Mullah Dadallah: "The infidels who have occupied our country and some other Muslim countries - not only Afghanistan - have hatched a great plot to destroy Islam. We resolved to expel the infidels from all Muslim countries, not only from Afghanistan. We will continue with this until our last breath."
Interviewer: "Are there specific reasons for this escalation? Did you obtain new weapons? Did you receive support from neighboring countries, or from Islamic countries?"
Mullah Dadallah: "Allah be praised, the Islamic countries don't mind if we inflict losses upon the infidels and defeat them. America is the big snake that wants to bite everybody. Would you believe that some non-Islamic countries have offered us support? They offered [to help us] defeat the Americans."
The Minsk, a Soviet-built aircraft carrier-turned-theme park, has been sold to a state-owned Chinese company for 128m yuan (£8.6m) and will continue to operate as an amusement venue, the buyers said yesterday. The 43,000-ton Kiev-class carrier was put up for sale after the company that bought it in 1998 and turned it into a floating theme park in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen went bankrupt.
The attraction is popular with visitors from nearby Hong Kong, and has now been bought by the CITIC Shenzhen Group, which says it is working out a development plan.
So now the Chinese have the Minsk and the Varyag in their clutches, both of which are 'amusement parks', and both of which let the Chinese go to school on how to build an aircraft carrier.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/02/2006 00:50 ||
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#1
Unless the Commies push back or scale back their "war is inevitable" war docu-plans, and no matter how modernized by the Chicoms, the best way to save these ships in any TAIWAN-PACIFIC shooting war against the US Navy-Allies is to keep 'em in port, to use them by not using them. In any case, China will likely use these as follow-on, second- or third-strike, etc. expendable assets in support of their front-line airborne forces and boomer subs. "Show-the-flag", read - wives kids and tea parties; or in any scenario where the USN-RN-JMSDF is not around to blow 'em to smithereenies.
#2
In 1985 China purchased the 17,000-ton former Royal Australian Navy aircraft carrier, HMAS Melbourne as scrap, and she was finally broken up in Dalian, China. According to some reports stated that as late as 1994 the ship was still in existence at Guangzhou, China, being studied by Chinese naval architects. The hulk had been stripped of all useful equipment prior to sale, but Australian Navy sources reportedly said that the Chinese were particularly interested in the ship's steam catapult - even requesting the operating manuals. It is said that a navy unit has built a simulated flying deck at its airport in northern China. The design of the Melbourne was taken for reference. Reportedly, the airborne troops of the navy have used the deck to carry out numerous flying tests. The improved deck adopted the optical landing system designed and developed by China.
n May 2000 the Tianma Shipbreaking Company in Tianjin purchased the Kiev from Russia. While the initial contract required that the ship be scrapped, the contract was renogatiated so that the Kiev would become a tourist attraction at the Beiyang Recreation Harbor.
By 2000 it had managed to acquire three soviet carriers: Minsk, Kiev, and Varyag
Posted by: john ||
06/02/2006 7:10 Comments ||
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#3
So, 4 carriers in all for study...
Posted by: john ||
06/02/2006 7:11 Comments ||
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#4
I advise them to stick with the Melbourne class.
#5
8.6m pounds for a 43kt Minsk class helicopter carrier!!!(?)
That's extremely cheap by any standards - wonder what all was wrong with the beast (the Minsk class was considered dogmeat in any significant clash between the US 6th/2nd Fleets and the Soviets during the cold war as I understand).
Somebody oughtta' tell Bill Gates he can buy his own combat fleet from Russia.
#7
"It is said that a navy unit has built a simulated flying deck at its airport in northern China. The design of the Melbourne was taken for reference."
There is also supposed to be another in one of the coastal regions.
SEOUL: North Korea invited on Thursday the chief US envoy to stalled nuclear talks to Pyongyang, if Washington proves it is committed to an agreement that offers the North concessions for abandoning its nuclear programme.
Christopher Hill, the chief US envoy to nuclear talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, has said he is willing to meet directly with North Korea within the context of the six-party nuclear forum. But Hill has also previously indicated a desire to meet the North's leader Kim Jong-il and has not ruled out a trip to North Korea. The Bush administration has sent an envoy to Pyongyang before. "We invite the US chief delegate to the six-party talks to Pyongyang if the US has made the political decision to implement truthfully the joint statement and give us its explanation," North Korea's official KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
"We invite the US chief delegate to the six-party talks to Pyongyang ..."
#2
"Ooohhh! Wear the brooch with the pearls! It indicates resolve and strength. Last time I wore it, Kim and I danced all night. It was delightful. He was incorrigible...kept snapping my thong on the slow dances!"
From the Telegraph in UK.
Millions of tourists and business travellers planning to fly to the United States were left in legal limbo yesterday after the European Union's highest court struck down an agreement on sharing the personal details of passengers with US authorities.
Acknowledging the potentially devastating effects of its ruling, the European Court of Justice gave EU and American officials until Oct 1 to come up with a new deal. The Passenger Name Records (PNR) agreement governs 34 pieces of personal information that must be handed by airlines to the American authorities within 15 minutes of a plane taking off. It came in as a counter-terrorist measure demanded by Washington after September 11.
Finnish prosecutors said on Thursday that they would not charge a group for publishing controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad on a Web site earlier this year.
Prosecutor Jorma Kalske found the cartoons had been damaging to Muslim sensitivities, but had not been published with the intent to insult anyone.
The anti-immigration group Suomen Sisu posted the pictures in February after a similar site in neighboring Sweden was shut down.
"I consider it credible that their aim was a kind of protest against the public authorities," Kalske said in a statement on his decision not to prosecute members of Suomen Sisu.
The group calls itself "a revolutionary Finnish nationalist movement" and claims a membership of about 400.
It said on the Web site, which still has a link to the cartoons, that the publication was "the expression of an opinion" prompted by the closure of the Swedish site.
Finland's mainstream media did not publish the pictures, which first appeared in a Danish daily last September and sparked a wave of violent protests by Muslims around the world.
Finland has a small community of about 30,000 Muslims, in a country of 5.3 million people.
#1
"A Palestinian Authority child is depicted urinating on the Statue of Liberty in the May 25th issue of Al-Risala, a Hamas weekly newspaper."
Will they be proscecuted for this controversial cartoon? Of course not.
It's only the "muslim sensitivities" that are considered. Just amazing BS.
Posted by: Jan ||
06/02/2006 5:09 Comments ||
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#2
Dear Justin,
Sorry. But we only deal with adults here. Please have your mommy or daddy email us and we'll see if we can assist you with your wannabe Muslim fantasies.
But I doubt it.
#3
Justin/Justice: Europe has speech laws that prohibit denial of the Holocaust. How those are enforced or under what circumstances, I have no idea.
In the US you can deny the Holocaust all you want and won't go to jail. If you do, virtually all people will think you are an idiot, not because they are scared of Jews, but because they understand the overwhelming historical evidence that the event DID take place. But hey, you want to be an idiot, that is your right.
But I have some real questions about the "Eastern" mind, which, based upon the evidence that I've seen over the past centuries, is pretty fucked up. For example, what's with putting women in a bag? Are you so insecure that you have to hide them from other men? And what's with the immediate reaction of "kill" anyone who says something offensive to you (and you seem offended all the time). And why can't you seem to get along with any other religion? And why do you always blame others for your troubles? And why are the countries of "The East" so bereft of stable democratic governments?
Wake up kid. You want a real life, one where you can make your own choices and not have them dictated to you by some fat Imam every Friday, then leave Islam. Do it now before your brain totally rots and all you know is hate.
Because from what I can see, Muslims piss themselves when they hear Jews are coming for them. Their fear is so bad that draping an Israeli flag over the shoulders of an Arab "man" is called "torture". The Arab fear of Jews is so bad they won't even fight Israeli men anymore -- all they can bring themselves to do is try to kill children and the elderly.
Maybe it's because the Israelis have destroyed the armies the Arabs have thrown at them.
Or maybe it's because Arabs are naturally cowards, like the ones who make anonymous posts on websites.
PARIS (AP) - Military training for unruly French teenagers. Boot camp for their parents. A heavy hand and zero tolerance. The latest rhetoric from the far right? No, these ideas are coming from the top Socialist contender for next year's presidential race.
Cats and dogs living together in sin ...
