President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai's chief of staff has said British authorities brought a fake Taliban capo into sensitive meetings with the Afghan government.
The British embassy refused to confirm or deny the remarks, made in an interview with the Washington Post.
A man described as Mullah Mansour, a senior Taliban capo, was flown to Kabul for a meeting with President Karzai.
Now it is claimed he was really a Pak shopkeeper.
The impersonator reportedly met officials three times and was even flown on a Nato aircraft to Kabul.
Mystery man
But doubts arose after an Afghan who knew Mullah Mansour said he did not recognise the man.
The faker then vanished, but not before he had reportedly been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Mr Karzai's chief of staff, Mohammad Umer Daudzai, told the Washington Post that British diplomats had brought the impostor to meet Mr Karzai in July or August.
Given the British policy of not commenting on "operational matters", all we have is the Afghan government's version of events, as given to the Washington Post.
That version smells of people trying to pass the blame. There may be enough blame to share around: the CIA, MI6 and the Afghans themselves.
Why, for instance, did Afghan officials not spot this man earlier? Mullah Mansour was civil aviation minister during Taliban rule.
The question remains: who is this man who met President Hamid Karzai? A Pak shopkeeper, a gifted conman or a junior member of the Taliban (or all three)?
If there was British involvement, did they simply fly the impostor to Kabul? Did they take Mullah Mansour off Nato's capture-and-kill list? Or was the impersonator actively sought out and promoted by the British?
Given that we're dealing with the murky world of spying and intelligence it may be a long time before we get answers to those questions.
"The last lesson we draw from this: international partners should not get excited so quickly with those kind of things," Mr Daudzai told the newspaper.
He added: "Afghans know this business, how to handle it. We handle it with care, we handle it with a result-based approach, with very less damage to all the other processes."
The BBC's Paul Wood in Kabul says if there was indeed British involvement, the question is whether this was logistical support or something more active.
He says full negotiations to end this conflict still seem a long way off - and the case of the Taliban impostor will not have helped matters.
Unnamed senior US officials told the Washington Post that the Mansour impersonator was "the Brits' guy".
They said the Americans had "healthy scepticism" from the start because their intelligence had suggested Mullah Mansour would be a few inches taller than the man claiming to be the Taliban capo.
The UK's Times newspaper reports that the impostor was promoted by British overseas intelligence agency MI6, which was convinced it had achieved a major breakthrough.
The real identity of the faker remains a mystery.
Some reports suggest he was a shopkeeper from the Pak city of Quetta.
#1
Substityte VC for Taliban & this could have been filmed 40+ years ago. "Your enemy are everywhere, your allies are corrupt, life was much better under your enemy, and damage done by your enemy is your fault."
And this is a much trickier place to supply. Is this piece wrong? Can we win? Is it worth the price? Or should we leave, and nuke them if we are attacked again?
(KUNA) -- President Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who showed remarkably little curiosity about who actually done her in ... Thursday, reiterating Pakistains commitment to help restore peace and strengthen institutional capabilities of war-torn Afghanistan, said that Islamabad supports all-inclusive process of reconciliation in Kabul.
The President talking to Afghan Minister for Counter Narcotics Eng. Zarar Ahmed Muqbel Osmani, said that the Afghan Peace Jirga and Kabul Conference are important milestones in this direction. "We support indigenous and all inclusive process of reconciliation in Afghanistan," he said.
The President said further that Pakistain was committed to support Afghanistan in restoring peace and strengthening its institutional capabilities. "Pakistain firmly believes in the policy of non-interference in the internal matters and will support all efforts by the Afghan government to restore order in the country and find a permanent political solution," he added.
The President hoped that the implementation of Afghanistan-Pakistain Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) would usher in a new era of bilateral trade and economic cooperation.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Jazeera] Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian prime minister, has told Rooters that Egypt could not win a war with Ethiopia over the Nile river.
...possibly because, unlike those of the Egyptian army, Ethiopian guns and sandals do not require duct tape to keep from falling to pieces?
The Egyptian army has US weapons and a fair bit of US and western training these days. I suspect their maintenance is still Insha'allah.
In an interview on Tuesday, Meles also accused Egypt of trying to destabilise his country by supporting several small rebel groups, but said it was a tactic that would no longer work.
"If we address the issues around which the rebel groups are mobilised then we can neutralise them and therefore make it impossible for the Egyptians to fish in troubled waters because there won't be any," he said.
"Hopefully that should convince the Egyptians that, as direct conflict will not work, and as the indirect approach is not as effective as it used to be, the only sane option will be civil dialogue."
In response, Egypt said it was "amazed" by Ethiopia's suggestion that Cairo might turn to military action in a row over the Nile waters, saying it did not want confrontation and that it was not backing rebels there.
"I'm amazed by the language that was used. We are not seeking war and there will not be war," Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Egyptian foreign minister, told Rooters during a visit to Abu Dhabi.
In a statement, the minister said the "charges that Egypt is exploiting rebel groups against the ruling regime in Ethiopia are completely devoid of truth."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Just remember what Moshe Dayan said when he was asked how he could win against such overwhelming odds in battle, "You must remember, I fought against Arabs."
[Al Jazeera] Egyptian authorities have jugged 156 protesters for involvement in Wednesday's bloody festivities between Christians and police over the government's refusal to grant them a permit to build a church.
