[Tolo News] Parliament on Monday decided to summon ministers of Defence, Foreign and Interior affairs and the chief of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) to brief the house about recent Pak missile attacks into Afghanistan.
Criticising Pakistain's rocket attacks, parliamentarians said Afghan Foreign Ministry hasn't been serious enough about the attacks.
That's not really fair. It's not like Pakistan would accept the validity of any protests from Afganistan, no matter how strongly worded, even if written on the heaviest note paper in the most empatic calligraphy. It takes being beaten in war just to get their attention.
"The discussion is on invasion of Afghanistan by Pak forces and top government officials, including ministers of defence, interior and foreign affairs and acting chief of intelligence organization should be summoned," Deputy House Speaker Ahmad Behzad said.
Some politicians urged the Foreign Ministry to summon Pakistain's ambassador to explain the reason of missile attacks into Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pound, Zebulon finally found just the friend he'd been looking for... the Mighty Pak Army has denied the claims that it has fired more than 450 rockets into Afghan territory over the past three weeks.
"Wudn't us. And anyway, it didn't happen, and you can't prove otherwise."
But an army front man told the BBC that a "few accidental rounds" may have landed in Afghanistan.
Officials say more than 30 people have been killed in the attacks, including 12 children while many other have been displaced.
An Afghan MP said: "In a meeting between President Karzai and his Pak counterpart, Pakistain's President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... refused to acknowledge the attacks. This is ridiculous."
Or surreal. Vicious. Unnecessary. The Land of the Pure fits so very many adjectives, but so few are positive. It's sad, really.
President Karzai's Spokesman Waheed Omar called the Pak attacks into Afghan soil unjustifiable.
"This is a violation of Afghanistan's national illusory sovereignty and integrity. And we hope Pakistain's government as a neighbouring country understands the sensitivity," Karzai's Spokesman Waheed Omar said. "The attacks should be stopped and no reason could justify them."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Washington's special envoy to Afghanistan said on Monday that Pakistain must prove it wants an end to the war by preventing forces of Evil from hiding out on its soil and enabling those who launch attacks on the Afghan side of the border.
Except that those ruling Pakistan don't want Afghan peace, they want the land as a retreat for themselves should India follow up their next victory by invading the Pakistan heartland. As Pakistan demonstrated in Bangladesh, they don"t consider 'natives' to be fully human, nor even their own lower classes as we've seen since -- very pukka sahib, and perfectly willing to kill as many as they can get away with.
Marc Grossman, US special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistain, said in Kabul that discussions among Afghanistan, Pakistain and the United States being held this week in the Afghan capital are important to coordinate efforts to find a political resolution to the nearly decade-long war.
He said they also are an opportunity to clearly convey to Pak officials that part of their responsibility for bringing peace is to stop supporting Death Eater safe havens and those who attack Afghans and international forces in Afghanistan.
"We've been pretty clear that going forward here, we want the government of Pakistain to participate positively in the reconciliation process," Grossman said at a news conference. "Pakistain now has important choices to make."
Grossman and representatives from more than 40 nations are attending a meeting of the International Contact Group. The group's 11th meeting comes after President Barack B.O. Obama announced last week he was ordering 10,000 US troops home by year's end; as many as 23,000 more are to leave by September 2012. That would leave 68,000 US troops in Afghanistan.
The 33,000 total to be withdrawn is the number Obama sent as reinforcements in December 2009 as part of an effort to reverse the Taliban's momentum and hasten an eventual political settlement of the conflict. The US and its allies plan a full combat withdrawal by the end of 2014.
Michael Steiner, German representative for Afghanistan and Pakistain, said at the news conference that the international community's engagement will not end in 2014, when Afghan cops are to have the lead responsibility for security across the nation, a process he said is on track.
"I think we have a strategy which is working despite the difficulties we have," Steiner said. "I am not painting here any illusions. We will have problems ahead. But I think we have a realistic strategy."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistain on Monday denied accusations by Afghanistan that it fired hundreds of rockets into two eastern Afghan provinces over the past three weeks, killing 36 people, including 12 children.
Military front manMajor General Athar Abbas ... who is The Very Model of a Modern Major General... said no rounds have been intentionally fired into Afghanistan. He said it is possible that a few rounds may have accidentally fallen into Afghanistan when security forces targeted bully boyz carrying out cross-border attacks into Pakistain.
The back-and-forth accusations have further strained the troubled relationship between the two countries. The Afghan government has repeatedly criticised Pakistain for not targeting Afghan Talibs who use its territory to launch cross-border attacks.
Pakistain has recently reversed this criticism, saying Afghan and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... forces have not done enough to target Pak Talibs who have established sanctuaries in eastern Afghanistan and are using them to attack Pakistain.
The Afghan and Pak Taliban have close links but different goals. The Afghan Taliban is focused on fighting NATO and Afghan troops in Afghanistan. The Pak Taliban's main goal is toppling the US-allied Pak government.
Abbas claimed there have been five cross-border attacks in the last month against Pak border posts that have killed 55 paramilitary soldiers and tribal coppers and injured 80 others. The attacks took place in the tribal areas of Bajaur and Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Bloody Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... and in the settled area of Dir, he said.