Segolene Royal's hard-line response to renewed violence in troubled districts this week sounds suspiciously similar to that of her chief rival on the right, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. The battle is on between the two dynamic figures, and Royal's latest salvo attests that security will loom large in the campaign. It caught Sarkozy off guard - but also worried many of Royal's fellow leftists, uneasy about her soaring popularity and her departures from the Socialist Party line. The party has yet to choose its candidate for 2007, and many are jockeying for the spot.
"We need a return to the heavy hand," Royal, 52, said Wednesday night on a visit to Bondy, a suburb east of Paris hit by rioting that swept impoverished French neighborhoods for weeks last fall.
The heavy hand of the state in the statist way.
Critics say the government has failed to solve the problems the riots exposed: racism against immigrants, soaring unemployment among unskilled youth, and deep-seated alienation in the depressed housing projects that ring French cities. Royal, who became the darling of the polls largely without staking out any policy positions, called the government's handling of the suburbs' woes since the riots "an absolute failure."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/02/2006 00:55 ||
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#1
Two esential and immeadate problems that have to be dealt with. Racism and the lack of firm virgirous law enforcement. Busting asses is effective.The cops need to break some bones and shoot a few thugs. French racism in employment and hiring is very bad and must be dealt with. It also goes both ways the "minority" (not for much longer) is plenty racist too.
The Socailists will not deal with either problem and the far right will make things worse as well.
So France, you are screwed I am afarid.
#2
She's very popular, media-speaking (I mean, it's not her opinions which are making her popular), she has a maternal "family values" image, and since the underlaying big issue of the 2007 presidential race will be (and already is) security, immigration, and related matters, she's racing after Sarko on that.
The reactions from the left were priceless, btw.
She might very well be France next's president, she will have the msm for her (first female president, socialist to boot, yeah!), and according to various rumors, the RG police intelligence is running a scenario of her opposed by pépé Le Pen during the second turn, and then very likely winning 80/20.
Still, she would have to win in the socialist party first.
#4
sounds VERY clintonian, from the third wayish tough line on crime, ("sista souljah") to the reluctance of the party base, to the interweaving of the personal and political life.
She'll get along VERY well with President Clinton. And President Clintons husband.
Seriously, this sounds also like a sign the socialists are scared of Sarko, who will be harder to beat than De Villepin. (but isnt that a parallel to - Sarko, to me, is sort of the McCain of France)
#5
Galouzeau "de Villepin" is a dead fish floating belly up in the water, a donkey would be harder to beat (last time it was asked, about a solid 1% of polled people wanted Shirak to run again, I wonfder what they would think of his heir?). Ségolène is a pure product of the socilaist party, but she has a rightwing family background, and has some "maternally conservative" values on family, but nothing much else.
She's very disputed in the socialist party, and while she's got the msm behind her, it's not sure she will be candidate. If so, she has a good chance, but she will be challenged on his left by the green-commies-trotskysts (about 20% of the electorate?), while Sarko has of course the diadvantage of being associated with the Shiraq debacle and of not having actually done anything while minister of industry or interior.
I really don't know what will happen in 2007, probably an another farce. Anyway, regardless of who wins, the issues France is facing won't be adressed, most likely, and it will have to be resolved through a real crisis. If Ségo wins, with her socialist buddies (with who else is she going to govern?), then it will come down to that sooner.
#6
"Ordering youths over 16 who cause trouble to perform military or community service or learn a trade"
Oh yes, there is nothing like giving thugs the skills needed to kill you. Perhaps the Legion could use them, provided they were shipped out of country.
Seriously, one has to wonder, given the current employment situations and business environment of France, what market will be available to those who do learn a trade.
#7
These people are hypocrites, and I hope that it is clearly seen that they are not concerned whatsoever with any aspect of the torture issue.
I have yet to see them demonstrate for the systematic use of torture in Turkey or Iran, nor have they demonstrated against the impunity enjoyed by security forces under these regimes.
It is only human rights groups under these regimes that continue to battle against torture, always with the threat of extrajudicial murder hanging over them.
If these Western groups were truly concerned about the issue of torture, they would have long worked against it, but it is obvious that their only real issue is criticism of the US.
I have also been known to criticize the US, as well as the EU, but I have done so against policies or attitudes that have permitted Turkey to continue its gross human rights violations, instead of using this issue as a means of promoting a personal, ideological vendetta.
I truly despise all of these so-called "progressives" when they are, in fact, selfish in the extreme, and at the expense of hundreds of thousands of lives.
Posted by: Azad ||
06/02/2006 11:44 Comments ||
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#8
Sounds good to me, now if you can get North Korea, Sudan, Al-Qaida, Burma, China, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and about 50 other countries to stop you may have something. We arent really that bad when you look at the world as a whole are we?
I am aware that a little pain will have some of these thumbsucking momma's boys in Al Qaeda singing like a bird. I think we should dust of the rack, the thumbscrews and the wheel
The Canadian government has appealed a judge's decision to release on bail an Algerian man she had found to have lied about being part of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
On May 23 Federal Court Justice Eleanor Dawson ordered the release under tight conditions of the suspect, Mohamed Harkat, one of several Muslims detained since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
"We have reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Harkat poses a risk to national security," said Melisa Leclerc, a spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day in explaining why the government appealed Dawson's decision.
In the government's notice of appeal, filed on Tuesday, it referred to the fact that Dawson herself had found that, "in his testimony before the court, the respondent (Harkat) had been untruthful on a number of significant points."
Dawson had said she remained convinced that Harkat had lied under oath about his alleged association with Bin Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah and having assisted Islamic extremists who came to Canada. But she said her conditions would establish close enough supervision to prevent danger to Canada.
Harkat has been held in prison without charge since 2002 on a national security certificate on grounds that he was a threat to national security. Canada would like to deport him but Harkat says if he is sent to Algeria he will likely face torture or death.
As of Thursday afternoon, the Web site lobbying for Harkat's release said he was still in prison while his wife Sophie Harkat tried to raise the funds for his bail.
A government motion to stay Dawson's decision, or put it on hold, is to be heard in Ottawa on June 9.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/02/2006 00:41 ||
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Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) harshly criticized the Bush administration for "disdaining diplomacy" in favor of a confrontational and unilateral foreign policy that has hurt the United States' standing around the world and made it less safe. disdain? I feel that....for not confronting our enemies faster
In a speech Thursday in Los Angeles, the former (and perhaps future) Democratic Party presidential candidate warned that the mistakes of Iraq must not be repeated in the current standoff with Iran.
"War is the ultimate failure of diplomacy," Kerry told a gathering of the Pacific Council on International Policy. "Yet our current leadership has arrogantly discarded this basic principle . All too often they disdained diplomacy as little more than an inconvenient detour on the chosen path to armed conflict." chosen by our enemies, asshat
The result, he said, was an ill-advised rush to war in Iraq that alienated other governments and diminished sympathy for the U.S. generated by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. America's current isolation, and the presence of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq, is "playing right into Iranian hands . The Iranians are delighted," Kerry said.
Emphasizing that a nuclear-armed Iran would be "a very serious threat to the U.S. and our allies," Kerry contended that the most conservative estimates are that Tehran is at least five years away from developing atomic weapons. "There is time for diplomacy to work here," he said, but added that negotiating with Iran is "an uncertain proposition at best."
Kerry spoke before news broke of the agreement between six major powers, including the U.S., to offer an incentive package for Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
His timing is right up there with AlGore giving a Global Warming speech in a snowstorm
He hailed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent offer of direct negotiations with Iran, but said any talks "must be more than an effort to check the box on diplomacy as they move toward a confrontation."
The 21-year veteran of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee also had harsh words for the Iraqi government. The sight of politicians haggling over Cabinet seats in the midst of an undiminished insurgency is "a disgrace, and this administration ought to get tough," he said.
Oh, that's rich
He proposed intense U.S. pressure to force consensus, either by withholding reconstruction funds or threatening a unilateral withdrawal of troops.
I guess there isn't time for diplomacy to work there, eh John?
Kerry, who voted to give President Bush authorization to use force against Saddam Hussein in 2002, said he would attach an amendment to this summer's defense appropriations bill calling for a total withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by the end of this year. But he acknowledged that the idea would be unpopular. "I know I'm not going to get the majority of my own caucus."
But it'll help get those far-left voters
On domestic issues, Kerry predicted that rising public dissatisfaction with the Bush administration could translate into huge gains for Democratic candidates in November's midterm congressional elections.
