[Ennahar] The new president of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, believes that Western countries are "indispensable" in the fight against al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) which has stepped up abductions of Westerners in Niger since 2008.
"In order to eradicate evil (...), Northern countries are indispensable for the formation, training and equipping of our forces of defense and security (FDS)," said Mr. Issoufou in an interview with the Journal of the Nigerian Army Green Beret.
"Not to be blind (in battle), cooperation with them in terms of intelligence is also essential," underlined Mr. Issoufou cautioning that "the threat of AQIM could destabilize the entire Sahara.
In a regional context, he thinks that with "logistical support of the North", the Sahel countries affected can lead the fight through the Joint Staff based in Tamanrasset (southern Algeria) and composed of forces in Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger.
Each state must use its own capacity to cope with the situation, "but we must pool the tasks of monitoring, prevention and response," said Mr. Issoufou, inaugurated president of Niger on Thursday, after his election on March 12.
Niger, one of the most "fragile" countries, should "imperatively" increase the quantity and quality of its armed forces and improve their equipment," he said.
He envisions a "deployment" of forces throughout the territory of his vast country, the creation of new barracks, outposts and sending Special Forces into border areas.
AQIM still retains four kidnapped Frenchies, kidnapped on Sept. 16 on a site of uranium mining in northern Niger and calls for "at least 90 million" for their release.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
In a regional context, he thinks that with "logistical support of the North", the Sahel countries affected can lead the fight through the Joint Staff based in Tamanrasset (southern Algeria) and composed of forces in Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger.
Meanwhile, South Africa, a country who a few short years ago could have led the anti-terror effort, still recovering from thousands of years of apartheid, sits this one out Chinese style. Hat tip to the African Congressional National Congress (ANC).
[Iran Press TV] Azerbaijan's Islamic Party says it will go ahead with plans to hold a peaceful rally in Azadliq Square, despite the Baku governor's failure to issue a permit for the protest.
"The Baku governor's office violated the rights of Azeri citizens by preventing them from holding a social gathering at Azadliq Square and by neglecting their social freedoms as asserted by the Azeri Constitution," the party said in a Thursday statement.
In view of the people's demands, especially its members, the Azerbaijan Islamic Party is determined to hold a gathering, it added.
Azerbaijan's Islamic Party had applied for a permit to hold a rally in Azadliq Square on April 8 which was rejected by the Baku Governor's Office.
Deputy Head of the Azerbaijan Islamic Party Elchin Manafov said that although other opposition parties were offered an alternative place to hold their rallies, the Baku governor's office did not treat Azerbaijan's Islamic Party in the same manner.
Some local sources reported that the governor has tightened security measures around Baku Mosque due to concerns over Mohammedan uprisings and despite the postponement of the rally by the Islamic Party.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Suggest alternative rally point be held in the central prison.
#2
A thought: in the old days, some unsupervised children of hardworking immigrants succumbed to temptation and became gangsters. How much of this is a similar impulse?
Firefighters were called to the office, near the 2000 block of North Federal Highway, at about 1:45 p.m. Friday, following lunch at Tony Chan's, FBI agents arrived about an hour later.
Mapquest footnote: Via I-95 N, 18 mins / 13.11 miles
[Iran Press TV] The Pak government has rejected a Taliban proposal for negotiations and ceasefire but stipulated to consider the offer upon the Death Eaters' surrender.
Pakistain's Interior Minister Rehman Malik Pak politician, current Interior Minister under the Gilani administration. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. He later joined the Pak Peoples Party and was chief security officer to Bhutto. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Näwaz Shärif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. told the country's parliamentarians on Thursday that the government has received the offer but emphasized it will not talk with the "terrorists," a Press TV correspondent reported.
Malik reiterated that negotiations would be held with those who lay down their arms, adding that "the government will deal with the bad turban elements with full strength."
The minister also paid tribute to the hundreds of security forces killed during anti-Taliban operations in Swat and Malakand tribal regions.
Pakistain has deployed thousands of troops along the border with Afghanistan and added to its operations in the tribal regions to flush out Talibs.
However, The all-purpose However... in recent months Talibs have stepped up their attacks on police forces in what is viewed as retaliation for a recent Pak offensive against the Death Eaters.
Malik's remarks come a day after the United States released a report blaming Pakistain for not doing enough to counter militancy in the country.
