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Clashes resume outside Cairo, dozens of pro-Morsi protesters arrested
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Africa North
Mali lifts state of emergency
[Bangla Daily Star] Mali lifted a nearly six-month state of emergency yesterday, the eve of the start of a presidential election campaign for July 28 polls in the troubled west African nation, the security ministry said. The decree enforcing a curfew and forbidding public gatherings was put in place on January 12, a day after France launched a surprise intervention to help Mali's weak army drive out Islamists occupying its north for nine months.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Brotherhood's party boycotts meeting with Egypt's interim president
[Al Ahram] The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party secretary-general rejects the invitation for dialogue extended by Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour.
The best way to lose is to not show up.
"The party doesn't acknowledge the coup d'etat, we stress that the legitimate president for Egypt is Mohamed Morsi," reads the statement issued by FJP Secretary-General Hussein Ibrahim, whose party fielded Morsi.

The military removed Morsi when an estimated 33 million people hit the streets nationwide to call for early presidential elections and tensions raised in Cairo with nearby counter-demonstrations.

After being sworn in on Thursday, among Mansour's first actions was to call for dialogue on Saturday in attempt to end political polarisation in Egypt.

The interim president is currently meeting with representatives of different political forces and members of the Rebel campaign that had called for the mass protests to "withdraw confidence" in Morsi.

Mansour also met with his new aides, constitutional consultant Judge Aly Awad Saleh, political consultant Mostafa Hegazy and security consultant General Rafaat Shehata.

A presidential source revealed that Adly focused his discussion with his aides and political forces on a new constitutional declaration that will soon be announced. The declaration will provide details on how the upcoming transitional period will be managed.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


Egypt's FJP rejects ElBaradei appointment as PM
[Al Ahram] The Moslem Brüderbund's Freedom and Justice Party on Saturday rejected Mohamed ElBaradei
Egyptian law scholar and sometime Iranian catspaw. He was head of the IAEA from December 1997 to November 2009. At some point during his tenure he was purchased by the Iranians. ElBaradei and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for something in 2005. ElBaradei served on the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group, a lefty NGO that is bankrolled by the Carnegie Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as George Soros' Open Society Institute. After the fall of Mubarak he ran for president. He lost.
's appointment as Egypt's interim prime minister, as was announced earlier the same day, according to a senior party official.
"We reject this coup and everything that results from it, including ElBaradei," he told Rooters.

A presidential source on Saturday evening said that ElBaradei, general coordinator of the National Salvation Front opposition coalition, had already been assigned the post of prime minister.

"He accepted and will be sworn in shortly," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Ahram Online.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


Obama: US Not Backing Any Egyptian Party Or Group
[HOSTED.AP.ORG] President Barack Obama
I am not a dictator!...
on Saturday reiterated that the U.S. is not aligned with and is not supporting any particular Egyptian political party or group and again condemned the ongoing violence across Egypt.

Obama made those points during a telephone conference with the National Security Council about developments in Egypt, according to a statement issued by the White House. He was spending the weekend at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.

"The United States categorically rejects the false claims propagated by some in Egypt that we are working with specific political parties or movements to dictate how Egypt's transition should proceed," the White House statement said. "We remain committed to the Egyptian people and their aspirations for democracy, economy opportunity and dignity. But the future path of Egypt can only be determined by the Egyptian people."

The White House statement repeated key assertions Obama and other U.S. officials have made since the Egyptian military ousted the democratically elected president of Egypt, calling for an inclusive process allowing for all groups and parties to participate, urging all Egyptian leaders to condemn the use of force and to prevent further violence, and urging demonstrators to conduct themselves peacefully.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke again Saturday to Egypt's defense minister, emphasizing the need for a peaceful civilian transition in Egypt and noting "the importance of security for the Egyptian people, Egypt's neighbors and the region," the Defense Department said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  I am (Technically) not a dictator!, (Not yet anyway).
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 07/07/2013 16:20 Comments || Top||

#2  On the surface, it would appear that the Bammer's stance reflects the correct or proper position for the US in the ME - however, iff the Bammer is indeed an anti-US Marxist-Anarchist-Globalist as many Netters claim, then his staement is actually quite dangerous as per the Globalist premise of a post-Cold War, "MultiPolar" World where the present "sole" Global Superpower US is just one Power or Superpower amongst many on par.

The Bammer's statement is dangerous because Islam nor Radical Islam accepts parity wid any + all Non-Islam - "ISLAM MUST RULE, OR ISLAM WILL BE DESTROYED", as the Mullahs like to preach.

DITTO FOR RISING CHINA AS PER ITS PERCEIVED
"MANIFEST DESTINY" AS THE WORLD'S ONE-N-ONLY "POST-US" GLOBAL SUPERPOWER SUCCESSOR TO THE US.

IOW, BOTH OWG CALIPHATE, NUKE-HAPPY RADICAL ISLAM NOR "POST-US" CHINA DESIRE A TRULY "MULTIPOLAR" WORLD AS INTENDED OR PREMISED BY THE GLOBALISTS. ITV there can be no such thing as "parity".

The anti-US Globalists + aligned are taking a very dangerous, poten catastrophic unilateral risk iff they are acting on the premise that any rollback, peaceful or violent, of US Power-n-Influence WON'T BE INTERPRETED AS DE FACTO US "WEAKNESS" BY AGRESSIVE GEOPOL = POLI/POLITITICO-NUCLEAR RIVALS.

Everyone is an Indian, + no one is a Chief, or alternately there are too many Chiefs + no Indians - IIRC, either way thats how Lilith broke up wid Adam.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/07/2013 22:48 Comments || Top||


Egypt's Christians face arson, beatings, and forced conversions amid upheaval
[Haaretz] Coptic priest shot dead in Sinai; shooting - believed to be sectarian strike by Islamist insurgents - follows Muslim Brotherhood condemnation of priest for supporting Morsi's removal.
Paywalled article. Wait a week and USA Today might have it.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


'Revolution not coup': Anti-Morsi Egyptians tell CNN
[Al Ahram] Leading US television channel CNN has come under severe attack by Egyptians on social networking sites, accusing the channel of bias against events unfolding in Egypt.

After millions erupted into the streets across the country on Sunday for a planned demonstration calling for early presidential elections, the military intervened to oust president Mohamed Morsi after he refused to fulfil the protesters' demands.