"There is something bubbling up in America that I believe is going to be reflected in the polls," he said. revulsion for your return?
As for his own political ambitions, Kerry would say only that he is "thinking very hard" about another presidential run in 2008. "And I'm thinking about it a lot earlier than I'd like to because it's clear there are several other people also thinking about it," he said
"Terayza? Can I have $200 Million, puhleeeeeze?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/02/2006 14:00 ||
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#1
Yawn. Anything for attention. Still has 2008 delusions.
#2
hey Kerry - How about if we send Madam Allbright (and her Broach!) to Iran? She can make a unverifiable agreement with them - you know the like the one which worked so well with North Korea. Or the one Chamberlan make with Hitler - that worked so well too.
We can all have "Peace in our time!".
Posted by: Boogy Man ||
06/02/2006 14:30 Comments ||
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#3
Why is this traitor still breathing?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/02/2006 14:30 Comments ||
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#4
You Sir are NOT in charge.
You Sir will NEVER be in charge.
You Sir are nothing but a whiney pimple on the Governments Ass.
With Delusions that you matter.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/02/2006 14:34 Comments ||
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#5
I'm wishing Kerry's communist loving America hating father had practiced withdrawl.
Is his catsup queen wife still funding lawyers for captured porKoranimals?
#7
The brilliance of this speach and the timing is that the US is somewhat intending to start withdrawing troops by year's end. When that happens Kerry will try to take credit with the lefties who haven't paid attention or believed the Pentagon.
#12
Here's an idea for you, Jawn. How about you get your skinny white Ichabod Crane ass back to Washington and represent your constituents back here in Massachusetts, instead of running out to LA and giving the same bullshit speech that didn't work in 04? I know it's never bothered you before, but you at least pretend that you give a shit about what goes on back here once in awhile?
#13
"Kerry contended that the most conservative estimates are that Tehran is at least five years away from developing atomic weapons"
I don't know where he gets his info. Certainly not here at the Burg. The whole reason Iran is such an important issue is because they are probably a lot closer than 5 years from the bomb.
Also, nice way to spit in the face of our friends the Brits (and more than a dozen other countries) who have lost over 100 men in this conflict by calling our actions "unilateral". Can you imagine this arrogant bastard as President.
#14
"War is the ultimate failure of diplomacy," Kerry told a gathering"
Good God John, are you so much of an asshat that you actually believe that EVIL FUCKS can be reasoned with? I'm....I'mm.....aw hell with it, you and your leftist scum aren't worth talking to.
#16
Have you released your FULL military records yet, Lieutenant JGSenator Kennedy, jrKerry? You know, like you promised some 522 days ago?
You, sir, are a piece of unadulterated bullsh$$. The best thing for you to do is to retire and go home, before enough people get so thoroughly disgusted with your grandstanding they invite you to an old-fashioned necktie party.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/02/2006 15:55 Comments ||
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#19
'Kerry, who voted to give President Bush authorization to use force against Saddam Hussein in 2002, said he would attach an amendment to this summer's defense appropriations bill calling for a total withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by the end of this year. But he acknowledged that the idea would be unpopular. "I know I'm not going to get the majority of my own caucus."
But it'll help get those far-left voters '
More importantly to Kerry, it will force a dilemma on Biden, Bayh, but most especially on the Junior Senator from the great state of New York. He voted the same way they did on the original res to go to war, so this is the chance to differentiate himself from them, and to show hes more dovish on IRaq than they are. If its harmful to the Demo party, he doesnt really care. (it wont be harmful to the country, as it has no chance of passing)
#22
Never mind the endless stream of sewage that flows out his blowhole, what's up with that lame-ass salute in the pic? It's been 15 years since I wore the uniform and I can rustle up a better one than that in my sleep.
Makes me question his whole 'military career'! LOL!
Posted by: The Pman ||
06/02/2006 20:13 Comments ||
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#23
I LOVE that pic! Reminds me of Gilligan
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/02/2006 20:36 Comments ||
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#24
The facial expression is the result of giving a hamster mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
#26
Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful trip.
That started on a Vietnam tour,
aboard a tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty exaggeratin' man,
His Theresa was rich and sure.
So he candidate set sail one day,
for a three year campaign tour, a three year campaign tour
The Swiftees started getting rough,
John's service record was conveniently lost.
Thanks to the clueless and snooty crew,
the campaign would be lost; the campaign would be lost.
The campaign then locked in, my friends,
on uncharted campaign style,
with John F'n Kerry, his Terreeeza too,
the Pretty Boy, and his Wife,
with Michael Moore, and with Howard Dean,
here on John F'n's Isle.
Former President Jimmy Carter's center in Atlanta received more than $1 million from the family of Osama bin Laden, according to an investigative report.
A brother of the al-Qaida terrorist leader, Bakr M. bin Laden, funneled the money to the Carter Center in Atlanta through the Saudi Bin Laden Group, according to Melanie Morgan, chairman of a group opposing the Georgia Democrat called the Censure Carter Committee.
Morgan, a WorldNetDaily columnist, based her claim on papers she acquired from the Carter Center.
She points to a report showing Carter met with 10 of Osama bin Laden's brothers early in 2000. The former president and his wife, Rosalyn, followed up the meeting with a breakfast with Bakr bin Laden in September 2000 and secured the first $200,000 towards the more than $1 million that has gone to the Carter Center.
Morgan says the connection between Carter and the bin Laden family is exactly the kind of charge leveled by Michael Moore against President Bush in the film "Fahrenheit 9/11."
#2
It would help people around the world (think: "sanctioning" elections) if this scumball was brought low and discredited. Not that it will be widely reported, of course, but it will get attention in the straight press and the blogosphere. A massive slapdown of this socialist tranzi bitch is long overdue.
#4
"Forgive me for brokering the deal that resulted in a nuclear-armed North Korea; forgive me for brokering the deal between Omar al-Bashar of Sudan and his neighbors Egypt and Uganda, propping him up long enough to commit the Darfur genocide; Forgive me for hosting Robert Mugabe in the white house after I declared the fair elections (in which Mugabe lost) null and void because the two main terrorist groups (one of which was headed by Mugabe) did not participate; Forgive me for terminating our relations with Taiwan and recognizing (after Congress went home for Christmas) Communist China, the most murderous regime in the history of the planet; Forgive me for remaining silent in the face of the genocide performed by Pol Pot in Cambodia; Forgive me for being Arafat's lackey and flying to Saudi Arabia to get the terrorist PLO's funding restored; Forgive me from arbitrarily removing support from the Shah of Iran, under the guise that I needed to protect 'human rights', resulting in the regime being replaced with one of the biggest human rights oppressors in history, Ayatollah Khomeini; Forgive me for going to Cuba and kissing Castro's ass, telling him I believed his account of Cuba's bioterror threat over my own government's; Forgive me for buddying up to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, supporting a regime that commits genocide, for certifying their fraudulent election before the votes were even counted, and helping Zenawi murder of hundreds of peaceful election protestors on college campuses; Forgive me for hugging and kissing Hugo Chavez, and declaring the fraud-riddled Venezuelan elections legitimate; and lately, forgive me for taking a million from the Bin Ladens......yes, forgive me for all these things and a thousand more. Why? Because I build houses for poor people.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/02/2006 16:49 Comments ||
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#8
No fan of Jimmah, but the folks at Powerline of all places have pointed out it's a big family (50 brothers and sisters) and the money came from the legit construction business side which washed their hands of the nutty uncle they wish was in the attic a long time ago.
#9
Huh? Clean or not, associated with OBL or not, why in the world would a Saudi family donate $1 Million to the Carter Library?
Nothing closer to home or more constructive? Wake up thinking "What can we do for Jimmah, today?", do they?
Rotten fish and sulfur fumaroles smell better. The old saw "Follow the money." is based upon hard-won experience. If you know anything, anything at all about Arabs, then you know this is quid pro quo for something.
#12
I blame every politician that takes Saudi money, not just Carter. Yes, that would clean out most of congress if we shot all of them. Come to think of it, that isn't such a bad idea.
Pakistan is to receive up to $6.5bn (£3.5bn) from the World Bank under a new four-year assistance programme.
At least $1bn will go on reconstruction after last October's earthquake which killed more than 73,000 people and left 3.3 million others homeless.
The aid is more than double the $2.73bn Pakistan received from the bank between 2002 and 2005.
