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Syrian opposition leader says he's ready to step down
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Africa Horn
Puntland sez why delegates quit from Mogadishu meeting
(Sh. M. Network)- The president of the self-declared autonomous region 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...
Abdirahman Mohammed Faroole, gave details the exact grounds forces Puntland elders quit from the ongoing meetin forSomalia's traditional clan elders in Mogadishu.

Speaking with BBC Somali service, Puntland president Puntland Abdirahman Mohammed Faroole, said Puntland representatives at the assembly have deserted the meeting because of dissatisfaction of some issues in the new draft constitution of Somalia.

Mr. Faroole stated the draft constitution is not shaped as a constitution for a country that has ravaged long time civil-war.

He was speaking during a visit toIndia. The leader says the draft constitution is not outlined power and economic resources in the country in terms of federalism for that reasons Puntland elders got out from the assembly.

This comments followed as 135 Somali traditional elders are gathering in Somali capital,Mogadishuto select a constituent assembly that will approve the draft constitution and choose a parliament.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Angry protestors marched in the streets of Hargeisa to denounce court ruling
(Sh.M.Network)-Hundreds of angry people,including women and kiddies have marched through the streets of Hargeisa on Thursday to denounce a military court ruling by Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland, reports said.

Waving banners written anti-Court ruling slogans and chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great), the crowd burnt tyres in the main streets in Hargeisa to show their annoyance against the ruling and demand the release of the defendants.

A military court in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland has sentenced 28, 17 of them to death while 5 others in life in prison for attacking a military base over a land dispute one day earlier.

The court in Somaliland's capital convicted the 17 on Wednesday, saying the defendants confessed to attacking soldiers during Tuesday's confrontation.

Yusuf Mohammed, an elder said during comments on the issue that his clan is not satisfied Somaliland's military court decision, saying the decision was reached in haste.

According to the prosecution, the 17 have no chance to appeal their death sentences.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Kenya struggles to contain Al-Shabab terror attacks
[Shabelle] Kenyan police have set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock
Drop the rosco and step away witcher hands up!
a suspect in a grenade attack on a restaurant in Mombasa that killed one person on Tuesday. It is the latest in a string of attacks since Kenya launched a military intervention in Somalia.

Kenya has been hit by a series of grenade attacks since it sent tanks and troops intoSomalialate last year. The authorities are blaming the Somali Islamist group al-Shabaab
... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
for the violence.

"It is about time that al-Shabaab gives up and takes part in a grinding of the peace processor," tweeted the Kenyan military spokesperson Emmanuel Chirichiri on the social network Twitter in April.

A tweet in response was not long in coming. "Al-Shabaab encourages and supports all Kenyan Mohammedans who want to fight a jihad against the Kenyan government,"

Although there is no evidence that the tweet came from al-Shabaab, this conversation shows that Kenya and al-Shabaab are at war, not only online but across the region.

In October 2011,Kenyadeclared war on al-Shabaab and sent troops into Somalia. "The argument was that Kenyan troops inSomaliacould push al-Shabaab as far away as possible from the Kenya border, and if possible to eliminate them," says Emmanuel Kisiangani, an analyst at the Institute for Security Studies ( ISS) inNairobi.

"Today you can say they prevented major terror attacks, but they haven't managed to stop terrorist activities in the country," he adds.

Hunt for German suspect

By "major attacks" Kisiangani was referring to bombings such as the 1998 U.S. Embassy attack inNairobi, during which a truck full of explosives killed more than 200 people, or the suicide kaboom on a hotel inMombasa owned by Israelis, which left more than ten people dead in 2002.

These attacks, says Kisiangani, were directed against the West and not specifically atKenya. However the attacks of recent months, in which grenades have been detonated in busy places inNairobi andMombasa, are being linked toKenya's intervention in Somalia.

A German national, Ahmed Khaled Müller, is being sought for questioning by the Kenyan authorities in connection with a church attack in late April which killed two people and injured 15.

Müller was incarcerated
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
inPakistain in 2009 and is believed to have enteredKenya illegally. A spokesperson for the Kenyan police, Charles Owino, has urged him to come forward and clarify some of the allegations against him.

Al-Shabaab sympathizers in Kenya

Analysts suspect that there are numerous foreign nationals fighting for al-Shabaab in Somalia. Kisiangani believes that the Islamist Death Eater group can draw on sympathizers in Kenya and is even able to recruit supporters among the Somalian refugees.

