[An Nahar] South Sudanese President Salva Kiir said Monday he would refer oil arguments with arch-rivals Sudan to African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... mediators, vowing not to take the country back to war.
"The people of South Sudan should remain calm and patient as we work with the African Union to resolve this impasse with Sudan," Kiir told news hounds, while condemning the "aggressive attitude" of Khartoum.
Sudan on Sunday put on hold nine security and economic pacts with South Sudan, including on vital oil shipments, but said Khartoum remained committed to good relations if Juba ended support for rebels.
The move followed an order on Saturday from President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. to shut the pipeline carrying South Sudanese crude for export.
South Sudan denies supporting snuffies in the north, and in turn has accused Khartoum of backing rebels on southern territory.
"This latest turn of events brings into question the credibility" of the African Union mediators, Kiir said, but added "we remain optimistic that they will intervene accordingly."
"We urge both regional and international governments to diplomatically engage with Sudan in order to protect the lives of the citizens of both nations, and to encourage Sudan to engage in peaceful dialogue with their internal rebellion," Kiir said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The Kingdom of Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... condemned on Monday the "blatant interference" of Hizbullah in the Syrian crisis, urging responding to international calls to provide "humanitarian aid to those affected by the war inside and outside the country."
"The cabinet discussed the dangerous repercussions of the events taking place in Syria, as well as the escalation of violence and the use of military equipment to bomb and kill civilians," the Saudi Press Agency reported.
"The ministers condemn the blatant interference of Hizbullah in the Syrian war, and all foreign involvement that have transformed Syria into a battlefield."
The agency added: "The council of ministers expressed its appreciation for all Arab and international efforts made to end the Syrian crisis."
In a related matter, the Saudi Arabian cabinet supported holding the Geneva II conference to look into the Syria crisis, calling for reaching an accord on the formation of a temporary cabinet that assures a "safe transition of power" in the country.
Saudi Arabia also urged responding to international calls asking for providing humanitarian aid to those affected in the war inside and outside Syria, as well as to the displaced and refugees.
"We warn against the deterioration of conditions in the country that is being torn by violent acts," the cabinet stated.
Saudi Arabia's top holy man on Thursday had urged governments and fellow holy mans across the Musselmen world to punish Hizbullah for its intervention in the Syrian civil war against the mainly Sunni rebels fighting to oust Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... "We urge all politicians and holy mans to take substantial measures against this detestable sectarian group (Hizbullah) and all those backing it," Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said in a speech carried by the official SPA news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
As if none of the rebels are foreigners. What a crock of crap.
Top brass are poised to scrap the eight dedicated transport aircraft, on standby to whisk the Who Dares Wins heroes into troublespots. Replacements for the ageing Hercules C-130Ks -- due for the chop in October -- ARE being lined up but not until late next year.
Horrified insiders fear it means the famous force, full name the Special AIR Service, could meanwhile find itself grounded.
An insider told The Sun: "The SAS are fuming.
"No one has been prepared to make a decision. It's been a case of kicking the can down the road.
"The plan is to take the Hercules out of service. If that happens there will be a gap in capability. The special forces know these planes are vital to the success of covert missions across the globe.
"They simply cannot do without them. Unless a replacement can be found, losing the Hercules is strategic madness."
The aircraft -- dubbed "Fat Alberts" since the 1960s -- are fitted with surveillance and communications gear, extra large fuel tanks, plus beefed-up defence and weapons systems. The customised planes are operated by the RAF's Special Duties 47 Squadron solely for special forces missions.
They have seen action in the Falklands War, the Balkans conflict, Iraq and Afghanistan. Recently they were used to rescue oil workers in Libya. Their service life has already been extended by one year and some chiefs are unwilling to keep them flying longer.
But senior figures within the SAS, and sister unit the Special Boat Service, have complained at the highest level that losing them will jeopardise operations. There are also fears troops' lives could be put at risk until the new Airbus A400m Atlas planes arrive.
Hard to imagine the Brits can't scrape up a few pounds to keep the Hercs flying another year, but that assumes that the A400 will be ready. Stop laughing, I know, I know, it's Airbus...
The FBI said a "telephonic bomb threat" forced the flight headed to Austin, Texas to make an emergency landing in Phoenix Monday afternoon. The plane, carrying 143 passengers, landed safely and all passengers deplaned and were questioned by authorities.