Transport and energy, key areas in sustaining growth and tackling poverty, will see considerable spending.
Sustained growth
World Bank country director John Wall said the money was to help Pakistan prosper.
"The country has moved from crisis to growth, laying the groundwork for sustained economic growth and significant poverty reduction," he said.
He added the bank would "substantially ramp up support to Pakistan and focus on the areas that are most critical for the country's poor and most vulnerable".
Pakistan's economy grew by 3.3% on average between 1997 and 2002 and in 2004-2005 it expanded 8.4%.
But its growth, while encouraging, was not assured, said Praful Patel, World Bank's vice president for the South Asia region.
"Sustained growth will require continued sound macroeconomic management along with further improvements in the investment climate and faster progress in improving the quality of life for all Pakistani citizens, especially women," Mr Patel added.
Posted by: john ||
06/02/2006 17:49 ||
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#1
Money and weapons... Perv must be ecstatic...
Posted by: john ||
06/02/2006 17:58 Comments ||
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#2
Make its disbursement contingent upon the capture and turnover of bin Laden.
#3
Remember Paul Wolfowitz is in charge of the World Bank. I would suggest that it is a simple equation:
1) Perv has only a tenuous hold on power. He is just the biggest dog in a pack, full of other dogs waiting to take over.
2) He really wants to be in control of his whole country. No more little enclaves where they make trouble under the protection of some other dog.
3) With the aid the US has given him so far, he has strengthened his military, and purged a lot of disloyals from it and the ISI. Still way far from perfect.
4) He has also made considerable effort in both the Wazoos and Baluchistan. This is a high-risk effort on his part. The performance of the military in these regions is a LOT better than it used to be, and they keep getting stronger.
5) Eventually, we might give him Iranian Baluchistan. It is a potentially very rich region, full of resources that Pakistan could use. And for once, he could finally stop the Baluchs from making civil war on him. Lotta payback.
6) Lastly, Pakistan does have nuclear weapons. This means that instability is no longer an option, as some other nuclear power would have to get in there like a shot to keep them falling into the wrong hands. This is James Bond time, which is something everybody wants to avoid.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/02/2006 00:48 ||
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#1
its so apparent who did it, Nepal has to take the 400 year old blinders OFF. Time to WAKE UP!
Posted by: bk ||
06/02/2006 9:28 Comments ||
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#2
Today, even the Maoists are calling for a democratic republic ...
Suuuuure ... you betcha! We all know how long that's gonna last once they take power. Anyone wanna buy some Florida real estate? A bridge? Some backpack nukes?
Former prime ministers Mian Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto are expected to meet on Friday night in Dubai. Talking to Geo television, PML-N leader Ishaq Dar said it would be a routine meeting. "They are meeting because of their presence in Dubai. It is not a scheduled meeting but a part of political process," he said. Commenting on Opposition Leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman's statement that there was nothing new in the Charter of Democracy, Dar said Maulana had been misquoted. "Democratic leaders cannot deny the Charter of Democracy," Dar said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2006 00:00 ||
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KARACHI: The Rehbar Council representing Barelvi parties has extended its deadline for a mass protest against the government's failure to arrest the culprits of the April 11 Nishtar Park bombing that killed at least 60 and injured over 100 people. "Some sensitive quarters have assured us that they will arrest the culprits of the massacre in a few days and make their arrests public before June 18," Mufti Munibur Rehman, convener of the Rehbar Council, told Daily Times. He said that after the May 27 strike, top officials promised Barelvi leaders that they would soon solve the mystery. "After this assurance we decided to extend our deadline to June 18," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
If it was a Bare Elvis, would it be the young one, or the old one?
A 21-page booklet documenting the stories of six Jordanian martyrs in Iraq and attributed to writers from the Information Department of the Mujahideen Shura Council, Abu al-Baraa al-Sharqi, Abu Abdullah al-Maqdasi and Abu Ayoob al-Najari, was recently distributed amongst several jihadist forums. A preface emphasizing jihad as a religious duty, incumbent upon all Muslims to protect Islamic lands with their souls, money, and progeny, leads into a Table of Contents listing the names of the martyrs: Abu Hammam al-Urduni, Abu al-Baraa al-Urduni, Abu Radwan al-Urduni, Abu al-Abbas al-Urduni, Abu al-Waleed al-Urduni, and Abu Yihye al-Urdini. The descriptions of the men are in similar fashion to past martyrs biographies produced by the group, presenting their origin, faith in Allah that lit their jihad spirit, and the location of their death.
Coming from myriad backgrounds, one martyr a lawyer, another a martial artist, an engineer, and a former Christian, each man was assigned a task within the al-Qaeda structure that reflected their aptitude, despite their want for martyrdom in the suicide brigades, al-Baraa bin Malek and Abu Dagana al-Ansari. Abu Hammam, a second degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do, is noted by the biographers of having a wife and daughter, and traveling to Iraq from Jordan for jihad, arriving in al-Qaim. There he was placed in charge of physical training and martial arts for the mujahideen, and eventually joined Omar Brigade to assassinate spies and collaborators. He ultimately died in al-Yusefiya in a confrontation with American forces. Another martyr, Abu Radwan al-Urduni, the lawyer, is said to have lived in America for some time and following the September 11, 2001 attacks, became a fervent supporter of religious duties. He traveled to Jordan to spread calls to jihad, receiving inspiration from the books of Abu Muhammad al-Maqdasi. Like other members he went to Iraq and enlisted in the martyrdom groups, but was accepted into it and eventually carried out an operation deep in the territories of the enmy, purportedly killing 150 soldiers and wounding 300.
The stories of Abu al-Baraa, Abu al-Waleed, Abu al-Abbas, and Abu Yihye tell of similar devotion to jihad, the latter of which is said to have resided in Canada for six months in an attempt to travel to Chechnya. Some of the martyrs participated in recording and distributing computer encoded video of the groups operations, Abu Yihye publishing a recorded message in English threatening Americans, which was delivered to an American base in al-Qaim and purportedly caused great fear and anxiety. Individual strength, desire, and capabilities of the men are described, not only to document their lives, but according to the authors in the preface, to give Muslims thought as they consider jihad or actively participate.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/02/2006 01:00 ||
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The U.S. military has given troops in Iraq a laser device to temporarily blind drivers who ignore warnings at vehicle checkpoints, the Pentagon said on Thursday. Army Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, defended its use as legal and said the devices were intended to prevent civilians from being shot. "There have been numerous incidents that tragically have resulted in civilian deaths" in which drivers approaching U.S. military checkpoints have failed to heed warnings from troops, who in some cases have opened fire, he said.
The U.S. military is fitting some M-4 rifles used by U.S. forces in Iraq with a tube-shaped device that is about 10 1/2 inches (27 cm) long that shines a laser beam. Venable stressed that the devices do not cause permanent blindness. "They don't blind people. It's like shining a big light in your eyes," Venable said. "I think the term is optical incapacitation -- dazzlers as opposed to something that will blind you."
I can't wait 'til those show up in the Baghdad souks...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Brings new meaning to "deer in the headlights".
#3
Does it have to be aimed straight at the eyes to be effective? Or can it be beamed at a larger area? If the former, it will be difficult to use in a stress situation and less than ideal conditions (movement, dust, dirty windshield).
#4
Who wants to be the poor sap who has to stand directly in front of an onrushing vehicle and calmy shoot this thing in the eyes of the driver?
What happens to the speeding vehicle now that the driver is temporarily blinded?
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/02/2006 8:22 Comments ||
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#5
Yes, even with innocent casualties in mind, I'd say than form an US grunt pov, a .50/12,7mm HMG does and still would make much more sense. Of course, it's less PC.
#6
THese are really effective and coupled with a remote weapon platform the personnel manning the checkpoint can be out of danger. It is a means to determine intent. If they keep coming after the laser hits them, then they or their vehicle should be disabled.
Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again...
NUSEIRAT REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip (AFP) - Cash-strapped Palestinian civil servants will begin to receive their salaries within the next two days, Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya said. And you can trust him because he's not like the others...
"Tomorrow or the day after, the banks will start to pay the salaries and grant loans to civil servants," Haniya announced during a sermon at a mosque in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. ...or the day after that. Or Monday. Or maybe next week. Or...
"We have a lot of money but the United States is preventing the banks from transferring it," the prime minister added. See! It's the Great Satan! Or the Jooooos! Or the Boogy Man!
