[Tolo News] The U.S. must choose between having Afghanistan or Pakistain as a strategic partner before Kabul is willing to sign the Bilateral Security Agrement (BSA), Afghan National Security Advisor Dr. Rangeen Dadfar Spanta said on Thursday. Can we choose Costa Rica? Mauritania?
The way things are going with this administration, it'll be Iran.
Don't be absurd. Dr. Spanta. We are America, the former, and perhaps future, hegemon. Just as we are allied with both India and Pakistan, we can be allied with Afghanistan as well... and perhaps equally effectively.
Dr. Spanta emphasized that the U.S. knows Pakistain is the main "obstacle" to the Afghan government's peace talks with the Taliban, yet refuses to acknowledge it.
"The United States is trying to tell the world and the people of Afghanistan that both the wolf and the sheep are their strategic friends," Dr. Spanta said. "Afghanistan's Southern and Eastern borders have been under attack for years, and those who are under attack are our women and kiddies."
This week, reports were made in Kunar and Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. provinces of increased rocket attacks originating from across the border in Pakistain. There have been a number of heated confrontations over the years between Afghan and Pak border outfits, but no resolution to the skirmishes has been found.
Although relations between Kabul and Islamabad seemed to be improving in the fall of 2013, with Pakistain participating in a number of bilateral discussions with the Afghan government about getting Taliban peace talks on track, Dr. Spanta's comments on Thursday made it clear that tensions were still high.
"One of the preconditions for signing the BSA is for the U.S. to choose a strategic partnership with one of the two," Dr. Spanta said regarding Afghanistan and Pakistain.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Can we choose India only?
Posted by: Paul D ||
01/31/2014 5:04 Comments ||
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#2
Bet on Bammer choosing wrong; keeping his string of picks alive....
But bombing really only works against an enemy of same technological advancement, and big industrial sectors. Hence why - didn't work in Nam. Worked a treat in Western Europe and Japan though.
Even back to the Italians bombing "Algeria?" don't quote me, with gas it didn't work.
If the West had focused far more on ground operations after ww2 there would be half the trouble.
BAIDOA, Somalia -- Ethiopian-AMISOM forces Thursday halted a convention aimed at forming an autonomous state for six regions in southern Somalia in Bay regional capital of Baidoa, Garowe Online reports.
Local reports say African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM)'s forces closed the hall where the regional conference was underway, pouring hundreds of protesters into the streets in response to the decision. The angry crowds were chanting anti Mogadishu-based federal government slogans, with participants at the rally setting tyres on fire.
Federal Government of Somalia's reportedly asked Ethiopian-AMISOM forces to prevent the conference organizers who include politicians, traditional elders and federal parliamentarians from entering the conference hall.
On the other hand, a meeting contrary to the halted convention and led by former parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan has faced similar restrictions at Bakiin Hotel in Baidoa, sources said.
Adan seeks to push Bay, Bakool and Lower Shabelle communities into an autonomous federal state that excludes Jubaland regions from the map.
Federal Parliament Speaker Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari voiced support for the decision of forming a federal state consisting of Bay, Bakool, Gedo, Lower Jubba, Middle Jubba and Lower Shabelle regions during his visit to the region in September 2013.
Jubaland and Somalia Federal Government agreed on 23 points that granted substantial autonomy and recognition to Jubaland administration under the
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[Shabelle] Dahir Amin Jesow who is the vice chairman of the parliamentary committee on security issues has told the media that he heartened by the renewed inter clan conflicts in the lower Shabelle region of Somalia.
Honorable Jesow added that he is Saddened to see brotherly clans fighting each other over small issues that can be solved on the table.
The federal Government intervened inter clan fighting's in the region before but the conflict has restarted again leading to loss of lives and property .
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[Egypt Independent] National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, led by the Moslem Brüderbund, has called for a new week of protests against the interim authority.
The call comes amid growing media and public mobility toward supporting nomination of Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who toppled ex-President Mohammed Morsy in July and enjoys support of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces. It also comes one day after start of Morsy trial on charges of prison escape during the 2011 revolution.
"Let's resume the revolution in an angry revolutionary week, starting with Friday called 'Steadfastness' in loyalty towards deaders' across the country. Do as you will to support creative and peaceful resistance: burn photos of the assassin, flags of the US, the Zionist enemy and the Emirates," the alliance said in statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[Egypt Independent] Conflict in Central African Republic and South Sudan dominated the agenda as Africa's leaders gathered in Æthiopia Thursday for a two-day summit of the continental bloc.
