Egypt, one of the strongest US allies in the Middle East, welcomed Sudan's president on Wednesday despite an international warrant seeking his arrest on charges of war crimes in Darfur.
Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's wanted leader, was making his first high-profile journey abroad since the warrant was issued March 4 by the International Criminal Court. He was emboldened by the 22-nation Arab League's decision not to act on the warrant, though three of its member countries are signatories to the court's founding treaty.
Al-Bashir is also planning to attend an Arab summit in Qatar at the end of the month, though its prime minister says the country is under pressure not to host him.
His visit to Egypt was another show of defiance by al-Bashir, who responded swiftly to the arrest warrant by expelling 13 international aid groups from Darfur, exposing hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the six-year conflict to the potential threat of greater humanitarian crisis.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak received al-Bashir at Cairo's airport along with senior government ministers in a show of solidarity with the Sudanese leader. The two leaders discussed the search for a resolution to the Darfur conflict.
Egypt is not a signatory to the ICC's founding treaty, and both it and the Arab League have backed al-Bashir, arguing that issuing the warrant would further destabilize the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
(RIA Novosti) - A Kremlin source rejected on Wednesday a report from the Chechen leadership that the counter-terrorism campaign in the republic would finish at the end of this month. "This issue is being considered, but it's too early to talk of a deadline," the source told RIA Novosti.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov told journalists earlier on Wednesday that the federal counter-terrorism operation in the Russian North Caucasus republic, which has lasted for nine years, would be officially completed in late March.
"In essence, we long ago finished the struggle against terrorists, but there is an official document on conducting a counterterrorist operation in the republic. I think by the end of March, on 30 or 31, an official document will be signed to end it," Kadyrov said.
Asked whether troops from the national anti-terrorist group could be involved in fighting terrorism in the Caucasus, Kadyrov said the republic had gained vast experience in fighting terrorists, but that now the priorities are to use the media, TV, radio and spiritual leaders to help those "lost" return home.
Kadyrov also called for those who "committed crimes against civilians during the counter-terrorism operation in the republic" to be brought to justice.
"During the counter-terrorism operation in Chechnya, our people lost everything - family members, homes and property, but stood strong. I am sure that Russia will never let this tragedy happen again," he said.
Chechnya was devastated by two military campaigns, in 1994-1996 and 1999-2001, after which Moscow significantly scaled down its military presence in the republic.
Although the "active phase" of counter-terrorist operations are over in Chechnya, the republic and neighboring regions are still plagued by raids on federal troops and pro-Kremlin police and authorities.
Posted by: ||
03/26/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
#1
Kadyrov also called for those who "committed crimes against civilians during the counter-terrorism operation in the republic" to be brought to justice.
He means "Killed' and I'm all for it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/26/2009 21:37 Comments ||
Top||
Suat Kiniklioglu, deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party for foreign relations, said, "it is unacceptable that a person who loutishly disrespect our faith and holy values in the past, will head the Alliance."
In an interview with the A.A, Kiniklioglu said that election of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of Denmark as the new secretary-general of NATO could cause some difficulties for the Alliance because of the Islam world's perception of him."
"The Danish prime minister is a troublesome person for Turkey. There are three reasons of this: First of all, he was captured by cameras as saying after the EU Summit in 2003 that Turkey would never become a full member of the EU; then, he assumed an irresponsible and unsentimental attitude during the cartoon crisis, and lastly, he failed to prevent broadcast of Roj TV from Denmark," he said.
The cartoon crisis erupted in 2006 after a Danish newspaper cartoon depicted the Prophet Mohammad (PBHU)in a way regarded as a serious disrespect by Muslims.
"The way of the Islam world's perceiving Rasmussen is of great importance. It is unacceptable for us that a person who loutishly disrespect our faith and holy values in the past, will head the Alliance especially in a period when U.S.President Barack Obama wants to focus his foreign policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan," he said.
Kiniklioglu said, "Defense Minister Peter Mackay of Canada, who is also a candidate, well-understands Turkey's sensitivities. He could stand up and object to the approval of the Armenian resolution by the Canadian parliament. On the other hand, some circles are trying to create a consensus in favor of Rasmussen by showing Turkey as the only country objecting to his election. In fact, there are other countries which are positive about Mackay's becoming the next secretary-general of the Alliance. The United States, in the meantime, has not yet made a decision."
