islamic emirates. Since June, the Death Eaters have ruled the province and have been fighting the forces to apply the Sharia law.
Almost a month ago, the army in association with the popular fighters waged fierce battles against the Death Eaters who have tried to expand their presence in Abyan and nearby provinces.
Hundreds of Death Eaters have been killed and injured including big shots.
More recently, the army has stepped up the offensive and the forces have so far advanced toward some towns and key positions of the bad boys. About 25.000 troops are participating in the offensive to retake control of Abyan province.
"The Yemeni forces with help from local patriots are doing great and it is a matter of time to retake control of the areas held by the bad boys," military sources said.
Over four days, the forces have regained some parts in Zinjibar, the capital, and have approached from other towns held by the bad boys.
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[Emirates 24/7] A man set himself on fire on Tuesday outside an Oslo courthouse where the Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is on trial for murdering 77 people last July, police said.
The man doused himself with liquid and set himself on fire before attempting to breach the security fence around the courthouse, police front man Kjell Kverme said.
The national daily VG posted a video on its website, vg.no , showing the man with flames on his hat and sweatshirt running toward a security checkpoint and being tackled by police.
Officers ripped his sweatshirt off and stamped out the flames.
Kverme said the man, who appeared to be a Norwegian, had shouted at police before setting himself on fire but officers could not make out what he said.
The man, who witnesses said appeared to be Caucasian and in his 50s, was taken to hospital with serious injuries on his torso.
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#1
STUPID, now he'll die,and NOBODY will know,(Or care)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/16/2012 13:25
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[Tolo News] Any country that supports Death Eater groups should realise its hurts themselves more than hurting the US and Afghanistan, US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker said Monday.
In his recent trip to Jalalabad, Crocker emphasised that Afghanistan's neighbors should change their strategic thinking because the US will stand by Afghanistan in any situation where it is threatened as it clearly states in the Afghan-US strategic agreement.
"I hope they change their strategic thinking and realise that supporting groups like the Taliban and Haqqanis hurts them as much as they hurt you or us. Whatever the case we will stand with Afghanistan," Crocker said at a presser in Jalalabad on Monday.
The Ambassador met with the provincial governor of Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. Gul Agha Shirzoy and other local officials to discuss matters of security, development of governance, and economic sectors.
"Electrical infrastructure, roads, and agricultural projects should be completed in the province," Shirzoy said at the presser.
The officials have also talked about the transfer of security responsibilities from foreign forces to Afghan cops.
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[An Nahar] Violent festivities between rival clans in Tunisia have left 18 people injured, one of them seriously, the TAP agency reported on Monday.
The festivities occurred Sunday night and Monday morning in the Feriana region in the center-west of the north African country and erupted over a dispute over iron trafficking from neighboring Algeria, according to the interior ministry.
Police and the army intervened to stop the fighting, it said.
Violent, sometimes deadly clan festivities are common in areas of Tunisia bordering Libya in the east and Algeria in the west where trafficking of arms and other goods is common.
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[Emirates 24/7] Seeking to end a nine-day deadlock, Greece's president met on Tuesday with five political party leaders in an effort to form a new government after inconclusive elections plunged the crisis-hit country into further disarray.
The meeting will examine a new proposal brought by President Karolos Papoulias for a government of technocrats or respected personalities, after repeated negotiations for a coalition government collapsed. If no deal is reached, Greece will have to call new elections.
The protracted political certainty has left Greeks frustrated and worried about whether a government of non-elected individuals would work.
``The solution is provided by democracy and democratic procedures. This means that there should be another election and they should stop intimidating the people and engaging in tactics of terror,'' said Athens resident Yannis Ekaterinaris.
No party won an outright majority in Greece's May 6 election, leading to an impasse that has shaken financial markets and led to questions about Greece's ability to stay in the eurozone. Power-sharing efforts have failed so far after the left-wing Syriza party, which came second in the vote, insisted that the draconian terms of Greece's financial rescue agreements be scrapped or rewritten.
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#1
Nice try but apparently no Gyros at all for everybody ...
* TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > GREECE: COALITION TALKS COLLAPSE.
Twas a Quickie it was.
* SAME > [Greek Commie Party] KKE: NO PARTICIPATION/ROLE IN COALITION GOVT. TALKS.
* IRAN MILITARY FORUM > GREECE VIRTUALLY WIDOUT CASH ONE DAY BEFORE CRITICAL BOND MATURES.
* SAME > GREEK COMMUNIST PARTY CALLS FOR ANNULMENT OF GREEK LOAN DEAL; YET ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE ATTEMPT TO BROKER A [Multi-Party Govt = Coalition] DEAL.
Nulling or voiding Govt. Debts, espec to Foreign Nations, is one of the first things Commies histor love to do first.
* SAME > JP MORGAN ESTIMATES IMMEDIATE LOSSES FROM GREECE EURO EXIT COULD REACH $400.0BILYUHN.
#2
Meanwhile, the private citizen run on Greek banks continues. Those Euros will be worth significantly more than whatever is to follow at the local level.
[An Nahar] A convoy of U.N. truce observers came under kaboom in a Syrian town on Tuesday during a funeral procession in which a monitoring group said regime forces "massacred" 20 people.
The incidents took place as Syria's anti-regime revolt entered a 15th month of relentless violence that has killed more than 12,000 people and amid growing fears that a U.N.-backed peace plan will fail.
The blast occurred as the convoy made its way along a narrow street in Khan Sheikhoun, a town in Idlib province, said activists, rebels and a watchdog.
U.N. front man Martin Nesirky said the bomb went kaboom! in front of the convoy and that three vehicles were damaged but no casualties were reported.
Ahmad Fawzi, front man for 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... 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... , said the U.N. supervisory mission had sent a patrol to help the stranded monitors.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 26 people other people were killed around the country.
"The Syrian regime committed a massacre Tuesday during a visit by U.N. monitors to Khan Sheikhoun," in the northwestern province, said the Britannia-based watchdog.
It was the second roadside kabooming involving the observers' vehicles in less than a week, after a convoy in the flashpoint southern city of Daraa maimed six Syrian soldiers on Wednesday.
Video uploaded to YouTube by activists showed a convoy of U.N. vehicles surrounded by dozens of people before a blast was heard and a puff of smoke went up in front of the leading U.N.-marked jeep.
It was unclear from the footage if there were any casualties, and the vehicle drove away despite damage to its hood.
The authenticity of the video could not be verified.
Activists said the U.N. convoy had come under attack and one car was hit by a shell, prompting the monitors to quickly leave the area.
Major Sami al-Kurdi, a front man for the rebel Free Syrian Army, told Agence La Belle France Presse the monitors had arrived during the funeral and that their presence had encouraged more mourners to turn out and join the procession.
"The regime dared to attack the procession, however, and then targeted the vehicles of the U.N. observers from a regime checkpoint," he said.
The United Nations ...An organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... reaffirmed its condemnation of any violence against the monitors.
"This mission is there to help the people of Syria, to help ensure that the six-point plan is implemented," Nesirky said, referring to Annan's peace plan. "Anything that interrupts their work and endangers the lives of U.N. personnel is something we would condemn."