The FBI said the flight "departed LAX at 2:12pm and was diverted to Phoenix for further investigation." Michael Kucharek of NORAD confirmed to ABC15 that two F-16 fighter jets were dispatched from Tucson to "monitor" the plane from the air and ensure it landed safely.
Video showed passengers being removed from the plane and being boarded onto a bus. Later on, video showed luggage being removed from the plane and lined up on either side of the aircraft.
FBI spokesman Manuel Johnson said Monday night that Southwest Airlines flight 2675 had been searched by Phoenix police and FBI bomb technicians and that no explosive device was found. Johnson said the FBI's investigation is ongoing and efforts are being made to identify the caller who initiated the bomb threat.
#1
I just imagine the Muslims giggling "Look what we did, and over a phone too".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/11/2013 17:21 Comments ||
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#2
See?! PRISM is a GREAT idea and too bad we didn't have greater ability to use it in finding this terrorist caller and bringing them to "Justice." And ,sometimes, "Tolerance" might be "Justice." - Your Progressive Friends.....
A blast occurred at a maintenance shed at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta on Tuesday morning, and part of a concourse was briefly evacuated. A small electrical explosion occurred around 8:40 a.m. near gate D21 at a "ramp level maintenance shop," the airport said in a news release.
The airport said the Atlanta Fire Department has since given the all-clear, and passengers were returning to Concourse D. A partial power outage remains in certain areas of the concourse, it said. An Atlanta Fire Department spokeswoman said there was no fire and smoke at the shed. But, she said, an evacuation was made as a precaution on Concourse D and power was turned off.
FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett said the incident doesn't appear to be terrorism-related. He said Atlanta police are taking the lead in reviewing the situation and the agency is not responding to the event.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A contractor at the National Security Agency who leaked details of top-secret U.S. surveillance programs dropped out of sight in Hong Kong on Monday ahead of a likely push by the U.S. government to have him sent back to the United States to face charges.
Edward Snowden, 29, who provided the information for published reports last week that revealed the NSA's broad monitoring of phone call and Internet data from large companies such as Google and Facebook, checked out of his Hong Kong hotel hours after going public in a video released on Sunday by Britain's Guardian newspaper.
Back-packing in Laos, safely ensconced in a guest house in China, or weighted down with chains a mile off Kowloon?
Snowden told the Guardian that he went to Hong Kong in hopes it would be a place where he might be able to resist U.S. prosecution attempts, although the former British colony has an extradition treaty with the United States.
On Monday, some local officials suggested that Snowden might have miscalculated.
"We do have bilateral agreements with the U.S. and we are duty-bound to comply with these agreements. Hong Kong is not a legal vacuum, as Mr. Snowden might have thought," said Regina Ip, a Hong Kong lawmaker and former security secretary.
"We don't want him. He's yours. Unless of course our masters in Beijing say no."
Snowden, who the Guardian said had been working at the NSA for four years as a contractor for outside companies, told the Guardian he had copied the secret documents at the NSA office in Hawaii three weeks ago and had told his supervisor that he needed "a couple of weeks" off for epilepsy treatments. He flew to Hong Kong on May 20.
Staff at a luxury hotel in Hong Kong told Reuters that Snowden had checked out at noon on Monday. Ewen MacAskill, a Guardian journalist, said later in the day that Snowden was still in Hong Kong.
"He didn't have a plan. He thought out in great detail leaking the documents and then deciding rather than being anonymous, he'd go public. So he thought that out in great detail. But his plans after that have always been vague," MacAskill said.
"I'd imagine there's now going to be a real battle between Washington and Beijing and civil rights groups as to his future," MacAskill said. "He'd like to seek asylum in a friendly country but I'm not sure if that's possible or not."
There may not be a friendly country, except maybe Iran or Zimbabwe...
If Snowden is charged on criminal counts as many lawmakers and officials expect, the focus will turn to the extradition treaty that the United States and Hong Kong signed in 1996, a year before the former British colony was returned to China. The treaty, which allows for the exchange of criminal suspects in a formal process that also may involve the Chinese government, went into effect in 1998. It says that Hong Kong authorities can hold a U.S. suspect for up to 60 days after the United States submits a request indicating there is probable cause to believe the suspect violated U.S. law. In Snowden's case, such a request could lead Hong Kong authorities to hold him while Washington prepares a formal extradition request.
