CAIRO - The Arab League said on Sunday it had donated $1 million to support African Union (AU) forces in war-ravaged Somalia, an Arab League member state. This sum is the first phase, Samir Hosni, who deals with African affairs at the league, said. This amount is from the Arab League and not the Arab countries.
A million. That's what, three days of graft and operations?
That's the catering bill.
Hosni said the Cairo-based organisation had already sent $15 million to support the struggling African Union forces in Darfur, and $1 million to AU peacekeeping forces to monitor elections in the Comoros Islands.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Gosh a whole million? So I guess the cermonial "We hate the Jews" party? Why are the Newspapers not laughing at this INSGINIFICANT figure?
Mogadishu-based Radio Stations of Shabelle Media Network, Radio Voice of Holy Quran and Horn Afrik Radio has been authorised to resume operations today by the Transitional Federal Government after decree ordering their closure signed by Minister of Information Madobe Nunow Mohammed was delivered to each of the three stations on 6 June 2007. Following negotiations between media managers and the Ministry of Information along with appeals and mounting pressures from National Union of Somali Journalists, National Media Council and International Community, the Minister of Information cleared the media institutions to resume operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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The president of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ghaith, disputed yesterday the findings of the first human rights report by the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) regarding alleged violations by his organization.
In its report, the NSHR had said that commission members confiscated mobiles from those it detained and also pressured people to sign confessions in order to be released.
Al-Ghaith said that a commission member would not confiscate mobiles since they often contain personal and private information such as the names and phone numbers of family members. That would be a religious and criminal offense, he told Arab News. Mobiles are only confiscated if they are part of the criminal offense. He did not comment on the alleged forced confessions which the report mentioned.
He did say, however, that the request by the NSHR to rewrite Article 14 of the commissions law would be studied. The rights body said the article is too broad and is thus open to misinterpretation.
Al-Ghaith said: Just because the society (NSHR) requested that the article be changed does not necessarily mean we have to do so but we will study the matter. If we see that changing the article is for the best, then we will proceed.
Speaking to the media after an emergency meeting with commission heads from the Kingdoms 13 regions, Al-Ghaith said that the meeting was meant to activate and not dilute the efforts of the commission.
He denied that four Riyadh commission members had been fired for mishandling the case of Sulaiman Al-Huraisi, a Saudi citizen who died in commission custody two weeks ago when members who suspected alcohol was being consumed in his home raided his apartment.
Referring to two other cases involving alleged commission errors and wrongdoing in Riyadh and Tabuk, Al-Ghaith said: Both cases are still under investigation. He announced that the commission had hired a spokesman for the body at its headquarters. The spokesman is Ahmed Al-Jardan, a former public relations manager. Al-Ghaith also noted that every commission head in the Kingdoms different regions is empowered to act as a spokesperson for the commission in his region.
He also announced that the commission had established a legal department to be known as the Department of Rules and Regulations. The new department is for consultation by commission members if they are unsure of something or need legal advice.
He said that commission members had no duties beyond apprehending suspects and recording alleged offenses. We continue to work according to the regulations which specify that our work is only detention and the recording of offenses.
Al-Ghaith denied reports in some local newspapers that the commission had hired employees who had criminal records. We check on every person we hire from the day he was born up to the present. No one with a criminal background is hired, he asserted. He went on to say that the commission had nothing to hide and worked in the bright light of the sun.
Concerning the name tags which are mandatory for commission members in the field, Al-Ghaith said that any citizen or resident has the right to complain against a member if the member does not wear a name tag when questioning someone. The commission member in such a case would be considered a violator. We have made it clear that all field members must clearly display their name tags on their shoulders, he said.
Al-Ghaith denied earlier media reports concerning a religious fatwa which forbids the trial of a commission member in a religious court.
He said: There is a fatwa by Sheikh Muhammad Al-Ibrahim (the late Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia) which states that a virtue member does not need witnesses when he testifies. This fatwa has obviously been misinterpreted by people in the press to mean that a commission member is not bound by the law. This is untrue. The commission member is a government employee and if he violates the law, he is subject to punishment.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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In the end we will crush them. Their society is like seriously fucked up man.
#3
Damn, is he ugly! They probably made him the head of the Religious Cops cuz it's the only way he could get laid...