"The fleeing bully boyz were engaged by the security forces, and a few accidental rounds going across (into Afghanistan) cannot be ruled out," Abbas said.
Afghanistan's Caped PresidentHamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... on Sunday accused Pakistain of firing 470 rockets into the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar ...on the main road from Lovely Peshawar. The capital is Jalalabad. The population of 1,334,000 consists mostly of Pashtuns with a few Arabs and Pashais... and said "they should be stopped immediately."
And "if they are not being carried out by Pakistain, Pakistain should make it clear who is behind the attacks," he said in a statement issued by the presidential palace.
The Mighty Pak Army has said the recent cross-border attacks came from Kunar, an area where NATO has recently withdrawn many of its combat troops.
Karzai said he discussed the rocket barrage with President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ... during an anti-terrorism conference in Tehran on Saturday, the same day the Afghan Defence Ministry front man spoke of the attacks and warned that Afghanistan would defend itself.
"The government of Pakistain should understand that there will be a reaction for killing Afghan citizens," said front man Mohammad Zahir Azimi.
Saying it was in response to Pak fire, Afghan cops in the eastern provinces of Khost and Paktika ...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo... launched artillery across the border at least twice on Friday, Azimi said.
Afghan security officials said NATO also fired into Pakistain on June 17. NATO and Pak military officials earlier denied any knowledge of such border fire from the Afghan side.
The Afghan president said he also discussed the border attack with Afghan NATO commander Gen. David Petraeus and US Ambassador Karl Eikenberry ...retired United States Army Lieutenant General currently serving as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan... during his regular national security council meeting on Sunday.
Afghan border police front man Edris Mohmand, who reported 36 Afghans killed by the rockets, including 12 children, said 2,000 families have decamped the Asmar and Nangalam districts of Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral... and the Goshta district in Nangarhar.
"All these attacks have been from Pakistain's side and for sure they are Pak weapons being used against innocent Afghans," Mohmand said. "The border police in the eastern region have been equipped with heavy artillery but we are waiting for orders from the interior minister."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
So the PAK taliban hide in AFG, and the AFG Taliban hide in PAK? that makes for some busy border crossing at shift change, eh?
"When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck."
#2
He said it is possible that a few rounds may have accidentally fallen into Afghanistan when security forces targeted bully boyz carrying out cross-border attacks into Pakistain.
Kinda wondering if it's a repeat of the tactics used on Pakistain's eastern border with H&K.
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. Omar's peculiar talent lies in starting conflict. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its imminent 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. , the Sudanese president, has said his country's relations with China will not be weakened by Beijing's ties with South Sudan.
In remarks made on Monday ahead of his four-day visit to China, Bashir said he was not troubled by Beijing's dual loyalties.
"Our policy, and also China's, stands on the principle that each country is free to adopt the procedures and build relations in the manner that preserves its interests and relations," he told China's official Xinhua news agency.
"Therefore, even if China has established relations with the south Sudan state, that will definitely not be a deduction on its relations with the north," he said.
Bashir's visit to China, a major buyer of Sudanese crude oil, comes days before South Sudan is to split from the north and become the world's newest sovereign nation.
South Sudan's secession on July 9 is likely to feature in Bashir's talks with Hu Jintao ...Hu has been involved in the Communist party bureaucracy for most of his adult life, meaning his viewpoint has a lot more theory than it does practice. He espouses a Harmonious Society approach, suggesting everybody should play nice or they'll be shot... , his Chinese counterpart.
Beijing has been building ties with the emerging state in southern Sudan but continues to be one of the major supporters of Bashir, who faces indictment from the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... over war crimes charges stemming from long-running fighting in the Darfur region.
Analysts expect Bashir to use his visit to assure Chinese leaders that their investments and energy stake in Sudan will not be threatened by the north-south split.
China praised
Bashir praised Sino-Sudanese relations as a "model" for developing countries, and lauded China's role as an investor in oil projects shunned by Western companies, whose home governments have imposed sanctions on Khartoum.
"When the American companies refused to work in the oil field and when restrictions were imposed on the Western companies operating in Sudan, we found in China the real partner," Bashir said.
"In fact, we have received a better offer from China than that of the Western companies."
Beijing has been encouraging a smooth transition along Sudan's volatile north-south border and hopes to ensure that its oil supplies are not interrupted.
Khartoum seized the main town in the north-south border region of Abyei on May 21, raising fears the two sides could return to conflict.
But Sudan's military and the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army last week agreed to withdraw their forces in favour of Ethiopian peacekeepers.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
China is willing to let small things like genocidal war crimes slide in their energy procurement policy
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2011 9:44 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- French authorities in Monday praised a joint anti-terrorist sweep by Mauritania and Mali in the Sahel region ... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas... and said it encouraged such operations and was working with the member States of the region to track terrorists.
"The operation currently undertaken my Mauritania and Mali... is an example of this regional cooperation which La Belle France is heartily calling for in the face of the terrorist threat," the French Foreign Ministry said.
"We praise the determination of the involved countries," it added.