Current Secretary-General Dutchman Jaap de Hoop Scheffer steps down on July 31. His successor is expected to be named at the NATO Summit in France and Germany on April 3-4. NATO leadership positions are filled by consensus among the 26-nation military pact.
Don't push it, Mark. In case you've forgotten, Rantburg is private property; Fred sets the policy. You don't go into someone's house, insult their spouse, kick the dog, and p*ss on the carpet, do you?
Part of the policy is discouraging the use of perjoratives and statements that might get Rantburg in trouble (legal or otherwise).
It's basically called common sense. If you or anyone else has a problem with that, your options are to conduct yourself so as not to cause problems for Rantburg, set up your own site, or leave.
#10
Pappy: I agree with everything you wrote in your post, with the exception of "the use of perjoratives... that might get Rantburg in trouble (legal or othrwise)".
Are you mods concerned Fred will be sued by the United Nations, Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR, or OIC? God forbid. Oh, sorry...perhaps I should say Allah forbid. More comfortable with that?
I disagree with any mod (or Fred for that matter) that thinks mojo's comment insulted Fred's spouse,
kicked Fred's dog, or p*issed on Fred's carpet.
I will continue to come here and post comments until banned.
It is long-established Rantburg policy that we do not permit 'fighting words' in comments. Words that are pejorative on the basis of race, religion and ethnicity, and are seen as 'fighting words', are not permitted. For regulars who use such words, understand that the mods will redact you every time.
Rantburg works to be taken seriously. We have readers in many circles who understand what Fred is trying to do. That good work is undermined by childish name-calling. The mods will not permit that.
I hope this answers the questions that have been raised.
AoS
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/26/2009 15:14 Comments ||
Top||
#12
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, The Man come and
Take you away...
But please, allow me to rephrase:
Don't like the choice, O honored follower of the One True Religion?
#13
Are you mods concerned Fred will be sued by the United Nations, Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR, or OIC? God forbid. Oh, sorry...perhaps I should say Allah forbid. More comfortable with that?
Rantbug already gets blocked at some places of employment as a "hate site". It's not a far stretch to think that at some point in the future, the hassle of dealing with the fall-out will prove to be more than doing Rantburg is worth.
I disagree with any mod (or Fred for that matter) that thinks mojo's comment insulted Fred's spouse, kicked Fred's dog, or p*issed on Fred's carpet.
What part of 'private property' do you and mojo not seem to understand, Mark? Your right to free speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences.
R*ghead is a perjorative, same as n*gger, k*ke, f*g, or any other word some commenters here seem to like to use.
Do. Not. Use. Them. At. Rantburg.
Clear?
I will continue to come here and post comments until banned.
The mother of slain Parisian Jew Ilan Halimi has called for a public trial so that her son's death "will not have been in vain", French newspaper Le Figaro reported Tuesday.
The trial, which will open in Paris on April 29, is scheduled to be held behind closed doors at a juvenile court, because two of the 30 gang members allegedly behind Halimi's murder were minors at the time of the act.
French law allows for a public trial to be held in certain cases where juveniles are involved.
Halimi, 23, was found naked, tortured and covered in burns near Paris on February 13, 2006, after being held captive by a gang calling itself "The Barbarians" for three weeks in a crime that shocked France and raised fears of surging anti-Semitism among French Muslims. He died of his injuries soon afterward.
He was reburied at the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem in February 2007.
Halimi's mother, Ruth, made the decision to reinter his body in Israel after speaking with Jewish Agency Chairman Ze'ev Bielsky.
Posted by: ||
03/26/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Global Jihad
A Marine stationed in Twentynine Palms will be awarded the Navy Cross during a ceremony at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center on Friday.
Lance Corporal Brady A. Gustafson, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, a turret gunner from Eagan, MN, "Enabled his fellow Marines to fight their way out of a complex ambush July 21 while deployed to the Farah province, Afghanistan. Despite sustaining a severe traumatic injury to his right leg, Gustafson identified the enemy positions and engaged them with machine-gun fire and thus afforded the Marines involved time to escape the 'kill zone.'"
The Navy Cross, aside from the Medal of Honor, is the highest award a Marine is eligible to receive. I plan on being there. 2/7 took significant casualties in Afghanistan.
The Marine Corps commandant said Wednesday that an investigator is reviewing a valor case that, if approved, would yield the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor in the war on terrorism.