Yup, tu3031. This sucker looks like he fell out of the ugly tree and hit every last branch on the way down. Ever notice how most of these Islamic grand poohbahs all look like five miles of hammered shit? No wonder they seek to enforce a doctrine that makes women into sexual slaves. Fortunately, there is a cure in the form of high velocity lead supplement doses.
PS: Is it just me or does anyone else's fist instinctively curl up whenever these sort of pictures enter their line of sight? There's something that just makes me wanna smack the crap outta these sanctimonious bastids.
The United States and Russia have reportedly arranged for banks to resolve a financial row over North Korean funds which delayed Pyongyangs nuclear disarmament process. South Koreas Yonhap news agency, quoting unnamed sources, said Sunday Russia agreed to help wire the controversial funds -- some 25 million dollars which until recently were frozen in a Macau bank -- to North Korea via the US. The US has unfrozen the funds but North Korea has had difficulty finding a foreign bank to transfer money seen as tainted.
Good, that means our Treasury Department is on the ball.
The US requested, on condition that one of its banks play a role of relaying the money, that Russia take the North Korean funds. Russia accepted it, an unnamed source told Yonhap. To make the money transfer possible, Washington also agreed to make a temporary exception to its ban on US banks trade with the blacklisted Banco Delta Asia (BDA) in Macau, another source said.
The US bank would remain unidentified, the source said. With the new idea backed by the US, China and Russia being pushed in a positive atmosphere, the chances of the transfer of North Korean funds in the near future are getting higher, the source was quoted saying.
The banking issue has been a major stumbling block to implementing the landmark aid-for-disarmament agreement reached at six-nation talks in February. Under the first stage of the deal, the North was to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear facility by mid-April. But it has refused to do so until it receives the 25 million dollars.
The US Treasury says it blacklisted BDA on suspicion it was handling the proceeds of North Korean money laundering and counterfeiting.
Last week, Yonhap said the US had also proposed taking BDA off the blacklist, on condition its top executives resign.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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So Kimmie gets his $25 million, and we will get nothing but a restarted nuke plant after Kimmie promised to shut it down. 25 million is chickenfeed to most countries, so Nork must be hurting. And we had a chance to sink their sorry a$$es but ended up bailing them out.....lowers my morale.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/11/2007 1:17 Comments ||
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SEOUL - North Korea on Sunday warned Seouls military buildup will adversely affect the communist states nuclear disarmament process. The Norths state-sponsored Korean National Peace Committee issued a statement attacking South Koreas purchase of advanced US-made fighter jets, its recent launch of a new warship and continuing military drills.
Their behavior is a treacherous criminal act ... wrecking the peace and spoiling inter-Korean relations, the committees unnamed spokesman said in the statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. It will also adversely affect the process of settling the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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It would be nice if Japan and South Korea changed their rhettoric to match North Korea's. Might scare the tar out of them, or, they may finally understand.
The University of Groningen is talking with a female student who has been showing up for classes at the law faculty dressed in a niqab, a garment worn by some Muslim women which covers the face entirely, leaving just a small slit through which the wearer can see.
The university says that students must be able to be identified while sitting exams and for this reason the woman has been given several days to consider whether she will remove the veil in certain cases. A spokesperson for the university said this on Friday.
The Dutch student started wearing a niqab to class some time ago. The university in Groningen says that everyone is free to wear what they like, but there are a few situations in which wearing a niqab cannot be permitted. "Students must be able to identify themselves, for instance at exams. They also have to be able to participate fully in education. That also means taking part in discussions. In order to fully participate, the importance of non-verbal communication makes it necessary for facial expressions to be visible at times," the spokesperson said. The university has asked the student if she is willing to remove the concealing garment in these two situations. The spokesperson for the institution could not say what the outcome would be if the student refuses. "We assume that we will be able to come to some agreement. If not, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," the spokesperson said.
He said that Groningen University's policy follows the guidelines set out by the Commission for Equal Treatment.
Posted by: ed ||
06/11/2007 7:38 Comments ||
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Who do they suspect would be under there - Alan Dershowitz?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/11/2007 11:40 Comments ||
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Those niquabs . . . so handy for hiding notes during an exam. No one can even see you sneaking a peek. Equipped with small flashlight for visibility under the tent. Black fabric conceals light. Only $99.95 at Terrorists-R-Us.
French Socialist leader Francois Hollande called on supporters to mobilise Sunday to restore a balance of power after President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing party took a commanding lead in the first round of parliamentary elections. Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party was headed for a crushing victory, with projections showing it could win up to 501 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly lower house of parliament.