The intervention was immediately dubbed a coup by the then-ruling Moslem Brüderbund, the group from which Morsi hails, who have been demonstrating in the hundreds of thousands in his support. The characterisation was shared by CNN, whose coverage of events was subtitled, "Coup in Egypt: Military ousts Morsi."

Opponents of the president refused the categorisation. "It's a revolution, not a coup," said a Facebook page launched Friday entitled, "Obama supports terrorism in Egypt." The group quickly gained over 35,000 subscribers.

The opposition, who filled the iconic Tahrir Square and surrounded the presidential palace in Cairo last Sunday, are generally pleased with the army's move. The political "roadmap" set forth by the army was agreed upon in discussions with the opposition.

The roadmap included instating the head of Egypt's High Constitutional Court as interim president and forming a technocratic government until early presidential and parliamentary elections are held.

The roadmap was identical to the one called for by the anti-Morsi 'Rebel' campaign, the signature drive signed by Egyptians demonstrating on 30 June. For this reason, many were infuriated by CNN's insistence on dubbing what happened a "coup," accusing it of backing US policies in support of Morsi.

On Twitter, the hash-tag titled #CNN_STOP_Lying_About_Egypt trended in Egypt, showing the extent of antagonism that has grown against the channel.

Journalist Bassem Sabri posted the CNN logo emblazoned within the emblem of the Moslem Brüderbund as a sign depicting the channel's perceived adoption of the Brotherhood line.

The Brotherhood, for its part, immediately condemned the military's move, accusing it of overthrowing a legitimately elected president.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Mohamed ElBaradei appointed Egypt's new PM
[Al Ahram] A presidential source said on Saturday evening that Mohamed ElBaradei
Egyptian law scholar and sometime Iranian catspaw. He was head of the IAEA from December 1997 to November 2009. At some point during his tenure he was purchased by the Iranians. ElBaradei and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for something in 2005. ElBaradei served on the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group, a lefty NGO that is bankrolled by the Carnegie Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as George Soros' Open Society Institute. After the fall of Mubarak he ran for president. He lost.
, the general coordinator of the National Salvation Front, has already been assigned the post of prime minister. "He accepted and will be shortly sworn in," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Ahram Online.

According to an official source, the choice of ElBaradei came after the military failed to convince Central Bank Governor Hisham Ramez to accept the job. Farouk El-Oqda, Ramez's predecessor, also declined the post.

A graduate of the faculty of law at Cairo University, ElBaradei joined the Foreign Service before he launched his international career.

In 2009, ElBaradei who was just finishing his post as head of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency, offered a new addition to the small number of voices calling for an end to the rule of Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
, who was later ousted by the 25 January Revolution.

Upon his arrival in Egypt, ElBaradei called on Egyptians to sign petitions to end Mubarak's rule and foil a scheme to pass power to Mubarak's son, Gamal.

His call was supported by rank-and-file Egyptians as by top intellectuals. Following the removal of Mubarak, ElBaradei was called on by his supporters to run for president, but declined, saying he did not want to join the political race, especially in the absence of a clear constitution.

Nobel peace prize laureate ElBaradei had been a leading opposition figure since the 2011 revolution, having been one of the most prominent figures to foresee and call for the uprising that put an end to Mubarak's 30-year rule.

He initially had the intention to run in last year's presidential elections, but backtracked on his decision months ahead of the polls saying there were no guarantees that elections would be fair.

During the transitional period under interim military rule, ElBaradei grew critical of the policies of the Moslem Brüderbund, which in turn had accused him of being an agent of the US.

ElBaradei has also been a staunch critic of Morsi and the Brotherhood and supported the elected president's ouster, having spoken as an opposition representative after Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced Morsi's removal and the implementation of an emergency "roadmap."

Last November, together with former presidential runners Hamdin Sabbahi and 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 ...
, ElBaradei and other political figures started the National Salvation Front, a loose gathering of opposition to Morsi, Egypt's first-ever freely elected president and leading Moslem Brüderbund member.

A week before the 30 June demonstrations and the military intervention that brought about Morsi's ouster, ElBaradei called on Morsi to step down. On Wednesday evening, along with army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and other civil, political and religious leaders, ElBaradei told the nation that Morsi's ouster wasn't a military coup but a power people ouster.

"We welcome the candidacy of Dr. ElBaradei. Already we insisted on his candidacy because we wanted a political figure that has freedom to choose ministers and we are confident that Dr. ElBaradei will not bow to any pressures," said Ahmed Emam, a leading member of the Strong Egypt Party.

"Dr. ElBaradei does not support the exclusion of any political force or party in Egypt," said Emam. "We need someone who believes in democracy."

Strong Egypt leader Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh has already attended a meeting with interim president Adly Mansour and ElBaradei, having been among the most prominent figure to endorses ElBaradei's appointment as premier.

Rebel campaign co-founder Mahmoud Badr also revealed on his official Twitter account that the revolutionary youth movement had called for ElBaradei by name.

The Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and Salafist Nour Party have reportedly rejected ElBaradei's appointment.

The appointment of ElBaradei, who has stressed that he would not run in upcoming presidential elections, is likely to infuriate Islamist supporters of Morsi, who have been gathering across the nation in the hundreds of thousands calling for his reinstatement.
Islam. Infuriate. The two go together like ham and eggs, macaroni and cheese, feet and corns.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Rival protests planned Sunday following Morsi's ouster by military
[Al Ahram]Supporters and opponents of ousted president Mohamed Morsi -- removed by the military earlier this week -- plan rival demonstrations on Sunday, with the former demanding Morsi's reinstatement and the latter supporting Morsi's overthrow.

A coalition supporting Morsi's reinstatement has called for protests on Sunday to reject Wednesday's "military coup" against the elected president by Egyptian Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

The Moslem Brüderbund-led National Alliance in Support of Legitimacy, a group formed recently to support Morsi, has called for mass rallies to "Protect the revolution."

The Egyptian Armed Forces deposed Morsi after millions erupted into the streets on 30 June to demand early presidential elections. Morsi supporters say the army's move represents a violation of "democratic legitimacy."

In an earlier statement, the National Alliance in Support of Legitimacy declared that Morsi was still president and condemned the arrest of several high-profile Moslem Brüderbund members by security forces.

Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Egypt minister demands verification of alleged Muslim Brotherhood 'militias'
[Al Ahram] Insurance and Social Affairs Minister Nagwa Khalil has requested that the ministry's legal affairs department contact Egypt's public prosecution regarding investigations into the torching earlier this week of the Moslem Brüderbund's headquarters in Cairo's Muqattam district.