The talks, opened by outgoing African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... chairman and Æthiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn early Thursday, are officially themed on agriculture and food security.
But the 54-member bloc is spending much of the time bogged down yet again trying to resolve conflict in member states.
"Our hearts go to the people of the Central African Republic and South Sudan who face devastating conflicts in their countries and especially to women and kiddies who've become the victims," AU commission chief Nkosazana-Dlamini Zuma said in her opening remarks.
"We have to work together to ensure that we build lasting peace," she told the African heads of state gathered in Addis Ababa.
Æthiopia's Hailemarianm called for "urgent solutions to rescue these two sisterly countries from falling into the abyss," as he gave his final speech as AU chair.
"Failure to do so will have serious implications for peace and security in the region," he added.
The unfolding humanitarian disaster in CAR, where a 5,300-strong AU force is deployed alongside 1,600 French soldiers, will be a key talking point.
CAR descended into chaos 10 months ago after rebels overthrew the government, sparking sectarian violence that has uprooted a million people out of a population of 4.6 million.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] The Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... is planning to launch an international campaign to highlight the torture and deaths of its leaders and activists at the hands of the country's law enforcement agencies, said party sources.
Jamaat has also reportedly decided not to go for any stern anti-government movement in the next two month; instead focusing on an international campaign based on a list of party activists who have been killed since the International Crimes Tribunal handed death sentence to its leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedi ...Islamic orator and politician. He was a former Member of Parliament in the National Assembly of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2008, and is one of the most prominent leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami... on February 28 last year.
The party, along with its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... , has prepared a list of 184 activists who have been allegedly been murdered between February 28, 2013 and January 5, 2014; as well as making several documentaries on police action against its activists.
Party insiders said Jamaat has planned to arrange processions and human chains in front of Bangladeshi embassies abroad, and showing documentaries to foreign nationals and diplomats in a bid to present the government's "autocratic" activities.
Sources also said the party assistant secretary general, Barrister Abdur Razzak, was currently abroad with the list and the documentaries.
Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher, working committee member of Jamaat's central committee, said Jamaat always conducted its politics in a democratic process. The party always keeps a list of its leaders who are killed, he added.
The list of victims -- who allegedly died during demonstrations to free Jamaat leaders from war crimes charges -- reportedly contains the names of 31 deceased from Rangpur, 57 from Rajshahi, nine from Dhaka, two from Faridpur, one from Barisal, three from Sylhet, 21 from Comilla, 33 from Khulna and 27 from Chittagong.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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The United States informed its NATO allies this month that Russia had tested a new ground-launched cruise missile, raising concerns about Moscow's compliance with a landmark arms control accord.
American officials believe Russia began conducting flight tests of the missile as early as 2008. Such tests are prohibited by the treaty banning medium-range missiles that was signed in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader at the time, and that has long been viewed as one of the bedrock accords that brought an end to the Cold War.
Beginning in May, Rose Gottemoeller, the State Department's senior arms control official, has repeatedly raised the missile tests with Russian officials, who have responded that they investigated the matter and consider the case to be closed. But Obama administration officials are not yet ready to formally declare the tests of the missile, which has not been deployed, to be a violation of the 1987 treaty.
With President Obama pledging to seek deeper cuts in nuclear arms, the State Department has been trying to find a way to resolve the compliance issue, preserve the treaty and keep the door open to future arms control accords.
#1
I am reminded of Neville Chamberlain's 1938 statement:
"We, the German Führer and Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for two countries and for Europe.
"We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again.
"We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries, and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference, and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe."
"My good friends this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace in our time."
A couple of years later WWII was in full swing. We declared war on Japan after Pearl Harbor and Hitler soon after declared war on the U.S. Seldom does appeasement work. It is whistling in the graveyard. Peace through strength is the best policy.
#4
Wasn't even a couple of years, honestly a few weeks later he was going at it, and 'Rudenberg?' I believe his name said 'when is the time for war?' and Hitler was quite famous for replying 'it's just a scrap of paper'
[An Nahar] The United States is to seek the death penalty for accused Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev if he is convicted of involvement in the deadly attack, Attorney General Eric Inaction Jackson Holder ... aka Mister Fast and Furious... said Thursday.
"The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision," Holder said in a statement on the prosecution of the 20-year-old, a U.S. citizen from a Chechen Moslem family.