"I am calling for a mobilisation of the left to ensure that there is a balance," Hollande said. "To all those who do not want a party that is in sole control of the National Assembly, to all those who do not want vulnerability, let them come and vote next Sunday," said Hollande, who is the partner of defeated presidential candidate Segolene Royal.
Projections from polling firms showed the Socialists were struggling to hold onto their 149 seats and could plummet to a low of some 60 seats in parliament. Turnout appeared headed for a record low of around 63 percent, down from 84 percent in the presidential vote last month.
RICHMOND, Va. - The Bush administration cannot legally detain a legal U.S. resident it believes is an al-Qaida sleeper agent without charging him, a divided federal appeals court ruled Monday. The case involves a Qatari national and suspected al-Qaida operative who is the only person being held in the United States as an "enemy combatant."
In the 2-1 decision, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel found that the federal Military Commissions Act does not strip Ali al-Marri of his constitutional rights to challenge his accusers in court. It ruled the government must allow him to be released from military detention.
In a major setback for the administration, the appellate panel ruled that the government's evidence afforded no basis to treat al-Marri as an "enemy combatant." "The government cannot subject al-Marri to indefinite military detention. For in the United States, the military cannot seize and imprison civilians let alone imprison them indefinitely," Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote.
Al-Marri has been held in a U.S. Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., for about four years without any charges.
The ruling sent the case back to a federal judge in South Carolina with instructions to direct Defense Secretary Robert Gates to release al-Marri from military custody within a reasonable period of time. The government can transfer al-Marri to civilian authorities to face criminal charges, initiate deportation proceedings, hold him as a witness in a grand jury proceeding or detain him for a limited period of time under the Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law.
Sounds like he'll need to be charged.
This is a good thing. American citizens and legal residents are entitled to the protection of the Constitution, for good and bad: good in that they have constitutional protections, and bad because the Constitution does contain a specific treason clause.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2007 14:02 ||
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Sounds like we need to stop this messy business of capturing and keeping jihadis. Next time just line them up and shoot them. If somebody wimper about it just point them to Geneva and the un.
#4
It appears that commenters get irreparable syntax error messages unless they comment after clicking the "entire post" function. Interim site looks good. Nice planning.
#5
Fred, check the link for "comment": one of them has an HC=P, not HC=2. Your postgres statement is dying because of a non-numeric field, and it may by the HC parameter.
#7
Click "Entire Post" and then click on "Comments"?
We'll see.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/11/2007 17:25 Comments ||
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Judge Diana Gribbon Motz..., yes, a Billary appointment.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/11/2007 18:05 Comments ||
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Judge Diana Gribbon Motz..., yes, a Billary appointment.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/11/2007 18:05 Comments ||
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Yep, judge Motz, Clinton appointee in '94. May have a few aclu friends that influenced her 2-1 decision on 'habeus for all'. I hear the full 4th Circuit will be asked to rule on this travesty. Where's the investigative reporter that wants to find out who and how this miscreant Qatar al-Q got citizenship in the first place?
Posted here in full before link goes behind Times pay firewall, with extra shot glasses for those of you playing spot-the-taqiyya drinking game.
We were in a small house in Zarqa, Jordan, trying to interview two heavily bearded Islamic militants about their distribution of recruitment videos when one of us asked one too many questions.
Hes American? one of the militants growled. Lets kidnap and kill him.
The room fell silent. But before anyone could act on this impulse, the rules of jihadi etiquette kicked in. You cant just slaughter a visitor, militants are taught by sympathetic Islamic scholars. You need permission from whoever arranges the meeting. And in this case, the arranger who helped us to meet this pair declined to sign off.
Continued on Page 49
#3
So it took the Times 6 years to figure out what most of us figured out in two hours. The Koran says they can pretty much do whatever they want. Unless it says they can't. But then you just read on, and eventually it'll say you can again.
They sound fascinating, Pinchy. Why not invite them to the Hamptons for tea and goat sodomy?
#4
Hes American? one of the militants growled. Lets kidnap and kill him.
The room fell silent. But before anyone could act on this impulse, the rules of jihadi etiquette kicked in. You cant just slaughter a visitor, militants are taught by sympathetic Islamic scholars. You need permission from whoever arranges the meeting. And in this case, the arranger who helped us to meet this pair declined to sign off.