None of the more than 160,000 civil servants employed by the Palestinian Authority has been paid since February, affecting the livelihoods of around one million people or a quarter of those living in Gaza and the West Bank.
A Palestinian fiscal crisis has been greatly exacerbated since the European Union and US suspended direct aid after Hamas took office in March, given the Islamists' refusal to renounce violence or to recognise Israel. Israel has also suspended the payment of customs duties, worth around 60 million dollars a month, to the Palestinian Authority on goods that transit through its territory.
Haniya had said Tuesday that around 40,000 of the workforce would be paid in full in the coming days if they earn less than 330 dollars a month. He said the rest would receive loans from the government.
Which means they'll be indebted to do whatever Hamas tells them ...
On Wednesday, his finance minister Omar Abdelrazeq said that cash-strapped Palestinian civil servants would receive partial payment in the next two days. Yep. Any day now.
Ahead of a looming deadline from Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas for the differing factions to agree on a common platform or face a public plebiscite, Haniya said people did not have time for referendums. "Our people don't have time for elections and referendums because they need to concentrate on ways to end the siege and foil the world conspiracy against our cause," he said. Here's an idea. Change the name to "Whinyland". At least we'll all appreciate the honesty...
#1
...foil the world conspiracy against our cause...
Oh ya. The man is keeping you down. Fight the power. Not like you are doing a damn good job of keeping yourselves down and the man doesn't have to do a damn thing...
Posted by: Boogy Man ||
06/02/2006 12:07 Comments ||
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#3
the banks will start to pay the salaries and grant loans
There'll be a bit more 'loan granting' than 'salary paying', I bet. The most usurious of check-cashing storefronts, and all those with automatic weapons are entitled to be at the front of the line.
#5
I'm almost thinking it would be better if they all got about 12% of what they're owed...the seething, gunsex, and outcry would be excellent, especially if word was spread to Fatah and IJ that Hamas guys all got their full pay...
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/02/2006 13:09 Comments ||
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#6
"We have a lot of money but the United States is preventing the banks from transferring it"
Clearly this is for domestic consumption but one has to wonder if even the Paleos swallow this BS.
Al Qaeda terror attacks in S. Israel and central Damascus and Zarqawis outburst against Shiites and Hizballah are part and parcel of same offensive. DEBKAfiles al Qaeda experts see the events of the last 24 hours as segments of the same broad-based strategic initiative. In Beirut, the anti-Syrian Lebanese government coalition, working with the UN, the United States, France and Israel, have made no progress in getting the Lebanese Shiite Hizballah terror group and its 15-20,000-strong militia to disarm.
Thursday night, June 1, this coalition found support in a most improbable quarter: al Qaedas Iraq commander, Abu Musab al Zarqawi.
In a three-part audiotape over the Internet, Zarqawi said that as long as Shiites whom he calls wolves in sheeps clothing. are not finished off, true Islam will not prevail. Calling on fellow Sunnis in Iraq to reject reconciliation and national unity as a weapon of surrender, the speaker blasted Iraqs Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali Sistani as the leader of infidelity and atheism. Zarqawi also attacked the Mahdi Army militia led by radical Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr for giving up the fight against US forces.
But where the al Qaeda broke new ground was in his attack on Hizballah whose deployment along the Lebanese-Israel frontier, he claimed, interferes with Sunni (al Qaeda) plans to strike Israel from there. The pledges of aid to the Palestinians given by Hizballahs head, Hassan Nasrallah were castigated as empty talk.
DEBKAfiles al Qaeda experts link this peroration to al Qaedas operations against the multinational force in Sinai, on May 31, and the apparently coordinated strikes on an Israeli patrol in the Negev and key buildings in central Damascus of June 2.
For one, Zarqawis followers were willing to take on the IDF in a head-on clash; for the second, to strike at the most sensitive installations in central Damascus. The two attacks are evidence of his mounting confidence in the operational capabilities of al Qaedas Middle East networks outside as well as inside Iraq. Hizballah is now investigating the suspicion that the murder of Mahmoud Majzub and his brother Nidal in Sidon, South Lebanon, on May 26 - for which the Israeli Mossad was blamed - was the work of a Zarqawi cell as a prelude to his broadside against Shiites and the Hizballah in particular.
Majzub, according to DEBKAfiles counter-terror sources, was Hizballahs senior liaison man with the Palestinian controllers who run suicide bombers from the West Bank against Israeli targets.
Zaraqawis vicious anti-Shiite rhetoric does not mean that the al Qaeda leader has withdrawn from collaborative projects with Shiite Iran and the Hizballah when their aims converge. Ideological differences do not interfere with the practical goals shared by the three terrorist elements.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/02/2006 09:11 ||
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#2
Starting to feel like the real war is the Shia versus the Sunni - we're just pawns in this game. The battle for which sect gets to take over the world with their grand khalifate.
Al Q for the Sunni side and Mahmoud for the Shiite. This is their battle for supremacy and it seems whoever slaughters more infidels gets to lead the game.
Pawns - because we're next, after the blood drains away and either Sunni or Shia sects win. Just pieces in the game for bragging rights 'til their internal slaughter is done. Best if the we just run away until they're ready to come get.
Gotta a lotta killing of muslims to do first - but it's fun to kill and show us what's coming.
So many levels in this one. never been a war quite like it. MSM keeps having to dig for images and comparison from unrelated wars past instead of analysing and thinking and gathering facts and putting 2 + 2 together correctly. But, then, they weren't trained to write investigative journalism or analyse - just how to spin an (often uniformed) opinion into sales dollars and look pretty on camera. Facts is reporting -opinions are not.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa on Thursday criticised conditions set by Western governments and Israel that say the Hamas-led Palestinian government must renounce violence and recognise Israel before official contacts are possible. "The Palestinian question is one of military occupation. It is not a terrorist issue. And it is one that should be solved through negotiations," Moussa said at a news conference during a meeting between China and Arab governments. "We say that Palestine cannot be forced to accept any of these so-called conditions," he said.
Moussa was responding to a request for comment on China's appeal this week for the Palestinian government to renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept "agreements already reached" - conditions set by Israel and Western governments for official contact. Moussa said the "core issue" is that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, which he said should end before any conditions can be introduced.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
3dc's plan would "force them " QED and PDQ.
Cut off the water and power and close their Borders. I give them a few days to come around.
#4
the level of hate these guys have is very sad. Their agenda that they can't be forced to accept any of these so called conditions, I can think of a few ways to convince them.
Posted by: Jan ||
06/02/2006 5:03 Comments ||
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Genreral, would you rather have an attack by some 'so-called' tanks?
A Palestinian Authority child is depicted urinating on the Statue of Liberty in the May 25th issue of Al-Risala, a Hamas weekly newspaper. Palestinian Media Watch reports that in this week's cartoon, the Statue of Liberty is holding a book entitled "Democracy."
PA media have consistently targeted the Statue of Liberty in the past, according to PMW. The Statue of Liberty, also known as Lady Liberty, is an internationally-recognized American symbol of freedom and democracy. Such ideas are apparently anathema to the PA; at a rally in March 2006, the newspaper Al-Hayat Al Jadida accused the West of "trying to penetrate Islamic youth with dubious things such as the ideas of democracy."
Hamas is by no means the only PA party blasting the United States using caricatures, however. Newspapers linked to PA President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party have printed many such venomous cartoons. Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Al-Quds and Al-Ayam newspapers have all pictured Lady Liberty as a terrorist, an arsonist burning down the world, a prostitute, and a prisoner of U.S. security agencies, among others.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
interesting, if they get so upset with cartoons about mohammad, it's interesting that they creat these cartoons.
Posted by: Jan ||
06/02/2006 4:55 Comments ||
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#2
The presumption that this "hurts" or might incite Americans demonstrates the shoe-size IQ at work.
June 2, 2006: After many delays, the U.S. Air Force has finally begun production of the 250 pound Small Diameter Bomb (SDB). The SDB was supposed to enter service in 2005, in the wake of the 2004 introduction of the 500 pound JDAM. But there were many technical problems with the SDB. That's because this was not just another "dumb bomb" with a GPS guidance kit attached. The SDB had a more effective warhead design and guidance system. It's shape is more like that of a missile than a bomb (70 inches long, 190 millimeters in diameter), with the guidance system built in. The smaller "bang" from the SDB will result in fewer civilian casualties when used in an urban area. Friendly troops can be closer to the target when an SDB explodes. While the 500, 1,000 and 2,000 pound bombs have a spectacular effect when they go off, they are often overkill. The troops on the ground would rather have more, smaller, GPS bombs available. This caused the 500 pound JDAM to get developed quickly and put into service.