Those jugged have been accused of planning to kill coppers and the public prosecutor has ordered their detention for two weeks.
A judicial source said on Thursday that the protesters were also accused of illegally demonstrating to prevent the authorities from doing their work.
They will remain in jug for questioning for two weeks and will then either be formally charged or have their detention renewed if they are not released.
The Orthodox Coptic Christian protesters who clashed with the police had been protesting against an official decision to stop them from converting a community centre under construction in the Cairo suburb of Giza.
The riots erupted outside a municipal building, after authorities halted construction of the church, claiming the local Christian community had violated a building permit.
One demonstrator was killed in the violence and dozens were maimed.
'Discrimination'
Protesters threw stone and petrol bombs as scores of police surrounded the area and fired tear gas to break up the demonstration. A security source said at least 93 protesters were nabbed after a scuffle with police.
Christians make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's 79 million population and often complain about discrimination in the Mohammedan-majority country. Church permits are often a source of tension, as Christians say they are not given the same freedom to build places of worship as Mohammedans.
Non-Mohammedans are required to obtain a presidential decree to construct new religious buildings and must satisfy numerous conditions before permission is granted.
The Copts said they did have permission and were continuing to work without machinery, which was being blocked from entering the site, the reports said.
Christian and Mohammedan religious leaders emphasise sectarian harmony, but communal tensions can erupt into criminality and violence, usually sparked by land disputes or cross-faith relationships.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2010 00:00 ||
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Saudi Arabia has prevented senior members of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) to continue on to Damascus to meet the leaders of their organizations after the Hajj.
A source said that many senior members of Hamas and other groups joined dozens including a faction from the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades on a pilgrimage which began in Egypt.
At the end of the Hajj the members wished to continue on their way via Syria, but the Saudis, who had previously received information about the plan, seized their passports. The passports were returned when they got on a plane bound for Egypt.
Egyptian security forces at the Rafah Border Crossing searched the Hamas members' belongings to make sure that they were not attempting to smuggle money into Gaza.
The Saudi action was surprising because ties between Saudi Arabia and Syria have been warming lately. Assad and Abdullah met in Beirut four months ago to discuss Lebanon, for example.
British-based men of Afghan origin are spending months at a time in Afghanistan fighting Nato forces before returning to the UK, the Guardian has learned. They also send money to the Taliban.
A Taliban fighter in Dhani-Ghorri in northern Afghanistan last month told the Guardian he lived most of the time in east London, but came to Afghanistan for three months of the year for combat.
"I work as a minicab driver," said the man, who has the rank of a mid-level Taliban commander. "I make good money there [in the UK], you know. But these people are my friends and my family and it's my duty to come to fight the jihad with them."
"There are many people like me in London," he added. "We collect money for the jihad all year and come and fight if we can."
A MUSLIM artist sparked outrage last night after his £3,500 picture of the bombed 7/7 bus went on display just a mile from the atrocity that killed 13 people.
It shows four angels above the wreckage - the number of al-Qaeda suicide bombers who left 52 dead across London's transport network on July 7, 2005.
What appear to be souls of the victims are shown streaming out of the bus.
On the side of the vehicle is an advert which was actually on the bombed bus reading "Outright terror... bold and brilliant".
Number 30 bus driver George Psaradakis, 54, who survived the 7/7 attack in Tavistock Square, last night called for the picture, titled Age Of Shiva, to be removed from its exhibition.
He accused organisers of trying to profit from terrorism.
But the picture's creator, ex-Tube graffiti vandal Mark Sinckler, 40, defended his work. He insisted: "I want to shock. I'm an artist and this is my profession. I need to survive."
Remarkably honest for an artist ...
Street artist Banksy is curator of the Marks & Stencils show in Soho and chose the 3ft picture for the gallery window.
Organisers last night tried to stem rising fury by promising profits from prints of the terror image will go to the 7/7 memorial fund.
The mainstream media finally catches on to Lutons Number One industry and who runs it:
In February 2006, Khayam, the son of a retired Urdu teacher, shocked the nation by dressing up as a suicide bomber just months after the 7/7 bombings in London.
He was involved in angry protests outside the Danish Embassy in London after cartoons showing Mohammed had been published in Denmark.
Luton Crown Court was told two police officers stumbled across a heroin and cannabis factory in Ashburnam Road in Bedford on December 3 last year.
They had gone to arrest a man for an unrelated offence. He was not there but they noticed powder on the floor and objects covered by large plastic bags.
Steep sentence: Khayam has received 13 years in prison for his part in the drugs conspiracy
Prosecutor Natalie Carter said the officers returned with colleagues seven minutes later and searched the flat. Two men that were there had escaped through a window.
They recovered 26.2kg of heroin, along with 24.5kg of caffeine and 4.5kg of paracetamol to be used as bash to cut the drugs. There was also a third of a kilo of crack cocaine with a street value of £17,500 and £124,795 in cash.
Other equipment including mixing bags, scoops, scales, face masks and a hydraulic press was also seized.
The street value of the heroin, once it had been cut, was £2.6million. The haul of drugs is believed to be the largest ever seized in Bedfordshire .
Mrs Carter said: The men had left by a window. The heroin, bash and cash had been left behind.
CCTV from the previous night showed men arriving at the flat with mixing bowls and the press. They were seen carrying items into the flat in plastic bags.