Total protection against terrorism is hardly possible because ofKenya's mostly non-existent border with Somalia and an easily accessible coastline.

Terrorism cannot be defeated by military means alone, says Kisiangani. He believes the root causes such as poverty and deprivation need to be addressed.

"Groups who feel deprived are easily brainwashed by this radical ideology," he adds.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab

#1  Send for Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, the locals will only produce a blundering mess.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/18/2012 5:30 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egyptian policemen cleared of killing Tahrir Square protestors
[Al Ahram] Cairo's Criminal Court on Thursday finds 14 police officers innocent of killing two protestors - and injuring several others - at height of last year's uprising
Oh. Well. It musta been somebody else, then.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  The story leaves open a lot of possibilities, including "self defense", "following orders", or that old Texas standard, "He needed killin'".
Posted by: Bobby || 05/18/2012 6:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Sorta like Pima County, AZ.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/18/2012 9:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Protesters committed suicide?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/18/2012 13:06 Comments || Top||


Libya says Gaddafi's son refusing defense lawyer
[Al Ahram] Former Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy
...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens...
's son has refused to appoint a Libyan lawyer to defend him against accusations of murder and torture during a crackdown on a revolt against his father's rule, the country said on Wednesday.
Libya said earlier this month that it would complete within weeks its investigation into Saif al-Islam and asked the International Criminal Court
... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
to once again to hold off ordering his surrender.

Pressure is mounting on 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...
to hand Saif al-Islam to the ICC - which indicted Saif al-Islam in June for crimes against humanity - as human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
groups question whether its justice system can meet the standards of international law.

Libyan Deputy UN Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that Libyan law prevented Saif al-Islam Qadaffy from standing trial without a lawyer.

"This matter has mainly got to do with Saif al-Islam Qadaffy, who until now refuses appointing an attorney to defend him. Hence the matter is not in the hands of the Libyan authorities but rather the defendant himself, but there are no obstacles towards hiring an attorney to defend him," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Seeing how they are going to shoot him anyway he might as well save his money.
Posted by: kelly || 05/18/2012 15:13 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Southern leader urges followers to fight al-Qaeda alongside troops
[Yemen Post] Media reports said on Thursday citing the former 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...
governor Ahmed al-Maisari that the high-ranking leading figure in the pro-secessionist Southern Movement, Mohammed Ali Ahmed, urged his followers to fight al-Qaeda elements alongside the army troops in Abyan.Ahmed told the London-based Sharaq al-Awsat newspaper that he called on his tribe affiliates in Abyan to fight al-Qaeda elements which have been battling army troops assisted by tribal militias for months.The southern leader came back home after more than 15 years of living in exile. His return to Yemen which coincided with new Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi rise to office, sparked controversy and speculation as many people believed that he came back to support Hadi. Hadi and Ahmed are from the same area.Al-Maisari denied that there are American troops on the ground fighting alongside the Yemeni army, arguing the existence of US troops would not be of help whatsoever to the army, rather it would have a negative effect, al-Masdar online newspaper reported.He stressed that things have turned around for the army troops' favor after the air force was involved heavily in the battles. He put the number of the aircraft's' Arclight airstrikes at about 50 per day."The festivities stopped in Zinjubar--the picturesque provincial capital of Abyan--which means that al-Qaeda influence in the town have collapsed. The past few days witnessed considerable evacuation process by the Islamic fascisti towards other areas," he said."The government intends to repeat the tribal militias in Lawdar and other places where al-Qaeda operatives still powerful." Ahmed added.

Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Understanding reached to end rebellion against Hadi's decree
[Yemen Post] President Abdurabu Mansour Hadi
...the second and possibly the last president of Yemen, successor to former President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh...
has met with Commander of the Republican Guard Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh and reached an understanding about the rebellion of the 3rd Republican Guard Brigade against his decree, well informed sources said.

The sources did not clarify whether it was allowed to the newly-appointed commander Abdul-Rahman Al-Halili to enter the headquarter of the brigade or not.

A Yemeni analyst told Yemen Post that what is reported about an understanding is merely a maneuver of Saleh's family to alleviate any resolutions to be issued against Saleh's relatives by the UN Security Council.

These developments came after ambassadors of the ten states overseeing the GCC-brokered power transfer deal met with Ahmed Ali this week.

Moreover, US President Barrack Obama issued on Wednesday an executive order freezing U.S. assets of anyone considered to be threatening the success of the U.S.-backed political transition in Yemen.