To date, five service members — two soldiers, two sailors and one Marine — have received the military’s top valor award for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, all posthumously.
In a fire fight in a house in Fallujah, although wounded by seven 7.62 mm AK-47 rounds and hit by more than 40 pieces of hot fragmentation from a grenade while using his body to shield an injured fellow Marine, Kasal refused to quit fighting and is credited with saving the lives of several Marines during the U.S. assault on insurgent strongholds in Fallujah in November 2004.
By the time he was carried out of the house by LCpl. Chris Marquez and LCpl. Dan Shaffer, Kasal had lost approximately 60 percent of his blood.
The photograph of Kasal, taken by photographer Lucian Read — blood soaked and still holding his pistol and K-Bar knife — being helped from the building by fellow Marines, has become one of the iconic pictures of the war
#6
GolfBravoUSMC: I suppose his CoC was willing to forgive him for using those bad words on being ordered to redeploy. Marines tend to get testy when being ordered out of a pitched battle before they are good and ready.
WASHINGTON: Terrorism pays. That may well be the message the United States and its allies send out to the world this week as they line up billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan despite the country's military and intelligence agencies being implicated by American officials in acts and practice of terrorism.
Ignoring confirmation about the Pakistan's continued support and use of terrorism obtained through electronic surveillance and informants, and even brazen affirmation by Pakistani officialdom itself, the Obama administration is set to lavish a bonanza that might eventually add up to more than $ 30-$ 35 billion over the next decade. About half the windfall will come from the US and the other half from its allies such as Japan, EU, and Gulf countries.
Washington is set to announce its largesse of around $15 billion of US tax-payer money in course of its new Af-Pak policy to be unveiled Friday, followed by a conference in Tokyo on April 17 of the so-called ''Friends of Pakistan'' where Islamabad is pitching for $ 10 billion.
Could Bambi be any dumber? This is just plain idiotic. No one in our government understands the essential truth of Pakistain: all the factions there are on the same side and agree on all issues of consequence, save who will wear the bejeweled turban.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/26/2009 11:36 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
I suppose the theory is we need to keep propping them up to keep their nukes out of the hands of terrorists. Either that or the claim will be we need them to help fight terrorists. But they are the terrorists. I've said it before: Tell 'em we'll give 'em $1 billion for each nuke they hand over to us. Otherwise they get nothing. Let the Soddies and the Chicoms prop 'em up and let them know exactly what'll happen to them if they ever use their nukes.
#2
Dont bambi realise that is is a continous cycle that needs breaking where money we fund the Paks funds their militants.They cry we need more funds to fight terrorism they sponsor hence being reliant on western funds to survive/fight India!!!!
(AKI/Asian Age) - India's Intelligence Bureau has claimed it received a new threat against the life of Ajmal Aamir Qasab, the alleged gunman caught alive during the Mumbai attacks last November. However, this time the threat is from fugitive Indian mafia boss Chhota Rajan, the Intelligence Bureau said.
According to a senior official from the Mumbai police, Rajan has always projected himself as patriotic and in order to prove his patriotism he would try to eliminate Qasab.
"We have been informed by the central agencies that Rajan has hatched a plan to kill Qasab and is making arrangements to execute the plan," an official said.
Although Rajan's most trusted aide, D.K. Rao, was transferred from Arthur Road jail - Mumbai's oldest prison - to the Taloja prison in early March, other suspected Rajan gang members are being held at Arthur Road.
"We are keeping a close watch on the movements of Rajan's henchmen, who are either languishing in jail or are outside," an unnamed official said.
A list of Rajan's associates has been prepared and local police stations have been informed to keep a check on them, according to the official.
Rajan also killed several of suspected terrorist and underworld boss Dawood Ibrahim's associates, who were allegedly involved in the March 1993 Mumbai bombings.
The 1993 bombings killed 250 people and injured 700 others.
Ibrahim is alleged to have financed and coordinated the March 1993 attacks and is now in hiding. Rajan - once a key aide and lieutenant of Ibrahim - is also at large and thought to be moving between various African countries.
"Until now there was no local connection to the 26 November (2008) Mumbai terror raids, however we have specific inputs that in order to eliminate Qasab, local assistance would be of utmost importance," said a senior official from the Mumbai police.
"Qasab's security is a major issue and we do not want to take any chance as it may send a wrong signal to other countries," an official said.