Three men are still at large, but Khayams co-defendant Mohammed Arfaan, also 27, was arrested after confessing his involvement to a police officer in Cambridgeshire and handing himself into Bedfordshire officers on March 17.
Khayam was arrested in a car in Milton Keynes on May 31. He was found to be in possession of 27kg of paracetamol, but was not charged with any offence in relation to this.
Both he and Arfaan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply Class A drugs between May 18, 2009 and June 1, 2010. One charge related to heroin and the other cocaine.
Khayam, who appeared in the dock wearing a blue Islamic hat, had previously been sentenced to eight years by a judge at Luton on March 14, 2003 for conspiracy to supply a Class A drug and possession of cocaine.
It was reduced to five and a half years on appeal due to his previous good character
#1
I didn't think Britain had that much demand for crack, but I guess crackheads are everywhere now. By the way aren't Muslims extremely against drugs but bitch about a cartoon?
Posted by: chris ||
11/26/2010 7:47 Comments ||
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A teenage girl has been arrested on suspicion of inciting religious hatred after allegedly burning an English language version of the Koran - and then posting it on Facebook.
The 15-year-old, who lives in the Sandwell area of Birmingham, West Mids, was filmed two weeks ago on her school premises burning the Islamic religious book.
Police have confirmed the video was reported to the school and has since been removed.
A 14-year-old boy was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of making threats. Both have been released on police bail.
This incident comes just two and a half months after six yobs were arrested after filming themselves dousing the Muslim holy book with fuel and setting it ablaze behind a pub in Tyneside.
It is believed the young girl was allegedly filmed setting the booklet alight while other pupils watched on.
Two Facebook profiles have also been removed from the site.
It is understood that the group who published that version of the Koran have visited the school to talk to pupils.
Chief executive officer of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, Catherine Heseltine, slammed the burning of the Koran - one of the most offensive acts to Muslims she could imagine.
She said: 'The Koran is the most sacred thing to over a billion Muslims worldwide.
'You can see that in the way Muslims treat the Koran - washing before touching it and in many Muslim homes you will find it on the top shelf above all other books.
'We will never destroy the Koranic texts. We believe it is the word of God. Gods guidance for us in this life.'
#4
i believe the extremist terrorist are enemies too and I would say that is all muslims whether they say so or not. Moderate muslims my ass that's an oxymoron
Posted by: chris ||
11/26/2010 7:49 Comments ||
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#5
Update
YJCMTSU
"West Midlands police will investigate and monitor any crime reported by individuals who may have been targeted because of their disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender."
#9
Unfortunately a majority of the American political class would approve of this move, notwithstanding American constitutional principles.
Remember Terry Jones and the "Burn the Koran Day?"
Family Minister Kristina Schröder slammed on Friday what she sees as a growing tendency to violence stemming from a macho culture among young Muslim men.
The minister told daily Wiesbadener Kurier that while discrimination and disadvantage were partly to blame, there were also religious and cultural roots to this propensity to violence, which was revealed in two studies commissioned by her ministry due to be released on Friday.
We must not construct any false taboos here: there is a macho culture among young Muslim men that glorifies violence and which also has cultural roots, she said. The tendency towards violence among young, male Muslims is clearly higher than among non-Muslim, native youths, she said.
It stemmed from perceived slights upon their honour, which they defended with violence, Schröder said.
Social disadvantage and discrimination are important factors, but they are not sufficient as an explanation, she said. There is a co-dependence between religiousness, macho norms and tendency towards violence.
Her comments came amid an ongoing debate about immigration, integration and Islam in Germany. Former central banker Thilo Sarrazin kick-started the issue with the publication of his book, Abolishing Germany - How were putting our country at jeopardy, which argued partly that Muslim immigration was dragging Germany down.
Chancellor Angela Merkel later declared that multiculturalism had failed utterly, while Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer went so far as to suggest immigration from Muslim countries should be stopped.
Schröder indicated that discussion of the issue had been hampered by political correctness. Religion was part of culture and culture shaped behaviour, she said.
If someone made an issue of the disproportionate tendency to violence among young Muslims, it was always said that this was a blanket judgement. But thats not the case, she said.
It was also striking that there was a growing hostility towards Germans being reported, she said.
German children are not infrequently bullied in schools just because they are German. We must put up with that no longer, she said.
Schröder called for stronger efforts for the education of Islamic religious leaders in German universities something the federal governments has already embarked on by creating university courses for Imams.
We have to make those who shape values in the Muslim community responsible. That is first of all the Imams, she said. Then another picture of society, of the roles of men and women and of violence, would soon be communicated in the mosques.
#1
You cant blame them as they are brought up by the Koran to think of women as inferior,submissive creatures whose only role is in the house cleaning or breeding.
As they are not allowed to show love/affection they dont know how to express their feelings/ emotions which often results in confusion/frustration/violence( ie.No emotional intelligence)
Posted by: Fire and ice ||
11/26/2010 13:16 Comments ||
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#3
Schröder called for stronger efforts for the education of Islamic religious leaders in German universities -- something the federal governments has already embarked on by creating university courses for Imams.
Ummm...wouldn't a squatload of one-way plane tickets be both a simpler and cheaper solution?
Posted by: RIcky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
11/26/2010 13:49 Comments ||
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#4
Ricky, certainly the answer is yes, but most Germans get a real icky feeling over any proposal hinting of deportation or resettlement of a particular religious/ethnic group. Seeing as they once had kind of a bad experience with that.