Snowden could try to stay in Hong Kong by seeking political asylum. Simon Young, a professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, said there are strong protections for people making asylum claims under Hong Kong's extradition laws. A decision this year by Hong Kong's High Court requires the government to create a new standard for reviewing asylum applications, putting the cases on hold until the new system is finished.
That might take years...
"He's come really at probably the best moment in time because our asylum laws are in a state of limbo," Young said.
If we had a CIA worth anything it wouldn't be a problem at all...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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A long, long piece from WaPo. It's worth the quick read because it details the problems with believing Snowden. His background is a sham and doesn't hold up. His story has holes, such as
No high school degree -- he had a GED.
Thin academic credentials for a technical and demanding job.
How a Booz Allen contractor had access to FISA documents.
I think we're being played.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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With a video interview released Sunday by The Guardian, we now know 29-year-old contractor Edward Snowden as the traitor whistleblower behind leaks of secret NSA spying programs.
There's a big reason why many are quick to believe his claims of vast government surveillance -- with the NSA intercepting millions of phone calls and emails, and having supposed access to tech companies -- because we've actually heard it all before.
From the MSM, natch, which delights in revealing this sort of thing...
Many will debate over the coming days and weeks whether he's a hero or a traitor -- or if he's possibly stretching the truth -- but it's worth noting another, perhaps even more credible whistleblower that worked for the NSA. His name is William Binney, a 32-year veteran of the secretive agency, and one of the best codebreakers in NSA history -- who appeared in an Aug. 2012 video shot by Laura Poitras for The New York Times.
Of course. If it comes to revealing secret government programs that are of the utmost importance to our national security the NYT will get there first...
Binney detailed a top-secret surveillance program called "Stellar Wind" -- the scope of which had never been public -- which tracked electronic activities, including phone calls, emails, banking, travel records, and social media, and then mapped them to collect "all the attributes that any individual has" in every type of activity and build a profile based on the data.
That's not the problem. The potential problem is simply, who do you profile? If they're profiling mutts in Peshawar so as to plan the most efficient drone-zap, fine (that begs the question of whether drone-zapping is something we should continue to do, but that's for another day). But if we're building profiles of Tea Party advocates so as to turn them over to the tender mercies of the IRS, that's a problem. Obama has lost his credibility, we know the progressive Democrats want exactly the latter scenario, and the Pubs right now are hyperventilating because they're trying to nail Champ as opposed to engaging in a serious, sober review of the program.
"So that now I can pull your entire life together from all those domains and map it out and show your entire life over time," Binney said in the interview.
"The decision must have been made in September 2001," Mr. Binney told me and the cinematographer Kirsten Johnson. "That's when the equipment started coming in." In this Op-Doc, Mr. Binney explains how the program he created for foreign intelligence gathering was turned inward on this country. He resigned over this in 2001 and began speaking out publicly in the last year.
Another whistleblower named Thomas Tamm -- an official with the Justice Department -- also came forward after uncovering the Bush administration's secret authorizations to intercept emails and phone calls inside the U.S. without warrants.
The unit had special rules that appeared to be hiding the NSA activities from a panel of federal judges who are required to approve such surveillance. When Tamm started asking questions, his supervisors told him to drop the subject. He says one volunteered that "the program" (as it was commonly called within the office) was "probably illegal."
In his interview in a Hong Kong hotel room, Edward Snowden told The Guardian the "intelligence community in general is focused on getting intelligence wherever it can by any means possible."
It's up to high level public servants to draw the lines. Perhaps they have and this entire story is a concoction of Chinese espionage and hard-left lawfare. Problem is, it's hard to trust Obama when he asks for it...
With programs like Stellar Wind, and this week's uncovering of PRISM -- he may be right.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm surprised people are acting surprised. I've known this has been going on for probably 10 years.
The whole point of it is to find people you wouldn't otherwise know about.
#4
"but one morning in July 2007, a dozen agents armed with rifles appeared at his house, with one of them entering the bathroom where Binney was toweling off after a shower, pointing a gun at him."