UN Security Council is to meet on Thursday to discuss a report presented by Envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar who had threatened to impose sanctions against those officials who hamper decrees of Hadi.

A Western diplomat told Akhbar Alyawam newspaper that Benomar contacted during the past two days Hadi, officials of the General people Congress party led by the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and leaders of the Joint Meeting Parties.

The diplomat quoted Benomar as saying that his report will brief the UN Permanent Members on Yemen's situation and risks posed against the political settlement.

The command of the 3rd Republican Guard Brigade was handed over to Al-Ahlili with the presence of the UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar who put pressures on the pervious commander, Tariq Mohmmad Abdullah Saleh. However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds...
after the departure of Benomar, Al-Halili was prevented by officers loyal to Saleh from entering the brigade.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Nearly 160.000 persons displaced from Abyan
[Yemen Post] Approximately 160.000 persons were displaced from 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...
due to conflicts between the Yemeni army and Ansar Al-Sharia (supporters of the Islamic law) an Al-Qaeda linked group, chief of the Executive Unit of Refugee Affairs Ahmed Al-Kohlani said.

Al-Kohlani told 26 September Newspaper that the displaced persons in Abyan suffer of deteriorated humanitarian situations, pointing out that some of them left their homes and villages more than a year ago.

He affirmed that the foodstuffs provided by the World Food Program (WFP) are not enough to alleviate the suffers of the displaced persons.

He said that the figure of the displaced persons from Saada and Abyan governorates amounted 535.000, indicating that the Executive Unit of Refugee Affairs could not manage to record all the displaced.

With the conflict escalating in some towns of Abyan, further numbers of the displaced are expected to leave their areas in the up-coming days, particularly as the Yemeni army is determined to cleanse Abyan from Al-Qaeda bad turbans.

Abyan's refugees escaped fierce fighting were forced to live in a number of the city's schools in the neighboring governorates of Aden and Lahj.

President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi vowed to invade Abyan and evacuate Death Eaters in order to enable displaced people to return to their homes.

Some refugees complained that the response of aid organizations are slow, pointing out that they have no enough food.

According to the chief UN representative in Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, Yemen suffers a much more profound and much more deep humanitarian crisis as a result of the turbulence that hit the state in 2011.

Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Great White North
Islamic school's permit suspended over anti-Jewish curriculum
An Islamic school that had been using teaching materials that slandered Jews and encouraged boys to stay fit for jihad has lost its license to use Toronto District School Board property. The board suspended a permit issued to the Islamic Shia Study Centre, which ran the East End Madrassah from a Toronto high school until an outcry last week over the content of its curriculum booklets.

Ryan Bird, a TDSB spokesman, said, "The Islamic Shia Study Centre will not be able to permit TDSB property until the police investigation is complete and they are able to demonstrate that they comply with board policies and procedures. Pending the outcome of the police investigation, we are willing to meet with the permit holder to discuss TDSB policies and procedures. As soon as we became aware of this complaint, we started to review the permit and the information that was available."

In a statement, the school said, "Our curriculum is not intended to promote hatred towards any individual or group of people; rather, the children are taught to respect and value other faiths and beliefs, and to uphold Canada's basic values of decency and tolerance."

But the school's curriculum, which it has now removed from its website, referred to "crafty," "treacherous" Jews and contrasted Islam with "the Jews and the Nazis." The passages were from two books published by Iranian foundations.

The booklets also told children that Islam was the "best" religion, and listed "unclean things," including pigs, dogs and "a person who does not believe in Allah." It said boys should be "healthy and strong" so they would be "ready for jihad whenever the time comes for it."

Girls, on the other hand, were told to limit their involvement in physical activities and to instead engage in pastimes that would prepare them to become mothers and wives.

The York Region Police hate crimes unit launched an investigation after receiving a complaint from the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre. The school apologized and promised to review its materials. The Islamic school had been teaching classes on Sundays at David & Mary Thomson Collegiate.

Neither the school principal nor the cleric affiliated with the centre could be reached for comment. Last week, Imam Syed Muhammad Rizvi told reporters the citations in question had been wrongly copied from two websites. But they are actually excerpts from two books published by the Al Balagh Foundation in Tehran and the Mostazafan Foundation of New York, which the FBI alleges are a front organization controlled by the Iranian government.