#7
Steve, true. *Most* Germans get that icky feeling. Others . . . well. After 9/11, an older gentleman, very sympathetic to the US, remarked that "times like these are what gas chambers and guys like Hitler are for." And then there are the NPD types, which have grown in numbers and volume since then. Finding the middle ground is the trick, which appears to be what Minister Schroeder here is after.
[Al Jazeera] Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, has said his country will not stay silent if Israel attacks Leb or Gazoo.
Erdogan made the comments at a conference in the Lebanese capital on Thursday, at a time when ties between Turkey and Israel are at an all-time low.
"Does [Israel] think it can enter Leb with the most modern aircraft and tanks to kill women and kiddies, and destroy schools and hospitals, and then expect us to remain silent?" he said as he met Saad al-Hariri, his Lebanese counterpart.
"Does it think it can use the most modern weapons, phosphorus munitions and cluster bombs to kill children in Gazoo and then expect us to remain silent?
"We will not be silent and we will support justice by all means available."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
This raises an interesting point. If Turkey attacks Israel, and Israel responds, it likely would activate some NATO doctrines. Importantly, NATO is soon to meet in Lisbon, to discuss their doctrines. If they are smart, this will come up. But this is NATO.
#3
time to roast that jew scum again ...start the ovens!!!!!!!
Posted by: kill the american scum ||
11/26/2010 17:31 Comments ||
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#4
heh. Our Turkish troll should know that yesterday a couple million Turkeys got stuffed in the ass, and we gave prayer over it, then carved it. Enjoy! Pass the gravy?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2010 17:51 Comments ||
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#5
2011-2020/2025 + "LITMUS TEST" OF POWER for a whole buncha WORLD STATES, WANNABES + REGIONS.
Again, "GLOBALISM" + OWG-NWO, etc > 20th-CENTURY + POST-COLD WAR "BIG BOYS" = MAJOR/GREAT POWERS MUST SHARE WID THOSE IN MINOR, + ALLOW THE LATTER TO RISE IN AUTHORITY + PROMINENCE.
OR ELSE.
* ION WAFF > TURKEY SUPPORTS AL-QAEDA | NEW WIKILEAKS FILES LINKS US [+ US-led Other] TO PKK, TURKEY TO AL-QAEDA.
IIUC ARTIC > TWO LT CLOSE US ALLYS may end up being in the forefront of any LT destabilization [break-up?] of NATO-EU???
[Washington Examiner] While politicians will be pressing the House to address expiring tax cuts and an arms treaty with Russia when Congress returns this week from its Thanksgiving break, Democratic leaders in the Senate plan to make one last effort to pass an immigration reform bill before their majority diminishes significantly in January.
With just a few weeks left in the 112th Congress, it will be difficult for politicians to clear the DREAM Act in time for the president's signature this year, but it will nonetheless consume part of the shrinking lame-duck calendar.
The DREAM Act would provide a path to citizenship for anyone under the age of 35 who came to the United States as a child and who enrolls in the military or college for two years.
The proposal won its place on the agenda in part because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, ... the charismatic former Senate majority leader ... D-Nev., promised on the campaign trail that he would take it up this year, arguably helping to secure the Hispanic votes he needed to overcome Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle.
Immigration reform advocates see the lame-duck session as perhaps the last chance to pass such reforms since Republicans will take control of the House and expand their minority in the Senate in January.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2010 00:00 ||
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Rat ba$tard traitors.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/26/2010 1:49 Comments ||
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#2
So, will those who take advantage of the "Dream Act" turn in their illegally obtained voter registration cards, drivers licenses, food stamps, wellfare payments and medicaid cards. Will the american public have a chance to read the fine print before a congressional vote or will we have to wait until it's passed to see the marvelous thing Harry has done.
#3
No, Reid's still the Senate Majority Leader. I wouldn't say he's charismatic though.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
11/26/2010 13:47 Comments ||
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#4
(On Soap box, with megaphone)
First, seal the borders. This is for the immigrants' sake as well as our own; too many of them are abandoned by the Coyotes, and too many people die in the desert. Remember that semi trailer full of people dying of heatstroke because the trucker abandoned them? The authorities find dead bodies in the desert with no ID, no way of notifying the relatives that their husband, son, sister, daughter died of dehydration out in the middle of nowhere.
Also at the beginning of the list: Audit and overhaul the Immigration bureaucracy. I think Immigration has the most idiotic and crooked bureaucrats outside of Chicago City Hall. For Example:
*the bureaucrat who tried to tell my friend that her Canadian husband and her daughters would need $10K in fees each to become citizens. She said "Nonsense" and went to his supervisor. Got that straightened out. But I can't imagine Juan and Maria from Honduras knowing how to deal with bureaucrats like that.
*The sluggards in the nearest ICE office (an hour and a half from here) who let my South American friend's paperwork expire and told her she had to reapply. "But you've had that paperwork in your office for six months!" Too bad; she had to reapply several times because Immigration let the paperwork lapse.
*Daughter gave up on waiting for fiance's visa to come through, went to his country and got married there. They bounced his visa the first time because, in the nine months between the time she filed and the time they got around to looking at the papers, they'd changed the rules. Any other govt dept would say, "Your paperwork was correct as of the filing date. Under the new rules we need Document X, so please send us Document X". Not Immigration. They bounced the entire application and ate the $600 fee.