The latest bloodshed comes despite a truce brokered by Annan as part of a six-point plan aimed at ending violence that has swept Syria since March 2011, when the uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... broke out.
The United Nations has accused both sides to the conflict of violating the ceasefire and warned Syria was edging closer to full-blown civil war.
Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... maintains that foreign-backed "armed terrorist groups" are behind the unrest, trying to undermine the regime and scuttle attempts at political reform.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter awoke groggily, his hand still stuck in the Ming vase... Annan urged Syria to stop delaying an agreement on allowing U.N. access to more than one million Syrians in need of assistance, saying the process had been "very slow."
Annan "remains extremely concerned about the plight of one million Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance," said U.N. front man Martin Nesirky.
In Riyadh, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... 's foreign minister warned on Monday that confidence in Annan's peace mission was fading fast because of the bloodshed.
Part of Annan's plan includes the deployment in flashpoint areas of about 300 U.N. military observers, and their number reached more than 200 on Tuesday, said the mission's chief, Major General Robert Mood.
Although the number of casualties has decreased since the observers began trickling into Syria in mid-April, the violence has not stopped.
The Observatory says more than 12,000 people, the majority of them civilians, have died since the uprising began on March 15 last year, including more than 900 killed since the April 12 truce.
In addition, foreign doctors returning from a secret mission inside Syria reported people maimed in the regime's crackdown on dissent, as well as the medics who treat them, risk arrest and even torture.
"The aim of the Syrian army was clearly to kill the maimed and those suspected of treating them," said one doctor on the team from Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres), which entered Syria illegally after failing to get government permission.
In neighboring Leb, the army deployed in sectors of the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... after nine people were killed in three days of sectarian violence between groups who support and oppose Syria's regime.
Troops entered Syria Street, the frontline of fighting between a majority Sunni Moslem district and another that is mostly Alawite, an offshoot of Islam to which Assad belongs.
[Tolo News] The Los Angeles Times published in a report that the US programme in creation of Afghan Local Police has failed in the villages of Afghanistan.
Afghan local police involves in most criminal actions including bribery and annoying of civilians, the Los Angeles Times said.
Afghan Local Police Chief, Ali Shah Ahmadzai told TOLOnews that the role of local police is effective in maintaining security in the country and such a report shows lack of recognition of the Afghan local police.
"Afghan Local police is an effective and legal process for bringing security and stability in all parts of the country," Ali Shah Ahmadzai said.
According to the report the American troops who are advising local police have said that local police commit some illegal actions and misuse civilians. American troops have also accuse local police of being involved in smuggling and sexual assaults, according to the report.
But the local police chief told that sometimes some illegal actions are attributed to local police due to lack of recognition, and people do not distinguish between local police and militia groups.
The local police official stressed that the police will be punished whenever they go against law.
"Afghan local police works under the Ministry of Interior and the local police differs from other gangs like militias, as an example, the Los Angeles Times named Khan Abad district but we do not have local police in the mentioned district," Ali Shah Ahmadzai said.
Currently, nearly fifteen thousand of local police are active in sixty seven districts of all provinces and Washington plans to increase the number up to thirty thousand.
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[Al Ahram] Deadly sectarian clashes linked to the unrest in Syria may have ended for now in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, but residents warn that violence is bound to boil over again
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[Tolo News] NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... invited Pakistain to join the alliance's biggest summit ever in Chicago starting Sunday after the announced the reopening of a key supply route through its territory into Afghanistan.
NATO said in a statement Tuesday that Pakistain has an important role to play in the future of Afghanistan, which is the focus of the meeting.
"Allies decided to invite President (Asif Ali) Zardari of Pakistain to Chicago to the meeting on Afghanistan," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in the statement.
"This meeting will underline the strong commitment of the international community to the people of Afghanistan and to its future. Pakistain has an important role to play in that future."
Pakistain said Tuesday that NATO supply trucks will be allowed to travel between Afghanistan and Pakistain by Wednesday evening.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen suggested on Friday that Pakistain could be excluded from the May 20-21 summit if it failed to reopen the supply routes to Afghanistan that it closed after 24 of its soldiers were killed by a NATO cross-border air attack November 26.
Pakistain's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ... said that NATO is not a single nation and that while it was necessary to reopen the route he would be keeping a close eye on it.
"NATO is not limited to one nation, it's comprised of more than 40 nations - we will closely evaluate the reopening of the supply route and we also consider our parliaments advice. I think our efforts will fruitful," Gilani said.
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#1
Pakistan, Chicago - is there a political corruption summit going on or something?
#2
I guess since the delegation won't be composed of 2 year old children or 80 year old grandmas in wheelchairs, TSA will have no problem waving a delegation from Pakland on to the connecting flights. No one from there is connected to terrorism. Perish the thought. /sarc off
#4
Somehow people must be free I hope the day comes soon
Won't you please come to Chicago show your face
From the bottom of the ocean to the mountains of the moon
Won't you please come to Chicago no one else can take your place
-- Grahm Nash, "Chicago"
[Al Ahram] The EU Naval Force (EU Navfor) said it had carried out an overnight raid on Somali pirate targets using helicopters and surveillance aircraft. The Somali-based pirates responded by threatening to kill crew being held on more than a dozen hijacked vessels if they were attacked again.
It was the first time EU Navfor had taken its fight against the pirates to Somali soil since its mandate was expanded earlier this year to allow strikes on land as well as sea. At risk are more than 300 hostages of various nationalies held by the pirates, who have so far generally refrained from killing crew as they seek multi-million dollar ransoms.
A Somali pirate who identified himself as Abdi told Rooters a helizaped the central Somali coastline near Hardhere, a known pirate haven.
"An unidentified helicopter destroyed five of our speedboats early in the morning. There were no casualties. We were setting off from the shore when the helizaped us. We bravely ran away without counter-attacking," he said.
"If we are attacked while with hostages, we shall take any necessary step to save ourselves, we may also kill the hostages if we miss other options to survive," Abdi told Rooters.
#4
Read "Jefferson's War," an account of the US govt in the Med vs the Barbary Pirates. It's very similar to what we see today. The only thing different is that tribute is not demanded, only ransom. The problem was finally solved when the US Navy came in and shelled the bases and brought the message home. Most of the European powers paid tribute for a shaky treaty. Even Britain and France. They could have ended the Barbary menace if they quit fighting each other.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/16/2012 16:28
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#5
"We'll kill the hostages!"
"Go ahead. They don't mean shit to me. But afterwards... Well, lets just say I'd be very unhappy."
"Gulp."
[Al Ahram] Excerpts from documents apparently seized from Osama Bin Laden's residence in Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... , Pakistain, where he was killed by US special forces in May 2011, suggest a man somewhat different from the stereotype of a pitiless terrorist leader.
They show someone willing to forsake an Islamic state in Egypt -- surely one of his cherished aims -- if the price was the welfare of the population.