"You fool! He's from the New York Times. He's on our side!"
"Oh. A thousand pardons, Efendi. My bad."
Posted by: Mike ||
06/11/2007 9:55 Comments ||
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Correction: The New York Jihadi Times
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/11/2007 12:45 Comments ||
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ISLAMABAD - Pakistans government has prepared a new misconduct complaint against the suspended chief judge, the law minister said on Sunday, raising the stakes in a three-month-old dispute that has sparked street protests.
President Pervez Musharrafs move to dismiss Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on accusations of misconduct on March 9 prompted a series of sometimes violent demonstrations by lawyers and opposition political activists. The protests represent the most serious challenge to Musharrafs authority since he seized power in a 1999 coup, and threatens stability in a nuclear-armed country on the front line of a global anti-terrorism campaign.
Law Minister Wasi Zafar said the government had prepared a new complaint, known as a reference, against Chaudhry for activities deemed a violation of a top judges code of conduct. It has been drafted ... and will have to be filed at an appropriate time, Zafar told Reuters, without giving details.
A senior lawyer said the complaint indicated the government was determined to remove the independent-minded Chaudhry, who has denied wrongdoing and refused to resign. They are absolutely determined and adamant to get rid of the chief justice, said Akram Sheiqh, a lawyer who supports Chaudhrys cause.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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The Iraqi high tribunal said yesterday it will issue a verdict in two weeks in the trial of Saddam Husseins cousin known as Chemical Ali and other former regime officials who face a possible death sentence if convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in a 1980s military campaign against the Kurds.
The decision will be announced on June 24, prosecutor Jaafar Al-Moussawi told The Associated Press after a short court session that he said was attended by the six defendants, including Ali Hassan Al-Majid, Saddams cousin and the former head of the Baath partys Northern Bureau Command. He and the other defendants face charges that include crimes against humanity for their roles in the 1980s military campaign code-named Operation Anfal.
Ali Hassan denied he was responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Kurds in the late 1980s attacks that earned him the nickname Chemical Ali in a statement on May 10 as the defense wrapped up closing arguments.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Death by chemicals. Let the punishment fit the crime. Chemical Ali can pick his chemicals.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/11/2007 1:23 Comments ||
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Hold his nose and empty a can of mace down his throat.
Iraqs parliament on Sunday sent its Sunni speaker Mahmud Mashhadani on indefinite leave after he allegedly ordered his bodyguards to beat up a fellow MP, a lawmaker said. Mashhadani, known for his loud rhetoric in parliament, set his muscle bodyguards on Fariyad Mohammed after a heated verbal exchange outside the parliament hall, according to lawmaker Abdul Karim Anizi. There was an argument between the bodyguards of the speaker and Mohammed. Mashhadani then ordered his men to beat the Shiite MP, said Anizi, from Iraqs ruling Shiite alliance. Parliament then convened a session, he added, in which it was decided to send Mashhadani on indefinite leave and ask his deputy Khalid al-Attiya to take over ... until a new speaker is elected. Anizi said parliament also told the Sunni National Concord Front, the main Sunni political bloc in the 275-member parliament, to forward a new name for the post of the speaker.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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GAZA CITY - The Palestinian journalists union on Sunday slammed terrorists militants for using a jeep that allegedly had press insignia on it during a cross-border raid into Israel. In the first such operation in nearly a year, Gaza-based terrorists militants drove a jeep to the border fence between the coastal strip and Israel, breached it and attacked an army post on the other side. The post was unmanned at the time.
Exchanges of fire with troops sent to the scene left one terrorists= militant dead in the operation carried out by the radical Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, loosely affiliated with ineffectual Palestinian president Mahmud Abbass Fatah party.
The Israeli army, which did not report any injuries, said the white jeep used in the raid was plastered with TV and Press insignia, and several Israeli dailies published photos of the vehicle.
They use ambulances to haul ammo, so this isn't a stretch.
In a statement, the union said: Using a car with press insignia puts in danger journalists lives and gives an excuse to occupation forces to target and kill journalists.
The journalists union calls on all Palestinian factions and their armed wings to keep journalists out of the conflict, be it with Israeli occupation forces or internal, the union said in a statement. We reject the use and the implication of journalists in all conflicts and we demand that everyone stop using such means or the word press in all actions that dont have anything to do with journalism.
These methods undermine the journalists freedom to work.