#5
I don't all it treason to reveal unconstitutional activity. Unlike the wiki leaks stuff, no direct sources and methods were exposed, and there was no dumping of agent names and lilies. You want to call it treason, you're going to have problems me and a lot of others who take the subject of unlawful orders seriously (especially collecting against US Persons which used to be grounds for dismissal), and we still believe our oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution are meaningful and require consideration, no matter the personal consequences.
Personally I don't know what his motivations were in exposing the existence of a program that many have long suspected --and which any even halfway savvy enemy would already assume exists and have taken precautions against -- but I commend the end effects of which is to spur the public into considering the cost to our liberty of an unfettered and unprecedented wide collection against so many citizens without warrant
#6
... Without a warrant nor probable cause, contravening our 4th amendment and possibly the 5th (due process), as well as centuries of common law. It's like fingerprinting and DNA testing everyone, "just in case"
#7
It seems like they HAD warrants; the scary thing is the warrants were secret and darned-near blanket. With as little judicial oversight as FISA is exercising there is no particular reason to even bother with a judiciary.
There is a lot of reaction on WLS this morning to the identification of the man who leaked information last week, about the U.S. Government's secret surveillance program, which allows the National Security Agency to monitor the phone calls and emails of Americans.
Former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told Bruce Wolf and Dan Proft on WLS that he thinks admitted leaker Edward Snowden, is guilty of treason:
"Number one, this man is a liar. He took an oath to keep the secrets that were shared with him so he could do his job. He said said he would not disclose them, and he lied. Number two, he lied because he thinks he's smarter and has a higher morality than the rest of us. This guy thinks he has a higher morality, that he can see clearer than other 299-million 999-thousand 999 of us, and therefore he can do what he wants. I say that is the worst form of treason."
The 29-year-old Snowden spoke with the British newspaper "The Guardian." The paper says Snowden is a former CIA covert employee and has been an NSA contract employee for four years, working for the consulting giant Booz-Allen.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Fast Eddies fate will be for a court to decide, not Bolton or Besoeker. We are a nation of laws, at lease we should be. He is innocent until proven guilty. Right now we must concentrate on what can learned from all of this.
#6
When are leaks legal and when are they illegal? Many times, the NYTs has been used as a leaking conduit by an administration. The current administration let out classified information about the Osama bin Laden raid.
In 2003, correspondent Geraldo Riviera, was embedded with the Army's 101st Airborne Division. He violated rules of operational security by broadcasting future troop movements during a live broadcast in Iraq. He was expelled from Iraq.
#7
I'm sure the Crown in London felt the same about George and the lot back in the colonies. They felt they were protecting and fighting for the 'natural' rights of Englishmen.
We must, indeed all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately - Benjamin Franklin.
Paging Nathan Hale to the courtesy phone. PS - guess who's statute adorns the CIA grounds?
Time and events will tell what side of the coin this person lands. Violating secrecy is damning. Violating the Constitution is tolerated, if done by the 'right' people for the 'right' reasons. The greater evil is?
#8
Why should we trust the government if the government trusted Snowden with our data?. After all, they hired and vetted him. They gave him unrestricted access to these systems and our data. The more badly he is depicted, the weaker the governments case for surveillance becomes.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
06/11/2013 11:58 Comments ||
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#9
YS, that's an excellent point. The US government has grown so bloated and corrupt, I don't really have a problem with Snowden blowing the whistle. He didn't betray the secrets of a just and fair government that respects the rule of law. He betrayed the secrets of a thugocracy.
But: he's a dumbass and a drama queen. Just how many more wankers like him have access to sensitive systems and data? A dozen? A thousand? That is equally worrisome as the existence of Prism, and an equally strong argument to radically prune back the scope and reach of every sector of government.
#10
The government has too many secrets. They missed 9/11. They missed Ft Hood. They missed Tsarnaev. They missed the Times Square bomber. I don't trust our government. A caller into cspan claimed that the WWII Enigma machine is still classified top secret.
#13
I just saw an Enigma machine on Sunday at the International Spy Museum in DC.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/11/2013 20:50 Comments ||
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#14
Ok, this is a mess.
Let's get some clarity on facts.
Senator Moynihan wrote a book saying secrecy was a problem. If that doesn't make sense to you, then go read it. He was pretty clear.