"As we have said before, the excerpted material at issue should never have been a part of our curriculum," a statement, signed "Principal, East End Madrassah" said. In a video posted online, Imam Rizvi called "absolutely baseless" concerns that school teaching materials were written in Iran.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What would Geert Wilders say?
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/18/2012 4:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Isn't it wonderful how finding a little oil in their backyard can change people's outlook?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/18/2012 8:08 Comments || Top||

#3  About bloody time!
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 05/18/2012 19:24 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
No decision yet on Nato supply lines, says Gilani
[Dawn] The Pak prime minister has said the country has yet to decide on the issue of restoring ground supply lines to NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization....
troops in Afghanistan; however, a decision would be announced as soon as talks between different ministries and officials conclude.

"We have directed the concerned ministries and departments to conclude the process as soon as possible," Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ...
told news hounds on Thursday after attending an event here in Islamabad.

The final decision would depend on the outcome of ongoing talks, said PM Gilani.

Moreover, the prime minister said that the invitation by NATO sent to President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari
... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ...
to attend the Chicago summit was an 'unconditional' one.

Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising...
in a statement also on Thursday, the Foreign Office said that a final decision on reopening the routes will be taken in the best national interest of the country.

Pakistain has engaged with United States to resolve all pending issues, said Foreign Office front man Moazzam Ali Khan, adding that the government would abide by the recommendations of the parliament both "in letter and spirit".
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  See also DEFENCE FORUM INDIA > PAKISTAN WANTS US$5000 TRANSIT FEE FOR EACH NATO CONTAINER [ + Tanker], going overland from any reopened land routes in Pakistan vee Karachi into Aghanistan.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/18/2012 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  This is so easy. We already give Pakiwackiland a mess of money. We can easily pay this "fee" for transport and deduct twice that from our annual support budget.

Not a problem. Thanks for doing business with us.
Posted by: rammer || 05/18/2012 19:16 Comments || Top||


'No strings attached to Nato invitation'
[Dawn] The government has yet to take a final decision about reopening 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...
supply lines and a perception that it has agreed behind closed doors to US demands in this regard is wrong, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said on Wednesday.

He said at a press briefing after a meeting of the federal cabinet that NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen had extended an unconditional invitation to President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari
... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ...
to participate in the organization's summit in Chicago.

In his opening remarks at the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
... Pakistain's erstwhile current prime minister, whose occasional feats of mental gymnastics can be awe-inspiring ...
said: "Our relations with NATO and the US are passing through a delicate phase where we need to take critical decisions keeping in view our strategic importance in the region
and our national interests."

He said the country had not, and would not, compromise on its principled stand, but would also not take "emotional decisions which will harm it in the long run".
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  He said the country had not, and would not, compromise on its principled stand,

Translation: I got payments to make. And a little walking-around money wouldn't hurt none, either.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/18/2012 2:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Sprinkle a little polonium dust on the cash.
Posted by: mojo || 05/18/2012 15:27 Comments || Top||


White House smothers bill limiting payment
[Dawn] The White House has rejected a House bill which places limitation on reimbursements to the government of Pakistain and imposes new restrictions on US assistance to that country.

The bill requires the secretaries of defence and state to certify to the US Congress that Pakistain is cooperating with the United States in the war against terror, dismantling IED networks and preventing nuclear proliferation.

The White House rejects both, restrictions placed on reimbursing the money Pakistain spends in combating gunnies along the Pak-Afghan border as well as certification requirements.

A statement issued by Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, says that the US administration "strongly objects to the restriction in reimbursement for Pakistain from Coalition Support Funds and the associated certification requirements in section 1211" of a bill a congressional panel passed last week.

"Taken together, the reimbursement restriction and the certification restrictions -- some of which require the Secretary of Defence to certify Pak cooperation on issues outside of his purview -- are proposed at a particularly sensitive time," the White House observes.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Manhandling by IJT: PU teachers to boycott classes
[Dawn] The Punjab University Academic Staff Association executive body announced boycotting classes and creating law and order "to jolt the government" over the thrashing of two university teachers by a group of students.

"The government does not realise the gravity of an issue until it is responded with a drastic action," said PU Syndicate member Prof Dr Shaukat Ali, who says he was ridiculed and abused by the group. "Now, either the Islami Jamaat Tulaba
...the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami...
(IJT) or we will live here," he said.

The university remained closed on Monday and Tuesday due to the Islami Jamaat Tulaba's mourning over the murder of its activist. The activists did not allow the university bus to pick and drop the students. Prof Shaukat claimed that classes were held on Tuesday.