In one of the 17 documents released by the US-based Combating Terrorism Center (CTC), Bin Laden cites the challenges facing Egypt's would-be Islamist rulers.
"Before building a Moslem state, the Islamic Group [Gamaa Islameya] could have thought about food security for the Egyptian people," it is claimed Bin Laden wrote in one memo, referring to the Islamist organization involved in the liquidation of former president Anwar Al-Sadat.
The group had the stated aim of establishing an Islamic state in Egypt and planned to seize control of government buildings, institutions and media outlets. But the Al-Qaeda leader claims their plans overlooked vital issues related to Egypt's economy and food supply.
"If God had willed for the Islamic state to be born in Egypt, it would have not probably lasted more than a few weeks," wrote Bin Laden, explaining that international sanctions would have led to starvation due to the country's then reliance on American wheat.
At that time, Egyptians relied on 150 million loaves of bread per day, Bin Laden claimed.
"So, what would happen when Egypt could no longer import wheat from its major supplier, the United States?" he asked, adding that Egypt's wheat reserves were only enough for two weeks' worth of food and that its government had abandoned plans to make the country more self-sufficient.
"How long would the public tolerate having to go without [bread]?" he asked. "That has nothing to do with whether the public liked or disliked the Islamic state. A dangerous shortage of food causes death and people do not want to see their children die of hunger."
The US's release of these comments comes just weeks before Egypt's first post-Mubarak presidential elections. Islamists are among the top contenders, including leading light of the Moslem Brüderbund, Mohamed Mursi, and ex-Brotherhood member Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh.
Bin Laden concluded that, unlike Somalia or Afghanistan, where people had humble needs and could depend on agriculture and livestock, Egypt could not survive the "unconventional weapon" of economic sanctions.
"The Afghan population is considered to be outside the modern-state system, and unlike Arab populations," he wrote.
In early May, the Combating Terrorism Center at the US's West Point Military Academy released 17 declassified documents captured during the Abbottabad raid the previous year.
They consist of electronic letters and draft letters authored by several Al-Qaeda figures, including the late Osama bin Laden ... he's rotten though not quite forgotten... , and totalling 175 pages in the original Arabic.
The CTC website warns of possible problems with its English translations, and recommends the documents be read in the original language.
The earliest document is dated September 2006 and the latest April 2011.
The preface to CTC's study, published on its website, admits that in contrast to his public statements that focused on the injustice of those he believed to be the "enemies" of Moslems, namely "apostate" Moslem rulers and their Western "overseers", the focus of Bin Laden's private letters is Moslem suffering at the hands of their jihadi "brothers".
He advises them to forswear domestic attacks that cause Moslem civilian casualties and focus on the United States, the "desired goal".
Bin Laden's frustration with regional jihadi groups and his seeming inability to exercise control over their actions and public statements is perhaps the most compelling story in the declassified papers.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
IOW, "Nobility has to be Earned" - one is not a King or a Great Leader, etc. under Allah just because one wins a decisive battle, led a Coup or Revolution, was Elected or inherited a Title.
* SHAKESPEARE'S RICHARD III - "A HORSE, A HORSE, MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE"!
#2
In other words a barely starving western Egypt creates jihadists for the cause. A starving Islamic Egypt hurts the jihadist recruitment numbers. A wise tactical analysis but hardly warm hearted caring for Egyptians the way the article suggests.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Most Americans believe President Barack Obama How's it going, Sunshine?... came out in favour of gay marriage for political reasons.
The New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... /CBS News poll has found that a majority of voters view Obama's decision as political rather than because he thought it was the right thing to do.
They say the issue would not affect the way they vote, but the public remains deeply divided over same sex marriage nonetheless.
Mr Obama, who has long maintained he was "evolving" on the issue, has come out in support of gay marriage last Wednesday after Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body... did so in a television interview.
Asked whether Obama took the step for political reasons or because he thought it was right, 67 per cent say it was for political reasons.
Only 24 per cent say he did it because it was the right thing to do.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The funny part of all of this is that politically there is absolutely no difference in the position of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Thought they both came out with opposing PERSONAL opinions, their political position is identical; let the states decide. So I don't see how either candidate is going to be able to make hay from this issue compared to the other.
Unemployment for women has really jumped for a variety of reasons. Student loans, now child care perhaps will be next. Government creates one mess after another.
(Sh.M.Network)- President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... has tasked Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. with taking measures for the release of Pak hostages held by Somali pirates, Geo News reported.
According to sources, President Zardari late Monday night telephoned the interior minister and directed him to leave no stone unturned for the recovery of hostages as the deadline given by the pirates ends today (May 15, Tuesday).
The kin of the hostages are in perpetual pain since the pirates commandeered the MV Albedo ship off the coast of Somalia in November 2010 carrying Pak sailors.
Initially, the Somali pirates had demanded a ransom worth $8 million to set the hostages free. Further negotiations brought the figure down to around $ 2.85 million by April 20, 2012.
Later Ahmed Chinoy, Head of Pakistain Citizens-Police Liaison Committee, bought some more time after entreating with the hostage-takers getting the deadline extended to May 15.
The families, meanwhile, had been struggling to collect the money. They are short of $1.4 million, which they were desperately trying to collect before the deadline.
Earlier last week the families and friends of sailors even camped at Punjab Chowrangi in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... and literally begged the passers-by to help them get their loved ones freed.
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The United States is leading what it described as the "largest military exercises in the Middle East in 10 years" in Jordan on Tuesday.
Eager Lion 2012 is the largest exercise held in the region in the past ten years, Major General Ken Tovo, head of the US Special Operations Forces, told reporters in Amman.
Yesterday we began to apply the skills that we have developed over the last weeks in an irregular warfare scenario They will last for approximately the coming two weeks, he added.
The message that I want to send through this exercise is that we have developed the right partners throughout the region and across the world insuring that we have the ability to meet challenges that are coming to our nations, Tovo said.
Over 12,000 soldiers are taking part in the war games, representing 19 countries, including Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Australia.
Jordanian army operations and training chief Major General Awni Adwan said the military exercise has been in the planning phase for the past three years.
No forces will be deployed north the exercise is not connected to any real world event, Adwan said when asked if the war games were related to the ongoing violence in Jordans northern neighbor Syria.
"This has nothing to do with Syria. We respect the sovereignty of Syria. There is no tension between the Syrians and us. Our objectives are clear, Adwan said.
Israel despite having extensive security agreements with Jordan was not invited to participate in the exercises. Several Arab nations participating in the drill are still formally at war with the Jewish state.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/16/2012
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#1
"Syria" also read, IRAN.
*"Not connected to any real world event" > OOOOOOO, nice try but no Empanada or Bananas for you today.
[Tolo News] Three Taliban leaders were captured in a joint Afghan and 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... troops operation on Tuesday morning, Isaf said.
"An Afghan and coalition security force placed in durance vile Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! a Taliban leader during an operation in Pul-e-Alam district of Pashtun-infested Logar province today,"
it said in a statement.
The leader directed roadside kaboomings, suicide kabooms and other operations against Afghan and coalition security forces throughout the district.