If you dot all your i's and cross all your t's and pony up $600 per application and also hire an immigration lawyer to help you navigate the system, it still takes as long as four years to get a fiance or spouse visa. Then your neighbors throw brickbats because your spouse belongs to That Group. Your neighbors think your spouse is illegal, even though you've busted your butt and your bank to do the right thing (see posting from a Rantburgundian a few months ago whose son-in-law, here legally, was being harassed in AZ).
This is what happens to people who FOLLOW the rules. No wonder so many people come illegally; if you follow the rules, you still get screwed.
PAKISTANI Muslims have threatened anarchy if the Government pardons a Christian mother sentenced to death for blasphemy, calling hundreds of protesters onto the streets.
Hundreds of Muslims marched in the eastern city of Lahore after the most influential Sunni Muslim alliance in Pakistan urged the Government not to grant mother-of-five Aasia Bibi clemency.
A crowd of several hundred called for "Jihad" and pledged to sacrifice their lives to protect the honour of Muhammad.
The rally was organised by a subsidiary of banned charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which the United Nations has blacklisted as a terrorist organisation.
"We will hold nationwide protests if the government pardons the Christian woman," the subsidiary's chief coordinator, Qari Yaqub, told participants.
Politicians and conservative clerics have been at loggerheads over whether President Asif Ali Zardari should pardon Bibi, who was sentenced on Nov. 8 to hang under controversial blasphemy laws for defaming Muhammad.
"The pardon would lead to anarchy in the country," the head of the Sunni Ittehad Council, Sahibzada Fazal Kareem, said. "Our stand is very clear that this punishment cannot be waived."
Pakistan has yet to execute anyone for blasphemy, but the case exposes the deep fault lines in the conservative country on a law that rights activists say encourages Islamist extremism in a nation wracked by Taliban attacks.
[Pak Daily Times] The military will wait until it has completed the operation in Orakzai, stabilised Swat and Bajaur and handed over stable places such as Shangla to civilian control before it launches action in North Wazoo, where Washington is wanting an army operation against safe-havens of the Haqqani network and its local and foreign controllers, brass hats said on Thursday.
"Oh yes, we have to go to North Wazoo for action to restore the dignity of the state, but not by leaving other ongoing missions half done," the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , told Daily Times, in what could be the first hints at preparations for much-awaited action around the border areas of North Wazoo. North Wazoo, according to reports, has been the last bastion for local and foreign Islamic fascistiafter the military regained lost ground in Swat, drove them out from South Wazoo and put them on the "back foot" in Bajaur.
The officials said it was principally agreed to take action in North Wazoo. "However, The infamous However... we will wait for the appropriate time before doing that," they said.
"For actions in North Wazoo, the military will need to remove troops from areas where they are already engaged against Islamic fascistior stabilised other areas. Leaving the ongoing missions half done will be an extremely unwise move to take." With reports that the politicianship of the country authorised Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani to take the decision as to when action should begin in North Wazoo, it looks less likely the army will take action in winter.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"For actions in North Wazoo, the military will need to remove troops from areas where they are already engaged against Islamic fascisti or stabilised other areas.
"Troops" being half-trained Frontier Constabulary.
[Pak Daily Times] India rebuked Pakistain on Thursday for not punishing the alleged criminal masterminds of the 2008 terror attack on the Indian financial capital of Mumbai that killed 166 people.
None of the seven men jugged in Pakistain on charges of planning and executing the three-day assault has been put on trial. In a message conveyed to Pakistain's envoy in New Delhi, India expressed its frustration that Islamabad had not followed up on intelligence given to it about the men, who allegedly belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba. A senior Pak diplomat confirmed to AFP that an official diplomatic message was delivered to the embassy in New Delhi urging Pakistain to "fulfil its obligation and commitment" to bring the plotters to justice.
Despite repeated assurances given by Pakistain's leadership, "substantive and verifiable progress has not been made on bringing all the perpetrators and criminal masterminds of the heinous attacks to justice," India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. It urged Pakistain to announce a time by which it would take action against the suspects.
Fulfilling that pledge would help build trust and confidence between the countries and demonstrate Pakistain's commitment to combating terrorism, the ministry said. Pakistain had no immediate response to India's criticism, but Foreign Ministry front man Abdul Basit said the legal case against the suspects was continuing. "We are committed to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack to justice," Basit said at a regular briefing Thursday.
Relations between the two South Asian rivals have been strained since the attacks, with India accusing Pakistain's intelligence agencies of supporting bully boyz who carry out terrorism in India. Officials from the two sides have met in recent months to discuss a resumption of a slow-moving grinding of the peace processor, but the talks have made scant progress because India is not convinced that Pakistain is doing enough to punish the perpetrators or prevent more attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2010 00:00 ||
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In the face of deteriorating relations with Turkey, Israel has started to look towards the Balkans for new friends and allies. These new initiatives include shared intelligence, joint military exercises and boosting tourism.
Over the past year Israel has expanded ties with Greece and Bulgaria and upgraded its existing ties with Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Croatia. These states also have concerns about Turkey's turn towards Islamism and seek new opportunities in economic, technical and security cooperation with Israel.
"They realized a great danger was in store for them and the issue rose in the talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in January," a senior Israeli official stated.
Borisov and Netanyahu had three conversations with each other after the Turkish flotilla incident, intended to facilitate the release of two Bulgarian journalists who had been on board one of the ships, the official added.