At a presser, PUASA President Amer Sarwar said the executive body had demanded that the university administration cancel admissions of IJT nazim
...small time big shot, the chief elected official of a local government in Pakistan, such as a district, tehsil, union council, or village council...
s to hostels and academic departments. The executive body also demanded that all boys' hostels be vacated immediately. The ASA also demanded the removal of the top police officer of the province for his failure to check the unruly students.

Two chemistry department teachers Dr Ehsan Sharif and Dr Ejaz Butt said they had also become a victim of the group's
highhandedness. According to them, the group manhandled them when they were coming out of Prof Shaukat's office.

Dr Sharif said that the mob kept on slapping him and brought him to Main University Road. "The boys taunted me, saying 'now call the vice-chancellor' and 'go to PUCIT'," he said.

Dr Butt said some students also pushed him but he ran and took cover in Prof Shaukat's office. Prof Shaukat said that he too was misbehaved by the students. "Though some boys called some one to shoot me, I held my ground. The boys then dispersed," he said.

When asked why teachers were boycotting classes at the cost of thousands of students' time, the ASA president said, "We cannot take classes until the government and police provide us complete security." To a question that how the thrashing of two teachers justify the closure of the university, he said, "Do you (news hounds) want that more teachers are thrashed and misbehaved?"

Prof Shaukat also criticised security guards who failed to take any action against the mob. He said guards had given a free-hand to IJT activists to -- thrash teachers and ransack flower-pots and windowpanes of the vice-chancellor office.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


Southeast Asia
Myanmar halts arms buys from Pyongyang
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's president has assured his South Korean counterpart that his country will no longer buy weapons from North Korea, while conceding it had done so to some extent over the past 20 years.

In his meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Myanmar President Thein Sein said his country never had nuclear cooperation with North Korea but did have deals with Pyongyang for conventional weapons, Lee's presidential Blue House said in an announcement Tuesday.

Thein Sein told Lee that Myanmar will no longer buy weapons from North Korea, honoring a U.N. ban, South Korean presidential official Kim Tae-hyo told reporters traveling with Lee, according to Blue House officials in Seoul.
Thus continuing their slow, slow rehabilitation...
Lee is on an official visit to Myanmar, the first by a South Korean president since North Korean commandos staged a bloody 1983 attack against visiting South Korean dignitaries.

Myanmar cut off diplomatic relations with North Korea after the 1983 attack, but restored them in 2007 as it sought allies in the face of sanctions for its human rights violations and failure to install a democratic government. Myanmar also began buying weapons from North Korea, and was suspected of obtaining nuclear weapons technology from Pyongyang.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said after the 45-minute meeting that South Korea and Myanmar have much in common in having had to "take the hard road to democratic leadership."

Lee, speaking through an interpreter Tuesday, said he had praised Thein Sein's efforts at democratizing when they met Monday. He said he told Thein Sein he hoped his government "will refrain from any activities" with North Korea that could be considered in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. He described this as a formal request.

Lee on Tuesday made a brief visit to the site of the 1983 bombing, Martyr's Mausoleum, a monument to Suu Kyi's father, Myanmar independence hero Gen. Aung San. The attack left 21 dead, 17 of them South Korean, but failed to kill its target, then-President Chun Doo-hwan, who arrived late and was not harmed.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > CHINA SUPPLIES ARMS TO CHINESE-SPEAKING ETHNICS IN BURMA [30,000-MAN UWSA = United Wa State Army]

POSTER/BLOGGER > opined that China does not want a pro-US-West, anti-China, Western-style democratic Govt-Regime in Burma aka Myanmar, + that China would prefer to see full-scale Civil War or pro-China insurgency break out in Burma than for the former to occur??? CHINA ARMS = CIVIL WAR OR INSURGENCY TO BREAK OUT IN BURMA WIDIN A FEW MONTHS???

and

* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > CHINA MAINLY RESPONSIBLE FOR STEADY DETERIORATION IN SINO-NORTH KOREAN RELATIONS.

ARTIC Nutshell > Beijing likes to overtly label Pyongyang = NOKOR as an "Ally", Partner", + "Sovereign", etc. BUT IN REALITY TREATS IT AS ANYTHING BUT.

* SAME > MONGOLIA TO ESTABLISH QUASI-ALLIANCE RELATIONSHIP WID NATO AGZ CHINA, vee NATO's
"Partnership for Peace" international programme.