But what the air force really wants is to equip the B-1 with SDBs, as this bomber could carry as many as 216 of them. The new F-22 and F-35 warplanes are stealthy and normally carry their bombs internally. This limits how many they can carry, but with the SDB, an F-22 can carry eight of them. The Navy F-18 could easily carry 24 SDBs. The SDBs are carried on a special carriage, which holds four of them. The carriage is mounted on a bomber just like a single larger (500, 1,000 or 2,000) pound bomb would be.
The SDB is basically an unpowered missile, which can glide long distances. This makes the SDB even more compact, capable and expensive (about $70,000 each.) JDAM (a guidance kit attached to a dumb bomb) only cost about $26,000. The small wings allow the SDB to glide up to 70-80 kilometers (from high altitude.) SDB also has a hard front end that can punch through several feet of rock or concrete, and a warhead that does more damage than the usual dumb bomb (explosives in a metal casing.) The SDB is thus the next generation of smart bombs.
There was never any no point in building a 250 pound dumb bomb, as they would be too inaccurate to be useful. So it made sense to merge the guidance kit and the bomb itself. But the superiority of guided bombs is such that the next generation of heavier (500-2000 pound) smart bombs will probably be like the SDB.
The problem is that the SDB has required more testing that expected, and it's availability for combat has been delayed several times. When the SDB does appear this Fall, carried by F-15Es, it will have to compete with the army's new Excalibur 155mm GPS guided shell. This is a hundred pound weapon. The army prefers its GPS guided munitions as small as possible, so that there is less risk of civilian casualties, and so U.S. troops can be closer to the target. In ground combat, it's often important to get your troops into the bombed out target as soon as possible, to take prisoners or recover documents and other valuable intelligence material. Often, the bombed out target just provides another position for advancing friendly troops. Thus, in urban fighting, the smallest smart bomb currently available, the 500 pounder, was often too much. The army also has a 227mm GPS guided MLRS rocket, but this weapon has a 200 pound warhead that packs a pretty large bang. Thus the hundred pound Excalibur is more eagerly anticipated than the 250 pound SDB. But since both will arrive in the combat zone at the same time, it will be interesting to see how the troops evaluate both of them. The infantry don't care who a smart bomb, or shell, belongs to, as long as the damn thing gets the job done.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/02/2006 13:41 ||
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#1
Saw a test of the Excalibur on some show on Discovery... DAMN!
They fired it off-angle -- about 30 degrees off from the bearing to the target. It hit.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
06/02/2006 14:28 Comments ||
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#2
I'd kind of like to see actual smart shells that could be loaded into a large size howitzer and fired at the enemy from a firebase (less fuel and artie boys don't get shot down).
#3
I can envision scenerios where one weapon or the other has the advanage. The big advantage of the arty round is it's rapid responce time. And the big advantage of the aircraft delivered SDB is that an advancing US column wont out run it.
The Air Forces newest cruise missile was successfully launched for the first time May 18. The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile - Extended Range was released from a B-1B Lancer and cruised more than 400 nautical miles to its target at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. "This was the culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of people within the JASSM-ER team," said Lt. Col. Stephen Davis, JASSM Block 2 Squadron commander. "Everything went as planned and the launch was a total success."
The stealthy cruise missile is an autonomous, conventional munition designed to defeat heavily defended, high-priority enemy targets deep behind enemy lines. Although JASSM-ER looks the same and provides all the capabilities of the baseline missile, it has a new engine and carries more fuel. Those changes enable JASSM-ER to fly more than 500 nautical miles as compared to JASSMs range of more than 200 nautical miles. "These low-risk modifications were made without disturbing the missiles outer shape and size, thus reducing the cost and development time for the effort," said Mike VandenBoom, JASSM-ER chief engineer.
Like the original JASSM, the extended range missile uses its inertial navigation and global positioning systems to find its intended target and then its infrared seeker for pinpoint accuracy right before impact. JASSM-ER can be released in virtually any weather and with its extended range will provide another tool to combatant commanders once in the Air Force inventory. "JASSM-ER couples lethal accuracy with extended standoff range, giving the warfighter a reliable and safe option for eliminating critical first strike defenses," said Col. John Griggs, 308th Armament Systems Group commander.
The B-1B is JASSM-ERs threshold aircraft, but plans are in the works to integrate onto other systems. "Like the baseline version, JASSM-ER will be capable of employment from the B-2, B-52, F-15 and F-16," said JASSM-ER test engineer Buff Tibbetts. This launch was the first in a series of flight tests that are scheduled to run through December 2008.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/02/2006 11:59 ||
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Posted by: ed ||
06/02/2006 08:21 ||
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#1
Shutting Down Hostile ICBMs
Somewhere, President Reagan and Dr. Teller are both smiling...
Posted by: N guard ||
06/02/2006 12:45 Comments ||
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#2
Ultimately, the uncertainty about the success of an attack created by the deployment of missile defense systems combined with the certainty that an attempted attack will bring a response, will be one of the biggest reasons for a country to decide not to push the button.
Of course this assumes that the Mad Mullah's are reasonable.
#3
The improving success rates for intercepts are encouraging, but the issue of saturation isn't addressed. I recognize that revealing exactly how many inbounds can be intercepted for a given interceptor unit is not sensible, but I can't help but wonder about that aspect as it is the one thing that could make a failure of a perfect interceptor system.
From the safety of a helicopter, the battlefield looks like paradise. Hillsides are lush with coconut trees and aquamarine waters lap golden sandbars. But the Philippine island of Jolo is a no-go area for sun-seeking tourists as one of the frontlines in the fight against Islamist extremists in Asia.
The remote island, around 950km south of Manila, is the stronghold of Abu Sayyaf, a homegrown group of militants, and a training ground for members of Al Qaeda-backed Jemaah Islamiah (JI), security sources say.
Alarmed by South-east Asias jihadists using Jolo and other parts of the restive Philippine south as bases, the United States has been sending trainers and advisers to help soldiers in its former colony since 2002.
JAKARTA: Indonesia will tell the United States not to meddle in regional anti-terrorism efforts when US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visits next week, Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono said on Thursday. Rumsfeld is due in Indonesia from June 6-8 and was to discuss security in the piracy-prone Malacca Straits, military cooperation and anti-terrorism efforts with senior Indonesian officials, Sudarsono said.
"We will impress on the United States that the fight against terrorism in Indonesia and other ASEAN countries should be handled by respective countries and not based on the desire of the United States," he said. "We will tell the United States that fighting terrorism using their ways will only be detrimental to the United States because it will only create more anger and antipathy against America."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2006 00:00 ||
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Fat chance the USA will obey - Indonesia unfortunately has a long history of quietly repressing non-Muslim ethnic groups or communities, and has made no qualms about desiring to unify wid the Philippines and other regional areas under Islam.
#2
If the Regional authorities would do the job, there would be no reason for Rumsfeld or anyone in the USA to get involved. The US would prefer that local authorities handle these problems that have worldwide implications, themselves. Unfortunately, seldomly does this happen, more due to political pressures than any duty driven factors. The writer is a US citizen with 30 years of experience living and working overseas and has never been a US Government employee.
DAMASCUS/ALEPPO: The three Mohammads are all sure of one thing. "I want to be the imam of a mosque," says 10-year-old Mohammad, on his way home from a lesson in Aleppo's Islamic school. "I want to be a preacher too," chimes his friend, also named after the Prophet, dressed in his finest black gelab. "We like to study the Koran," explains the third Mohammad, also a resident of Syria's second city, "because it's our religion." Syria is witnessing a revival of Islam in public and private life two decades after the secular government fought a bloody campaign to suppress an armed uprising against the state by Islamic extremists.
"The relationship between the government and the direction of Islam is now suitable," said Mohammad Habbash, the country's leading Islamist MP and head of the Islamic Studies Center in Damascus. "We can now speak about what role Islam can play in people's lives." Habbash's recent invitation to lecture army cadets on religious morals - the first time the Syrian military has officially cooperated with Islamist figures since the Baath Party came to power in 1963 - is just one of a series of recent moves to allow Islam into public life.