A number of French citizens have been murdered by radical elements claiming to belong to "Al-Qaeda for an Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)" and five Frenchies are still being held by this group after they were kidnapped in Niger.
They are believed held in the mountains of Mali.
AQIM claimed the execution of one French hostage last year and two other Frenchies were killed in a rescue attempt earlier this year.
La Belle France has held extensive talks with countries of the region in an effort to coordinate action against AQIM, which has designated La Belle France a priority target because of its deployment of 4,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and its support for Algeria.
A French front man said on Monday that Gay Paree was acting on three levels: a strong policy of bolstering economic and social development in the region through bilateral relations; a policy of encouraging a determined European Union commitment to the Sahel and, lastly, encouraging reinforced ties between the countries of the region.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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[Emirates 24/7] Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Yahia Al Gamal has accused the United States and Israel of fomenting religious tensions to weaken his country.
"The United States and Israel are behind the religious sedition in Egypt" as "they realise this is the only way to break up the country," the Mena news agency reported, quoting his comments on television.
"Israel is trying to do this because Egypt is the most important power in the region," he said.
At least three people were hurt Saturday during festivities between Mohammedans and Christians in a village in the Sohag governorate over the reported building of a church.
Egypt has been gripped by insecurity and sectarian strife since a revolt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... on February 11.
Coptic Christians, who account for up to 10 percent of Egypt's 80-million people, complain of discrimination and have been the targets of sectarian attacks.
Fierce festivities broke out on May 7 between Christians and Mohammedans in northwest Cairo's working-class district of Imbaba where 12 people were killed, scores injured and a church set ablaze, according to court figures.
The National Council for Human Rights had put the corpse count at 15.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#3
Fear not, EGYPT, IRAN doth cometh to the rescue!
To wit,
* PEOPLES DAILY FORUMS > IRAN: OUR MISSLES CAN REACH US BASES | IRAN TEST-FIRES LR MISSLES [14 ea. SSMS] CAPABLE OF STRIKING ISRAEL, US BASES, during its IRGC-led "Great Prophet 6" MILEX/MISLEX.
D *** NG IT, IRAN SAYS THEY CAN BUILD BIGGER + BADDER LR MISSLES IFF THEY RELY REALLY R-E-A-L-L-Y RRRRREEEEEAAAAAALLLLLLYYYY WANT TO, BUT THEY JUST DON'T WANNA RIGHT NOW.
--------
Also AL-QAEDA, as per Region.
* SAME > AL-QAEDA [AQIM] VOWS TO AID LIBYAN REBELS, agz Uncle Muammar.
* SAME > YEMENI ISLAMISTS [includ AQ] TIGHTEN GRIP ON SOUTHERN CITIES.
Simply ghastly. Let us not make the mistake of enabling a third generation of Kimmies.
Footage shot inside North Korea and obtained by the ABC
That's the Australian, not the American, BC
has revealed the extent of chronic food shortages and malnutrition inside the secretive state. The video is some of the most revealing footage ever smuggled out of the impoverished North Korean state.
Shot over several months by an undercover North Korean journalist, the harrowing footage shows images of filthy, homeless and orphaned children begging for food and soldiers demanding bribes. The footage also shows North Koreans labouring on a private railway track for the dictator's son and heir near the capital Pyongyang.
Strolling up to the site supervisor, the man with the hidden camera asks what is going on.
"This rail line is a present from Kim Jong-il to comrade Kim Jong-un," he is told.
The video shows young children caked in filth begging in markets, pleading for scraps from compatriots who have nothing to give.
"I am eight," says one boy. "My father died and my mother left me. I sleep outdoors."
Many of the children are orphans; their parents victims of starvation or the gulag.
The state no longer has any rations to hand out. But markets do exist - private markets that stock bags of rice, pork, and corn. But the state wants its share of this embryonic capitalism. In the footage, a party official is demanding a stallholder make a donation of rice to the army.
"My business is not good," complains the stallholder.
"Shut up," replies the official. "Don't offer excuses."
It is clear that the all-powerful army - once quarantined from food shortages and famine - is starting to go hungry.
"Everybody is weak," says one young North Korean soldier. "Within my troop of 100 comrades, half of them are malnourished," he said.
Jiro Ishimaru is the man who trained the undercover reporter to use the hidden camera.
"This footage is important because it shows that Kim Jong-il's regime is growing weak," he said. "It used to put the military first, but now it can't even supply food to its soldiers. Rice is being sold in markets but they are starving. This is the most significant thing in this video."
Kim Jong-il's grip on power depends on the military and if some of its soldiers have growling, empty bellies, it is bad news for the dictator and his hopes for a smooth transition to his son.
"The priority for Kim Jong-il is the succession," said Mr Ishimaru. "But Kim Jong-un is still very young, just 27 or 28. He doesn't have any experience and hasn't achieved anything. So opposition to a third generation of the Kim family taking over is growing."
But this dynasty of dictators has proven that it is more than capable of keeping its wretched population in line through gulags, hunger and a total control over every aspect of life. But as this footage shows, occasionally, a crack of light emerges from this dark, dark place.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Army starving?
That sounds extremely dangerous.