Three people were killed and around 260 maimed on April 15 last year when two bombs made of explosives-packed pressure cookers went kaboom! near the finish line of the Boston marathon.
Tsarnaev, then 19, and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev were cornered by police after a four-day manhunt. Tamerlan died after an exchange of fire with police and Dzhokhar was maimed.
The shaggy-haired onetime student has pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to 30 federal charges related to the bombings, including 17 serious charges that can carry sentences of death or of life in prison.
These charges include using a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, as well as conspiracy and bombing of a place of public use resulting in death, and carjacking.
Tsarnaev is also charged in connection with the shooting death of a campus police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the brothers' wild overnight getaway attempt.
The brothers are said to have built the bombs with help from an online al-Qaeda magazine, but they are not accused of having received help from any organized foreign terror group.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Sure glad we had those neat FBI photos of the Tsarnaev bros. so soon after the bombing. They've always been keen on releasing critical information regarding potential suspects during the conduct of..... "ongoing investigations."
"Did the FBI have the suspects under physical surveillance at any time prior to releasing the photos to the public?" Grassley wrote in his letter to FBI Director James B. Comey, Jr. The FBI aired the photos of the then-unnamed suspects during a 5 p.m. press conference on the Thursday after the bombing, about five hours before Collier was shot and killed.
Grassley also writes that his office has learned through sources that, "In the hours leading up to the shooting of Collier and the death of the older suspect involved in the bombing, sources revealed that uniformed Cambridge Police Department officers encountered multiple teams of FBI employees conducting surveillance in the area of Central Square in Cambridge. It is unclear who the FBI was watching, but these sources allege the Cambridge Police Department, including its representation at the (Joint Terrorism Task Force), was not previously made aware of the FBI's activity in Cambridge."
#3
Yet we are expected to believe that the finest intelligence and law enforcement services in the world had no prior knowledge of the Tsarnaev Bros. whatsoever.
Please file under Nidal Hasan, Chris Stevens, IRS, Fast and Furious, or NSA. You pick.
#5
Hey, the kid only killed three people. And besides, he is still grieving because his brother died. True, his brother died because he got run over by Dzhokhar.
It will also be interesting to see who dies first: Tsarnaev or Hassan.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
01/31/2014 10:17 Comments ||
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[REUTERS] Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... dismissed on Friday as "a myth" suggestions that the United States was withdrawing from world affairs.
"I'm perplexed by claims I occasionally hear that somehow America is disengaging from the world - this myth that America is pulling back, or giving up, or standing down. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth," Kerry told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland ...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell... .
His remarks were seen partly as a response to Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former intelligence chief, who told a Davos panel earlier on Friday that the world was disappointed with a "sense of no direction" in U.S. foreign policy.
Kerry cited U.S. involvement with issues from Israel to Iran to Syria and in Asia and Africa to counter a similar view expressed by others in the Middle East and by critics in the United States.
He said it was based on a false assumption that the only tool of U.S. influence was its military. "If we don't have a huge troop presence or aren't brandishing an immediate threat of force, we are somehow absent from the arena," Kerry said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
See also TOPIX > [USNWR] OBAMA EMBRACED A WEAK FOREIGN POLICY IN HIS STATE OF THE UNION.
* BIGNEWSNETWORK > OBAMA OVER-STATED NATIONAL SECURITY [idea that US is now safe-n-secure from Terror], SOME US CONGRESSMEN SAY.
* WORLD FREE BULLETIN > US CONGRESSMEN RISE TO SUPPORT [maintaining/keeping] CURRENT AIRCRAFT CARRIER LEVELS.
versus
* TOPIX > [Real Clear Politics] WILL AMERICA'S ASIAN ALLIES GO NUCLEAR?
* PACIFICNEWSCENTER > VIDEO: GUAM LAWMAKERS DISCUSS RESOLUTION URGING THE US TO PLACE PERMAMENT THAAD + PATRIOT MISSLE DEFENSE ON GUAM.
Ditto Blimps??
To be truly effective, IMO the US will have to do the same in the CNMI + Iwo Jima/Bonins - it also means or infers that any local NG andor Reserves units may have to mission-change into Missle [BMD] Troops [UAV?]?