Pakistain's military has rejected the report, saying the criticisms are aimed at justifying US failures in neighboring Afghanistan where hundreds of civilians have been killed in US attacks.
More than 4,000 people have bit the dust in attacks by bully boyz across Pakistain since 2007.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Spokesman of the Gazoo government Taher An-Nunu said Friday that he had sent an official letter of complaint to the UN "and other involved parties" following the death of five civilians in Gazoo during the day.
Israeli air and artillery fire hit the coastal enclave ten times during the day. An Israeli military statement acknowledged the deaths, saying it "regrets that the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, terrorist organization chooses to operate from within its civilian population, using it as a 'human shield'."
An-Nunu said Israel was taking the opportunity while the world was "preoccupied with other events," in the near and far east, and said that by "carrying out a series of escalations of attacks."
He added, that Israel had shown that Israel had shown that it does "not respect the state of calm on which all factions had agreed on," referring to a proposed ceasefire deal announced by Hamas officials at 11 p.m. on Thursday night.
After a series of overnight air strikes killed four, Hamas fighters resumed launching projectiles, saying in a statement that six projectiles and three mortars had been launched Friday afternoon toward Israeli military targets near Rafah.
"We will not stand silent," he said of the escalation.
Earlier in the day a Hamas official accused Israel of using white phosphorus weapons during the day, a claim that was later denied by an Israeli military front man.
White phosphorus weapons were used on civilian areas by Israeli forces during their 2008-9 offensive, Operation Cast Lead. International conventions say the weapons are prohibited for use in civilian areas. In open-area combat, the phosphorus is used to light up targets.
In Gazoo, doctors who noted abnormal burns on patients being admitted during the war alerted officials, prompting an investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] (Ma'an) -- UN Secretary-General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon "condemned the recent rocket fire from Paleostinian turbans, which hit a school bus and injured two Israeli civilians," his spokesperson said in a Thursday statement.
"He calls for an immediate end to rocket fire," the front man said, adding that Ban was also concerned "at reports of civilian casualties from Israeli operations in Gazoo and calls for maximum restraint. He urges respect for international humanitarian law and calls for de-escalation and calm to prevent any further bloodshed."
The EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, strongly condemned the mortar and rocked attacks out of the Gazoo strip, expressing "deep concern at the current escalation of violence," a statement said.
Since Thursday afternoon, ten have been killed and dozens injured in a series of ten air strikes that have hit areas across the Gazoo Strip.
Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, announced a ceasefire deal at 11 p.m. on Thursday, which was followed by a midnight air strike.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] THE United Nations ...an international organization whose stated aims of facilitating interational security involve making sure that nobody with live ammo is offended unless it's a civilized country... said on Friday it had so far registered 600 child soldiers, some as young as eight, fighting for gangs in the Philippines and expected the final number to be in the thousands.
The country's main Mohammedan rebel group, communist forces of Evil and Al-Qaeda-linked cut-throats were all on the UN 'list of shame' for recruiting boys and girls, UN representatives said.
'We have about 600 children registered (as soldiers) at the moment. We expect it to (eventually) be in the early thousands,' said Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN special representative for children and armed conflict.
'It (the problem) is not as widespread as in Africa but it still has to be dealt with,' she told a news conference.
The 600 were identified as members of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's main Mohammedan rebel group which is now engaged in a ceasefire and peace talks with the government.
The children were registered by local community workers under a nine-month programme initiated by the UN in April with the consent of the MILF, said Ms Coomaraswamy.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2011 00:00 ||
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I strongly condemn the abhorrent violence committed against peaceful protesters by the Syrian government today and over the past few weeks. I also condemn any use of violence by protesters.
The United States extends our condolences to the families and loved ones of all the victims. I call upon the Syrian authorities to refrain from any further violence against peaceful protestors.
Furthermore, the arbitrary arrests, detention and torture of prisoners that has been reported must end now, and the free flow of information must be permitted so that there can be independent verification of events on the ground.
Isn't it amazing that, within only one week of Tiger Woods crashing his Escalade, the press found every woman with whom Tiger has had an affair during the last few years? And, they even uncovered photos, text messages, recorded
phone calls, etc.! Furthermore, they not only know the cause of the family fight, but they even know it was a wedge from his golf bag that his wife used to break out the windows in the Escalade. Not only that, they know which wedge!