Borisov proposed increasing military cooperation by letting the Israeli Air Force to use Bulgaria's bases and air space for training. The first training session is expected to be held soon.
Israel's ambassador to Bulgaria, Noah Gal-Gendler, said, "Unlike the past, Borisov decided in favor of cooperation with Israel. Immediately after his election he visited Jerusalem, the first visit of a Bulgarian prime minister for the past 18 years."
The Bulgarians hope that Israeli tourists who no longer visit Turkey will go to Bourgas and Varna on the Black Sea coast. Some 150,000 Israelis are expected to visit Bulgaria by the end of the year and Bulgaria would like to see the number grow to 250,000 by 2011.
Relations with Greece have also improved recently. In February, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou met Netanyahu at the Cafe Pushkin restaurant in Moscow.
Papandreou, who wants a larger role in the peace process, decided to change Greek relations with Israel. After the Turkish flotilla incident, Greek security forces suggested closer ties with Israel.
When Greece's economic crisis erupted, Athens got little help from the Arab states, despite decades of pro-Arab policy, according to a senior Israeli diplomat.
Israeli and Greek officials have since discussed strategic cooperation. Greece plans to attract Israeli vacationers who used to go to Turkey as well. Israeli tourism to Greece has grown by 200 percent this year and may reach 250,000 by the end of the year.
At 87, Robert Bernstein, founder of Human Rights Watch, began his second life. Thirty- three years after he founded Helsinki Watch in 1976, which evolved into HRW and became one of the most influential human rights organizations in the world, he disowned his earlier creation. In October 2009, in an explosive column published in The New York Times, Bernstein denounced HRW and its leaders for distorting and exploiting human rights to attack democracies, and for playing a central role in turning Israel into a pariah state.
Now, Bernstein has gone further in working to reverse the moral failures of HRW and the wider network of highly politicized groups that use the façade of human rights to attack moral principles. Delivering the Goldstein Lecture on Human Rights at the University of Nebraska at Omaha [published in full on page 13 of todays Jerusalem Post], he contrasted Israels democratic values with their notable absence in the Arab regimes and Iran. But most of HRWs humanrights accusations are directed at Israel. Bernstein demonstrated that these human rights organizations, including the one I founded, as well Amnesty International, the Carter Center and other groups, are leading the political war against Israel by working closely with corrupt UN frameworks.
(KUNA) -- The Director General of the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano admitted of the difficulties concerning establishment of a nuclear free zone in the Middle East, stressing importance on building trust among all parties involved.
Amano remarks were made during a meeting with Arab League Secretary General Jerry Lewis doppelgänger Amr Moussa ... who has been head of the vaporous Arab League since about the time Jerry and Dean split up ... here on the sideline of the first Arab and European youth leaders' forum.
Arab diplomatic sources, who asked not to be named, told KUNA Thursday that Amano discussed with Moussa preparations for the upcoming Middle East Conference in 2012, in response to an initiative made by the United States.
Last August, Amano visited Israel for three days where he met with Israeli President Shimon Perez and other high ranking Israeli officials.
For his part, Moussa renewed calls on the importance of having Israel join the nuclear weapons non-proliferation treaty, along with having the IAEA monitor its nuclear facilities.
Arab League Chief also told Amano that the IAEA should pay more attention to Israel's nuclear capabilities because it has to do with security and stability of the Middle East region.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Amano also briefed Moussa on other issues regarding progress on Iran's nuclear program and Syria.
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[Al Jazeera] Nouri al-Maliki, the incumbent Iraqi prime minister, has been asked by Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, to from a new government following the conclusion of a power-sharing deal between the country's divided factions sealed two weeks ago.
"I charge you ... Nouri al-Maliki to form the new government, which we hope will be a real national partnership government which will not exclude any faction," Talabani said at a ceremony at Al-Salam presidential palace in Storied Baghdad on Thursday. You have 30 days to form the cabinet."
Following elections on March 7, Iraq set a new world record for the longest period between an election and a government being formed.
Thursday's formal nomination, delayed to give al-Maliki as much time as possible to negotiate with his political rivals, signals an end to the protracted political battle between Iraq's factions.
Al-Maliki called on the Iraqi people to support the security forces as they fight the bad boy threat, and called for political blocs to present candidates for the cabinet who had "experience, loyalty and integrity".
"The coming government will be committed to reconstruction and providing services," al-Maliki said after his nomination, according to media adviser, Yassin Majid.
"It will be a government of partnership, no one will be neglected."
Power-sharing
Under Iraq's constitution, Talabani was allowed 15 days to appoint a prime minister following his re-election by members of parliament on November 11.
He had earlier been expected to nominate al-Maliki as prime minister last Sunday, immediately after the Mohammedan holiday of Eid al-Adha, but delayed the decision to give the incumbent more time to negotiate ministerial posts.
The re-selection of Talabani, a Kurd, and al-Maliki, a Shia, to their posts and the naming of Osama al-Nujaifi, who belongs to the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, as speaker of parliament, came after a power-sharing pact was agreed on November 10.
Special Report
The accord also established a new statutory body to oversee security as a sop to Iyad Allawi, Iraq's former prime minister, who had held out for months to regain the leadership after his Iraqiya bloc narrowly led the seats tally in the March 7 poll.