"And we could get whacked by the Jooooz, so cut it out!"
Israels foreign press association also blasted the use of the jeep as a grave development, and condemned those that carried it out.
But a spokesman for the Al Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihads terrorist armed wing, denied the charges. The Al Quds Brigades used an armoured jeep resembling military armoured jeeps used by the Zionist intelligence services, Abu Ahmed told AFP.
"Lies! All lies!"
He accused the Israeli army of placing the press markings on the vehicle that the militants abandoned at the border fence before allowing photographers access to the site.
"Wudn't us. It wuz dem."
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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The Palestinian journalists union on Sunday slammed terrorists militants for using a jeep that allegedly had press insignia on it during a cross-border raid into Israel
But consider the benefits: next time IDF fires on a "legitimate" press vehicle, you'll be able to get international condemnation of Israel (with Abu Azatlan shaking his finger on White House lawn).
#4
Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Ahmad denied the group had put the press markings on the jeep and accused the Israeli military of doing so after the incident. "Islamic Jihad appreciates the work of the international and the Palestinian media," he said.
But AP photos clearly show the markings on the jeep when the attack was under way.
Who to believe? In this case I'll have to go with journalistic scum instead of Islamic scum. Prior patterns of behavior definitely lend credibility to the Palestinians doing this sort of shit. Although doubtful, let's all hope this opens some journalists' eyes as to how worthless their lives are in Gaza and the West Bank. In light of previous coverage, I couldn't blame the Israelis for suddenly needing to thwart a spate of "failed media vehicle attacks" where occupied journalist transportation was routinely demolished.
JERUSALEM - American and Israeli air forces on Sunday began week-long joint exercises in southern Israel, simulating dog-fights and bombing targets on the ground, the army said. Dozens of aircraft are taking part in the exercises in the southern Negev desert, it said.
Just shaking off some rust ...
Army radio said the exercises were taking place in the context of recent discussions between Israel and its main ally on the controversial nuclear programme of the Jewish states arch-foe Iran. But an Israeli military source told AFP that the exercises were planned two years ago and are not linked to the situation in any country.
Not at all, nope, nope, and the exercises concerning the penetration of hardened bunkers? Those were planned long time ago also.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Now you just know a simulated Jooooooooooo Great Satan simulated dawg fight would be someting to see.....
#2
I hope they also practice a little air to air especially against F-5 and F-14 running on hope and a prayer to Allan. The Iranians have jury-rigged all the planes with duct tape and chewing gum plus russian parts. [Feel safe?] And those home built Shafaqs and Chinese Chengdus have no real business being in the same airspace as our F-16s. But it will all come down to a couple of B2s and whether there is an important little league game going on in Knob Noster.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/11/2007 11:35 Comments ||
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I also imagine that very quietly, there is a highly classified Command Post Exercise happening in the background. Running one of those paper drills is incredibly good at ironing out administrative problems that can turn deadly in a hurry.
Even junior officers and NCOs can think up major variables during CPXs, that change the whole battle equation. "Uh, sir?" can change the entire concept of the operation and battle plans, halting the exercise for days until they get everything hashed out.
#5
How difficult would it be to take an F-14 decomishioned from the US navy, paint it to match the Iranian F-14s, and remote pilot it into an Iranian airfield? I'm talking about a big crater that prevents takeoffs and screw with morale, not anything that would kill people.
The week or two before I attacked Iran I'd put a lot of planes in the air so they were doing drills if possilble, then I'd manage to crater their runways using remote F-14s the day or two before the attack. Taking out a SAM battery in the wrong flight path would also be nice if it were possible which such a cludgy setup.
Fatah and Hamas representatives were meeting on Sunday night in hopes of resolving the latest round of violence between the factions in Gaza. According to Israel Radio, no agreement has been reached as yet. Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas called on PA forces to withdraw from the streets and allow matriculation exams to take place as scheduled on Monday throughout the Gaza Strip. Three people were killed as a result of the infighting on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Some of the Palestinian gunmen who participated in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit last year have long been on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian sources revealed Sunday.
The sources named two of the suspected kidnappers as Muhammad Azmi Farawneh and Majdi Tayseer Hammad. The two were killed by Israel in separate attacks over the past year. Farawneh is believed to have played a key role in the abduction of Schalit. Hammad was the commander of the Nasser Salah Eddin Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees - one of the groups that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping. The two were killed a few weeks after the abduction in air strikes launched by the IAF in the Gaza Strip.