The Intelligence Bureau had earlier informed Mumbai police that a team of highly-trained operatives from the banned militant Kashmiri separatist group Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence Agency with the help of Ibrahim may try to eliminate Qasab.
Indian authorities have blamed LeT for the Mumbai attacks, which which killed over 170 people and injured hundreds in multiple locations in the financial capital.
Pakistan has admitted the attacks were partly planned inside the country, but it and LeT have denied any involvement.
Army chief General Deepak Kapoor on Wednesday said the terror infrastructure across the border was very much intact while hinting at continued support of the Pakistani establishment in the running of 40-50 terrorist camps still active in PoK.
Speaking after an award function in the Capital, Gen Kapoor said the Lashkar-e-Taiba was still active in Pakistan despite the action that Islamabad claims to have taken against the outfit.
He said that about 40 to 50 terror camps were operational across the Line of Control (LoC) and terrorists are waiting for an opportunity to infiltrate.
The troops had for the last five days been engaged in a gun-battle in the forests of Kupwara and Handwara. The Army chief did not rule out the assistance of the Pakistani Army as terrorists had infiltrated under cover fire provided by the Pakistani Rangers.
Asked if the arrest of senior LeT operatives by Pakistan had had any impact on its activities, Gen Kapoor said: "I can definitely say that Lashkar is very much still active and as to the amount of difference those arrests have made, it's for you to judge."
He said there were still a very large number of foreign militants operating in J&K.
On Wednesday, the Army had lodged a strong protest with its Pakistani counterparts over a ceasefire violation four days ago when Pakistani troops fired throughout the night at Indian posts in Uri sector.
Posted by: ||
03/26/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
TOPIX > RUSSIA: PAKISTAN MUST TAKE CONTROL OF ITS TERROR CAMPS/HAVENS FOR PEACE.
#2
I would not have a problem reading that those 40-50 terrorist camps suddenly had major work accidents that caused a great many dead campers, one after another.
#3
You mean something like an accidental arclight? Strictly accidental, of course. Just one of those rogue elements of our Air Force that went a little off course.
(Xinhua) -- The Indian government has signed a massive 2 billion U.S. dollar defense deal with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), local news website dnaindia.com reported Wednesday.
The deal, which was signed into a contract this month, came at a time when India already possesses a more powerful missile in the same class -- the advanced air defense (AAD) missile, part of India's anti-ballistic missile shield, said the website.
The website said that the deal, being kept under wraps, could sound the death-knell of the indigenous surface-to-air Akash missile system, into which millions have been invested over the years.
More importantly, the deal ignores the success of the AAD missile, which could be deployed as a surface-to-air missile and used exactly like the Israeli missile system MRSAM.
A senior defense ministry official, who defended the government on the contract, told the website that the MRSAM file was sent to the solicitor-general, who felt that the government could go ahead with the deal if it considered the missile essential.
Syria's foreign minister said on Wednesday his country would be happy to help U.S. President Barack Obama implement his plan to pull U.S. combat troops out of Iraq. "Syria is ready to offer whatever help is necessary" to make a success of the U.S. withdrawal plan, Walid Moallem told journalists after meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during a visit to Baghdad.
The United States had not asked if it could withdraw troops through Syria, he told a joint news conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari.
We could march them from Baghdad to Latakia. Clean things up along the way. Just be neighborly.
Moallem's friendly tone was a sign of the marked improvement in bilateral relations since Obama became president on Jan. 20.
Obama said last month the United States would withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by Aug. 31 next year, leaving about 50,000 troops to advise and train Iraq's own forces. All U.S. troops will have left Iraq by the end of 2011, according to a bilateral security pact.
Obama has been reviewing U.S. policy towards Syria and weighing up whether to return an ambassador to Damascus. Earlier this month one of two envoys he sent there for exploratory talks said they had found "a lot of common ground."
"We believe the situation in Iraq is improving and we hope it will continue on this course and enable the Iraqi people to see the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq, according to the timetable agreed upon," Moallem said.
Moualem's visit to Baghdad was his second since Nov. 2006, during which Syria re-established ties with Iraq that had been severed when Saddam Hussein took power.
Posted by: ||
03/26/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
ION PULLOUT, TOPIX > FORMER IRAN PRESIDENT SAYS US MUST GET ITS TROOPS OUT OF AFGHANISTAN.
Egyptian authorities have recently barred three top Hamas members from entering the country, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported Wednesday.