Eight were killed last Sunday in skirmishes between Brotherhood members and attackers armed with Molotov cocktails who surrounded the building.

The group's headquarters were eventually ransacked and torched by the attackers.

Over the course of the last several months, Moslem Brüderbund offices in numerous Egyptian governorates have come under attack by unknown elements.

Khalil, who was appointed by deposed president Mohamed Morsi last August, told MENA that she was concerned about whether the headquarters had contained weapons and whether there were militias or any Death Eater groups associated with the Moslem Brüderbund group.

She added that the step comes within the context of legal procedures in accordance with Law 84 of 2002, which prohibits non-government organizations and institutions from forming paramilitary groups.

Egypt's largest Islamist movement, the Moslem Brüderbund was officially registered as a non-government organization by the social security ministry in March 2011 when Khalil was in office.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Interim President Adly Mansour meets with defence and interior ministers
[Al Ahram] Interim President Adly Mansour met with Egypt's defence and interior ministers and intelligence chief in the presidential palace Saturday morning.

Mansour, who was sworn into office Thursday morning, also met with his new aides, constitutional consultant Judge Aly Awad Saleh, political consultant Mustafa Hegazy, and security consultant General Rafaat Shehata.

According to a presidential source, the meetings focused on ways to secure protests and ensure national security.

The source added that Adly focused his discussion with constitutional and political aides on a new constitutional declaration that will be announced soon. The declaration will provide details on how the upcoming transitional period will be managed.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Libya's largest political party will boycott congress
TRIPOLI -- Libya's largest coalition in the national assembly said it was boycotting sessions from Thursday, protesting at delays in drafting a constitution, it said on Thursday.

The National Forces Alliance (NFA), formed last year by liberal war-time leader Mahmoud Jibril, has 36 out of around 80 party seats in the General National Congress (GNC). The rest of the nearly 200 seats are held by independents. In a news conference, its members said the GNC, the legislature voted in last July, was too slow in drafting a law for electing a constitutional committee.

The constitution is to be drawn up by 60 members elected by Libyans, but the vote is still only a distant promise because of political squabbling and administrative delays.

"We have decided to suspend our participation within the GNC except for sessions relating to the law on the election of the constitutional committee," NFA spokesman Tawfiq Shahibi said, adding the GNC had "wasted time" discussing secondary issues.

"The GNC has been sidetracked from its major goals."

Shahibi did not cite any examples. But for many months, the GNC debated a "political isolation" law, which bans anyone who held a senior post under Muammar Qaddafi from government, regardless of their part in toppling the dictator. The law was adopted in May at the demand of armed factions that helped end Qaddafi's 42-year rule.

Armed violence and lawlessness caused in part by militia groups has hobbled governance in wide areas of the oil-producing state. In the latest incident highlighting Libya's precarious security, an armed group besieged the interior ministry for a third day.

The GNC was elected in Libya's first free elections in nearly 50 years, for an 18-month term to lead the North African country to polls once it had decided what political system it wanted. It will likely extend that term, given Libya is still far off from organizing elections. Shahibi said the NFA would attend regular GNC sessions once "an agreement was reached on completing our job within the correct time frame".

The majority of GNC members are civilian professionals and former exiled opposition members with little or no political experience or knowledge of how to run a government.
Of course, there's no one in Libya with "political experience or knowledge of how to run a government." That's how Daffy was able to run the place to his liking for forty years.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ya suppose we could get Champ to get the largest party to boycott the US Congress?
Posted by: Bobby || 07/07/2013 8:08 Comments || Top||


Mali army enters Kidal under peace deal ahead of polls
Mali's army has re-entered the rebel-held town of Kidal as part of efforts to improve security before the presidential election, officials say.

Tuareg rebels captured Kidal after a French-led offensive forced militant Islamists out in February. But the rebels agreed in June to allow troops into the northern town as part of a peace deal.

The occupation of Kidal had been a major obstacle to organising the presidential election, due on 28 July. Around 200 Malian soldiers and police are believed to have arrived in the town on Friday.

"This is a peaceful, coordinated arrival- everything is going well," military spokesman Souleymane Maiga told news agency Agence France-Presse.

Under the terms of their agreement, the rebels returned to their barracks under the supervision of United Nations peacekeepers. They will be banned from patrolling in the town in the run-up to the elections, which are seen as key to Mali's recovery after months of conflict.

Malian troops were chased out of Kidal by the separatist National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) in 2012. The MNLA worked with Islamist groups to seize the north of the country in April of that year.

Their advance prompted France to send troops to its former colony. The MNLA later broke with the Islamist groups and backed French efforts to oust them.

The Tuaregs have been fighting for autonomy in the north since Mali gained independence from France in 1960. They say they are marginalised by the government in the capital, Bamako

The elections will be the first in Mali since the military staged a coup in 2012, accusing the government of failing to end the conflict in the north.
The Malians will elect a strongman to be president. The world will hail democracy in Mali. The strongman will set about stealing everything he can and will beset the Tuaregs with boils, locusts and bullets. The ragtag Malian army will run away at the first sign of trouble, the Tuaregs will revolt for the umpteenth time, and the French will have to intervene once again.

Then they'll call a new election...
Posted by: Steve White || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Mubarak retrial adjourned to August 17 2099
CAIRO -- A Cairo court has adjourned to August 17 2099 the retrial of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak over charges of corruption and involvement in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ousted him.

Mubarak and his two sons, Alaa and Gamal, who are on trial for corruption, appeared at the court session on Saturday. Mubarak is charged with both corruption and responsibility for the deaths of some 850 protesters during the early days of the 2011 revolt. The former leader was convicted in 2012 of the charges, but an appeals court granted a retrial.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Sen. McCain urges US to end military aid to Egypt
The United States should stop sending military aid to Egypt following the overthrow of its democratically elected president by the military, Senator John McCain said, as [Friday] overnight street battles left at least 36 dead across the divided country. Egypt's military insists that ousting Islamist Mohammed Morsi on Wednesday was the will of the people as expressed by mass demonstrations calling for him to go.

Secretary of State John Kerry approved $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid to Egypt -- the second largest recipient of such help after Israel -- only two months ago. However, U.S. law prohibits financial assistance to any country whose elected head of state is deposed in a military coup.