This leaker guy is a douche. Even if he had a point, he is arguably a traitor and certainly in violation of his non-disclosure agreement with the US government, i.e. us (which is a pronoun that means you (other Americans) and me (an American)).
Now that we can reasonably argue that both sides of this issue are wrong, let's actually think about what sort of future is right for us.
Yes, us. The self-centered people who run this country. What is it that we want?
#15
...means you (other Americans) and me (an American)
As we sit here typing, the US Senate is voting to end what being an American was. Anyone who can get their ass here will be an American with no loyalty to anything but the man or woman who will deliver the goods to them.
A new report documents the failures of Musselmen outreach conducted by the U.S. government before and after the Sept. 11 attacks, faulting both Republican and Democrat administrations for reaching out to known terrorist funders and leaders.
Published by the Israel-based Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center by Patrick Poole, a counterterrorism consultant and investigative news hound, the 14,000-word exposé details the federal governments long-standing policy of engaging bad boys.
Among the many examples, Poole cites government leaders inviting radical holy manAnwar al-Awlaki ... Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, zapped in Yemen, al-Awlaki was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Yemen. He was an Islamic holy man who was a trainer for al-Qaeda and its franchises. His sermons were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers, by Fort Hood murderer Nidal Malik Hussein, and Undieboomer Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He was the first U.S. citizen ever placed on a CIA target list... to the Pentagon, just months after one of his spiritual disciples had flown a plane into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
The report, Blind to Terror: The U.S. Governments Disastrous Musselmen Outreach Efforts and the Impact on U.S. Middle East Policy, finds that a campaign of political correctness has been ingrained in government, hindering investigations and resulting in culturally sensitive policies towards Islam, such as guidelines that required FBI agents to remove their shoes before raiding a mosque that financially supported the Taliban.
According to the report, President B.O. issued a directive in August 2011 ordering law enforcement to engage community partners to help combat violent extremism.
One example of the effect of this new policy are the Sharia-compliant guidelines that federal law enforcement officials must now comply with when conducting raids related to Islamic leaders or institutions, Poole explains. This was exhibited in May 2011, when the FBI raided a South Florida mosque and nabbed Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! its imam and his son for financially supporting the Taliban.
[BETA.DAWN] The Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) on Monday submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly calling for the stopping of drone attacks.
The resolution, submitted in the assembly secretariat by PTI leader Mian Aslam Iqbal, said US drone attacks were a violation of Pakistain's illusory sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The resolution added that innocent civilians were dying in these attacks and demanded the federal government to abolish all agreements pertaining to drone attacks with the United States.
The PTI has a strong stance when it comes to US drone attacks in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), which adjoins the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... , where the party has formed the government.
The party terms the attacks counter-productive and a violation of Pakistain's illusory sovereignty.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistain width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:gray;' title='Tehrik-e-Insaf'>Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... (PTI) has formally requested the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... leadership to choose one of the three Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... departments -- Health, Planning and Development and Local Bodies -- instead of insisting on education ministry of the provincial government, Dawn learnt reliably on Sunday.
The PTI had earlier offered three ministries -- Finance, Education and Zakat & Ushr -- to the JI after the two parties formally agreed on a power-sharing formula in the KP. But it later denied education office to JI.
To avoid prolonging a deadlock on the issue, the JI big shot Sirajul Haq met with the PTI chief Imran Khan ... aka Taliban Khan, who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree... here on Sunday in presence of KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak.
"In the meeting, the PTI leadership requested us not to insist on education ministry and select any of the three departments (local bodies, planning and development or health). Since the PTI leadership claimed to have worked a lot in the (KP's) education sector, it asked us to accept its own minister for the provincial department," JI Chief Syed Munawar Hasan told Dawn.
He said since his party believed in contributing in the KP government being an important coalition partner, it started thinking about the new PTI proposal.
"We are not fond of ministries. We just wanted the education office because of our experience during the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government's tenure in the province in the past. But the PTI's fresh proposal is not bad as we can choose any of the three
departments," Mr Hasan added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... may succeed in crushing the two-year-old uprising against his rule with the support of Iran and Hizbullah fighters, Israel's intelligence minister said on Monday.