He also coordinated for weapons, ammunition, explosives, and jacket wallahs for those attacks, and was planning an upcoming attack against a Red Thingy Centre in Pashtun-infested Logar province, it said.
The security force placed in durance vile Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! two additional gunnies as a result of this operation.
The second was captured in Aliabad district of Kunduz province.
The leader plans and organises roadside kaboomings and other attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in Aliabad district.
He also provides weapons and ammunition to gunnies in the area and attempts to recruit new fighters from throughout the province.
The statement said that a Haqqani leader was captured in Sarobi district of Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... province in a joint operation conducted by Afghan and NATO troops operation.
The leader conducted attacks against Afghan and coalition forces in Sarobi, Gomal, and Omna districts.
He also provided weapons, ammunition and equipment to the gunnies under his control. The security force placed in durance vile Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! two additional gunnies as a result of this operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
How many times have they been captured before? How long before they're released?
#3
#1 How many times have they been captured before? How long before they're released?
Posted by Glenmore
Detaining them for a fortnight or less, getting the solicitors immediately involved, then releasing them provides a lovely respite from their labors. Cuts down on the Karzai bitching and moaning. It also keeps the long-term detainment totals in check. No need to push it to a point where the buggers pull a Sarpoza escape. Investigations, threats, bribes, bad press and all that.
(Sh. M. Network)-Unknown Armed men have shot to death on Monday night a civilian Bus driver in Somalia's lawless capital,Mogadishu, locals confirmed.
Eyewitnesses told Shabelle Media station that the victim, Abdullah Mohammed Igale, was killed about 8:00 pm local time at Ex- Coca-Cola area in Hodon district, Banadir region of Somalia.
The assailants reportedly beat feet from the shooting area before dozens of Somali soldiers have arrived and conduct a search manhunt operation to arrest those carried out the murder.
The motive of the killing is not yet established. Such coordinated killing against civilians has been on the rise since the Islamist beturbanned goons quit from Mogadishu in august last year 2011 in a result of major an offensive by Au and Somali forces.
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[Emirates 24/7] The terror trial of Iraq's runaway vice president accused of running death squads started on Tuesday in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... with witnesses testifying how their relatives were killed in attacks that the authorities have linked to him.
Tariq Al Hashemi was not in court for the opening of the proceedings that were already twice delayed.
Al-Hashemi, who is currently in Turkey, has denied the allegation he orchestrated attacks against pilgrims and government officials, saying the charges against him are politically motivated and that he would not receive a fair trial in Storied Baghdad's criminal court.
In front of a three-judge panel, the victims' relatives on Tuesday described the killings of security officials and lawyers between 2010 and 2011. They said they did not witness the attacks, and only complained against Al Hashemi after hearing the accusations against him in Iraqi media.
Journalists were ordered to leave the court during the testimony of a fourth witness, identified only as a former employee in Al Hashemi's media office.
The case against Al Hashemi threatens to paralyse Iraq's government by fueling simmering resentment against the prime minister, Nouri Al Maliki, who critics claim is monopolising power.
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[An Nahar] Burhan Ghalioun was elected on Tuesday as head of the exiled opposition coalition, the Syrian National Council, an SNC source told AFP.
Ghalioun garnered 21 votes in the leadership battle while another opposition figure, Georges Sabra, won 11 of the 40 votes cast by members of the general secretariat, the source said.
Ghalioun has led the coalition since it was founded in October 2011 by the consensus of its members, rather than through election. Up until now, the SNC's executive committee had taken charge of choosing a head for the coalition.
The SNC is Syria's main opposition umbrella group ranged against the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs...
The vote was held in Rome, where exiled university professor Ghalioun and other SNC members were meeting.
Unlike Sabra, Ghalioun is not affiliated to any political party.
Left-leaning and Arab nationalist in his thinking, Ghalioun was deemed capable of representing a coalition composed of multiple tendencies, including Islamists, nationalists, liberals and independents.
He is also accepted by the Syrian Moslem Brüderbund, who are part of the SNC.
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I(Sh.M.Network)- A remote-controlled bomb went off inKenya's Dhagahley refugee camp locates near Somalia border on Tuesday, killing five police officer and wounding many others, witnesses said.
The news reports indicated that the blast occurred at the Dagahaley camp, one of three that make up the Dadaab complex, the world's largest refugee settlement.
Dadaab refugee complex now is home to some 460,000 people, most of them Somalis who have fled two decades of conflict and famine in their war-ridden horn of Africa nation.
Two Kenyan military vehicles were destroyed in the blast after hitting by IEDs (improvised bomb) that have been hidden under the ground in Dhagahley camp, according the locals.
The group has claimed yet the responsibility for the attack, but the worsening security situation in the camps forced the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... to suspend non-lifesaving operations at them in October.
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US court finds Iran, Syria guilty of supporting Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Mohammedan 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... that killed 11 people in 2006 bombing
An Israeli advocacy group says it has won a $323 million judgment in a US court against Iran and Syria for supporting the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad group that killed an American teenager and ten others in a 2006 bombing.
Washington, D.C., judge Royce Lamberth ruled, "When a state chooses to uses terror as a policy tool - as Iran and Syria continue to do - that state forfeits its sovereign immunity and deserves unadorned condemnation."
Floridian Daniel Wultz, 16, was among 11 killed when a Paleostinian jacket wallah set off his explosives at a Tel Aviv restaurant six years ago.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of the Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center said Tuesday that the group had won courtroom victories against Iran but never before against Syria.
The court found that Iran and Syria were responsible for providing material support for the April 17, 2006 attack, in which eleven people were murdered and over 60 others maimed when a Paleostinian Islamic Jihad jacket wallah detonated a bomb laced with nails and other projectiles in a crowded fast food restaurant in south Tel Aviv.
In his ruling, Chief Justice Royce C. Lamberth said the bombing had been a "barbaric act" that had "no place in civilized society and represents a moral depravity that knows no bounds."
#3
Washington, D.C., judge Royce Lamberth ruled, "When a state chooses to uses terror as a policy tool - as Iran and Syria continue to do - that state forfeits its sovereign immunity and deserves unadorned condemnation."
....followed by endless, strategic night bombing, naval bombardment, and tactical air strafing until the problem is resolved!
For a map, click here. For a map of Zacatecas state, click here. To read the Rantburg.com story on the 49 individuals found butchered in Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon on Mother's Day, click here. To read the Rantburg.com report on the connection between the Cadereyta massacre and the massacre in Jalisco state days before, click here.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Messages appearing in the Mexican state of Zacatecas claim that the Los Zetas criminal organization is not responsible for the 49 individuals found butchered along a highway near Monterrey on Mother's Day, according to web news reports.
The blankets with messages painted on them, colloquially known as narcopintas or narcomantas claim responsibility for two other mass murders, a Mexican Mother's Day massacre in a remote community south of Guadalajara in Jalisco state May 9th, and a number of killings in Nuevo Laredo in Tamaualipas state 10 days ago. The messages appeared in Zacatecas, Fresnillo, Guadalupe and Jerez early Tuesday morning, but were quickly removed by local police.