According to the report, Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman issued an order that Hamas' politburo member Mohammed Nazzal and two of the group's spokesmen, Sami Abu Zuhri and Mushir al-Masri, would be stopped at the border should they try to cross into Egypt.
The newspaper quoted Egyptian intelligence sources as saying that the move was prompted by the three's "negative statements" about Egypt and about Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, perceived as "direct and indirect incitement" against Cairo.
Suleiman and his aides have also expressed their disapproval of Nazzal's hardline stands in the Egyptian-brokered talks meant to bridge the gaps between Hamas and its Palestinian rival faction, Fatah.
As for Cairo's disapproval of Abu Zuhri and al-Masri, Egyptian officials told al-Quds al-Arabi that the two had publicly criticized President Mubarak's regime, prompting Suleiman to deny Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal's request to allow al-Masri passage to Iran through Egypt.
Cairo is also said to be preventing Abu Zuhri, who is currently in Damascus, passage back to the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the newspaper also reported that the negotiations meant to facilitate a Hamas-Fatah unity government in the Palestinian Authority are accelerating. According to the report, the parties are expected to sign a coalition agreement by April 4.
Palestinian sources quoted in the report said that according to the draft agreement, the Palestinian government's prominent ministries, including the premiership, would be manned by "independent" individuals, free of any political affiliation, while "secondary" ministries would be allotted to Fatah and Hamas.
The signing ceremony, added the report, will led by Mubarak, Mashaal and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and will be witnessed by Syrian and Saudi delegates.
(IsraelNN.com) False reports in PA news sources informed its public that the IDF attacked in Gaza and that Israel has resumed talks on freeing kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert categorically stated last week that the government has made its "final offer' to Hamas and that the ball is in the PA's court on talks on freeing the soldier.
Hamas, under pressure from families of terrorists assuming they would be freed last week, quickly responded to Olmert with statements that the negotiating door was not closed. It published similar comments for two or three days, but the Israeli media and public, emotionally wiped out from a campaign promoting proposals to free murderers, was not moved.
After months of rumors that the government was proposing to free hundreds of murderers and other terrorists, the security establishment told the Cabinet that releasing them would raise the probability for far more kidnappings and murders.
Hamas placed more bait on the hook Tuesday through the Palestinian Sama News Agency, which reported that Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) director Yuval Diskin and senior government negotiator Ofer Dekel are planning to return to Cairo for a renewal of talks with Hamas, to be mediated by Egypt.
It also claimed that Prime Minister Olmert "showed flexibility towards achieving a prisoner-swap deal." His office denied the report, and most of the Israeli media, which was roundly criticized for having fanned hopes for the Shalit family, ignored it or barely mentioned it.
Other PA news agencies continue to allege that the IDF is conducting counterterrorist operations in Gaza. The Bethlehem-based Maan news agency, quoting "an eyewitness," reported Monday morning that "Israeli gunships" shelled a coastal area next to the ruins of the Neve Dekalim community in south-central Gaza. Maan also claimed that Hamas forces confronted Israeli ground troops who allegedly invaded Gaza.
IDF spokesmen said that no operations were carried out in Gaza and noted that although false reports have been issued by PA news agencies in the past, this week's claim "was on a scale not seen for a long time."
A Maan editorial worker told Israel National News that it relied on its eyewitness, who phoned in the report, and that the IDF said it could publish the claim on condition that it included the military denial.
A report by an international rights group has said that Israel's use of white phosphorus during its recent offensive on the Gaza Strip is evidence of war crimes.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday that the munitions were fired indiscriminately and over densely populated areas during the 23-day war, leading to many casualties.
"In Gaza, the Israeli military didn't just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops," Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at HRW and co-author of the report, said. "It fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren't in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died."
#5
Bullets are made of lead. Lead is a toxic heavy metal. Toxic heavy metals are harmful to kiddies. Ergo, WAR CRIME! Dang those perfidious Juice and their evil ways!
#6
Phosphorus is a LEGAL chemical of war, always has been and should always be so. It produces thick choking smoke and starts fires; it is also one hell of an anti-personnel weapon since white phosphorus will continue to burn unless it is quenched in petrochemicals.
(Xinhua) -- Hamas accepted an Israeli compromise to release 120 prisoners out of hundreds in order to achieve a prisoner exchange deal, a Lebanese newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The indirect talks between Hamas and Israel stopped after Israel rejected Hamas' insistence to select the names of the first 450 prisoners that Israel would release to retrieve its soldier, Gilad Shalit, who has been held hostage in Gaza since 2006.