"It might be the case that, at the end of the day, Assad .. might get the upper hand," he told a meeting of the Foreign Press Association. "I think that this is possible. Al-Nusra's been a real help, too...
"In such time of conflict, if the opposition is not making any progress, and the regime manages to survive and to get very strong support from other countries, namely Iran and Hizbullah, which is a proxy of Iran, in the end it might just survive," he said.
Syria was receiving "very significant bad boy support" from Iran and Hizbullah, with thousands of Shiite bully boyz fighting alongside Assad's forces in "very clear formations and with very good equipment -- this might help," he said.
Israel has repeatedly shied away from involvement in Syria's civil war, insisting it is not backing one side or the other in the conflict which has claimed more than 94,000 lives since March 2011.
But it has recently stepped up its warnings to Damascus over any attempt to draw the Jewish state into a confrontation.
"I would suggest to Syria, to the Assad regime: be very careful not to allow any provocation on the Golan Heights or against the State of Israel," Steinitz said.
"We don't want to get involved. Don't force us. Don't provoke us, don't make any miscalculation about us," he said. "But on the other hand, if somebody is thinking he can allow some kind of war of attrition on our borders, he'd better think again."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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"Matte black paint completes its low profile look, and with no intake or exhaust to worry about, the bike can operate when submerged up to one meter" (and for up to the max estimated mean time for inspection/testing. Beyond these parameters, the Chinese-sourced sparkplug insulators fail....).
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/11/2013 9:30 Comments ||
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#3
Reads well; my flags start popping when somebody is selling me equipment based on cool sounding features and buzz words and does not include raw stats, such as 0-60, incline, top speed, top weight, range at top weight, charge time, so on.
#12
Uh, I don't see a scabbard for the laser version of the soon to be outlawed AR15, Civilian version only. Does BMW get a cut on third version no maintenance version?
[An Nahar] Syria's main opposition group lashed out Monday at the execution a day earlier of a 15-year-old child at the hands of unidentified Islamist gunnies who accused him of blasphemy.
"The National Coalition condemns every act that violates the Syrian people's values and the principles of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army," the group said in a statement.
"Anyone who breaches treaties and international conventions, and commits any war crimes will stand trial, regardless of who they are," the Coalition added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the execution of a 15-year-old in front of his family in the northern province of Aleppo on Sunday at the hands of snuffies who accused the child of blasphemy.
The Observatory condemned the execution as "criminal and a gift to the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad". Leveler of Latakia...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Refused to don a bomb vest?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/11/2013 1:02 Comments ||
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#2
The old Palestinian approach: kill, then condemn.
[An Nahar] The Gulf Cooperation Council has decided to adopt several measures against Hizbullah members in the council's member-states as a response to the party's involvement in the Syrian crisis, Al-Jazeera ... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means the Peninsula, as in the Arabian Peninsula. In recent years it has settled in to become slightly less biased than MSNBC, in about the same category as BBC or CBS... satellite television reported on Monday.
"The GCC strongly condemns the party's involvement in the fighting in Syria," Al-Jazeera noted, adding that the council announced adopting measures against Hizbullah members regarding their stay permits and their financial transactions in the member-states.
The council also urged the Lebanese cabinet to assume its responsibilities regarding "the party's behavior and activities" in the Syrian crisis, according to Al-Jazeera.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... urged on Monday the Iranian embassy and Hizbullah to help Sherlocks uncover the details of a deadly attack on protesters in the Hizbullah stronghold of Beirut's southern suburbs.
In a statement issued by Baabda palace, Suleiman stressed "the importance of the cooperation of citizens and the region's parties mainly Hizbullah, and the Iranian embassy to facilitate the mission of specialized agencies in revealing the circumstances" of the incident.
The president said unveiling the truth behind Sunday's attack would "prevent the recurrence of similar incidents."
On Sunday, Hizbullah members wielding batons assaulted protesters from the Lebanese Option Party and killed one of them after shooting him in the abdomen outside the Iranian embassy in the neighborhood of Bir Hassan.
The demonstrators had barely time to stage their rally near the mission when they came under attack by the Hizbullah members who were wearing black shirts with yellow ribbons around their arms.
Suleiman telephoned acting General Prosecutor Judge Samir Hammoud and other security officials to speed up the investigation into the incident and "arrest the wrongdoers and the instigators," said the presidential statement.