A story by this writer appearing in Borderland Beat and in Rantburg.com Sunday said that evidence from web and private sources pointed to a Los Zetas plan for a massive Mother's Day display of brutality against Los Zetas opponents. Like the 18 dead found in Jalisco state, at least some of the victims were probably innocents who were kidnapped, tortured to death, then transported two days before their discovery to Cadereyta.
Los Zetas, and an alliance of Gulf Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel have been in a death grip since 2010. Both sides use innocents, such as migrants and other random individuals to torture and kill in a gruesome manner for bloody displays meant to terrorize the other, while claiming, falsely, the victims were operatives from the rival gangs. Instead of terrorizing one another, criminal gangs instead wind up terrorizing the general populace.
The messages posted in Zacatecas state demanded that security forces investigate the crime in Cadereyta. The messages claim misspellings of Gulf cartel names in a second set of messages left at the scene of the Cadereyta massacre are evidence that Los Zetas did not commit the crime.
However, anonymous sources have responded by asking how the second set of messages were known if Los Zetas did not write them. The contents of the second set of narcopintas were withheld from the public.
Los Zetas have decentralized criminal operations with plaza bosses who act independently. Often, one hand does not know what the other is doing. The mass murders in San Fernando municipality in Tamaulipas state between August 2010 and the summer of 2011, which claimed the lives of 193 individuals, is a very good example.
That Los Zetas group killed a number of individuals when the plaza boss caught wind that the Gulf Cartel was bringing up shooters from the south. A number of those victims were innocents transiting between Reynosa on the border and Ciudad Victoria and Tampico in the south.
Uncredited reports at the time said the Los Zetas effort was a recruiting drive where women were sequestered, raped, then murdered, and the remaining men were pitted, one against the other for the right to survive as a shooter for Los Zetas.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news fro Rantburg.com
#1
Both sides use innocents, such as migrants and other random individuals to torture and kill in a gruesome manner for bloody displays meant to terrorize the other, while claiming, falsely, the victims were operatives from the rival gangs. Instead of terrorizing one another, criminal gangs instead wind up terrorizing the general populace.
So both sides believe the other is bad at math?
Los Zetas have decentralized criminal operations with plaza bosses who act independently. Often, one hand does not know what the other is doing.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Megan Fox aka Mikaela Banes (Video Game Voice) in "Transformers (2007) & Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)" aka Jennifer Check in "Jennifer's Body (2009)" aka Sophie Maes in "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)" aka Sydney Shanowski in "Hope & Faith (TV 20032006)" aka Carla in "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004)" aka Mary Jane in "Friends with Kids (2011)" aka Desi in "This Is 40 (Completed 2012)" (age 26)
#3
The Lord loves her. And so do I. She is neither my most favorite person nor my least, yet she is a human being seemingly dealing with the slings and arrows that confront her as best as she is able.
[Emirates 24/7] Syrian forces are targeting medical workers and patients who were maimed in the 14-month-old conflict, forcing doctors to scramble to help the injured in makeshift clinics, an international aid agency warned on Tuesday.
Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, which is not authorised to work in Syria, sent teams into the country secretly. They reached the rebellious areas of Homs and Idlib, where they found patients and doctors at risk of attack and arrest.
``Being caught with patients is like being caught with a weapon,'' the group quoted an orthopedic surgeon as saying in an Idlib village. ``The atmosphere in most medical facilities is extremely tense; health care workers send maimed patients home and provide only first aid so that facilities can be evacuated quickly in the event of a military operation.''
Homs and Idlib have been among the hardest hit regions in Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Despoiler of Deraa... military crackdown and rebel attacks on soldiers and other regime targets.
Doctors Without Borders called on all parties in the conflict to fully respect the maimed, health workers and medical facilities.
There have been previous reports of authorities targeting medical facilities, health workers and their patients in Syria. The reports indicate many of the injured forgo treatment because they fear being tossed in the clink Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! and tortured if they seek care at government-controlled medical facilities.
``A number of Syrian colleagues are reported to be missing,'' said Marie-Noelle Rodrigue, MSF's director of operations in Gay Paree. ``The authorities and all parties to the conflict must ensure that medical workers can operate without fear of retribution and that maimed people can safely seek and receive immediate lifesaving care, without resorting to inadequate improvised clinics for fear of arrest, or worse.''
An MSF surgeon said his team in Idlib had to flee a public hospital in 10 minutes after being notified of an imminent attack.
``We saw militarised health care facilities, meaning that access to medical care depends on which side you belong,'' said Brice de le Vingne, MSF's director of operations in Brussels.
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[Al Ahram] The verbal exchange between presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq and MP Essam Sultan carries on as Wasat Party calls allegations the founder spied for Mubarak security apparatus absurd
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Syria's anti-regime revolt entered its 15th month on Tuesday amid relentless violence that has killed more than 12,000 people and growing fears by Arab countries that a U.N.-backed peace plan will fail.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said another 12 people were killed Tuesday in violence across the country, including four in the coastal city of Banias, a child in Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... province and five people in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour.
The bloodshed comes despite a truce brokered by 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... 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... as part of a six-point plan aimed at ending violence that has swept Syria since March 2011, when the uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... began.
The United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... has accused both sides to the conflict of violating the ceasefire and warned that the country was edging closer to full-blown civil war.
The Syrian government maintains that foreign-backed "armed terrorist groups" are behind the unrest aiming to undermine the regime and scuttle attempts at political reform.
Officials on Tuesday said slightly more than half of eligible voters had taken part in legislative elections held earlier this month but boycotted by the opposition and described as "ludicrous" by Washington.
Khalaf al-Azzawi, head of the electoral commission, said turnout stood at 51.26 percent for the May 7 vote which he described as "transparent and democratic."
The elections marked the first "multi-party" vote in five decades and followed the adoption in February of a new constitution. Nine parties were created, and seven had candidates vying for a parliamentary seat.
In Riyadh, Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... 's foreign minister warned Monday that confidence in Annan's peace mission was fading fast because of the bloodshed.
"Confidence in the efforts of the international envoy is falling rapidly because fighting and bloodshed continue," Prince Saud al-Faisal told news hounds after Riyadh hosted a summit of Arab leaders of the Gulf.
Part of Annan's six-point plan includes the deployment in flashpoint areas of around 300 U.N. military observers. By Sunday, 189 observers were on the ground, the U.N. mission in Syria said.
Although the number of casualties has decreased since the deployment of the observers, the violence has not stopped.
According to the Britannia-based Observatory, more than 12,000 people, the majority of them civilians, have died since the uprising began on March 15 last year, including more than 900 killed since the April 12 truce.
A source in the Syrian National Council, Syria's main exiled opposition umbrella group, said meanwhile that Burhan Ghalioun was elected as the coalition's chief in a vote held in Rome on Tuesday.
Ghalioun garnered 21 votes in the leadership battle while another opposition figure, Georges Sabra, won 11 of the 40 votes cast by members of the general secretariat, the source said.
Ghalioun has led the coalition since it was founded in October 2011 by the consensus of its members, rather than through election.