The fact that they have been on the payroll of the PA was disclosed after their families protested against the low pension that the PA has decided to allocate them. Farawneh's family is now receiving a monthly payment of NIS 38 (less than $10), while Hammad's family is getting only NIS 79 (just under $20). A Palestinian pension law approved in 2005 grants the families of PA pensioners and the deceased monthly salaries constituting 7.5% of the basic salary.
The families have sought the assistance of a Palestinian legal group in exerting pressure on the PA to change the pension law so that they would receive larger sums of money. The group wrote over the weekend to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas protesting against the "injustice" done to the families of Palestinian "martyrs" and pensioners. The group, called the Association Center for Palestinian Right, also wrote to members of the Palestinian Legislative Council asking them to change the law immediately, saying it was inconceivable that the families of "martyrs" should receive such ridiculous payments.
Almost all Palestinians who are killed in clashes with the IDF are entitled to a salary from the PA to support their families. The PA has also been paying salaries to thousands of Fatah gunmen belonging to the faction's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades. The majority of these gunmen are registered as members of various branches of the PA security forces, particularly the General Intelligence, Force 17 and the Preventive Security Service. But until now it was not common knowledge that members of the Popular Resistance Committees had also been receiving salaries from the PA.
The Popular Resistance Committees is an alliance of various armed factions in the Gaza Strip, including Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The group was also behind the roadside bomb attack that killed three US security guards in the northern Gaza Strip in 2003.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Palestinians who are killed in clashes with the IDF are entitled to a salary from the PA
Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres played down on Sunday prospects for relaunching talks with Syria over a land-for-peace deal. There have always been intermediaries... we have to verify all Syrian declarations on the possibility of starting negotiations, in the open or secretly, and we have done this, Peretz told public radio.
Israel has reaffirmed its readiness to talk with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but is seeking assurances in advance that Syria would distance itself from Iran, Lebanons Hezbollah guerrillas and Palestinian militants, Israeli officials said. But after leaking the existence of secret channels via Turkey and Germany to ask Syria the price it would be willing to pay for the return of the occupied Golan Heights, Israel says it is still waiting for a definitive answer.
Asked if the time had come to talk peace with Syria, Peres told reporters: The problem is the Syrians are not ready and are unwilling to negotiate directly with Israel. They want to do it through the United States. The United States said: Gentlemen, if you want to negotiate, you have to stop being a supporter of terror and you have to stop supporting the toppling down of the prime minister of Lebanon - stop supporting the Hezbollah. And there is where it is stuck for the time being.
There has been no public response from Damascus to the news of the Israeli diplomatic approaches.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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And if Shimon says prospects for Peace(TM) are dim, they're dim indeed.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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On Sunday, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut said the US should consider a military strike against Iran over its support of Iraqi insurgents.
"I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq," he said. "And to me, that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers."
#2
He sounds more like a Republican than any Republican currently does. Iran has paid no price at all for waging a low grade war against America since 1979. That has to change.
#3
I was watching Face the Nation yesterday on CBS when Lieberman said we should attack Iran. Bob Schieffer just about peed his pants. He just couldn't believe that someone so high in the government would say something that actually makes sense. For that matter, neither could I. But I liked it.
#4
I am for intervention. However, Teheran should be spared, and occupation is not an option. I would take out the main nuke sites and carpet bomb Qom. Most Iranians are well aware of the national wealth confiscated by the Ayatollahs. It exceeds by 30 fold, the funds that the Shah of Iran held before Carter stabbed him in the back. Bomb and pick up the pieces; escalate if the opposition can't prevent Ayatollah retaliation.
Since 1979, at least 2000 Americans have been murdered either on the orders of the Ayatollahs or by front groups controlled by them. The pretext for counter-aggression is there. I only hope that the President isn't coasting inoffensively into post-Presidency. If that is the case, future generations will pay.
#5
I am for intervention. However, Teheran should be spared, and occupation is not an option.
I'm half-way with you McZoid. Occupation is most definitely NOT an option. There is ZERO need for any boots on the ground in Iran. However, I would like to see a dozen cruise missiles lobbed into Tehran to hit a full session of Iran's majlis (legislature). We really need to decap as much of their political leadership as possible. If we take out a few friendlies in the process, too bad. Their numbers are so minuscule as to make them negligible.