But the al-Akhbar newspaper reported that Israel and Hamas "have shown positive signs indicating their intention to overcome the obstacles."
"Hamas has accepted that Israel deports 120 of the prisoners, who live in the West Bank, to the Gaza Strip, Syria or Qatar," according to the newspaper.
It added that the indirect talks between Hamas and Israel did not stop, with the main obstacle remaining in seven prisoners that Israel strongly refuses to release as part of the swap. The seven are senior leaders of Hamas, Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Slain senior Palestinian official Kamal Medhat had reportedly received several death threats and had recently sent a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas detailing the threats, a top Fatah commander said on Tuesday. "We will not issue haphazard accusations and we leave it to the Lebanese judiciary and security forces to uncover the truth," Brigadier Munir al-Maqdah told reporters following a large-scale meeting of Palestinian factions inside Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Sidon.
Senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official Kamal Medhat, two of his bodyguards and another Palestinian official were traveling in a convoy when the bomb exploded at the entrance of the Mieh Mieh camp near the coastal town of Sidon. He said Medhat's killing is "a blow to security in stability not only inside Palestinian refugee camps but also in Lebanon."
"Today's meeting stressed the need to reinforce Palestinian unity in order to counter all the threats and dangers that surround us," he added.
Maqdah said Palestinian factions agreed not to turn Lebanon "into an arena to settle Palestinian disputes."
"We will cooperate with the Lebanese judiciary," he stressed.
The 58-year-old Medhat, who was a close aide to the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, was the highest-ranking Palestinian official killed in Lebanon since the PLO was forced to pull out of the country in 1982 after the Israeli invasion.
In Mieh Mieh on Tuesday, residents ruled out a deteriorating situation in the camp. "The assassination aimed to send a message to all Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, not only to the Mieh Mieh camp," Maryam Zbib told The Daily Star.
Another resident, Mohammad al-Hassan said the assassination "aims to create rifts between Palestinians."
Meanwhile, Medhat's assassination drew widespread condemnation. UN chief Ban Ki-moon slammed late on Monday the "terrorist" roadside bombing that killed Medhat. "The secretary general condemns the terrorist attack today," his press office said in a statement, adding that the UN chief hoped "the perpetrators of this crime will be brought to justice promptly."
"Such actions must not be allowed to endanger the climate of calm that currently prevails in Lebanon," Ban added.
In Lebanon, meanwhile, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt paid a visit to PLO representative in Lebanon Abbas Zaki on Tuesday to offer condolences. "I extend my condolences to the Fatah party and the Palestinian national authority. Fatah has always sacrificed its prominent members, for the Palestinian cause," Jumblatt told reporters afterward.
"As long as the Palestinian state has not yet been established, we should work on securing [Palestinian refugees] certain civil rights, because if we want to prevent naturalization, then we should not deprive them of their essential rights," the PSP leader said, urging Lebanese authorities to stop discriminating against refugees.
"In Nahr al-Bared the Palestinians had nothing to do with what happened, and so they should be able go back to the camp," he said, referring to the 106 days of fighting between the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Al-Qaeda inspired Fatah al-Islam militant group in 2007 that reduced the northern refugee camp to rubble.
"I was also told that that some Lebanese security forces are not treating the Palestinians properly," Jumblatt added.
For his part, Zaki welcomed Jumblatt's support, adding that the PSP leader was "the first to call him after Medhat's killing." Zaki said Jumblatt advised him "to urge his followers to practice self-restraint and to avoid any attempt to sow discord among the Palestinians."
In other reactions Tuesday, Lebanese Forces boss Samir Geagea condemned Monday's killing saying it was a "terrorist" attack that targeted both Lebanese and Palestinian stability. Geagea called on the Palestinians to unite around their "just cause" and to stay away from conflicts that would "drain their will to persevere."
Lebanese newspapers on Tuesday described the assassination as a settling of scores between rival Palestinian factions. "Mieh Mieh: a fratricide?" said the French language L'Orient-Le Jour newspaper.
The As-Safir newspaper echoed the view. "Although all Palestinian factions were quick to denounce the crime and blame Israel and its agents, security officials believe that Medhat was killed in a settling of scores," it said.