Unrest spilled over into neighboring Leb at the weekend, where political parties are divided, with one side backing the Syrian opposition and the other Assad's regime.
Nine people were killed in the mainly Sunni Moslem northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... after sectarian festivities erupted on Saturday between residents of rival neighborhoods.
Calm was restored by early Tuesday after the army deployed and gunnies withdrew from the majority Sunni Moslem district of Bab el-Tabbaneh, and Jabal Mohsen, where the majority of residents are from the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam and loyal to Assad's regime.
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[An Nahar] General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim on Tuesday confirmed media reports that the arrest of Salafist activist Shadi al-Mawlawi was coordinated with a Western security agency, noting that al-Qaeda exists in Leb and hinting that Mawlawi is a Qaeda member.
Speaking to the correspondents of Arab newspapers in Leb, Ibrahim said: "As to Mawlawi's case, I believe that the issue is thorny and weighty, and we have been following up on the case since 13 days without informing anyone in Leb because confidentiality is an essential part of our job. This case has major repercussions and local and international aspects."
Mawlawi's arrest on Saturday in the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... by General Security agents had infuriated the city's Islamists and sparked three days of deadly festivities that left nine people dead and more than 90 maimed.
Ibrahim added: "I'm under the authority of the judiciary and not under the authority of the leaders of streets and alleys. Whenever I receive a judicial warrant I will enforce it and I will not care about the possible reactions, because when I'm covered by the law and the judiciary, red lines cease to exist."
"Should the warrant come from those against whom my mission is supposed to take place, then there will be no more a state neither a judiciary ... I have a mission which I consider to be sacred and it was for the sake of the people of the North and those who have staged a sit-in there," he went on to say.
Asked whether the placed in durance vile Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! cell had links to the recently intercepted arms ship Lutfallah II, Ibrahim said: "Not at all. There is no relation between the two issues, but I want to declare now that the purpose behind the (arrest) operation has nothing whatsoever to do with Syria, and everything that has been said about orders from Syria or Hizbullah is totally untrue."
And asked whether the General Security had committed a mistake by arresting Mawlawi in that manner, Ibrahim said: "We had a big mission and the officer in charge put the sacredness of his mission above all else, especially that we had orders to lure him and capture him using the appropriate method."
The General Security chief explained that Mawlawi's arrest was not an easy task, "as he was armed and escorted by gunnies who immediately fled upon his arrest, and therefore the officer had to think of the best possible way to arrest him."
Ibrahim revealed that Mawlawi "is a member of a terrorist network, and according to the law, whenever we have information about any individual practicing security and political activities that violate the Lebanese laws we would be obligated to arrest him."
"Therefore, we placed in durance vile Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! the suspect who received sympathy from several parties. Each party has its approach ... some people sympathize with him because they think like him, but that doesn't mean I have a problem with people who think, as we're in a democratic country and we are proud of that. My problem is with those practicing terrorism," he added.
"A media report has revealed today that we coordinated with an embassy or a Western security agency. That is true ... They accused us of receiving orders from Syria and Hizbullah, but we're not in anyone's service. We are in the service of the law in Leb," Ibrahim said.
"This case was coordinated with a major world power, and I believe a major world power will not tackle a security issue in a sectarian manner ... and those who know the director general of General Security and his past and career know that I have nothing to do with sectarianism," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
AL-Qaeda/Qaida is all over the ME + elsewhere, albeit most are not as well known or infamous as Osama's, now Ayman's "Core" AQ, or AQAP aka AQIY, or AQIM.
[Tripoli Post] François Hollande, 57, was sworn in as the President of La Belle France Tuesday morning officially succeeding Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and departing President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... on Tuesday. Then a few hours later flew from Gay Paree to Berlin to start immediately the real work of being head of state for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. ...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom... Hollande flew to Berlin early evening after being officially inaugurated at the Elysée Palace to become the seventh president of the Fifth Republic. He was due to meet his German counterpart for a "working dinner" where the ongoing Eurozone debt crisis was expected to be top of their agenda.
After waving goodbye to his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, Hollande signed the notice of formal handover of power and headed into the Elysée ballroom where a number of specially selected guests were there to greet him.
In his first speech as President, Hollande wasted no time in reaffirming his position on the future of Europe. "Europe needs plans. It needs solidarity. It needs growth," he said in front of millions of TV viewers watching the event.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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[Al Ahram] Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... (HRW) published a report Monday claiming that a detention facility previously declared to have been shut down by Iraqi authorities is still running in secret. The report is titled "Iraq: Mass Arrests, Incommunicado Detentions - Notorious Prison in Use a Year After Government Said It Was Shut Down."
The government closed Camp Honor prison after an HRW investigation exposed rampant violations in the prison.
The HRW report cited testimonies and acknowledgments by former prisoners, lawyers, parliamentarians, family members, government and security officials. Based on the interviews, HRW concluded that the Iraqi government carries out mass arrests, illegally detaining hundreds of citizens, dozens of them transferred to Camp Honor.
Two particular waves of mass arrests were mentioned in HRW's account. The first occurred in October and November 2011 when officials and officers were targeted. Those were allegedly Baath Party and Saddam Hussein loyalists and were ordered jugged Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! directly through Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's military office.
The "Baathist arrests" were supposedly to round up plotters against Iraq's regime. Testimonies said those released were forced to sign pledges against public criticism of the government as well as false confessions. Threats of torture (or further torture), family member raping and prolonging imprisonment preceded the signings.
The second wave of arrests was prior to the March 2012 Arab summit in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... . This wave was preemptive, an effort to secure the summit not hosted in Storied Baghdad for decades because of insecurity, claimed now to be secure by Iraq's government.
HRW said witnesses were told by interrogators that the reasons behind their arrest was "to curb criminal activity during the summit and any 'embarrassing' public protests."
An interior ministry official quoted in the report said that "security forces, in the interest of keeping security incidents to a minimum during the summit, while the world was watching, sometimes decided it was easier to just round up people who had been imprisoned years before, regardless of what crime they may have committed."
HRW said that all detainees interviewed claimed no arrest warrant was presented to them to see despite claims by the government that the arrests were legal. The HRW report further describes Camp Honor, providing accounts of torture by prison guards.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq
#1
Appears the billions spent on Nation Building law enforcement training failed to take hold. Shocking!
[Emirates 24/7] Syrian activists say regime forces fired on a funeral procession in the presence of U.N. observers, causing many casualties.
The activists said the observers were not among the maimed Tuesday, but their vehicles were damaged.
A U.N. front man confirmed the observers were caught up in the country's violence on Tuesday and their cars sustained damage. But Ahmad Fawzi, a front man for special 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... had no other details.
An Idlib-based activist, Fadi al-Yassin, said he witnessed the attack on the funeral and saw that the observers were there.
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, citing a network of sources on the ground, also reported the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The government of Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... has announced that salaries of civil servants will no longer exceed five million francs, approximately two thousand five hundred dollars (KSh207,500).
The Le Quotidien newspaper on has reported that the decision was in keeping with President Macky Sall's ongoing drive to eradicate corruption.