#4
Hungry armies with weak leaders in a succession battle tend to revolt or 'support' the leader that can get them the food. China has made clear that it wants an economic change in North Korea, and may well look the other way during a coup.
Now that MP Geert Wilder isn't distracted by that court case, things are getting more interesting in Dutch politics.
BERLIN -- A panel in the Dutch parliament earlier this month titled "To discuss the activity of NGOs in Israel and Palestine" has generated a heated debate among lawmakers and the heads of major Dutch NGOs about the legitimacy of boycotts targeting Israel and advocacy for a "one-state solution" for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Jerusalem Post obtained a transcript of the panel from an observer at the June 15 session in Holland's parliament.
According to the transcript, leading Dutch humanitarian relief organizations defended boycott, divestment and sanctions actions against Israel, prompting Johan Driesen, from the Party for Freedom (PVV),
The PVV is Geert Wilder's party. At the beginning, he was the only member. Now they are the power brokers of the coalition government, and can dictate terms.
to say, "It was the first time I sat down to talk with the directors of the aid groups and I found what they said not only surprising, but disgusting and I think the Dutch government should cut funding to organizations promoting
Rene Grotenhuis, director n for Relief and Development Aid (Cordaid), said e debate that "discussion over boycott of Israel
Henk Jan Ormel, from the Dutch emocratic Appeal party, said he was "very surprised" to hear from the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO) elieves that "the two-state solution is not the basic assumption
In response to a query asking why ICCsupports the website Electronic Intifada, Director Marinus Verweij termed it ted news source used by newspapers
There is a difference between and used.
The Dutch government unneled more than 120 million euros into ICCO in 2009, which has doled ), tol the Post on Wednesday that "The directors of these organizations spend the Dutch taxpayer's money contrary to the Dutch policy to strengthen the bond with Israel." Naftaniel added that this is an " unacceptable result: The Netherlands invests simultaneously in Israel and in boycotting Israel."
He continued, "The Dutch aid organizations are seeing their budgets cut because of this. The real victims here will not be the directors with their huge salaries, but Palestinians and people in Africa in need of assistance."
Professor Gerald Steinberg, the head of NGO Monitor, told the Post on Thursday, "Until recently, most Dutch legislators and officials had little information on how NGOs involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict utilize Dutch funding.
"Some political advocacy NGOs abusing the rhetoric of human rights have significant impacts, but there are no mechanisms to hold NGOs accountable for their activities. For example, Dutch funding for ICCO goes to groups such as Badil, Electronic Intifada, and CWP [Coalition of Women for Peace]. They promote pro- BDS and similar agendas which are in direct contradiction to Dutch government policy. An independent and detailed review of all NGO funding -- both direct and indirect -- is long overdue."
Driesen asked Oxfam Novib at the panel why the charity provided funds to the Dutch NGO "Stop de Bezeting" (Stop the Occupation). He noted that the group's founder, Greta Duisenberg, had participated in demonstrations calling for Jews to be gassed,
Slightly beyond the Pale, that.
and had declared "Intifada, Intifada!" The Dutch foreign ministry earmarked 131m. euros in 2009 for Oxfam Novib, which sponsors projects in developing countries.
Oxfam Novib's Director, Farah Karimi, declined to specifically address its financial aid for "Stop de Bezeting."
"The business we have come to discuss is of extreme importance to you and your party, and I find it a shame to sit and speak about the behavior of Greta Duisenberg," said Karimi. CIDI noted in a report last month that over the past three years the Dutch government has allocated at least 10m. euros to groups dedicated to promoting a boycott of Israel. In response to CIDI's report, Rosenthal told CIDI he will "intervene to block funding to groups promoting the BDS campaign."
There'sa new sheriff in town, and he's got no patience for the traditional nonsense.
A State Department lawyer arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday with two difficult tasks: Convince a Senate committee that the Obama administration didn't need Congress's approval for its military operations in Libya.
Then: Convince the Senate to give Obama that approval anyway.
He didn't seem to make a lot of headway on either front. Whole new definition of burning your candle at both ends. At least he is uniting the left and the right in their anger towards him.
[Dawn] The government's main coalition partner, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... said Monday it had quit the beleaguered administration, citing the "dictatorial" and "brutal" approach of the ruling Pakistain People's Party.
"The MQM leadership and workers have reached the conclusion it is difficult to go along with the Pakistain People's Party, keeping in view its democratic and dictatorial attitude," senior party official Farooq Sattar told news hounds.
"The PPP was unwilling to mend its ways leaving us with no option but to quit the coalition government," Sattar said, adding that MQM politicians in federal and provincial assemblies would sit on opposition benches.
A front man for the governor of the southern Sindh province, of which Bloody Karachi is the capital, confirmed the governor, also an MQM loyalist, had sent his resignation to the president.
"Governor Ishratul Ibad Khan has resigned from his post and sent the resignation to the president's house in Islamabad for approval," front man Syed Wajahat Ali told AFP.
Sattar accused the PPP of "forcing" the MQM to withdraw from elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmire.