The U.S. has avoided calling Morsi's ouster a coup, which would mean aid would have to be suspended. But, speaking in Prescott, Arizona, McCain said, "I say that with great reluctance, but the United States of America I think must learn the lessons of history and that is: We cannot stand by without acting in cases where freely elected governments are unseated by the military arm of those nations."
Even if the "freely elected government" believes in ideas and ideologies that, taken to their logical conclusion, would destroy America. I'm beginning to think that as miserable as Obama has been, we dodged a bullet by not electing McCain...
He said he believed U.S. aid had to be suspended, and called on the Egyptian military to set a timetable for elections and a new constitution.
Posted by: Pappy || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  SHUT UP.
Posted by: newc || 07/07/2013 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's see, largest army in the middle east and the US with zero influence. How is that going to workout?
Posted by: Squinty || 07/07/2013 2:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Treatable, if caught early: :-(

Hypomania (literally, "below mania") is a mood state characterized by persistent and pervasive elevated (euphoric) or irritable mood, as well as thoughts and behaviors that are consistent with such a mood state. It is most often associated with the bipolar spectrum. Many who are in a hypomanic state are extremely energetic, talkative, confident, and assertive. They may have a flight of ideas and feel creative. Many people also experience signature hypersexuality. While hypomania often generates productivity and creativity, it can become troublesome if the subject engages in risky behaviors. It is generally less severe than full-blown mania.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/07/2013 3:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Lets support Islamists instead Mr McCain?
Posted by: Paul D || 07/07/2013 4:08 Comments || Top||

#5  ...isn't that sort of like deciding which side to back in Syria?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 07/07/2013 8:25 Comments || Top||

#6  why won't he just.go.away?
Posted by: Frank G || 07/07/2013 12:13 Comments || Top||

#7  He's all the way around the bend now, calling his pronouncements a dog's breakfast gives that sobriquet an unfair tarnish...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 07/07/2013 12:14 Comments || Top||

#8  #6 why won't he just.go.away?
Posted by Frank


I would endorse his "going away"...ONLY if he took his little bum buddy from SC along with him.
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/07/2013 12:18 Comments || Top||

#9  John McCain braying again? He must be feeling a lack of attention.
Posted by: OldSpook || 07/07/2013 14:55 Comments || Top||

#10  He must be feeling a lack of attention.

He's almost as bad as Chuckie Schumer in that regard...
Posted by: Steve White || 07/07/2013 15:29 Comments || Top||

#11  What's wrong in ending military aid to Egypt?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/07/2013 15:53 Comments || Top||

#12  It bears repeating that neither US educated Morsi nor his US educated oleaginous prime minister recognized the US as a sovereign entity.

Both publicly treated the US like a finlandized satellite state. See this and this.

If the political doctrine of John 'Hussein' McCain is truly the 'hawkish and muscular' policy alternative to Obama the West is well and truly doomed.

hawkish neoconservatism = submisssion to alien tyranny?

Nuts!
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 07/07/2013 16:03 Comments || Top||

#13  McCain is a boring tyrant. Go Away!
Posted by: irishrageboy || 07/07/2013 16:08 Comments || Top||

#14  What's wrong in ending military aid to Egypt?I trust the Egyptian/Turkish army over their civic leadership.

Pakistan on the other hand........
Posted by: Paul D || 07/07/2013 17:03 Comments || Top||

#15  I trust the Egyptian/Turkish army over their civic leadership.

Trust them to do what?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/07/2013 17:33 Comments || Top||

#16  Personally, I think the only country we should aid in the Middle East is Israel. Let the rest dissolve into the failed states they are. Once they lose all veneer of civilization, they'll no longer be able to bother their neighbors or others since it's hard to project power from the bronze age.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division || 07/07/2013 20:34 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Revealed: The People Behind The Sponsorship Of Boko Haram?
[CODEWIT] Nigeria's National Security Adviser shocked many when he boldly admitted that Aliyu Mohammed Gusau, Ibrahim Babangida(IBB) or the presidential ambition of Atiku Abubakar was behind Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
's Sponsorship.

Shortly after his shocking revelations to the Nigerian people, General Azazi was axed from his position. A little later, he was killed when the chopper he was travelling in was exploded over Bayelsa.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram

#1  This terror org needs to be put down.
Posted by: newc || 07/07/2013 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Its Islamic - and African. If you are expecting this terror org to be put down by the Obama administration, then I doubt we will see anything more harsh than "You're fat and your mom dresses you funny". Even that might be too much for the State Dept.
Posted by: OldSpook || 07/07/2013 14:53 Comments || Top||


Our chairman is not a Boko Haram sponsor- Borno ANPP
[PREMIUMTIMESNG] The Borno State Chapter of the All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) on Friday condemned the burning of its state chairman's house by the youth vigilante group in Maiduguri, the state capital. The group had accused the party chairman, Mala Othman, of being an accomplice of the Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
bad boys.

The ANPP said the accusation against its chairman and the burning of his house were politically motivated by extraneous forces that have infiltrated the youth vigilante.

The vigilantes, also called Civilian JTF, have been assisting the Nigerian military to identify and apprehend members of the outlawed bad boy group. They have also been victims of attacks by the bad boys.

In a press statement issued after a meeting on Friday, and signed by its state secretary, Bakura Shettima, the ANPP said it would have ignored the incident if it was not ostensibly targeted to smear the proven integrity of Othman.

"Our party chairman, Othman, is an accomplished politician who has the interest of the people and the development of the state at heart. Accusing him of such behavior is witch hunting of which the people of Borno state are never known for," the party scribe said.

Mr. Shettima argued that the attempt to implicate the ANPP chairman in the activities of the outlawed Boko Haram sect was a total contradiction of the basic facts on ground.

'In order to put the records straight, we want to establish the fact that it is on record that 99 percent of politicians killed since the Boko Haram insurgency began in the state are members of the ANPP, the ruling party in Borno State. The party has put Borno State on the path of unprecedented development under the able leadership of our State Chairman, Alhaji Mala Othman, who is a leader with unquestionable character. With this background, it is unimaginable to say that he is sponsoring the killing of his own people.

"We are appealing to the Youth Volunteers to be careful not to take the law into their hands and should be aware of politicians who might use them against their opponents in order to score cheap political goal," he said.