In 1982, following a three-year armed campaign against the state by the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, security officers ordered the shelling of the central city of Hama, which the Islamist group had declared an Islamic emirate. The offensive resulted in the deaths of an estimated 20,000 people.
Hamed Haji, 73, the muezzin whose call to prayer draws students - like the three young Mohammads - to Aleppo's Islamic school, remembers the violence.
"In the 1980s, bullets hit the minaret," he recalls, pointing up to the pock-marked circles of stone. "And beards were not allowed; but we have more freedoms now."
Indeed, the past few months have seen a number of moves aimed at institutionalizing Islam into Syria's old secular state. Mosques have been reopened between prayer times, the president has begun ending public speeches with invocations to God, and state auditoriums have been used for the country's first Koran reading competition. In February, Syrian protesters burned and looted the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus in a display of anger against the publication of cartoons negatively depicting the Prophet Mohammad. At the time, security officials did little to quell the demonstrations, which were organized by Islamic study centers in the capital. Among citizens, overt signs of religious devotion are becoming more frequent. An increasing number of young women are wearing headscarves, while green flags - representing Islam - adorned private shops on the Prophet's birthday in April.
Though three quarters of Syria's population are Sunni, the ruling party has long drawn its leaders from the minority Alawi sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, which - along with Druze and other Muslim sects - makes up just 16 percent of the national population. Pan-Arab and secular, the Baath Party has historically ruled on a domestic platform of protecting the rights of Syria's minorities.
For Habbash, the state's changing approach to Islam comes against a backdrop of regional upheaval since the launch of the US-led "war on terrorism," which has seen Islamist parties winning elections in Egypt, Iraq and the Palestinian territories and an increasingly influential role for long-time Syrian ally and theocratic republic Iran. "The Syrian regime realized it has the same agenda as conservative Islamists," says Habbash. "They've formed an alliance to resist the current US administration's plan to change the region."
However, Aleppo's mufti, Ibrahim Salkeeni, warns that US intervention in the Middle East has also served to radicalize many young Syrians. "American practices in Iraq and Palestine are pushing some young people in Aleppo to become like time bombs - and we don't know when these will explode," he says. "The more the pressure increases, the more explosions there will be."
Syria, however, still considers the Muslim Brotherhood to be an outlawed group. The Brotherhood's exiled leader, Ali Sadreddine Bayanouni, has united with former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam to lead an opposition group calling for regime change in Damascus. Association with the group is punishable by death.
For Mohammad Akam, professor of Arabic-language studies at Aleppo University, the state's increasing acceptance of Islam's role in society is a welcome development. But, he adds, the new strategy is no substitute for the reform of an outdated political system. "The conflict between the state and the Muslim Brotherhood was actually a conflict of ideologies," he says. "We need a party without ideology. Between secularism and freedom, I prefer freedom. Secularism is a kind of ideology, but democracy is a way of including all."
Posted by: Steve ||
06/02/2006 12:17 ||
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Isn't it peculiar that Baathists ruled Iraq as a SUNNI religious minority group and they rule Syria as a SHIA religious minority. I don't know that it means anything, but it strikes me as peculiar.
#2
It means Baathist ideology (such as it is) is a convenient way for an ethnic minority to hold power. The shared religion of each tribe serves as a reinforcing bond but doesn't provide any of the real motivations for action or (political) belief.
There's simply no getting around the fact that you can't eat petroleum. Iran's 132.5 trillion barrels in proved oil reserves--10.2% of the world total--are of little benefit unless they're earning money. A trade embargo would hit Iran especially hard, because its economy and government budget are inordinately dependent on petrodollars. Oil shipments account for about 25% of GDP, represent 90% of total export earnings and provide as much as 50% of fiscal receipts.
Further, the country imports about one-third of its gasoline. Additional gasoline supplies and other oil products are refined in Tehran from 60,000 barrels a day (bbl/d) in imported crude that arrives via pipeline from the Caspian Sea in a swap arrangement. In Iran, gasoline, like foodstuffs, is heavily subsidized--to the tune of $3 billion this year--as part as the regime's strategy to buy off public opinion. With gasoline retailing at just 40 cents a gallon, consumption, not surprisingly, has been growing by 8% to 10% a year.
In the six months ended March, Iranian production was down 1.3% from a year earlier versus a comparable gain of 1.5% for OPEC, excluding Iran and Iraq. Compared with the six months ended March 2002, Iran's output in the latest six-month period was up 13.4% against a 21.7% increase for the eight members of OPEC sans Iran and Iraq.
What Tehran knows, and what the outside world has yet to grasp, is that an international trade embargo would hurt Iran infinitely more than it would hurt the U.S.
For oil-importing countries, even though Iran exports roughly 2.7 million bbl/d in petroleum, a complete cutoff of these shipments could be offset in large measure by increased OPEC and non-OPEC output, greatly diminishing the dreaded prospect of $100-a-barrel oil. Saudi Arabia has the most untapped capacity, in the order of 1.3 million to 1.4 million bbl/d. Other OPEC members, according to the International Energy Agency, have spare capacity of 1.1 million bbl/d, not including Iraq's estimated 700,000 bbl/d. With a total of 2.4 million to 3.1 million bbl/d in idle capacity, OPEC alone could offset a loss of Iranian exports. Furthermore, global oil consumption is anticipated to grow in the range of 1.4 million to 1.6 million bbl/d this year, while new supply is expected to increase by 1.2 million to 1.3 million bbl/d. Much of the imbalance is expected to be covered by OPEC exports of LNG.
Oil's fungibility notwithstanding, Asia in general and Japan in particular would be hardest hit by a cutoff of Iranian crude. (The U.S., Canada, Britain and Germany, among others, no longer import Iranian oil.)
Besides, it's not like we haven't been through this before. Following the 1991 Gulf War, Iraqi oil exports fell by some 2.3 million bbl/d to a mere 61,750 bbl/d between 1991 and 1996. Even now, Iranian exports are way below their pre-revolution high of 5.5 million bbl/d, which was equal to 19.2% of OPEC's 1974 crude and products shipments. Thirty years later, Iran shipped three million bbl/d, or 11.7% of OPEC exports.
To be sure, there are other risks to global oil supply--notably in Nigeria, Venezuela, Ecuador, Chad, Russia and Iraq. But should it be necessary, the U.S. could always play its trump card--namely, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Established after the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, the reserve has a current inventory of 688.6 million barrels of oil, sufficient to provide about two months of U.S. import protection. Were, say, 500,000 bbl/d to be siphoned off to partially offset a loss of Iranian crude, the stockpile would last more than three-and-a-half years.
Iran doesn't have the world over a barrel. It's the other way around. The economic and fiscal squeeze of new trade sanctions could indeed become so painful as to prompt regime change.
#1
"The economic and fiscal squeeze of new trade sanctions could indeed become so painful as to prompt regime change."
Regime change is not always as easy as it seems, just ask and Zimbob or Nork about the "economic and fiscal squeeze."
Posted by: Enriching B. Hard II ||
06/02/2006 11:48 Comments ||
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#2
Oh right, we have them just where we want them. Only thing is, I don't think they know that. You cant reason with a lunatic. "Madness has no logic, but it may have a goal".-Spock
Russia has begun works in the Syrian port of Tartus seeking to built a full-scale naval base for the ships of the Black Sea Fleet, currently based in Ukraines Sevastopol, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources in the Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Russian Navy. The paper noted that this is the first time Russia is setting up a military base outside the CIS since the fall of the USSR and that the base will allow Moscow to pursue its own line in the Middle East.
Russia has also started work in the port of Latakia in Syria, the newspaper said. The base in Tartus and the new mooring in Latakia will be able to serve the needs of the Black Sea Fleet and possibly the North Sea Fleet as well.
The newspaper quoted its sources as saying that in the nearest future the Russian Navy will form a squadron headed by the Moskva missile cruiser which will permanently operate in the Mediterranean, taking part in joint exercises with NATO forces. The sources said that the new base would allow Russia to strengthen its positions in the Middle East and also enhance Syrian security.