"When we refused to change our stance, the PPP got the elections for Kashmiri migrants residing in Bloody Karachi cancelled on the pretext of security issues," Sattar said.
"It is not possible for us to partner with the PPP any further because of its brutal, ruthless and disloyal character to its partners," said Sattar as hundreds of party workers loudly chanted party slogans.
"We have made a decision after drawn-out deliberations. It is not a sentimental decision and we'll stick to it to remain on opposition benches," he added.
"Our resignations are ready and will be sent soon to the authorities."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Pak Taliban claimed Monday that a married Uzbek couple carried out a suicide kaboom on a cop shoppe at the weekend and threatened further husband-and-wife bombings.
Think of it as a murder-suicide, since a wife must obey her husband.
Or, consider it status-seeking on her part. Not mutually exclusive motives, those.
It was the first claim of its kind and only the second time that Pak police confirmed a woman blew herself up.
Ten coppers were killed Saturday when Talibs in burkas attacked a cop shoppe in northwest Pakistain, near South Wazoo, a lawless Islamist beturbanned goon stronghold on the Afghan border.
"We sent a husband and wife," Taliban front man Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP, identifying them as "Uzbek nationals".
"We have several such couples and we will keep on targeting security forces in Afghanistan and Pakistain until the doors of oppression are shut."
Pak officials had said six attackers were killed after a squad of fighters armed with guns and hand grenades, and disguised in burkas, attacked Kolachi cop shoppe and took a group of coppers hostage.
"According to information from our intelligence sources, the bombers were husband and wife but we don't have any substantial information to prove that at the moment," police official Imtiaz Shah told AFP.
"The heads of the two bombers we have found show that they were not Pak," he added.
As in practically all claims of responsibility since US forces killed the late Osama bin Laden ... who no longer exists... in Pakistain on May 2, the Taliban said they were avenging his death.
"We sent one male and one female jacket wallah to participate in the attack because we want to liberate our people from the slavery of America," front man Ehsan told AFP.
The Taliban have claimed a series of high-profile attacks on government security forces across the country since US Navy SEALs killed the al Qaeda terror chief in the garrison city of Abbottabad.
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06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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Some say smugglers direct fuel to more profitable buyers in war-torn country; others blame Egypt for reducing production of cheap gasoline.
Political turmoil in Libya has created problems in the energy market in the Gaza Strip, a local businessman claims, because cheap gasoline smuggled in from Egypt is now being diverted to markets willing to pay higher prices, he said. Mahmoud Al-Khazandar, vice-chairman of Gaza's Oil and Gas Companies Association, said both the quantity and the quality of the cheapest 80-octane fuel has sharply deteriorated in the past three weeks. Smugglers dilute and tamper with the already inferior gasoline entering Gaza through smuggling tunnels in the Sinai Peninsula, he says.
"Everyday the fuel comes in a different color -- sometimes brown, sometimes yellow, which means that there is more tampering going on," Khazandar told The Media Line.
Gazans pay NIS 2.18 (63 cents) for a liter of 80-octane gasoline and NIS 3.2 (92 cents) for higher quality 92 octane gasoline carried through tunnels from Egypt Israeli gasoline, which enters Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, is better quality, but at a pump price of NIS 7/liter, only the wealthiest Gazans fill up with it.
Khazandar said Gaza residents require 200,000 liters of petrol daily, but quantities have diminished to less than 50,000. The missing oil is going to places where smugglers can make a bigger profit.
Political turmoil in Libya has created problems in the energy market in the Gaza Strip, a local businessman claims, because cheap gasoline smuggled in from Egypt is now being diverted to markets willing to pay higher prices, he said.
Mahmoud Al-Khazandar, vice-chairman of Gaza's Oil and Gas Companies Association, said both the quantity and the quality of the cheapest 80-octane fuel has sharply deteriorated in the past three weeks. Smugglers dilute and tamper with the already inferior gasoline entering Gaza through smuggling tunnels in the Sinai Peninsula, he says. "Everyday the fuel comes in a different color -- sometimes brown, sometimes yellow, which means that there is more tampering going on," Khazandar told The Media Line.
Gazans pay NIS 2.18 (63 cents) for a liter of 80-octane gasoline and NIS 3.2 (92 cents) for higher quality 92 octane gasoline carried through tunnels from Egypt Israeli gasoline, which enters Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, is better quality, but at a pump price of NIS 7/liter, only the wealthiest Gazans fill up with it.
Khazandar said Gaza residents require 200,000 liters of petrol daily, but quantities have diminished to less than 50,000. The missing oil is going to places where smugglers can make a bigger profit.
Since the start of the civil war in Libya, Egypt's neighbor to the west, oil production has plummeted. The International Energy Agency (IAE) estimates that the crude production dropped to only 200,000 from 1.5-1.6 million barrels a day before fighting broke out in February. The IAE warned that old production levels were unlikely to resume before 2015.
Doudy, owner of the Tarazi Gasoline Company in Gaza, acknowledged the gasoline shortage in his stations, but said it was caused by internal Egyptian decisions rather than international turmoil. "There is a shortage of the same gasoline type in Egypt as well," Doudy told The Media Line. "It is very low quality, and the Egyptians intend to stop producing it and move to a better standard."