During his campaign, President Sall had also promised to attain economic prosperity for all and bridge the gap between the rich and poor.
Before the decision was made, President Sall had said he felt "scandalised" on realising that salaries of some junior civil servants were twice as higher as their ministers.
Le Quotiden newspaper reported for instance that the monthly salary of the outgoing director of the agency for the regulation of post and telecommunications was 14 million francs, approximately $70,000 (Ksh5.8m).
The source also published the monthly salaries of the outgoing directors of the sea port and that of the rural electrification as 11 and nine million francs or $50,000 and $45,000 respectively.
The paper drew a ridiculous analogy between the salary of the outgoing director of the sea port at11 million francs and his former boss, the minister of environment and maritime affairs who earned about 3.5 million francs (about $7,000 a month.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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Top|| File under:
#1
Can we import this guy to redo the bureaucracy here for a few years?
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Dominique Strauss-Kahn has filed a $1million countersuit against the hotel maid at the center of the sexual assault claims.
A year after the scandal broke, Strauss-Kahn accused the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, of "knowingly and intentionally making a false report to law-enforcement authorities," the New York Post has said, citing court documents.
The countersuit lodged on Monday at Bronx Supreme Court claims the maid's "malicious and wanton false allegation" undermined Mr Strauss-Kahn's reputation.
The suit also indicates that the New York hotel maid damaged "other professional opportunities" without specifying political ambitions that were rocked by the scandal, the Post hassaid.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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Top|| File under:
#1
I'm sure her payoff was a LOT less than $1 million.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/16/2012 6:59
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#3
After all, were it not for her and the enthusiasm of the NYPD for a perp walk, he would now be president of France instead of that Champagne socialist, Hollande. She stole his life. Granted, he is a vile worm who did not deserve to keep it, but why should he see it that way?
#6
Unlike Hollande, DSK is a capitalist, having done a 180 degree conversion from his Communist student days. Without the maid's false report, France's economy would be in better hands today. For want of a nail...
[Al Ahram] Cairo airport authorities announced a state of emergency on Tuesday morning in order to carry out extensive bomb-detection procedures following a bomb threat on an airplane heading to the Nigerian city of Lagos.
After passengers had boarded the plane, a cabin crew member discovered a bomb warning on the mirror of the plane's bathroom, propelling airport security to search the plane again and announce a state of general emergency.
The forty-six passengers aboard the plane were evacuated as security services also ordered all baggage to be searched a second time.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Orders for men to grow their beards and to trim moustaches have been given by cut-throats loyal to Al-Shabaab. ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... The radical Islamist group is opposing the Transitional Federal Government in Mudug region in Central Somalia.
The fanatical cut-throats also instructed residents to strictly attend prayers at mosques.
"Following calls by muezzin, all men are ordered to join the prayers at mosques," said a militia leader at Bud-bud area in Mudug region.
He added that persons moving around or engaged in businesses would be punished.
Usually, failure to comply with Al-Shabaab orders attracts flogging of offenders in public.
Other offences such as theft, robbery and adultery may be punishable limb amputations or put to death by stoning.
On Sunday, Mr Abshir Dini Awale, the minister of interior and security affairs of Galmudug, ...a semiautonomous region in central Somalia, bordering Puntland on the north. Galmudug is not trying to obtain international recognition as a separate nation, but rather considers itself autonomous within the larger Somali federalism, for what that's worth... a semi autonomous fiefdom in Central Somalia, announced the infiltration in parts of its territory by cut-throats loyal to Al-Shabaab.
He confirmed that heavily armed cut-throats seized some settlements in the eastern side of Mugug region.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
#1
Uh, uh, AL-SHABAAB HATES DISPOSABLE RAZORS + OLD SPICE/AFTERSHAVE???
[Emirates 24/7] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... on Tuesday beheaded a Yemeni national, convicted of killing a fellow Yemeni in the kingdom, the SPA news agency reported quoting the interior ministry.
Ibrahim Zouani was convicted of clubbing to death fellow Yemeni Khalid Saafan, the ministry said, adding that he was executed in the southwestern Saudi city of Abha.
His beheading brings to 25 the total number of executions in the ultra-conservative kingdom so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on official reports.
Under the AFP count, at least 76 people had their heads chopped off in 2011 in Saudi Arabia, while rights group Amnesia Amnesty International put the number of executions last year at 79.
The death penalty in Saudi Arabia applies to a wide range of offences including rape, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking, as well as murder, as stipulated by Islamic Sharia law.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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[Al Ahram] French officials say that new President Francois Hollande's ...the Socialist president of La Belle France... plane was hit by lightning en route to Berlin. They say no one was hurt but that the plane returned to Gay Paree as a precaution.
French Defense Ministry front man Gerard Gachet said the Falcon 7X aircraft was struck by lightning shortly after take-off Tuesday, and returned to the Villacoublay air base for inspection.
Defense officials say the president and his entourage were transferred to another aircraft, a Falcon 900, and took off shortly thereafter.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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(Sh. M. Network)-Heavily armed police forces in battlewagons loyal toSomalia's northern semi-autonomous administration of Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... have carried out on Tuesday morning a security operation in Garowe town, reports said.
Ali Hirse, the governor of Nugal province told news hounds on Tuesday in Garowe town those Operations at several neighborhoods in the town were handled illegal weapons by the army. He also welcomed the ongoing security operations.
The move followed an order issued by the security committee of Nugal region for Puntland administration against the insecurity acts and illegal weapons which were being held in Garowe town, the capital city of Somalia's self-governing State of Puntland.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
#1
AIM listed Australian oil prospecting firm Range Resources currently have the first drilling rig in the Nugaal valley near Garowe. This offers major hope for the region if it proves viable.
[Emirates 24/7] Syrian troops on Monday pushed an assault on a central rebel bastion, with dozens reportedly killed across the country, as Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face... warned that Kofi Annan's ...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... peace efforts appeared to be failing.
The EU, meanwhile, slapped fresh sanctions on Damascus, ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... while Russia said it was "absolutely clear" Al Qaeda was behind last week's twin kabooms in Damascus that killed 55 people and vowed to continue to arm the regime.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three troop carriers were destroyed in festivities that erupted at dawn on the outskirts of Rastan, a rebel-held city in restive Homs province of central Syria.
At least 23 soldiers were killed in the Rastan festivities, it said.
Four rebel fighters, among them a lieutenant who defected, also died in the fighting as well as two civilians, and regime gunfire reportedly left three civilians dead in the nearby city of Homs.
Regime forces launched an offensive on Rastan at the weekend, encountering heavy resistance from rebels seeking the ouster of President Bashar al Assad's regime.
"The regime forces in the course of two hours fired 300 rockets at Rastan before launching their assault," Sami Kurdi, a front man for the rebel Free Syrian Army, told AFP from Rastan.
The Observatory also reported deadly violence elsewhere on Monday, putting the total daily toll of at least 37.
The bloodshed comes despite a month-old ceasefire brokered by 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 Annan as part of a plan aimed at ending violence that has swept Syria since March 2011 when a popular revolt erupted against Assad's regime.