The support of Iraqiya, which garnered most of its seats in Sunni areas, is widely seen as vital to preventing a resurgence of inter-confessional violence.
The Sunnis, who dominated Saddam Hussein's regime, formed the bedrock of the anti-US insurgency after the 2003 invasion.
Jane Arraf, Al Jizz's correspondent reporting from Storied Baghdad, said the swearing-in ceremony will "set the clock ticking for al-Maliki" to build a "balanced government".
"He has an extremely difficult task ahead of him, these next 30 days are going to be a very tough sell for all of these parties that all want something very important in this government," she said.
"It took a record eight months to actually come up with this coalition, but now what al-Maliki has to do is put all those people in the competing positions that backed him into slots in the government and he has a month to do that from today."
Challenges
Despite being lauded by international leaders including Barack B.O. Obama, the US president, the power-sharing pact has looked fragile ever since.
A day after it was agreed, about 60 Iraqiya MPs walked out of a session of parliament, protesting that it was not being honoured.
The bloc's MPs had wanted three of its senior members, barred before the election for their alleged ties to Saddam's banned Baath party, to be reinstated immediately.
Two days later, however, Iraq's legislators appeared to have salvaged the deal after leaders from the country's three main parties met and agreed to reconcile and address the MPs' grievances.
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#1
The Sunnis won't be satisfied until they're fully back in the saddle. I wonder if they'll have their speaker or Allawi resign in protest if some Baathist demands aren't met.
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[Al Jazeera] Israeli troops have demolished a mosque and more than 10 other structures in two areas in the ooccupied West Bank, Paleostinian sources have said.
Most of the demolition activity took place in the village of Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley on Thursday where local residents said troops had razed a very old mosque and its much-larger extension, which was built last year.
They also said troops had levelled "more than 10 buildings used for sheep".
The Israeli military confirmed knocking down what it described as "eight temporary structures" which had been built inside a military firing zone.
"During the morning, the security forces and the civil administration destroyed eight temporary structures and the frame of another structure, which were built without the required permits inside a firing zone endangering the lives of the residents," according to a statement from COGAT, the defence ministry unit which acts as a link between the army and the Paleostinians.
In a statement, the Paleostinian government said that their efforts to build a state are met with "state destruction by Israel".
Israeli control
Khirbet Yarza is located in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli control and where all construction and planning issues come under the jurisdiction of the Israeli civil administration.
At the opposite end of the West Bank, Israeli troops destroyed a building which was home to 18 people in the southern town of Yatta, the family and municipal officials told the AFP news agency.
Figures from Bimkom, an Israeli NGO, show that around 95 per cent of applications for a building permit are rejected, with the civil administration only granting around 12 permits a year.
According to UN figures, Israel destroyed 180 Paleostinian structures in Area C in 2009, including 56 residential buildings.
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A detained pastor of a major network of Christian house churches in Iran will be executed by hanging for "apostasy", or abandoning Islam, according to translated court documents seen by Worthy News Wednesday, November 24.
The 11th Chamber of The Assize Court of the province of Gilan said Iranian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani had proved his "apostasy" by "organizing evangelistic meetings and inviting others to Christianity, establishing a house church, baptizing people, expressing his faith to others and, denying Islamic values."
Nadarkhani is "an apostate [and] will be executed by being hung...Somehow his soul is taken from him," the court wrote.
The written verdict was "officially officially handed out" Tuesday, November 23, said a source of Nadarkhani's evangelical Church of Iran network speaking on condition of anonymity.
Lawyers Naser Sarbazi from Tehran and Abbas Salmanpour from Gilan's capital Rasht, who already learned about the verdict earlier this month, are appealing the sentence, Worthy News learned.
SUPREME COURT
Under Iranian law, once the written verdict is delivered, there will be 20 days to appeal to the Islamic Republic's Supreme Court.
The 33-year old Nadarkhani, who was detained in October last year, is currently held in a security prison in Lakan, Iran, just south of his hometown of Rasht.
He was arrested after protesting against the enforced reading of the Koran, viewed as a holy book by Muslims, to Christian children including his own. His wife Fatemeh Passandideh was released October 11 by a court in Gilan province, after she was detained on similar apostasy charges, Christians said.
In comments accompanying the death sentence, the court claimed Nadarkhani confirmed he converted to Christianity from Islam, despite possible execution. "Even in his last defense...when he was asked [by the prosecutor] 'from the age of puberty until the age of 19, what religion have you had?', he replied... 'Since I was born in a Muslim family I was Muslim until I converted to Christianity at the age of 19'."
Nadarkhani said the persecutor "induced" him "to believe whoever is born from Muslim parents and does not choose any religion after passing the puberty age, is a Muslim," the court acknowledged.
ISLAM DISPUTE
However adding to the "apostasy" were indications that he did not agree with all aspects of Islam, according to the verdict obtained by Worthy News. The court noticed that Nadarkhani believes in "the unity of God and the resurrection of the dead" but expressed concerns that in his view Mohammad "is the prophet of Muslims but not a messenger from God..."
Nadarkhani's defense team argued that their client confirmed that "Muhammad was a prophet of Islam" and that he did not commit a crime of apostasy because he was never a true Muslim.
#1
It would be hilarious if a secret "Christian extremist" organization swore that if this pastor was murdered, they were going to secretly feed hundreds of Shiite Imams pork products, thus condemning them to Hell. Yet they would not know, so as they preached their sermons, their words would be tainted by Satan, and their followers would over time become Jews.