ARTIC = NATO's move seen in Beijing as reducing China's influence in MOngolia in favor of NATO [read, US] + Mama Russia.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/18/2012 0:55 Comments || Top||

#2  The same pattern they followed in Nepal.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 05/18/2012 22:50 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Ban: Al-Qaeda Behind Damascus Terror Attacks
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday he was sure that Al-Qaeda was responsible for the twin terror attacks that took place in Damascus last week and in which 55 people were killed.

Ban said that this fact is “disturbing and surprising.”
I was surprised and disturbed that it wasn't the Quakers after all!
Posted by: tipper || 05/18/2012 02:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You sure it wasn't CIA/Zionists, Ki?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/18/2012 8:07 Comments || Top||


Qortbawi Says 2 Detainees, Allegedly Linked to Qaida Network, Released
[An Nahar] Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi revealed on Thursday that authorities released two detainees allegedly charged with forming an armed terrorist group and undermining the authority of the state, as well as having links to al-Qaeda.

The two members allegedly belong to a six-member network that infiltrated Leb to carry out "sabotage" operations.

Qortbawi told al-Joumhouria newspaper that Shadi al-Mawlawi, who was tossed in the calaboose
Please don't kill me!
on Saturday in 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...
, and the remaining three members of the network are still under investigation.

However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...
al-Liwaa newspaper reported that authorities released 3 detainees, while al-Mawlawi, Qatari national Abdul Azizi Qataria and a Paleostinian are still under arrest.

Meanwhile,
...back at the sandwich shop, Caroline was experimenting with ingredients of increasing volatility...
al-Joumhouria reported that the army intelligence bureau set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
Lebanese Samir Kanjo and Syrian national Ons Othman for allegedly belonging to al-Qaeda.

Obtained information revealed that there is "clear evidence" that links Kanjo and Othman to al-Qaeda.

The two were tossed in the calaboose
Please don't kill me!
in Beirut on Tuesday, the daily said.

On the Islamist detainees in Roumieh prison, Qortbawi told al-Joumhouria that they are comprised of 180 prisoners from Leb and various Arab countries.

He said that some of them might be released "anytime soon."

Clashes erupted over the weekend in the northern city of Tripoli between the two rival neighborhoods of Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh and Alawite Jabal Mohsen after the General Security Department set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
al-Mawlawi.

His arrest angered the Islamist demonstrators in Tripoli who were holding sit-ins in al-Nour square over the past few weeks in protest against the continuous detention of the Islamist prisoners.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Syria Hands General Security 3 Suspects in Estonians Case
[An Nahar] Syrian authorities on Thursday handed over to the General Directorate of General Security three suspects allegedly involved in the 2011 abduction of seven Estonian nationals in Leb.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syrian opposition leader says he's ready to step down
[Al Ahram] Syrian National Council President Burhan Ghalioun said on Thursday he was ready to quit, after mounting criticism of his leadership. "I declare my resignation as soon as a replacement is found through elections or consensus," Ghalioun told Rooters.
Posted by: Fred || 05/18/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  "I'd rather step down than dance on the air".
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 05/18/2012 8:11 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2012-05-18
  Syrian opposition leader says he's ready to step down
Thu 2012-05-17
  13 More Killed as South Yemen Clashes Rage into 5th Day
Wed 2012-05-16
  Ghalioun Elected Chief of Syrian Opposition Coalition
Tue 2012-05-15
  37 Dead, Including 23 Troops as Syrian Army Shells Rebel Bastion
Mon 2012-05-14
  Nearly 25.000 troops battle Al-Qaeda in Abyan
Sun 2012-05-13
  Al Qaeda's Leader Encourages Somali Militants to persist the fight
Sat 2012-05-12
  Tens of Thousands of Protesters Defy Syrian Regime Gunfire, 13 Dead
Fri 2012-05-11
  Somali Gov't, Al shabab claim victory over Bay,Bakol fighting
Thu 2012-05-10
  Damascus bombings kill 40, wound 170: state TV
Wed 2012-05-09
  Annan Fears 'Civil War' Looming in Syria
Tue 2012-05-08
  Al-Qaeda underwear bomb plot was targeted by US drone
Mon 2012-05-07
  Nine soldiers killed, military convoy attacked in N Wazoo
Sun 2012-05-06
  Man wanted in USS Cole bombing killed in Yemen: tribal chief
Sat 2012-05-05
  Pro-Regime Gunmen Kill 12 'Qaida' Militants in Yemen
Fri 2012-05-04
  Bajaur teenyboomer kills 24

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