And, each & every day, they were able to continue to provide America with updates on Tiger's sex rehab stay, his wife's plans for divorce, as well as the dates & tournaments in which he will play.
Now, Obama has been in office for a year-and-a-half, yet this very same press:
* Cannot find any of his childhood friends or neighbors;
* Or find any of Obama's high school or college classmates;
* Or locate any of his college papers or grades;
* Or determine how he paid for both a Columbia & a Harvard education;
* Or discover which country issued his visa to travel to Pakistan in the 1980's;
* Or even find Michelle Obama's Princeton thesis on racism.
They just can't seem to uncover any of this.
Yet, the public still trusts that same press to give them the whole true story....
#5
Good rant, Besoeker. Thought provoking. Actually, kinda scary.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/09/2011 13:19 Comments ||
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#6
Kind of following B's lead; when Bambi is turned out of office and becomes a Regular Joe, will he be able to get a passport? I had to send in a certified copy of my birth certificate. Or does his Exhalted Status allow all that paperwork crap to be waived?
#7
Maybe a little off the topic of a warning to Pencil Neck. But, thinking about it a little more, one thing that makes it even more disturbing is that John McCain and the Republican Party didn't raise any of these issues either. Why not?
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/09/2011 16:20 Comments ||
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#8
McCain and the Repubs were so deathly afraid of being labelled "raaacists!11!!" that they didn't do even minor-league opposition research or ops. There is no excuse now. Everyone knows the race card will be pulled first, so just hit him with everything: he's incompetent/ineffectual, not a leader, an America-hating socialist, hates our allies, loves our enemies, spends more time golfing and vacationing than any other President (when he's not trying to crush our energy policy and economy), is a liar, a demagogue, employs pro-black racist DOJ staff, employs anti-Joooo staff,....
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2011 17:08 Comments ||
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#9
Nor could the MSM find any of the women BJ Clinton had raped, though they were shouting about it from the rooftops. And when it finally came out they said so little no one cared. Sorry, B, these are not issues that will move the American people. Much more disturbing is that the trunks cannot come up with another Gipper.
#10
Much more disturbing is that the trunks cannot come up with another Gipper.
The Trunks didn't "come up with" the Gipper. Reagan worked long and hard in the weeds to get where he was. The Republicans were more or less forced to accede because he had all the energy and momentum, and like Ms. Peggy Noonan, anyone who wants get ahead doesn't turn down a chance to jump on the bandwagon.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2011 19:31 Comments ||
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#13
1. O sez to Syrian govt to stop the violence in very strong words. Also condemns protester violence.
2. Syrian govt sez ""
3. Syrian protesters say "We'll be good."
4. Peace brakes out and there is a nation-wide group hug.
5. On to North Korea with the cue cards.
Success.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/09/2011 19:49 Comments ||
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#14
Hmmm...Syrian govt sez "W I L C O. We'll be good."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/09/2011 19:51 Comments ||
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#15
McCain and the Repubs were so deathly afraid of being labeled "raaacists!11!!"
They were called Racists anyway. When you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't...the best policy is to leave scorched earth in your wake. Or something.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
04/09/2011 20:17 Comments ||
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#16
'zactly, SAM. If you're gonna get teh mud, might as well get down and dirty. McCain and his camp (helloooooo Lindsay!) were unable to understand Schumer Rules
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/09/2011 20:47 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] Acting commander of Basij volunteer forces Brigadier General Ali Fazli says that the enemy is trying to create a rift among Iranians and their officials.
Speaking at a ceremony commemorating the late commanders of the 1980s Iraq-Iran War Lieutenant-General Ali Sayyad Shirazi and Brigadier-General Ali Memar in the central city of Kashan, Brig. Gen. Fazli said that the enemies of the Iran are planning new plots against the Islamic establishment.
He called on the Medes and the Persians and officials to not cease their support for Iran's Fearless Leader, the doddering but still vicious Ali Khamenei Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the clergy and scholars.
"The uprising of the Mohammedan people of Bahrain, Libya, Yemen and Egypt are modeled on the 1979 Islamic theocracy of Iran," Brig. Genl Fazli said.
He added that Islamic awakening is spreading throughout the world and said, "When the enemies failed to target the people of Iran, they targeted Mohammedans of other countries [in the region]."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/09/2011 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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.
Rehman Malik
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