Doudy said the low-grade 80-octane gasoline wasn't used in Egypt's main cities, but only by the poor in the outlying Sinai Peninsula and Upper Egypt. He said there were also rumors that the Egyptian government intended to cut its power subsidies, which accounted for its low price in the local market.
Doudy added that out of the total retail price of 63 cents a liter, gasoline smugglers receive 23 cents and the Hamas government taxes it 29 cents, leaving only 11 cents for the gas station owners.
But Ali Abu-Shahla, a Gaza businessman, said the publication of a gas shortage was only a ploy by Gaza traders to increase their sales. He accused some people of circulating the shortage story to justify an imminent price increase or in order to get rid of high quantities of gasoline reserves in the stations. "I filled up my tank yesterday and noticed no lines at the stations or higher prices," Abu-Shahla told The Media Line.
Khizandar said there is no gas crisis in the city simply because Gazans are willing to pay a bit more for better quality gas.
Bilal Rantisi, an official at Gaza's Petrol Agency, said the Hamas government dealt only with legal gasoline entering from Israel. He added that the United Nations and other international agencies were the main consumers of Israeli gasoline.
But the Hamas government regulates and taxes the illegal import of gasoline in a semi-official manner. Last September the Hamas Finance Ministry doubled its taxation on gasoline entering Gaza through the tunnels through the tunnels, issuing permits to private companies who send tankers to the tunnels.
Doudy, the gas station owner, said he believes the shortage of the low-grade gas was actually a blessing in disguise. "Forcing Gazans to buy better gas will be better for the climate, for pollution and for the cars," he said. "People in Gaza demand the cheapest gas, but there's no justification for this. Gaza is full of money now that the siege is over."
Egypt has partially opened the Rafah border crossing with Gaza recently, but it only allows the passage of people, not commodities. In an interview with the Ma'an News Agency, Khazandar called on the Egyptian government to officially allow the export of gas to Gaza, making the illicit and dangerous tunnel trading obsolete.
Continued on Page 49
(KUNA) -- Israel on Sunday threatened to launch a new war on southern Leb if Hezbullies continued piling up weapons.
"Hezbullies has turned most villages in southern Leb into explosive spots," a senior military source told Israeli radio, threatening to launch a large-scale military operation there.
"We have recently discovered new military bases and equipment belonging to Hezbullies in these villages." Last week, Israel conducted a major military maneuver simulating a multi-front war in which rockets would be fired into Israel from Iran, Syria, Leb and Gazoo Strip.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz revealed Sunday Israeli military intelligence (AMAN) chief has recently visited the United States secretly to express fears of the transfer of sophisticated weapons from Syria to Hezbullies in Leb "if the uprising there managed to remove President Bashar Al-Assad regime."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Meanwhile, not to be outdone by Israel ...
* WAFF > "WE WILL BOMB TURKEY IFF THEY LET NATO [attack]ON SYRIA", IRAN SAYS.
Military sources tell the 'Post' they have intelligence showing that some participants in upcoming flotilla plan to kill IDF soldiers boarding their ships; say IHH members will participate in flotilla.
IDF sources said Monday night that new intelligence information obtained in recent days shows that participants of the flotilla planning to break Israels sea blockade over the Gaza Strip later this week plan to kill IDF soldiers who board their ships.
According to the information obtained by the IDF, some of the participants have prepared sacks with sulfur, which they plan to pour on the soldiers as they board the vessels.
This is a chemical weapon, and if poured on a soldier it can paralyze him, an IDF source told The Jerusalem Post Monday night. If the sulfur is then lit on fire, the soldier will light up like a torch.
Sulfur also causes chemical burns, I'm told. Such lovely people.
The information was obtained from closed meetings held by participants on the ships during which some voiced their intention to murder Israeli soldiers, according to the IDF.
Also, despite earlier predictions that members of the Turkish organization IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation would not participate in the flotilla, it now appears that some members will sail with the ships alongside other radical Islamic activists.
OMG, they lied?!?!?
The Navy has begun its final preparations to stop the vessels, and the IDF sources said that commandos who board the ships will be prepared for a wide-range of scenarios from no violence at all to extreme and violent resistance from the passengers.
IDF sources said Monday night that new intelligence information obtained in recent days shows that participants of the flotilla planning to break Israel's sea blockade over the Gazoo Strip later this week plan to kill IDF soldiers who board their ships.
According to the information obtained by the IDF, some of the participants have prepared sacks with sulfur, which they plan to pour on the soldiers as they board the vessels. "This is a chemical weapon, and if poured on a soldier it can paralyze him," an IDF source told The Jerusalem Post Monday night. "If the sulfur is then lit on fire, the soldier will light up like a torch."
Sulfur also causes chemical burns, even without ignition, I'm told. Such lovely people.
The information was obtained from closed meetings held by participants on the ships during which some voiced their intention to "murder Israeli soldiers," according to the IDF.
Also, despite earlier predictions that members of the Turkish organization IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation would not participate in the flotilla, it now appears that some members will sail with the ships alongside other radical Islamic activists.
OMG, they lied?!?!?