Mr. Shettima, who called for full investigation of the Monday assault on the ANPP chieftain, appealed that "the youth volunteers should therefore confine themselves to the areas where they live and report any suspicious people or movement to security agencies for necessary action."

On Monday, the youth vigilante attacked the New GRA, Maiduguri, home of Mala Othman attempting to arrest him, but ended up burning his house after he was helped to escape by security operatives.

The ANPP is the ruling party in Borno.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Boko Haram: Deputy Governor urges Biu Emirate to form CJTF
[DAILYPOST.NG] Deputy Governor of Borno state, Alhaji Zannah Umar Mustapha has urged the emir of Biu, Alhaji Mustapha Aliyu to encourage youth in his domain to form vigilante group to safe guard and protect the lives and property of the people against terrorist activities.
Gangs of fascisti Vigilante groups--what could possibly go wrong?
Zannah who stated this when he paid a courtesy visit on the Emir on Friday, in Biu local government, said the people can fight insurgency through collective interest.

According to him, the demonstration of courage by the youth in Maiduguri has paid off as the youth now arrest and hand over members of the sect to relevant authorities for justice.

He affirmed that an individual, prior to the current youth awakening could threaten the entire Maiduguri town, but things have changed drastically since the youth took up weapons against the bad turbans.

He said, if the people of Biu come together and form such group, they would be able to overcome the Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
challenges.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
Saudi Banks to Cooperate in Monitoring Money of Hizbullah-Affiliated Members
[An Nahar] Saudi banks expressed on Saturday readiness to cooperate with security agencies and hand over the bank accounts and transactions of the people affiliated with Hizbullah.

The Gulf Cooperation Council officials had met in Riyadh on Thursday to coordinate sanctions in the six member states against Hizbullah over its support for the Syria regime.

Despite that revealing bank accounts is considered prohibited, however the Saudi banks said they will cooperate "absolutely and unconditionally" with the Interior Ministry in this regards as the matter is related to the nation's highest interests and threatens the national security.

The GCC's meeting on Thursday was "to develop mechanisms to monitor movements, financial transactions and business operations of Hizbullah," said Bahraini deputy interior minister Khaled al-Absi.

The GCC monarchies decided on June 10 to impose sanctions on Hizbullah, targeting residency permits and its financial and business activities in reprisal for the group's armed intervention in Syria.

Absi told news hounds two expert teams will be formed: one to "coordinate with central banks" and the second to review "legal, administrative and financial matters" linked to the sanctions.

Last month's measure was taken "after the discovery in GCC states of several terrorist cells linked to the group," said Absi.

However,
a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package...
he did not say how many Hizbullah suspects would be affected by the sanctions or their estimated assets and financial and commercial operations in the region.

The sanctions would be implemented "in coordination... with ministers of commerce and the central banks of the GCC," the council's Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani has said.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  A Sunni kingdom going after Shia terrorist is not a stretch. How about bank records for Sunni Al Qaeda terrorist funding?
Posted by: Squinty || 07/07/2013 12:47 Comments || Top||


Britain
Britain set to deport of Abu Qatada
[Bangla Daily Star] Britannia is expected to fly radical Islamist holy man Abu Qatada to Jordan today to face terror charges, ending a decade-long legal battle over the fate of the man once dubbed the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse...
's right-hand-man in Europe.

London is deporting the 53-year-old Paleostinian-born holy man after the two governments last month formally approved a treaty guaranteeing that evidence obtained by torture would not be used against him in any trial.

Prime Minister David Cameron
... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
has said he will be "one of the happiest people in Britannia" after the departure of Abu Qatada, who has been in and out of British prisons while successive British governments have tried to expel him.

British officials refused to confirm any details, but local media reported he would be driven from the high security Belmarsh jail in south London and flown out at 2:00 am (0100 GMT) Sunday from RAF Northolt airbase in west London.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  ...means 'no worries' for the rest of your days...
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra9196 || 07/07/2013 0:36 Comments || Top||

#2  It's early to call Snark o' the Day, but that there is a string contender. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/07/2013 11:16 Comments || Top||

#3  CNN + FOX NEWS AM > He's gone, Jim, boarded the plane + left to Jordan.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/07/2013 22:50 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Istanbul governor warns against new protest
ANKARA -- Istanbul’s governor warned Saturday that a planned gathering by protesters at the city’s landmark Taksim Square is illegal and that police would disperse participants.

Gov. Huseying Avni Mutlu’s warning came hours before protesters were expected to converge on the square, intending to forcibly enter the nearby Gezi Park whose redevelopment plans sparked anger and morphed into nationwide anti-government protests in June.

Gezi Park has been cordoned off since June 15, when police routed environmentalists who occupied it amid the widespread protests against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government. His opponents say he has become increasingly authoritarian since coming to power a decade ago.

The protests have now dwindled although thousands of demonstrators have been gathering at Taksim every Saturday for the past three weeks, demanding justice for a protester who was killed by police fire.

Taksim Solidarity, an umbrella group of organizations representing protesters, called for Saturday’s rally at the square to serve notice to authorities of a court decision that has annulled the redevelopment plans and then attempt to break through the police cordon.

Mutlu has said the protest is unauthorized and warned that police would intervene. He also said authorities planned to reopen the park on Sunday or Monday.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
Agreements with private companies protect U.S. access to cables’ data for surveillance
Very long piece at WaPo on how the government has demanded, over the past decade access to the underseas fiberoptic cables for surveillance work, and how the companies, some foreign-owned, have complied.

Coupled with the other piece just uploaded about the reach and power of the FISA court, one begins to see just how it is that NSA and other intel agencies can obtain and read just about anything they want.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/07/2013 11:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


In Secret, FISA Court Vastly Broadens Powers of N.S.A.
WASHINGTON -- In more than a dozen classified rulings, the nation's surveillance court has created a secret body of law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans while pursuing not only terrorism suspects, but also people possibly involved in nuclear proliferation, espionage and cyberattacks, officials say.

The rulings, some nearly 100 pages long, reveal that the court has taken on a much more expansive role by regularly assessing broad constitutional questions and establishing important judicial precedents, with almost no public scrutiny, according to current and former officials familiar with the court's classified decisions.
You do wonder how it is that the legislature and executive created a court that doesn't answer to the highest court. Wonder if it's constitutional...
The 11-member Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISA court, was once mostly focused on approving case-by-case wiretapping orders. But since major changes in legislation and greater judicial oversight of intelligence operations were instituted six years ago, it has quietly become almost a parallel Supreme Court, serving as the ultimate arbiter on surveillance issues and delivering opinions that will most likely shape intelligence practices for years to come, the officials said.