While Leiberman's comments were refreshingly candid, especially from a former democrat, they did not go far enough. Careful reading shows that he's only interested in nailing training installations near the Iraq border. Our retaliation needs to go a lot further than that.
Iran has gotten a free ride for far too long. Bush has placed enough different Iranian transgressions out in front of the American public of late whereby he's built himself an adequate case (for those who can't remember back to 1979), for hitting Iran right away. Let's all hope he's got the ostiones to do it.
Iran has warned that US military bases in the Middle East are within the range of its missiles, amid increasing tensions with Washington over the Iranian nuclear programme, media reported Sunday. All the American bases in the region are within the reach of our weapons, said Mohammad Baqer Zolghadr, the deputy interior minister in charge of security issues.
None of Iran, of course, is remotely within range of U.S. missiles, which are necessarily of inferior quality to that enjoyed by the Medes and the Persions.
If the United States attacked Iran, US interests would be in danger everywhere in the world, added Zolghadr, a former deputy chief of Irans elite Revolutionary Guards.
Iran has an array of medium range missiles and claims that its longer-range Shahab-3 missile has a reach of 2,000 kilometres which would put US bases on the Arabian peninsula within reach.
Separately, Iranian parliament speaker Gholam Ali Hadad Adel while talking to reporters during an official visit to Kuwait warned that his country would strike US military bases in neighbouring Gulf states if they were used as staging posts to attack the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme. We rule out the possibility that our neighbours... will allow the United States to use their territory in attacking Iran, he said. But if this actually happens, we will be forced to defend ourselves... We will target those bases or points used to attack Iran, he said.
Adel said that some Gulf states, which he did not name, had assured Tehran that they would not allow their territory to be used in the event of an attack on Iran. Yes. Some countries in the region did, he said when asked if Gulf countries had given such assurances. Parliaments in some of these countries have even called for not allowing the United States to use its bases to attack Iran, said Adel, adding that this issue had not been discussed with Kuwaiti officials.
The Iranian speaker also said that Gulf states had now learned many lessons from the US invasion of Iraq, in March 2003, and that officials in the region are not likely to link their fate with US mistakes.
Washington has always said it wants to resolve the nuclear crisis through diplomacy but has never ruled out using military action to bring Tehran to heel. Dozens of US and Israeli aircraft were on Sunday due to begin week-long joint exercises in southern Israel, simulating dog-fights and bombing targets on the ground. Iran has responded by warning that it would hit back hard against any attack on its territory and said its armed forces are prepared for anything.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2007 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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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.
CAIRO - The Arab League said on Sunday it had donated $1 million to support African Union (AU) forces in war-ravaged Somalia, an Arab League member state. This sum is the first phase, Samir Hosni, who deals with African affairs at the league, said. This amount is from the Arab League and not the Arab countries.
The president of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ghaith, disputed yesterday the findings of the first human rights report by the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) regarding alleged violations by his organization. 
The United States and Russia have reportedly arranged for banks to resolve a financial row over North Korean funds which delayed Pyongyangs nuclear disarmament process. South Koreas Yonhap news agency, quoting unnamed sources, said Sunday Russia agreed to help wire the controversial funds -- some 25 million dollars which until recently were frozen in a Macau bank -- to North Korea via the US. The US has unfrozen the funds but North Korea has had difficulty finding a foreign bank to transfer money seen as tainted.
SEOUL - North Korea on Sunday warned Seouls military buildup will adversely affect the communist states nuclear disarmament process. The Norths state-sponsored Korean National Peace Committee issued a statement attacking South Koreas purchase of advanced US-made fighter jets, its recent launch of a new warship and continuing military drills.
French Socialist leader Francois Hollande called on supporters to mobilise Sunday to restore a balance of power after President Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing party took a commanding lead in the first round of parliamentary elections. Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party was headed for a crushing victory, with projections showing it could win up to 501 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly lower house of parliament. 
The Iraqi high tribunal said yesterday it will issue a verdict in two weeks in the trial of Saddam Husseins cousin known as Chemical Ali and other former regime officials who face a possible death sentence if convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in a 1980s military campaign against the Kurds.
Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres played down on Sunday prospects for relaunching talks with Syria over a land-for-peace deal. There have always been intermediaries... we have to verify all Syrian declarations on the possibility of starting negotiations, in the open or secretly, and we have done this, Peretz told public radio.