Russian Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Russian Navy force have declined to give any official comments on the report.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/02/2006 08:40 ||
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#6
We are not going to destro Syria before they build that base, and that will make it difficult to do anything about Syria in the WOT.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
06/02/2006 10:46 Comments ||
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Latakia is OBL's mother's home, as well as his first wife's. I read he used to spend summers there as a youth, riding horses and hanging out on a lake in the region. His father was once a dockworker in Yemen, too. It's a good strategic move for Russia. Let's hope Putin continues to see the WoT as a threat to everyone's prosperity and not give in to greed and corruption by dealing with the Islamic devils. Russia could be an ally in a difficult region, but their destiny is at a crossroads again.
#10
Additional information here: Russia May Relocate Black Sea Fleet to Syrian Port Russia has started dredging at a Syrian port where it maintains a logistical supply point with a possible eye to turning it into a full-fledged naval base, a respected Russian business daily said Friday, according to the Russian Journal. Tartus, the second most important Syrian port on the Mediterranean, could be transformed into a base for Black Sea Fleet warships when they are redeployed from the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, Kommersant daily said, quoting sources in Russias diplomatic service and the Defense Ministry.
Moscow plans to deploy an S-300PMU-2 Favorit air-defense system to protect the base, the paper said, adding that the system will be operated by Russian servicemen and not be handed over to Syria. At the same time, sources close to the matter said Moscow and Damascus had reached an agreement to modernize Syrias antiaircraft system using medium-range S-125 missile complexes that were deployed in the 1980s.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/02/2006 11:56 Comments ||
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#11
First of all, Putin's kidding himself. Nobody fears Russia's military. It's Navy is more pathetic than its arny, which barely controls its own territory in the Caucuses. Putin himself has loudly lamented the country's demographic problem, which undermines any attempt at military build-up.
Second, Russian ships operating out of Syria taking part in NATO exercises? What a joke. More like shadowing NATO exercises.
#13
Let's hope Putin continues to see the WoT as a threat to everyone's prosperity and not give in to greed and corruption by dealing with the Islamic devils.
You've got to be kidding. RasPutin has done jacksh!t for the WoT save bushel-loads of lip service and not much else. Think Iran and then repeat the above quote with a straight face.
#14
We could make some money towing their fleet to Syria for them.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/02/2006 16:39 Comments ||
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#15
We could make some money towing their fleet to Syria for them.
Considering how many of their vessels are resting their keels on the harbor bottom, I'd say we should start with a nice order of gas powered bilge pumps first.
From the Financial Times, so we can get some idea of what the Brussels political class is thinking.
In the process of deciding on a big policy shift that would offer Iran the chance of engaging in a broad dialogue potentially the first since the 1979 Islamic revolution the Bush administration has reflected on two sets of similar yet contrasting experiences: North Korea and Libya.
The North Korean experience is regarded by some in the administration as something just short of disastrous, while Libya is touted as the model for Iran to follow.
The same US officials who were opposed to making concessions to North Korea John Bolton, now ambassador to the UN, Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, and Dick Cheney, vice-president also argued against engaging Iran.
In 1994, the Clinton administration signed the agreed framework with North Korea, a deal that on the surface looks remarkably similar to what is believed to be on offer for Iran. North Korea was to freeze the operation and construction of nuclear reactors believed to be part of a covert weapons programme. In exchange an international consortium would provide two proliferation-resistant light water reactors, and North Korea would get fuel oil on top. Pyongyang and Washington also committed themselves to moving towards the normalisation of relations, a process that led to a visit to North Korea by Madeleine Albright, then secretary of state, in 2000.
But after President George W. Bush came to office in 2001, the US said intelligence came to light suggesting that North Korea had been cheating all along by pursuing a secret uranium enrichment programme. The US claims that North Korea acknowledged as much in 2002.
North Korea denies that but expelled UN inspectors later that year, restarted the Yongbyon reactor, processed plutonium that had been in storage for years and claimed it had developed a nuclear weapons capability.
With great reluctance and under pressure from China, Russia, South Korea and Japan, the Bush administration agreed to take part in six-party talks.
The US has insisted it will not reward bad behaviour but in effect has been dragged into the process of offering North Korea further inducements to dismantle its nuclear programme.
On Thursday Pyongyang invited Christopher Hill, Washingtons top negotiator in the talks on the crisis, to visit for discussions, saying the US must prove its commitment to resolving the impasse.
Announcing the policy shift on Iran two days ago, Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, made a fleeting comparison with North Korea.
But later in the day, a senior US official, who did not want to be identified, sought to make the comparison with Libya a model of how the initiative could succeed, in which they agreed to give up their WMD and realised a good outcome.
We have done this before successfully, he said.
The US entered secret talks in 2003 over ways of dismantling Libyas nuclear weapons programme and Tripoli announced its capitulation in December 2004, having been assured by the US and UK that regime change was off the agenda.
Last month, the US and Libya restored diplomatic relations to the horror of Mr Bushs neoconservative supporters who now fear the same sort of accommodation with Iran.
Some diplomats believe there have been secret back channels to Iran to pave the way for the US about-turn on talks. They expect a period of objections and counter-proposals from Iran but eventual acceptance of the principle of having the US joining the table.
Some see the Libyan experience as testimony to the combined powers of coercion and diplomacy. But Libya had already been weakened by a tough international embargo imposed after the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and was much more isolated than Iran is now as a big supplier of oil to Asia and Europe.
As Ms Rice admitted a year ago, talking to Iran would serve to legitimise the regime.
The US ultra-nationalists agree and have been pushing instead for regime change as the ultimate goal. But with the US military bogged down in Iraq and no viable Iranian opposition in sight, the US is handicapped.
The gap between the US and Iran remains huge, even if Iran does agree to suspend enrichment while trying out negotiations.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/02/2006 00:35 ||
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#1
Yes, we all know how well the other circle jerks worked out.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/02/2006 1:20 Comments ||
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Speaking of circle-jerks, LOL, the term certainly applies to this pseudo-analysis. Baker's opinion piece today is much more relevant, IMHO.
AS the US, Europe, Russia and China prepared to meet in Vienna overnight to discuss Iran's nuclear program, Tehran reacted coolly to Washington's conditional offer to join talks with Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said last night while Tehran was ready to talk to Washington, it would not halt its enrichment of uranium. Earlier, the EU hailed the US's surprise change of tack.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/02/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I get confused by the volume and frequency of Moolah rejections of proposals.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/02/2006 1:22 Comments ||
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#2
Doesn't surprise me for an instant.
They assume the US is emasculated like the euroweenies.
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/02/2006 22:15 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
SEOUL: North Korea invited on Thursday the chief US envoy to stalled nuclear talks to Pyongyang, if Washington proves it is committed to an agreement that offers the North concessions for abandoning its nuclear programme. 
Finnish prosecutors said on Thursday that they would not charge a group for publishing controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad on a Web site earlier this year.
PARIS (AP) - Military training for unruly French teenagers. Boot camp for their parents. A heavy hand and zero tolerance. The latest rhetoric from the far right? No, these ideas are coming from the top Socialist contender for next year's presidential race.
Former prime ministers Mian Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto are expected to meet on Friday night in Dubai. Talking to Geo television, PML-N leader Ishaq Dar said it would be a routine meeting. "They are meeting because of their presence in Dubai. It is not a scheduled meeting but a part of political process," he said. Commenting on Opposition Leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman's statement that there was nothing new in the Charter of Democracy, Dar said Maulana had been misquoted. "Democratic leaders cannot deny the Charter of Democracy," Dar said.
Al Qaeda terror attacks in S. Israel and central Damascus and Zarqawis outburst against Shiites and Hizballah are part and parcel of same offensive. DEBKAfiles al Qaeda experts see the events of the last 24 hours as segments of the same broad-based strategic initiative. In Beirut, the anti-Syrian Lebanese government coalition, working with the UN, the United States, France and Israel, have made no progress in getting the Lebanese Shiite Hizballah terror group and its 15-20,000-strong militia to disarm. 
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa on Thursday criticised conditions set by Western governments and Israel that say the Hamas-led Palestinian government must renounce violence and recognise Israel before official contacts are possible. "The Palestinian question is one of military occupation. It is not a terrorist issue. And it is one that should be solved through negotiations," Moussa said at a news conference during a meeting between China and Arab governments. "We say that Palestine cannot be forced to accept any of these so-called conditions," he said. 
A Palestinian Authority child is depicted urinating on the Statue of Liberty in the May 25th issue of Al-Risala, a Hamas weekly newspaper. Palestinian Media Watch reports that in this week's cartoon, the Statue of Liberty is holding a book entitled "Democracy." 