Last month, a former National Security Agency contractor, Edward J. Snowden, leaked a classified order from the FISA court, which authorized the collection of all phone-tracing data from Verizon business customers. But the court's still-secret decisions go far beyond any single surveillance order, the officials said.

"We've seen a growing body of law from the court," a former intelligence official said. "What you have is a common law that develops where the court is issuing orders involving particular types of surveillance, particular types of targets."

In one of the court's most important decisions, the judges have expanded the use in terrorism cases of a legal principle known as the "special needs" doctrine and carved out an exception to the Fourth Amendment's requirement of a warrant for searches and seizures, the officials said.
Wonder what the Supreme Court thinks of that? That isn't necessarily what they had in mind when they created the far more narrow exception.
The special needs doctrine was originally established in 1989 by the Supreme Court in a ruling allowing the drug testing of railway workers, finding that a minimal intrusion on privacy was justified by the government's need to combat an overriding public danger. Applying that concept more broadly, the FISA judges have ruled that the N.S.A.'s collection and examination of Americans' communications data to track possible terrorists does not run afoul of the Fourth Amendment, the officials said.

That legal interpretation is significant, several outside legal experts said, because it uses a relatively narrow area of the law -- used to justify airport screenings, for instance, or drunken-driving checkpoints -- and applies it much more broadly, in secret, to the wholesale collection of communications in pursuit of terrorism suspects. "It seems like a legal stretch," William C. Banks, a national security law expert at Syracuse University, said in response to a description of the decision. "It's another way of tilting the scales toward the government in its access to all this data."
Government is really, really good at tilting scales...
While President Obama and his intelligence advisers have spoken of the surveillance programs leaked by Mr. Snowden mainly in terms of combating terrorism, the court has also interpreted the law in ways that extend into other national security concerns. In one recent case, for instance, intelligence officials were able to get access to an e-mail attachment sent within the United States because they said they were worried that the e-mail contained a schematic drawing or a diagram possibly connected to Iran's nuclear program.

In the past, that probably would have required a court warrant because the suspicious e-mail involved American communications. In this case, however, a little-noticed provision in a 2008 law, expanding the definition of "foreign intelligence" to include "weapons of mass destruction," was used to justify access to the message.

The court's use of that language has allowed intelligence officials to get wider access to data and communications that they believe may be linked to nuclear proliferation, the officials said. They added that other secret findings had eased access to data on espionage, cyberattacks and other possible threats connected to foreign intelligence.

"The definition of 'foreign intelligence' is very broad," another former intelligence official said in an interview. "An espionage target, a nuclear proliferation target, that all falls within FISA, and the court has signed off on that."

The official, like a half-dozen other current and former national security officials, discussed the court's rulings and the general trends they have established on the condition of anonymity because they are classified. Judges on the FISA court refused to comment on the scope and volume of their decisions.

Unlike the Supreme Court, the FISA court hears from only one side in the case -- the government -- and its findings are almost never made public. A Court of Review is empaneled to hear appeals, but that is known to have happened only a handful of times in the court's history, and no case has ever been taken to the Supreme Court. In fact, it is not clear in all circumstances whether Internet and phone companies that are turning over the reams of data even have the right to appear before the FISA court.

Created by Congress in 1978 as a check against wiretapping abuses by the government, the court meets in a secure, nondescript room in the federal courthouse in Washington. All of the current 11 judges, who serve seven-year terms, were appointed to the special court by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and 10 of them were nominated to the bench by Republican presidents. Most hail from districts outside the capital and come in rotating shifts to hear surveillance applications; a single judge signs most surveillance orders, which totaled nearly 1,800 last year. None of the requests from the intelligence agencies was denied, according to the court.

Beyond broader legal rulings, the judges have had to resolve questions about newer types of technology, like video conferencing, and how and when the government can get access to them, the officials said.

The judges have also had to intervene repeatedly when private Internet and phone companies, which provide much of the data to the N.S.A., have raised concerns that the government is overreaching in its demands for records or when the government itself reports that it has inadvertently collected more data than was authorized, the officials said. In such cases, the court has repeatedly ordered the N.S.A. to destroy the Internet or phone data that was improperly collected, the officials said.

The officials said one central concept connects a number of the court's opinions. The judges have concluded that the mere collection of enormous volumes of "metadata" -- facts like the time of phone calls and the numbers dialed, but not the content of conversations -- does not violate the Fourth Amendment, as long as the government establishes a valid reason under national security regulations before taking the next step of actually examining the contents of an American's communications.

This concept is rooted partly in the "special needs" provision the court has embraced. "The basic idea is that it's O.K. to create this huge pond of data," a third official said, "but you have to establish a reason to stick your pole in the water and start fishing."

Under the new procedures passed by Congress in 2008 in the FISA Amendments Act, even the collection of metadata must be considered "relevant" to a terrorism investigation or other intelligence activities.

The court has indicated that while individual pieces of data may not appear "relevant" to a terrorism investigation, the total picture that the bits of data create may in fact be relevant, according to the officials with knowledge of the decisions.

Geoffrey R. Stone, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago, said he was troubled by the idea that the court is creating a significant body of law without hearing from anyone outside the government, forgoing the adversarial system that is a staple of the American justice system. "That whole notion is missing in this process," he said.

The FISA judges have bristled at criticism that they are a rubber stamp for the government, occasionally speaking out to say they apply rigor in their scrutiny of government requests. Most of the surveillance operations involve the N.S.A., an eavesdropping behemoth that has listening posts around the world. Its role in gathering intelligence within the United States has grown enormously since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Soon after, President George W. Bush, under a secret wiretapping program that circumvented the FISA court, authorized the N.S.A. to collect metadata and in some cases listen in on foreign calls to or from the United States. After a heated debate, the essential elements of the Bush program were put into law by Congress in 2007, but with greater involvement by the FISA court.

Even before the leaks by Mr. Snowden, members of Congress and civil liberties advocates had been pressing for declassifying and publicly releasing court decisions, perhaps in summary form.

Reggie B. Walton, the FISA court's presiding judge, wrote in March that he recognized the "potential benefit of better informing the public" about the court's decisions. But, he said, there are "serious obstacles" to doing so because of the potential for misunderstanding caused by omitting classified details.

Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the N.S.A. director, was noncommital when he was pressed at a Senate hearing in June to put out some version of the court's decisions. While he pledged to try to make more decisions public, he said, "I don't want to jeopardize the security of Americans by making a mistake in saying, 'Yes, we're going to do all that.' "
Update at 1430 CT: Orin Kerr at The Volokh Conspiracy has a nice post on this story. He notes that appellate law has made clear that metadata are outside the protection of the Fourth Amendment and thus can be used by the government. Further, identifying terrorists meets the burden of the 'special need' created by the USSC. Kerr identifies areas in the FISA court case-law that actually suggests that the court is using the Fourth to provide protection that the USSC says isn't required. That would be remarkable.

Mr. Kerr's thoughts are, as always, worth considering.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/07/2013 11:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You do wonder how it is that the legislature and executive created a court that doesn't answer to the highest court. Wonder if it's constitutional...

It does answer to the Supreme Court, but the problem is that you have to know that your rights have been violated in order to appeal.

The courts should require that all searches on US citizens and legal aliens performed within the USA should be made public at some reasonable time after the the approved intercept. You have to give We the people a chance to cry foul in order to keep the whole process in-check. The WaPo test (i.e. if your decision was to appear on the front page of tomorrow's WaPo, would you still do it?) needs to operate.
Posted by: Squinty || 07/07/2013 12:40 Comments || Top||

#2  The subtext here is that the author of the article is ace NYT reporter Eric Lichtblau. Lichtblau was a vocal critic of Bush's warrantless wiretapping, and even wrote a book about it called Bush's Law. Strangely (or not) Lichtblau was silent as a stone when the massive expansion of surveillance under Champ came to light. Now he finds his voice, but only to blame the FISA court, whose members were almost all appointed by John Roberts, who in turn was nominated by Bush. So not only is Bush responsible for surveillance conducted on his own watch -- he's also responsible for surveillance on Champ's watch. Meanwhile, "Obama Denies Role In Government."
Posted by: Matt || 07/07/2013 14:54 Comments || Top||

#3  And you have to wonder why Snowden didn't offer his big news to Lichtblau and the NYT, who had extensivly reported on the NSA under Bush, and instead went with the relatively low-rent "Sockpuppet" Greenwald. Or did he?
Posted by: Matt || 07/07/2013 15:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Or did he?

If he did, he'd be dead now.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 07/07/2013 15:56 Comments || Top||

#5  I'll give you a valid reason, SPAMMERS, I've received so many "You owe Money" Calls (ON A BRAND NEW TELEPHONE) they can't know who owns it.
Shut them down, there's NO ONE TO CALL AND COMPLAIN.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 07/07/2013 16:17 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Nisar orders for weeding out of FIA's unscrupulous officials
[Dawn] Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ordered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday to weed out its unscrupulous officers and to set up an Anti-Money Laundering Cell on an immediate basis, DawnNews reported.

Chaudhry Nisar chaired a meeting in the federal capital during which he reviewed the performance of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) and the FIA.

FIA's Director General briefed the federal interior minister over the performance of the investigating agency, after which Khan instructed the DG to remove all unscrupulous officials of the FIA from within its ranks and said that a committee would soon be constituted in this regards.

Khan added that postings in the FIA would be based upon better performance of officials.

The federal interior minister further ordered for the setting up of an Anti-Money Laundering Cell on an immediate basis.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Imran briefed on militancy
[Dawn] The Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
leadership was told on Saturday the complexity of the bad boys' phenomenon and how difficult it would be to negotiate with a plethora of groups with varied agendas, official sources said.

PTI chairman Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer...
and vice chairman and deputy parliamentary leader Shah Mehmood Wormtongue Qureshi, who arrived here to full-day briefings by various government departments, were informed that Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain was not a monolithic organization and that more than 40 groups were operating with varied agendas making the task of engaging all the more difficult if not impossible.

They were also informed that criminal gangs had also joined forces with forces of Evil and to segregate the two would be difficult, the officials said. They were advised to implement a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy prepared by provincial home and tribal affairs department and persuade the federal government to follow suit.

The PTI leadership was also advised against issuing deadlines to implement reform agendas. "The wheel is already there, you don't have to reinvent the wheel," one source quoted a senior government official as saying.

Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise began speaking in tongues...
journalists boycotted a briefing by Provincial Minister Shaukat Yousafzai on Imran and Shah Mehmood Qureshi's visit and engagements in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
to protest the manhandling and torture of their colleagues by doctors at Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar on Friday.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordan blocks 254 news websites for having no license
And remember, Jordan is a 'moderate' Arabic country...
AMMAN -- The Jordanian government said on Tuesday that it had blocked 254 unlicensed news websites, 16 of them in the previous two days, using powers under a 2012 law criticized as a threat to freedom of expression.

Fayez Shawabkeh, head of the Press and Publication Department said: “16 local news websites were blocked in the past two days after carefully examining their situation.

“This brings the total number of sites the PPD blocked recently to 254, while 111 sites have obtained licenses.”

On June 3, authorities said they would block nearly 300 out of 400 local news websites “for failing to obtain the necessary licensing,” under last year’s controversial legislation.

The law gave the government powers to regulate “electronic publications,” requiring them to register with the PPD and obtain a license. It stipulates that the chief editors of news websites must be members of the Jordan Press Association, giving the government the right to censor content and hold journalists liable for comments posted on webpages.

The PPD has insisted “the decision does not seek to restrict freedoms,” and that “the objective is to organize the work of these websites.”

“I call on all local news websites to correct their status in line with the law. Operating outside the law, which we will continue to apply, will not be in their interest,” Shawabkeh warned.

Journalists accuse the government of seeking to control who can publish news.

One of the sites blocked in the past two days is 7iber, Arabic for “ink.” Its editor, Lina Ejeilat, told AFP 7iber was an interactive website that published reports and features from contributors, and said it should not be covered by the legislation.

“We are a blog and definitely not a news website,” she said.

Shawabkeh disagreed, saying that “7iber is registered at the trade and industry ministry as a news website and posts news and political analyses about Jordan, which means that the law applies to it.”
Posted by: Steve White || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dick Durbin must be orgasmic.
Posted by: Pappy || 07/07/2013 0:30 Comments || Top||


Israel and future 'tank wars'
Long piece in the Times of Israel on the future of tank warfare in the Israeli army. A good Sunday read that looks at both sides of the question of whether and how one uses tanks and other heavy armored vehicles in modern urban war.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Skynet-Matrix first, then can have the Great Unmanned/UV World War.