The Lebanese Option Party is headed by Ahmed al-Asaad, a Shiite politician who is a fierce critic of Hizbullah.
The head of al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... movement, ex-PM Saad Hariri Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too. , telephoned al-Asaad on Monday to condole him over the death of the protester, who was the head of the party's student committee.
He condemned the attack and said the Lebanese reject turning Hizbullah's strongholds into "security reserves."
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06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Caretaker Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil warned on Monday that the number of maimed Syrians looking for treatment in Lebanese hospitals exceeds the country's potential to care for the injured.
"The number of maimed coming from (the Syrian border town of) al-Qusayr is expected to increase furthermore," Khalil noted in phone calls with President Michel Suleiman ...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too... , Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet... He elaborated: "It is not a matter of expenses only, but we have a shortage in the number of hospital beds, especially in Intensive Care Units."
"This is a big challenge to the sector of health in Leb as it risks being unable to accommodate the increasing number of maimed Syrians, and might affect Lebanese citizens' rights to access hospital services."
"Since the arrival of the first group of refugees, the 170 primary healthcare centers spread around the country that work under the supervision of the ministry, as well as several health programs have been working on providing the needed medical care and medications to people suffering from chronic diseases and epidemics," Khalil revealed.
"The ministry, at its own expense, also followed-up on refugees that need dialysis on a regular basis, noting that their number has exceeded 600, which is alone a burden on both private and public hospitals."
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06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Wally Jumblat ... Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling... denounced Sunday's incident near the Iranian embassy describing it as a "barbaric" act, and called on related authorities to continue investigations to uncover the perpetrators, he said on Monday.
"What happened is strongly deprecated. We denounce the barbaric assault where sticks and batons were used, just like in old centuries, which raises major questions on the objectives and goals of the assault," Jumblat stated in his weekly editorial in al-Anbaa website.
On Sunday, Hizbullah protagonists wearing black shirts and yellow ribbons around their arms beat up the Lebanese Option Party protesters near the Iranian embassy in the Bir Hassan area south of Beirut, where they held a sit-in to protest Hizbullah's involvement in the war raging in Syria.
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06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ... slammed on Monday Hizbullah's intervention Syria, considering that the party surpassed the state's decision, canceled its existence and described it as an "illegal" party.
"The Lebanese fear Hizbullah's endeavors in Syria and it's clearly stated goals that toppled the constitution and the Lebanese law," Geagea said in an interview with An Nahar newspaper.
Hizbullah's intervention in Syria and its major role in taking over the Syrian town of al-Qusayr by government troops threatens to bring that country's conflict even further into Leb, where rebels have vowed to retaliate with attacks on the Shiite group's home turf.
Only 10 kilometers from Leb, Qusayr is strategic for the regime and Hizbullah because of its proximity to the border and because it lies on a route linking Damascus to the the regime's bastion on the Syrian coast.
For the rebels, it was an important conduit from Leb for men and weapons.
The Christian leader lashed out at Hizbullah's supporters, saying that "several protests took place near foreign embassies in Leb, in particular the U.S. and French embassies, but none of the demonstrations ended like Sunday's sit-in near the Iranian embassy" in Bir Hassan area south of Beirut.
He considered that Hashem Salman, the Lebanese Option Party supporter who was killed on Sunday near the Iranian embassy, "paid the price of Freedom in Leb."
"This is Hizbullah's actual nature and this is the violent community it represents," Geagea added.
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06/11/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Wyden is not a conservative Democrat either. He's at least centrist Democrat - meaning rather liberal, represents Oregon. The Administration is going to need to make some amends to avoid damage here. Or maybe it's Obama being thrown under the bus now, since he's expendable, for the benefit of the Party.
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.
[An Nahar] The Kingdom of 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
There is a lot of reaction on WLS this morning to the identification of the man who leaked information last week, about the U.S. Government's secret surveillance program, which allows the National Security Agency to monitor the phone calls and emails of Americans. 
[Dawn] Pakistain width:1px;border-bottom-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:gray;' title='Tehrik-e-Insaf'>Tehrik-e-Insaf
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
... an Arab news network headquartered in Qatar, notorious for carrying al-Qaeda press releases. The name means 
Najib Miqati
Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
Samir Geagea