The Navy has begun its final preparations to stop the vessels, and the IDF sources said that commandos who board the ships will be prepared for a wide-range of scenarios from no violence at all to extreme and violent resistance from the passengers.
#4
They want to create an incident, so the ships must be disabled without a bunch of incidents caused by boarding them. I will still recommend EMP attack to impede communications, images, and such.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/28/2011 21:05 Comments ||
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IRAN has shown Russia US drones it shot down over the Gulf, Revolutionary Guards aerospace commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hadjizadeh was quoted as saying.
"Russian experts requested to see these drones and they looked at both the downed drones and the models made by the Guards through reverse engineering," the official IRNA news agency quoted Hadjizadeh as saying.
How hard can it be to reverse engineer model airplanes? It's the package directing the UAVs and choosing the targets that matters, and that's not to be found in the bits that fell out of the sky.
Hajizadeh did not elaborate on the number or type of unmanned US aircraft it had shot down, or when or where it had done so.
Iran announced on January 2 that its forces had downed two US drones after they "violated" Iranian-controlled territory. It later said it would put the aircraft on public display.
"The planes that were shot down are among the most modern US navy drones and have a long-range capability," the Fars news agency quoted the commander of the Guards' naval forces, Ali Fadavi, as saying at the time.
The US navy's Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, just across the Gulf from Iran.
Washington never confirmed Tehran had shot down any of its drones.
#1
ION IRAN = has announced that it has the ability to manufacture LRBMS of greater range than the variants it curren has, but that it just doesn't need to do so because all US, Israeli Milbases in the ME + Persian Gulf are already within Iran's strike range vee their present arsenal.
TEHRAN: Iran's Parliament summoned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for questioning, semi-official Mehr news agency said on Monday, raising tensions in a power struggle between factions in the ruling elite.
Ahmadinejad -- facing parliamentary elections next year and a presidential race in 2013 -- must attend the assembly within a month, Mehr said, after 100 lawmakers signed a motion calling him in. Unless he can persuade Parliament to withdraw the summons, Ahmadinejad will face questions over his delay in nominating a sports minister and in granting Parliament-approved funding to the Tehran Metro, Mehr said.
It's like mafioso going to jail for tax evasion, and just as satisfying.
Both issues are the subjects of long-running tussles between president and lawmakers and some members of Parliament have suggested impeaching Ahmadinejad over what his critics in the house have called his "demagogic" manner.
The conservative-dominated Parliament has often used its constitutional powers against Ahmadinejad, particularly over ministerial appointments and budgetary matters, and most recently rejected a close ally he nominated as deputy foreign minister.
Ahmadinejad's opponents have been emboldened by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's intervention in April to stop the president sacking his intelligence minister, which analysts said showed he could no longer count on the complete support of Iran's top authority.
Far from toning down his policies, Ahmadinejad sacked several other ministers, including the head of the Oil Ministry -- the body in charge of exploiting Iran's vast mineral reserves -- in what he said was merely the execution of a previously announced government streamlining.
Parliament voted against the merger of the Oil and Energy Ministries last week and the semi-official Fars news agency said on Monday that the government had withdrawn the ministerial merger plan -- which had aimed to reduce the number of ministries to 17 from 21 -- to review it.
As well as facing pressure over policy issues, Ahmadinejad faces accusations that many of his closest aides are part of a "deviant current" who they say put secular nationalism ahead of Islamic values and are a threat to Iran's clerical rule.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] A majority of Iranian politicians have signed a motion calling for the summoning of President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad to Parliament (Majlis).
On Sunday, a motion to question Ahmadinejad, signed by 100 Iranian politicians, was presented to the Majlis Presiding Board by Ali Motahari, Mehr News Agency ...And if you can't believe Mehr News Agency who can you believe?... reported.
According to the Article 88 of the Iranian Constitution, the president must appear before Majlis within a month of being summoned, unless politicians decide to withdraw the motion.
Issues such as the government's delay in introducing the Minister of Sports and Youth as well as refusing to implement the Tehran Metro law will be among the topics Ahmadinejad will be questioned about.
On January 2, Majlis voted for the establishment of the new ministry, bringing to 22 the number of cabinet ministers in President Ahmadinejad's administration.
The ratified proposal was then handed to the government, effectively giving the president three months to appoint a minister to head the newly established ministry -- a deadline the president missed.
The new ministry was to be established by merging Iran's National Youth Organization and the Physical Education Organization.
In a letter to Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani on Monday, Ahmadinejad named Hamid Sajjadi as the country's first minister of sports and youth, but he failed to win Majlis vote of confidence.
According to the Article 89 of the Constitution, if Majlis gives three written warnings that the government has violated the law, the president or his ministers can be impeached.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The Special Tribunal for Leb is expected to make a request to Lebanese authorities to question five Hizbullah members in the next few days after Lebanese judges traveled to The Hague ahead of the expected release of the indictment in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's liquidation case, informed sources said.
The sources told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published Monday that the names of the five people would remain confidential for a short period.
A source in Gay Paree confirmed to al-Hayat newspaper that the Lebanese judiciary will be informed on Monday or Tuesday about the indictment.