The War of the Drones.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/07/2013 22:52 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Al-Asir's Mom Says Son Staunch Supporter of Army
[An Nahar] The parents of Salafist holy man Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir stressed on Saturday that their son has been a staunch supporter of the Lebanese army, considering that he survived an liquidation bid.

"Whatever I said no one will listen to us after he (al-Asir) was accused of killing army officers," the mother of al-Asir, who remained unnamed, told An Nahar newspaper.

She described the recent festivities in the southern town of Abra, near the city of Sidon, as an attempt to assassinate the controversial holy man.

"He was forced to carry arms to defend himself and his supporters... He had continuously demanded that the state controls the arms" of Hizbullah, the mother of al-Asir added.

"I am his mother and I am a Shiite... He was only against the dominance of arms," she said.

Al-Asir, a 45-year-old holy man who is no where to be found since last month's deadly gunbattles between his gunnies and the Lebanese army, resurfaced Thursday in an alleged audio message in which he described the festivities as a plot against him.

The holy man called on the Sunni community to "break the barrier of fear and fear only God," urging them to protest "in a peaceful and civilized manner" after Friday prayers "in coordination with the Musselmen holy mans."

State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged on Thursday 27 people for their involvement in the Abra battles where Bilal Bin Rabah mosque is located.

Ten of them were charged in absentia, including al-Asir and a onetime prominent singer-turned Salafist Fadel Shaker.

The holy man teamed up with Shaker when around two years ago he began agitating for Hizbullah to disarm.

If convinced, the suspects face the death penalty.

Hilal al-Asir, the father of Sheikh Ahmed, expressed regret the assault against news hounds in comments published in An Nahar.

"Those who attacked news hounds were shoved into (Friday's) protest," Hilal said, considering that they tarnishes the image of al-Asir family.

Hundreds of men and women supporting al-Asir marched from Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque after Friday prayers, heading to al-Karameh roundabout in the southern city of Sidon.

The protesters assaulted TV crews in Abra, smashing the windows of their cars and breaking their cameras during the march, prompting the Lebanese army to ask journalists to leave Sidon and the northern city of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which 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...
until the end of the protest.
Posted by: Fred || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists

#1  "He was a good boy. Always sed his prayers..."
Posted by: Pappy || 07/07/2013 9:36 Comments || Top||


Gulf countries discuss anti-Hezbollah moves
A couple days old but something to keep track of. The Gulf states are leading the charge against Hezbollah. I think it's called, "survival instinct"...
Senior Gulf Cooperation Council officials met in Riyadh on Thursday (July 4) to coordinate sanctions in the six member states against Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah movement over its support for the Syria regime. The meeting was “to develop mechanisms to monitor movements, financial transactions and business operations of Hezbollah,” said Bahraini deputy interior minister Khaled al-Absi.

The GCC monarchies decided on June 10 to impose sanctions on Hezbollah, targeting residency permits and its financial and business activities in reprisal for the group’s armed intervention in Syria.

Absi told reporters two expert teams will be formed: one to “coordinate with central banks” and the second to review “legal, administrative and financial matters” linked to the sanctions. Last month’s measure was taken “after the discovery in GCC states of several terrorist cells linked to the group,” said Absi.

However, he did not say how many Hezbollah suspects would be affected by the sanctions or their estimated assets and financial and commercial operations in the region.

The sanctions would be implemented “in coordination... with ministers of commerce and the central banks of the GCC,” the council’s Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani has said.

The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Qatar expelled 18 Lebanese citizens from the gas-rich Gulf state on June 20, a government source in Beirut told AFP.

An estimated 360,000 Lebanese work in the Gulf, according to Lebanese daily An-Nahar, remitting some $4 billion (three billion euros) annually.

Lebanon has a population of just 4.1 million.

A staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, of the Alawite sect of Shiite Islam, Hezbollah has backed him since protests erupted in March 2011, openly declaring its military involvement last month.

The Sunni monarchies of the Gulf back the mostly Sunni rebels, and the GCC has warned that it might add Hezbollah to its list of terrorist groups.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Main Syrian opposition group elects new president
BEIRUT --The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group has elected a former political prisoner as its new president. The Syrian National Coalition says on its Twitter account that Ahmad al-Jarba received 55 votes of the 114-member council.

The council also elected three vice presidents including Mohammed Farouk Taifour, a senior official with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Who's the al-Nusra vice-president?
The voted took place Saturday in Istanbul.

The president’s post had been empty since April when former SNC President Mouaz al-Khatib resigned, citing frustration over what he called a lack of international support and constraints imposed on the body itself. Since then, senior opposition figure George Sabra served as acting president of the SNC.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/07/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
43[untagged]
8Arab Spring
6Muslim Brotherhood
5Boko Haram
3Govt of Pakistan
2TTP
2Salafists
1Commies
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1Govt of Syria
1Hezbollah
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On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2013-07-07
  Clashes resume outside Cairo, dozens of pro-Morsi protesters arrested
Sat 2013-07-06
  Thirty killed in alleged Boko Haram attack on Nigeria boarding school
Fri 2013-07-05
  Morsi Loyalists Clash With Soldiers in Cairo Protests
Thu 2013-07-04
  Big party in Tahrir Square!
Wed 2013-07-03
  Egypt army dumps Morsi
Tue 2013-07-02
  Guards of senior Muslim Brotherhood figure arrested in Egypt
Mon 2013-07-01
  Egyptian military gives 48 hour ultimatum to Brotherhood, political forces
Sun 2013-06-30
  Boomers kill 43 in Pakland on Sunday
Sat 2013-06-29
  Muslim Brotherhood, FJP offices attacked throughout Egypt
Fri 2013-06-28
  Dagestani lawmaker arrested for ties to Islamist insurgents
Thu 2013-06-27
  Top Somali militant leader flees former Shebab comrades
Wed 2013-06-26
  FBI pulls ‘Faces of Global Terrorism’ ads after Muslims get offended
Tue 2013-06-25
  Taliban attack Afghan presidential palace
Mon 2013-06-24
  Pak Talibs kill 10 foreign tourists in Diamer
Sun 2013-06-23
  Dutch Say Time of 'Ever Closer' Union in Europe is Over

Better than the average link...



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