Part of the plan includes the deployment in flashpoint areas of around 300 UN military observers. By Sunday, 189 observers were on the ground, the UN mission in Syria said.
In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister warned Monday that confidence in Annan's peace mission was fading fast because of the relentless bloodshed.
"Confidence in the efforts of the international envoy is falling rapidly because fighting and bloodshed continue," Prince Saud al-Faisal told news hounds after Riyadh hosted a summit of Arab leaders of the Gulf.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
Illegal immigrant students and members of the House sued the Senate this week to try to overturn the upper chamber's filibuster rule, arguing that the 60-vote supermajority requirement violates the Constitution and is blocking important legislation such as legalization for illegal immigrants. Separation of Powers, anyone? I don't see how this could possibly proceed but nowadays anything is possible.
If successful, the lawsuit, filed Monday, would rewrite the way the Senate operates -- though courts generally have been reluctant to meddle in internal congressional rules. It would mean the Courts have absolute rule.
Still, the effort mixes two thorny issues in separation of powers and immigration, and is likely to keep the Dream Act at the forefront of the national debate. The bill would legalize illegal immigrant students and young adults who were brought to the U.S. as children and who are seen as among the toughest cases in the immigration debate.
In late 2010, the Dream Act passed the House but was blocked from action by a filibuster in the Senate. The 55-41 vote fell five shy of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. More at the link. Beyond boggling. Gobsmacked, I am.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/16/2012
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Top|| File under:
#1
IMO iff this suit does proceed, + espec iff the Illegals win, THE VALIDITY OF THE ENTIRE US CONSTITUTION WILL BE IN QUESTION.
That sound you will be hearing will be the Commies + Socialists + aligned celebrating.
#4
No doubt it was easy to find a lawyer to bring the case, but I'm interested to hear how non-citizens even have standing to sue in the matter.
Be careful what you wish for, kiddies. Ever hear of 'tyranny of the majority'? An example would be a simple majority voting to kick all the illegals out of the country. Government needs a little inertia to keep it from veering off into the weeds.
#5
Each house makes its own rules. The judiciary would [not that the concept has ever stopped it before] be violating the separations of powers.
Article I, Section 5
Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.
#6
Appears to be a crisis in the making, and you know what we simmply cannot do with a crisis. Now, how can we evolve this into ...... latino dem votes ?
#8
I've always been perplexed as to how illegals do not lose every single bit of property and money they have when they are found. Is not all of it "goods gained during the commission of a crime"?
Let states and local governments confiscate everything that an illegal cannot prove they brought with them and they will clear themselves out pretty fast.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
05/16/2012 12:25
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#9
2 things: Art 1 Sec 5 kills this in its cradle. And how the f**k do illegals have ANY standing to sue?
#10
One of the four democrat house members is our olde buddy Rep. Henry C. Hank Johnson Jr. Remember him? Joe M does. Hank was worried about tipping over Guam with overpopulation. After the 4 dem senators, we have an illegal alien as a plaintiff.
They all are doing O's dirty work. Hey, it's worth a try. But it is more than that. They are using publicity to pressure the senate. Any tool in the kit will be used to force the agenda. O needs votes, and illegals are a righteous sized pool.
This is a direct attack on our Constitution and our Republic.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/16/2012 15:06
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[Al Ahram] The Egyptian Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Centre (IDSC) has issued a poll on the upcoming presidential elections, in which the highest scoring candidate was Mubarak's former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, in contrast with most other published opinion polls.
In the IDSC's poll, Shafiq scored highest among the candidates, receiving 12 per cent of total votes, with Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa ... who was head of the Arab League for approximately two normal lifespans, accomplishing nothing that was obvious to the casual observer ... as a runner up on 11 per cent, followed by Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh on 9 per cent. In the poll 38 per cent of sample voters said they were still indecisive.
Major national polls, carried out by both public and private entities, have shown significantly different results from the ones demonstrated in the IDSC poll, though a similar sample size is used.
In those polls, former foreign minister and secretary-general of 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... Amr Moussa has been steadily holding the first position, with Shafiq and Abul-Fotouh alternating between second and third.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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#1
abul fotouh is currently endorsed by the main Salafist group, two minor associations of 'liberals' and one part of the moslem brotherhood
he is showing an Obama-like ability to get people to believe in him based on wishful thinking
I'd put my money on that
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/16/2012 0:47
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#2
Hedge your bet. Put a little money on the military rigging the vote.
[Yemen Post] The security authorities have been placed on high alert in Yemen's capital after the interior ministry got information an Al-Qaeda bomber was reported to have entered Sanaa to carry out attacks.
The ministry said it had obtained information that Abdullah Muhammad Jabir Al-Shabwani had infiltrated into the capital for a car kaboom.
The suspect has a Land Cruiser car 2009, it said, pointing out that the security authorities have been placed on high alert and ordered to take necessary measures including precise checking at exits and entries to face sabotage and terrorist attacks.
Meantime, the army is continuing an offensive on Al-Qaeda gunnies in southern and southeastern regions including Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... , where the gunnies seized some key towns last year.
On Monday, at least 22 gunnies were killed when the forces advanced in Zinjibar, the capital, and other towns clear gunnies from them.
The expanded operations started on Saturday after fierce battles with the gunnies in the past weeks in which hundreds of gunnies were killed and injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/16/2012
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
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.
[D]esigned to operate as a fast attack boat, patrol boat and special operations support vessel. Heavy machine guns are mounted in fixed installations, or stabilized and remotely controlled from a monitor in the wheelhouse. The boat can also carry mines or Hellfire missiles [emphasis added], and a gyro-stabilized twin-barrel 12-cm mortar. The boats have a loading capacity of 21 armed soldiers or up to 4.5 tons of cargo. The boat uses two waterjet propulsion units, equipped with two MAN D2842 LE410 main engines, each with a medium duty rating of 810 kW and two Rolls-Royce Kamewa FF-410 with waterjets, the 16 meter boat has a sprint speed of 50 knots and a cruise at 42 kt, and high maneuverability.//
[Yemen Post] The Yemeni forces with support from popular fighters on Monday regained control of a key position of Al-Qaeda amid raging battles against the 
[Tolo News] Any country that supports
[Emirates 24/7] Seeking to end a nine-day deadlock, Greece's president met on Tuesday with five political party leaders in an effort to form a new government after inconclusive elections plunged the crisis-hit country into further disarray.
...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...
The Los Angeles Times published in a report that the US programme in creation of Afghan Local Police has failed in the villages of Afghanistan.
[Tolo News] 
Most Americans believe President 
Joe 
Asif Ali 
Somali pirates
[Tolo News] Three Taliban leaders were captured in a joint Afghan and 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
US court finds Iran, Syria guilty of supporting 
[Emirates 24/7] Syrian forces are targeting medical workers and patients who were 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
French officials say that new President 
Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa
[Yemen Post] The security authorities have been placed on high alert in Yemen's capital after the interior ministry got information an Al-Qaeda bomber was reported to have entered Sanaa to carry out attacks. 