The last batch of Lebanese judges who are members of the international court has left Beirut through European airports to The Hague where the tribunal is based, al-Hayat said.
Well informed sources told As Safir daily that the judges were summoned three days ago in an effort to protect them ahead of the release of the indictment and in its aftermath.
Despite reports that Lebanese authorities had received a copy of the indictment, General Prospector Saeed Mirza denied, telling al-Joumhouria newspaper that he "will announce it" when he receives it.
The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the STL and the Lebanese government says that a copy of the indictment would be delivered to the general prosecutor without passing through the foreign and justice ministries first.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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MOSCOW - A top Russian diplomat reportedly says Iran's first nuclear power plant will finally start up in August. Russian Deputy Foreign Ministry Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Monday that the plant is "completed" and will start up in early August.
Or not, as the case may be. Did they really eradicate every trace of the Stuxnet virus and the one that supposedly succeeded it?
It doesn't have to be that complicated, I'm waiting for a simple English-to-metric catastrophe...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Is there anything Muslim Science can't do?
Maybe the Israelis will 'light it up' in July.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/28/2011 6:26 Comments ||
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A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (C-L) meeting with US Congressman Dennis Kucinich and his delegation in Damascus. The US lawmaker strongly opposed to US military involvement in Afghanistan and the Libyan conflict is on a "fact-finding" visit to Syria and Lebanon, his office said. Kucinich is famous for among other things, taking the City of Cleveland into bankruptcy, trying to impeach President Bush (43) and suing the House cafeteria on the grounds his sandwich contained olive pits.
Ohio's private little embarrassment. If only he were Californian, nobody would so much as blink.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
06/28/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
He holds no pertinent committee seat. That's just bad foreign policy right there.
#2
DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TURKEY THREATENS TO ATTACK [northern] SYRIA, + forcibly remove Baby Assad + Regime from power.
ARTIC > Turkey = Ankara has allegedly notified NATO States that it is seriously considering sending in the TURK ARMY into various north Syrian Cities-Towns e.g. Aleppo, Hama, + Latakia, etc. to protect Sunni, etal. ordinary Syrians from Bashir Assad's forces, + iff need be to force Bashir + Family/Regime from power.
IRAN = threatening to attack + bomb TURKIC + US-NATO targets =bases in Turkey in retaliation agz any Turkic ground invasion or mil strike agz Assad.
A lawyer representing plaintiffs suing Rutherford County to stop construction of a mosque accused the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro of building a "training center" that "may be used as an arsenal for jihad."
"The ICM has sponsored public rallies in support for Hamas in 2009 and 2010," Tom Smith said before Chancellor Robert Corlew III Monday. Smith is a Franklin attorney representing 17 plaintiffs with Murfreesboro attorney Joe Brandon Jr. A rally the ICM staged in 2009 was billed as promoting peace in Gaza at a time when Israel was waging war against Hamas in response to rocket strikes.
The plaintiffs want Corlew to reconsider his May ruling that the plaintiffs weren't harmed by the Rutherford County government's decision to approve the ICM's building plans for a 52,960-square-foot center with a mosque.
Corlew said he would review the arguments before making a decision about his ruling that recognized the ICM's First Amendment right of freedom of religion.
The ruling further defended the congregation's property right to build a mosque on 15 acres zoned for religious meeting place land use.
Defense attorney Josh McCreary advised Corlew to stick by the ruling.
"This is not a zoning case," said McCreary, pointing out that the future mosque is next door to Grace Baptist Church. "This particular piece of land did not need to be rezoned."
The land in question was part of a farm owned by plaintiff Ronald Todd's family. Todd, who attended Monday's hearing, said afterward that he would not have sold the land for the mosque had he known that the buyer would end up selling it to the ICM.
"I like to be a good neighbor when I can, but when the neighbor will not speak to you or look at you, how can you? And they hide from you. They need to clear their image in the news," Todd said.
Plaintiffs' attorney Smith also maintained that Corlew should consider new written testimony from Tim Cummings, president of Dynamic Communications LLC, about his research into the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro's website.
Smith said Cummings found evidence that the ICM's reading list was promoting the writings of two Hamas supporters, Dr. Jamal Badawi and Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
McCreary said Cummings written testimony is hearsay. "It's not admissible," said McCreary, adding that the county has had no chance to cross examine Cummings' testimony. "It's the worst kind of hearsay."
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.
Asif Ali 
Mohmand
International Criminal Court
According to the transcript, leading Dutch humanitarian relief organizations defended boycott, divestment and sanctions actions against Israel, prompting Johan Driesen, from the Party for Freedom (PVV),
Driesen asked Oxfam Novib at the panel why the charity provided funds to the Dutch NGO "Stop de Bezeting" (Stop the Occupation). He noted that the group's founder, Greta Duisenberg, had participated in demonstrations calling for Jews to be gassed, 
A State Department lawyer arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday with two difficult tasks: Convince a Senate committee that the Obama administration didn't need Congress's approval for its military operations in Libya.
[Dawn] The government's main coalition partner, the 
Wazoo
Mahmoud 