Once again, as a reminder, 1960's -70's GUAM TAOTAMONAS = as the US retreats or falls back across the Pacific, it may decide to covertly sink or destroy strategic Pacific islands - including but not limited to Guam - in order to deny MilPol utility to enemies [so-called new fangled "A2/Area Denial"], vee "Earthquake/
Tectonic Bombs".
Well there ya go - THE US IS NOT DISENGAGING FROM ASIA-PACIFIC, ITS JUST UNILATERALLY FORCIBLY DENYING ENEMY GOVTS-NATIONS USE OF KEY AIRFIELDS + HARBORS WHILE BLAMING THEIR DESTRUCTION ON MAMA NATURE = ACTS/HAND OF GOD = "NATURAL FORCES".
D *** NG IT, THE GHOSTS + OTHER KNEW ABOUT IT DECADES AGO - DIDN'T EVERYBODY!?
#2
...this man one small step (and a couple of surgeries) away from becoming Meghan McCain! No, the U.S. is not disengaging from the world, the world is disengaging from the U.S...
[DAWN] Members of a high-powered committee formed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... to initiate peace talks with the Taliban arrived in Islamabad on Thursday for consultations prior to their meeting with the premier.
The prime minister had announced Wednesday that his government had decided to give peace another chance by pursuing negotiations with Talibs despite a recent spate of attacks.
Shairf also named a four-member committee to facilitate the talks.
Highly credible sources told Dawn News that members of the committee -- 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. -based senior journalist Rahimullah Yousafzai, former Ambassador Rustam Shah Mohmand, former ISI official Maj (retd) Amir Shah -- have arrived in Islamabad and are holding consultations to chalk out their strategy.
The fourth member of the committee, columnist and Special Assistant to the PM on National Affairs Irfan Sidduqi, is already based in Islamabad.
Prime Minister Sharif has called a meeting of the committee on Friday at the PM House to discuss the next step in the proposed dialogue process with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP).
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on Thursday urged the civil and military leadership to devise a joint strategy for ensuring durable peace in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
He arrived in the bustling provincial capital on a one-day visit and was accompanied by Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, National Party leader Mir Hasil Khan Bezinjo and Minister SAFRON Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch.
During his visit to Corps Headquarters at Quetta Cantonment, PM Sharif said security forces were playing commendable role for securing peace and tranquility in the province.
He called upon the military and civil leadership to adopt collective approach in this regard.
The Prime Minister said that Federal Government was committed to resolving the issue of Balochistan and put it on the track to prosperity.
He stressed the need to further accelerate development projects in the province to ensure relief for the masses.
Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch and Governor Mohammad Khan Achakzai were also present on the occasion.
Commander Southern Command Lieutenant General Nasir Khan Janjua gave detailed briefing to the premier on the overall law and order situation in Balochistan.
Earlier, the prime minister laid a floral wreath at Yadgar-e-Shuhada (deaders memorial monument) to acknowledge the contribution of deaders of Army, FC and police who sacrificed their lives to defend the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Israel accused Hizbullah of establishing bases in residential areas and using civilians as "human shields," vowing to destroy them in any conflict in the future.
Israeli air force chief Major-General Amir Eshel issued his threats in an attempt to prepare the world for high civilian casualties in case a new confrontation with Hizbullah erupted.
"We will have to deal aggressively with thousands of Hizbullah bases which threaten the State of Israel and mainly our interior," Eshel said in a speech at the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, a think-tank near Tel Aviv.
The Israeli official pointed out that Beirut, the Bekaa valley and the South are among the targets.
Eshel said Hizbullah uses at times the entire storeys of a residential facility to be used in battles.
He accused the party of using civilians as "human shield."
Eshel said that the Israeli forces are more powerful than Hizbullah with more capabilities than in 2006.
"Our ability today to attack targets on a large scale and with high precision is about 15 times greater than what we did in the (2006) war," he stressed.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
Israel Threatens to Attack Civilians
I would have posed the headline as "Israel Threatens to Fight Back", but that's just me.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
BAIDOA, Somalia -- Ethiopian-AMISOM forces Thursday halted a convention aimed at forming an autonomous state for six regions in southern Somalia in Bay regional capital of Baidoa, Garowe Online reports.
[Egypt Independent] Conflict in Central African Republic and South Sudan dominated the agenda as Africa's leaders gathered in Æthiopia Thursday for a two-day summit of the continental bloc.
[REUTERS] Secretary of State 
[DAWN] Members of a high-powered committee formed by Prime Minister 
[DAWN] Prime Minister 