Hey, if you're going to play to idiots, go for it.
#2
It would be hilarious if a secret "Christian extremist" organization swore that if this pastor was murdered, they were going to secretly feed hundreds of Shiite Imams pork products
IMHO, the other way around would work even better.
[An Nahar] Loyalty to the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... bloc MP Hussein al-Moussawi stated on Thursday that the indictment in the investigation into the liquidation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is a "step towards strife that the American administration is striving for."
He explained that it seeks to reconstruct Leb according to its and Israel's interests.
The MP stressed that the situation Leb requires more internal unity to confront future hardships.
"The Lebanese are required to agree on national principles, starting with protecting the Resistance That'd be the Hezbullies, natch... that the Americans and Zionists seek to incriminate so that it will become the prey of international justice," Moussawi added.
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[An Nahar] Phalange Party MP Sami Gemayel stressed on Thursday that there can be no compromise on Leb's martyrs, refusing to recognize any settlement being prepared by regional powers at Leb and justice's expense.
"We are concerned with the Special Tribunal for Leb and any settlement does not concern or bind us, regardless from what side it comes from," he said.
On this note, he voiced his readiness to launch peaceful street action if necessary.
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[An Nahar] Damascus' visitors revealed on Thursday that the opposition is seeking to peacefully take control of the situation on the ground in Leb as a possible way to confront the indictment in the investigation into the liquidation of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
This scenario is one of other potential ones aimed at confronting the indictment that is likely to implicate some undisciplined Hizbullah members, reported the Central News Agency.
The visitors told the agency that the opposition is holding several meetings away from the spotlight aimed at studying all possibilities to tackle the repercussions of the indictment and prevent any security unrest.
They predicted that the opposition would take action before Christmas because it believes that matters can no longer be postponed seeing as the March 14 Those are the good guys, insofar as Leb has good guys... forces have not changed their positions and have not agreed to discussing the false witnesses file, which the opposition views as the key to easing tensions.
Furthermore, the visitors said that it is unlikely that a Lebanese-Lebanese settlement be reached because the Saudi-Syrian efforts to end the crisis have waned.
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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 ... on Thursday paid an unprecedented visit to the headquarters of the Tashnag Party Socialist party representing the Armenian diaspora in Leb. They're Christians, but they try to remain neutral, which means they get shot at without shooting back... in Burj Hammoud for talks with the officials of the largest Armenian party in Leb.
Geagea was accompanied by senior LF officials -- Culture Minister Salim Warde, MP Farid Habib, member of the Executive Committee of the Lebanese Forces Eddy Abi al-Lamaa and LF Beirut Area Coordinator Imad Wakim.
"Communication between the LF and Tashnag is not something new, contrary to what many believe, and it has been going on since tens of years," Geagea said after the visit.
"We are determined to maintain this communication, and so is Tashnag's general-secretariat, that's why there have been mutual visits with the aim of discussing the general situations. Today we discussed the general situations and condemned the festivities that took place at the Martyrs Square and the incident that involved MP Hagop Pakradounian," Geagea added.
Around 5,000 members of Leb's Armenian community gathered Thursday in downtown Beirut to protest a two-day official visit by Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Police clashed with protesters when they tried to tear up a billboard welcoming the Turkish guest at the rally's site.
Leb is home to a 140,000-strong Armenian community, mostly made up of the descendants of those who survived the genocide in eastern Anatolia under Ottoman rule almost a century ago.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were systematically killed between 1915 and 1917 as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart.
Turkey rejects the genocide label and argues that 300,000-500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in civil strife when Armenians took up arms against their Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.
"We agreed that any dispute must remain political. We enjoy a real democratic regime in this region and we can use all forms of democratic expression and it's not acceptable to use any other means," Geagea said.
Asked about LF's stance on Erdogan's visit, Geagea added: "This is an official visit regardless of our stances and some parties' stances, which we sympathize with and understand; however, it can't be dealt with except as a visit by a prime minister to another state."
In the same context, Geagea hoped "all foreign leaders would deal with Leb as an independent, sovereign nation."
"This was our principle (in our dispute) with the Syrians and the core of our disagreement and this policy applies to all other countries," the LF leader added.
On Wednesday, Geagea noted that the ongoing Saudi-Syrian efforts to contain tensions in Leb over a U.N.-backed probe into the murder of ex-PM Rafik Hariri "have not achieved any progress since two weeks."
In an interview with Agence France Presse, Geagea added: "Almost everything is deadlocked because the stances are at odds."
Geagea went on to say that "the Saudi suggestion wants us to prepare for containing STL's indictment and its repercussions, and the Syrians are insisting on halting or postponing the issuance of the indictment."
The LF leader revealed that he will this week ask President Michel Suleiman and Premier Saad Hariri to convene the Cabinet "in order to tackle people's living conditions."
"If the Hizbullah-led camp wants to boycott the session, let it bear the responsibility for crippling the country," Geagea added.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
President 
[Al Jazeera] Egyptian authorities have 
Saudi Arabia has prevented senior members of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) to continue on to Damascus to meet the leaders of their organizations after the Hajj.
In the face of deteriorating relations with Turkey, Israel has started to look towards the Balkans for new friends and allies. These new initiatives include shared intelligence, joint military exercises and boosting tourism. 