An Israeli network security company brought down a Hizbullah-run Web site last week using hacking technology developed in China, Haaretz reported Tuesday. According to the daily, the Israeli company Applicure employed relatively cheap, accessible and easy to use software to bring down the site, english.hizbollah.tv, with only 10 computers.
The Daily Star could not independently confirm the report.
Nevertheless, in the wake of the report, commentators were already questioning the ways in which privately waged cyber-warfare could affect the tense relationship between avowed enemies like Israel and Hizbullah.
The term used to describe the use of a singular or coordinated assault on a Web site to prevent it from properly functioning is "denial of service" (DOS) or distributed denial of service (DDOS). DOS or DDOS attacks utilize a number of computers, infected by viruses or Trojan horses and grouped into networks, to bombard a Web site with an overwhelming number of illegitimate requests, preventing it from servicing legitimate requests.
DOS is only one of many way to bring down a Web site or network, but it is often considered the most popular method because it does not require the advanced software used in other forms of Web sabotage.
Computers used by and often hijacked (without the knowledge of the primary user) by hackers are known as bots. Only ten of these bots, according to Haaretz were needed to interrupt the Hizbullah site.
Haaretz reported that Applicure was "trying out breaking-in tools developed by Chinese hackers," when it brought down the site. The report added that the software used was intended for "laymen," not hackers well-versed in programming.
In addition, the article noted that this particular software is relatively cheap, as little as $260 a year with a limited number of bots, and that it use to disrupt services can earn a user a six figure salary, primarily through blackmail.
Applicure has partners in South Korea, which is reportedly a popular place for Chinese hackers to disrupt Web-based services, especially gaming sites, which are quite popular. China's Computer Emergency Response Team increased its risk assessment to China's internal network twenty fold in 2007.
In the United States, DOS attacks often target online gambling sites where the private information of users, like credit card information can be mined, by infecting the largest number possible of personal computers with Trojan horses.
Citing technology and security experts, the report said this kind of virus infects an entire site and tires to "download" itself on to as many users computers as possible.
Israel's choice of a right-wing government and the ascension of Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu do not present a long-term hindrance to the ongoing peace talks between Israel and Syria, Syrian President Bashar Assad said Wednesday.
Speaking to the Lebanese daily As-Safir, the Syrian leader said that Netanyahu's influence on the process would only be "tactical, rather the strategic."
Assad commented on the Israeli electorate's change of heart in the last election, saying that the rightward shift was evidence of "[Israel's] failure and the confusion that has taken hold of it."
There had been no breakthroughs in the indirect talks, which, he said, had "stalled, again, on the issue of the June 4, 1967 armistice lines."
The Syrian president expressed his dismay over the fact that the Syrian-Israeli track did not appear to figure prominently on the agenda of US President Barack Obama. "The signs that have been conveyed to us are promising," he said, "but Syria is expecting actions. The US administration has been quick to announce two withdrawal initiatives - in Iraq and Afghanistan - but has yet to carry out any tangible steps in our region."
Assad reiterated that his country's relations with Iran were "strategic," adding, "Iran backs us up while our relationship with the US is not strategic and America does not stand alongside Syria, but rather alongside Israel."
The Syrian leader also repeated his country's claim that traces of uranium found on the site of an alleged North Korean-sponsored nuclear facility in northern Syria may have come from Israeli bombs dropped on the installation in a September 2007 strike.
"I mean, it's an open area and anyone can dump massive quantities of uranium there," Assad said. "In any case, we don't have a nuclear facility and the UN inspectors know this. They announced that they found uranium only eight months after the fact in order to provide an excuse for the air-strike. We told them, 'Okay, so you've found uranium, but only a few crumbs. If we were enriching uranium then where were the emergency plans, the explosion, the radiation?'"
Posted by: Fred ||
03/26/2009 00:00 ||
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The United Nations-backed tribunal to try the perpetrators of a massive car bomb blast that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri has appointed its main officials and adopted rules of procedures and evidence, the court announced today.
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03/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
It's only been ,what, four years?
I believe the UN calls this "fast tracking".
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.
WASHINGTON: Terrorism pays. That may well be the message the United States and its allies send out to the world this week as they line up billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan despite the country's military and intelligence agencies being implicated by American officials in acts and practice of terrorism. 
A report by an international rights group has said that Israel's use of white phosphorus during its recent offensive on the Gaza Strip is evidence of war crimes.
